If you have been wondering who would replace recently retired Ben Heppner in Westben’s annual Sunday Afternoon at the Opera, to be held this year on July 20th at 2:00 pm, the wait is over. It will be veteran coloratura soprano Tracy Dahl, last seen in Toronto as Despina. She’ll be accompanied by Ensemble Studio head honcho Liz Upchurch. Tickets available at www.westben.ca
So I’m one of those people who doesn’t run a car. I’m a bike, transit, Autoshare kind of guy. This does sometimes present issues though when it comes to getting to places like Westben and the Stratford Festival. I hadn’t thought about it much but yesterday I got an email from someone called Mike asking if I would be willing to post a request for a rideshare. He’s specifically looking for a ride to Westben for the July 5th Dido and Aeneas. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind seeing that too!
So, I’m offering the comments to this post as a place to request or offer rides to Westben, Stratford etc. I’m not offering to organise anything but I’m happy for people to use this mechanism if it helps.
Toronto Operetta Theatre has announced its 2014-15 season line up and both Stratford Summer Music and the Westben Festival have announced their programmes.
Toronto Operetta Theatre
The 2014/15 season features three productions. The season opens with Federico Chueca’s zarzuela La Gran Via on November 2nd. The Christmas season (December 27th to January 4th) will see six performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. (And I hope Rob Ford is on “the list” though hopefully by then he’ll be well on the way to being forgotten) Finally, and perhaps most interesting, the season closes with Victor Davies’ 2008 piece Earnest, the Importance of Being which is probably the only Canadian work that can properly be called an operetta. There’s no further information at this time but doubtless it will eventually make its way to http://www.torontooperetta.com/. Continue reading
operaramblings 