Tag Archives: wright

Toronto City Opera

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TCO Combo New Fonts re Media 181007Toronto City Opera puts on fully staged productions with young professional soloists and an amateur, unauditioned chorus.  It’s piano accompaniment.  I’ve never been to one of their shows, not least because until recently they have performed at the Bickford Centre which I loathe.  Now they are at the Miles Nadal JCC which is a huge improvement and both Jennifer Tung and Alaina Viau are on the creative team, which is promising.  This year they are opening their season with Le nozze di Figaro running on December 6th, 7th and 9th.  The cast includes Dylan Wright as Figaro, Brittany Rae as Susanna, and Lillian Brooks as Cherubino.  There’s also a Traviata in March with Beth Hagerman as Violetta.

Albert Herring fifty years on

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It was quite a party at the MacMillan Theatre this afternoon.  The MacMillan opened fifty years ago with a production of Britten’s Albert Herring and this afternoon marked the final performance of a new production to celebrate the occasion.  Directed by Joel Ivany, it was a straightforward but lively and very well characterised interpretation that brought out many of the very specific and quirky elements of the local culture while taking it mysteriously up market in some ways. (*).  Coupled with very good singing by any standard, and this was a student production, it made for a most enjoyable afternoon.

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Feeding all the senses

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Opera Five’s schtick is that they satisfy all five senses.  In their current show that means matching a food offering with each of the three short operas on display.  It’s a neat idea.  In the current show a palindromic skewer of sausage, pickle and cheese is matched with the palindromic Hindemith work Hin und Zurück, assorted Russian pasty like objects are paired with Rachmaninov’s Aleko and some sort of chocolate on a stick thing with Milton Granger’s 1999 piece Talk Opera.

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