Yesterday I saw the second of two performances by Venezuelan male soprano Samuel Mariño with Tafelmusik at Trinity St. Paul’s. The programme was a mixture of virtuoso baroque arias by various composers interspersed with relatively short instrumental pieces.
Samuel Mariño with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Tafelmusik’s opening concert of the season, The Human Passions, was structured around the idea that baroque composers use the soloist in a piece; instrumentalist or vocalist, to explore an emotion and that, in the baroque world, from this point of view, the human voice is just another instrument to be explored/exploited. At least I think that’s more or less what Rodolfo Richter said in his introduction.
I think it’s about time I started doing a weekly preview of upcoming Toronto events. I’m going to try and make this in a regular slot, probably Sunday, so this is a bit late. The main event this week is the opening of Tafelmusik’s season with a concert featuring mezzo Mireille Lebel. It’s a pretty mixed line up. Lebel will perform arias from Vivaldi’s Il Farnace, and Handel’s Alcina, Ariodante, and Rinaldo. Dominic Teresi performs Vivaldi’s Bassoon Concerto in F Major, RV 485, and Rodolfo Richter performs his own violin transcription of Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052. The opening bash is tomorrow night at 7pm with repeats at 8pm on Friday and Saturday and a matinée on Sunday. Trinity St. Paul’s of course.
operaramblings 