Tag Archives: weill

Celebrating the Invictus Games

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Yesterday’s RBA concert was titled Celebrating the Invictus Games.  Now the Invictus Games is a sporting competition for athletes disabled on military service.  It has royal patronage and has clearly become part of the official pageantry of celebrating all things military, as witnessed by the presence of the Lieutenant Governors of Ontario and Alberta at yesterday’s concert.  For me it raises all kinds of questions about why we put the military on a pedestal and how we do it and that is very tied up with the choice of rep at a concert like yesterdays.  I’ll come back to that at the end of this piece, after reviewing what we actually heard.

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Seven Sins at the Symphony

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Last night’s Decades series concert featured three works from the 1930s plus a sesqui.  The sesqui, Andrew Balfour’s Kiwetin-acahkos; Fanfare for the Peoples of the North was definitely one of the more interesting of these short pieces.  There were elements of minimalism combined with a nod to Cree/Métis fiddle music.  Quite complex and enjoyable.  It was followed by Barber’s rather bleak Adagio for Strings and the Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.  It’s familiar enough fare and was well played by the orchestra under Peter Oundjian.  I particularly enjoyed some of the weird percussion/celesta effects in the third movement of the Bartók.  But really I was there for the second half of the program.

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Threepenny thoughts

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I went to the first show of Soup Can Theatre’s presentation of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera at the Monarch Tavern yesterday.  It was an interesting take.  Three performers took all the roles in a much shortened concert version.  Quite a few numbers were cut and the dialogue was replaced by a very compressed spoken linking narrative.  This was a fund raiser and I think it’s fair to say that there was probably minimal if any rehearsal involved which showed in a presentation that had some nice individual touches but not a lot of cohesion.

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Beware of the leopard!

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Clémentine Margaine prowled the RBA like an exotic and rather dangerous feline.  A total stage animal, she created a stunning series of female personae, from the virginal to the very much not, to bring to life a well curated selection of Spanish and French pieces.  She started with the 7 Canciones populares Españoles of de Falla which set the tone as they communicate a wide variety moods and temperaments in a very short space of time.  Each little song was fully invested with its own drama. And her eyes.  Incredible!  Granados’ La maja dolorosa followed.  By this point I was really beginning to understand why Ms. Margaine is so sought after.  It’s a big, dark, sexy voice.  I would probably have realised the sheer size of the voice more on Wednesday if I hadn’t been comparing her to the absolutely enormous sound of Anita Rashvelishvili.  It’s a wonderfully expressive instrument perhaps lacking a really strong upward extension but, overall, lovely to listen to.

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The Seven Deadly Sins

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yesNew kids on the block , The Friends of Gravity, presented their first show last night at St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church on Dundas East.  It was a silent film themed take on Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden.  Stephanie Conn sang both Anna I and Anna II in front of a film screen showing black and white film clips shot by Scott Gabriel for the show, replacing the ballet of the original.  The Family, who pop up mostly to criticize the Annas were sung by Charles Fowler, Christopher Wattam, Bryan Martin and William Lewans.  Scott Gabriel conducted his own arrangement of the score for a six piece band including accordion and ukulele.

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Coming up

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Three things on the calendar this coming week.  Tuesday 22nd sees the first free noon concert of the season in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.  As custom seems to dictate it’s the Ensemble Studio performing.  The full programme is here.  It’s also the first gig with Claire Morley in charge.

screenshot-2015-06-19-21-42-15Friday 25th  and Saturday 26th, Friends of Gravity (who curiously do not include our cats) are presenting an intriguing looking version of Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins.  The show is at 8pm at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Dundas Street East.  Tickets and details.

Also on Saturday, Metro Youth Opera have a season launch party/fundraiser at Opera Bob’s (a watering hole owned and operated by bass Robert Pomakov)  It’s at 5pm.  Details and tickets.

It’s starting to get busy again.

September approaches

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Rachel-66-pinwheel2It’s almost September which means there may even be stuff to write about soon.  Here’s what’s in my calendar so far.

August 31st at 12.15 pm there’s a concert in the Music on Mondays series featuring soprano Rachel Krehm and an orchestra conducted by Evan Mitchell performing Dove sono by Mozart, selections from Strauss Op 27 and Dvorak’s 8th Symphony.  It’s at Holy Trinity Church near the Eaton Centre. PWYC suggested $5.

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A few more happenings in June

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EG-300x201June is still a bit quiet but I have had word of a few more performances around the city.  On the 13th Lindsay Promane, Daevyd Pepper and pianist Natasha Fransblow; all seen recently at either Metro Youth Opera or various UoT events, have a recital at Islington United Church.  Featured composers include Ravel, Tosti and Saint-Saens.  It’s at 7.30pm and it’s Pay What You Can.

On the 17th and 18th at 8pm Array Music are presenting How it Storms.  It’s an opera for gamelan ensemble by Allen Cole.  The singers will be Salzburg and Zürich bound Claire de Sévigné, Danielle MacMillan (where’s she been this year?), Chris Mayell and Keith O’Brien. This one is at The Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave and admission is $15.00.

Then on the 21st there’s a concert performance of Le Nozze di Figaro at St Simon-The-Apostle Anglican Church.  It’s at 7pm and it’s Pay What You Can.

Finally, you can catch the broadcast of the Royal Opera’s recent production of Weill’s Mahagonny at the Bloor Hot Docs on the 28th at noon.

Heroes, Gods and Mortals

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hymnThe Talisker Players’ latest show is pretty typical of what they do best; partner with some excellent singers and an actor to create an interesting program of words and music on a given theme.  Last night, as the title suggests, the theme was classical mythology; a rich enough seam for almost anything!  Most of the musical works chosen were twentieth century or later with only excerpts from a Pergolesi cantata harking back to an era that drew more heavily on these sources.

The first piece was Alan Hovhaness’ Hercules for soprano and violin performed by Carla Huhtanen and Elizabeth Loewen Andrews.  This was so very Hovhaness; haunting, disturbing and very beautiful.  It seems as rooted in the pre-classical world as the Heroic Age but perhaps that’s just a kind of timelessness.  It’s a perfect fit for Carla and the violin playing was beautiful too.

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Future ROH broadcasts at the Bloor

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mahagonnyFollowing on from yesterday’s Der fliegende Holländer showing at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema I followed up with them about future plans for the ROH opera broadcasts.  Here’s the scoop though dates may change.

June 28th.  Brecht/Weill The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.  This is a new production by John Fulljames with Mark Wrigglesworth conducting.  The cast includes Anne-Sofie von Otter, Willard White and Christine Rice.  It’s going to be sung in English.

July 26th.  Puccini La Bohème.  It’s the old John Copley production dating from 1975 (which in turn replaced an 1896 production) and it was intended to be “traditional” and it is!  Joseph Calleja and Anna Netrebko headline with Dan Ettinger conducting.

August 30th.  Rossini Guillaume Tell.  This is another new production , this time by Damiano Michieletto.  Gerry Finley sings the title role with Malin Byström as Mathilde.  Antonio Pappano conducts.

So, some decent fillers for the traditionally quiet summer season.