MY Opera have announced the cast for their spring production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Christina Campsall sings the title role with Nicholas Borg as Tarquinius. Jonelle Sills, Daevyd Pepper, Jacob Feldman, Evan Korbut, Victoria Marshall and Anne-Marie MacIntoshround out the cast. Natasha Fransblow will direct musically from the piano and stage production is by Anna Theodakis. There will be three performances April 29th to May 1st in the Aki Studio at Daniels Spectrum.
This week kicks off with a concert performance of a rarity; Salieri’s Falstaff. It’s a concert performance by Voicebox:Opera in Concert. Larry Beckwith conducts the Aradia Ensemble and a cast of Voicebox stalwarts. You can catch it at 2.30pm today at the Jane Mallett Theatre.
There are two free events on Tuesday. Chris Purves, Alberich in the COC’s Siegfried, has a lunchtime recital in the RBA with Liz Upchurch at the piano. The programme includes Mussorgsky, Handel and Duparc. At 8pm in the Victoria College chapel you can catch Dean Burry’s graduate recital as he finishes up his PhD. Soon perhaps Canada’s most performed composer will no longer be a lowly TA. Oh the joys of credentialism!
The amazing Barbara Hannigan is in town next week teaching at the UoT. There are a number of events open to the public and free. Here’s a list:
Tues, Jan 19, 10:30 am, Walter Hall
Lecture – Show and Share: Living and Surviving as a Singing Artist
Tues, Jan 19, 12:10 pm, Walter Hall
Master Class with U of T Opera students – featuring excerpts from the contemporary operatic repertoire centering on The Machine Stops, a new opera by the Faculty’s student composer collective.
Wed, Jan 20, 3:10 pm, Room 330 @ 80 Queen’s Park
Interactive session – Dare to Compare: session with composers, pianists and instrumentalists from U of T’s contemporary music ensemble.
Thu, Jan 21, 12:10 pm, Walter Hall
Master Class with U of T Voice students – featuring songs and chamber music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Fri, Jan 22, 5 pm, Walter Hall
Concert – Performances by Faculty of Music singers and pianists after their training with Barbara, as well as from Barbara herself with pianist Professor Steven Philcox.
ETA: She’s also appearing with the TSO on Jan 27 and 28 singing Correspondances by Henri Dutilleux. There’s no stopping her!
There are a few new interesting shows coming up. Fawn Chamber Creative have announced a fully staged production of Adam Scime’s L’homme et le ciel. This has been in the works for a while. I missed last year’s workshop performance but caught an excerpt from Bicycle Opera Project. It made me want to see the whole thing. The piece takes its story from the 2nd century Christian literary text The Shepherd of Hermas, and depicts the journey of a male slave named Hermas as he struggles to accept his humanity within the parameters of his faith. Hermas, a pious man, has spent his life striving to live a righteous life, only to discover that there are elements of human instinct that cannot be denied. Hermas’ break in self-concept leads him down a path of discovery through a series of out of body interactions and revelations, which slowly bring him closer to understanding. Music by Adam Scime, libretto by Ian Koiter. Amanda Smith directs and the singers are Alexander Dobson, Larissa Koniuk and Adanya Dunn. It’s playing at The Music Gallery on December 3rd and 4th at 8pm. Tickets here.
Voicebox:Opera in Concert closed out their 2014/15 season yesterday afternoon with Charpentier’s Louise (review to come in Opera Canada). Thay also announced their plans for next season. There will be, again, three productions. The first two will be single performances, on November 22nd 2015 and February 7th 2016 of Borodin’s Prince Igor (presumably heavily cut) and Salieri’s Falstaff. The third will be the premiere of Peter Anthony Togni’s and Sharon Singer’s Isis and Osiris which will run from March 29th to April 3rd 2016. All performances are at the Jane Mallett Theatre. The first two works will presumably be performed in Voicebox’s “minimally staged” style. No word yet on staging or musical accompaniment for Isis and Osiris.
I thought I’d managed a pretty comprehensive update on the Toronto opera/choral/vocal music scene for March but there are a couple of gigs I got rather later info on.
On March 23rd at 7pm in Walter Hall, CASP have a concert of works from the more humorous end of the Canadian Art Song rep. Mary-Lou Fallis, Geoff Sirett, peter Tiefenbach and Steven Philcox are performing. Tickets are $40, $25 (senior) and $10 (student).
Then on Friday 27th Maureen Batt and Cheryl Duvall are performing a program of contemporary American and Canadian works, many of them written for Maureen, at Heliconian Hall. It’s at 8pm and tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door and there are $15 early bird tickets available at https://www.bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/69
And in other news Voicebox:Opera in Concert have announced a cast change for their performance of Charpentier’s Louise on the 29th. Keith Klassen replaces Adrian Kramer as the poet Julien.
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.
Two new shows have been announced for late January/early February. First up is Opera 5 with a double bill at the Arts and Letters Club from January 23rd through 25th at 7.30pm. This show will feature the world premier of Montreal-based composer Darren Russo’s Storybook partnered with Emanuel Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna. Singers involved include Emma Parkinson, Leigh-Ann Allen, Christopher Mayell, Geoffrey Sirett, Geoffrey Penar, and Rachel Krehm. This performance will mark the second new opera commission by the company and their second performance collaboration with Toronto Pop Up Orchestra, who will accompany the show. Evan Mitchell will conduct. Aria Umezawa will direct the Russo with the Wolf-Ferrari in the hands of Grace Smith. In typical Opera 5 fashion custom cocktails will be available for purchase before the show and during the intermission. Tickets are available online ($25.00 Early Bird – available until Jan 10th, $30.00 Students, $35.00 GA) or on the door ($30.00 Students/$35.00 GA).
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.
According to Schmopera, the line up for 2014/15 for the Voicebox: Opera in Concert season at the Jane Mallett Theatre will be Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve, Weill’s Street Scene, Charpentier’s Louise and the premier of Isis and Osiris by composer Peter-Anthony Togni with a libretto by Sharon Singer, both Canadians. The only one of these I’m at all familiar with is La Vida Breve, which is rather good (DVD review). However there’s plenty of information on Isis and Osiris available here and here. The latter link includes almost 18 minutes of music from the piece.
All in all, as one has come to expect from Voicebox, an interesting line up. More details here as they become available.
operaramblings 