Sometimes I forget the obvious… Here’s what the big kids are doing in April/May.
Opera Atelier are staging Berlioz’s 1859 version of Gluck’s Orphée. There are six performances from April 9th to April 18th. Mireille Lebel sings Orpheus, Peggy Kriha Dye sings Eurydice and Meghan Lindsay is Amour. This will be Tafelmusik’s furthest foray yet into 19th century repertoire. It’s at the Elgin and Marshall Pynkoski directs. Not sure who is conducting, presumably David Fallis.
The TSO’s program last night was too tempting to miss; Adrianne Pieczonka singing Strauss and Wagner and a Beethoven 7th plus Gianandrea Noseda conducting. So I went.
Things started off with Casella’s Italia. This is a sort of mash up of Pucciniesque bombast and Neapolitan popular tunes. I’m surprised it never featured in a Warner Bros cartoon. Perhaps it did. In any event Nosada is probably the ideal conductor for it; infusing it with a kind of manic energy. Next up were the Strauss Vier letzte lieder. Here manic energy is exactly what’s not needed and Nosada seemed to have some difficulty adjusting. Too often Adrianne Pieczonka’s beautiful singing was covered by an over loud orchestra. Roy Thomson Hall is tricky but George Benjamin showed exactly how to manage the acoustic last weekend. Nosada wasn’t so successful.
In George Benjamin’s Written on Skin The Man, The Protector, is described as “addicted to purity and violence”. One could perhaps say the same about the score. Seeing it presented in a minimally staged version at Roy Thomson Hall last night perhaps emphasised those aspects compared to watching a fully staged version (review of Katie Mitchell’s production at the ROH here). Being able to see the conductor and orchestra made the combination of a traditional orchestra with older instruments; viola da gamba, glass harmonica etc (and lots of percussion) more obvious. The music can be very violent but it can also be incredibly quiet and it’s a measure of Benjamin’s skill as a conductor that through these extreme changes of dynamics he rarely, if ever, covered his singers.
Bejun Mehta, Christopher Purves and Barbara Hannigan in the ROH production
Good heavens it’s March already! There’s lots coming up in the Toronto vocal music scene. This Saturday sees George Benjamin’s Written on Skin in concert performance with the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall. Chris Purves and Barbara Hannigan from the original cast are singing with Bernhard Landauer coming in for Bejun Mehta as the Boy. The composer conducts.
There’s a 15% off offer for Christian Gerhaher’s 26th February recital at Koerner Hall. Use Code CHRISTIAN15 on line or at the box office.
March 2nd at 2pm Barbara Hannigan is doing a workshop at UoT focussed on Hans Abrahamsen’s new work Let me tell you. It’s at Walter Hall and it’s free. The work itself will get its North American premier on March 4th with Barbara and the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall.
The Toronto Symphony announced its 2015/16 season line up this morning. From a choral and vocal music perspective the items of most interest were:
Barbara Hannigan – copyright Musacchio Ianniello Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Last night, at Roy Thomson Hall, the TSO presented a two part Mozart program. The first half consisted of pieces from two abandoned opera projects; the buffa Lo sposo deluso and the Singspiel Zaide. The second half consisted of the better known, but incomplete, Mass in C Minor.
L to R: Guilmette, Fortier-Lazure, Bintner, Tessier. Photo – Malcolm Cook
I wrote “2015” on a cheque today. Scary. Anyway, what’s on in Toronto as the new year dawns? Quite a lot as it happens. Here are my picks.
December 9th sees Anne-Sofie von Otter in recital at Koerner hall. She’s not doing opera anymore and who knows how many more chances there will be to see her in Toronto?
‘Tis the season to Hallelujah in Toronto and Handel’s Messiah is everywhere. Last night was the first performance of the biggest of them all, the Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Roy Thomson Hall. Traditionally this is Toronto’s equivalent of John Barbirolli and the Huddersfield Choral Society so I was surprised to see a set up for a rather small orchestra. In fact about thirty instrumentalists were used, playing modern instruments of course, with about 150 choristers. It was something of a sign of things to come as conductor Grant Llewellyn took us through the piece quite briskly and rhythmically with even some ornamentation in the da capo repeats. It’s becoming more common I think for conductors to get something approaching an HIP sound out of a modern orchestra as we’ve seen with Harry Bicket in various opera houses. The orchestra and chorus responded pretty well to the less staid approach with the sopranos sounding particularly spritely and incisive.
This Sunday sees the first of the season for Recitals at Rosedale. Entitled A Walk on the Dark Side: Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales, it will feature soprano Leslie Ann Bradley, mezzo soprano Allyson McHardy and baritone Geoff Sirett with pianists Robert Kortgaard and Rachel Andrist. The programme features works by Mahler, Debussy, Symanowski, Weil, Gershwin and more. It’s on November 9th at 2.30 pm at Rosedale Presbyterian Church and tickets are available here.
operaramblings 