Fidelio at Oshawa Opera

Fidelio at Oshawa Opera

Oshawa Opera continues its season with Fidelio on November 15th. The in-concert performance features mezzo-soprano Brigitte Bogar as Leonora and tenor Jason Lamont as her husband, Florestan. Pianist Kate Carver plays Beethoven's score, and Oshawa Opera Artistic Director Kristine Dandavino narrates.

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 25, 2015
Mahler's 2nd: in memory of Elizabeth Krehm

Mahler's 2nd: in memory of Elizabeth Krehm

Opera 5 Artistic Director Rachel Krehm and her family present a benefit concert to raise funds for St. Michael's Hospital, where Rachel's sister Elizabeth passed away on November 17, 2012 at the age of 22. The concert is part of an annual series started by the Krehm family in 2013, in honour of Elizabeth and of the wonderful care she received from the doctors and nurses of St. Michael's Hospital.

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 25, 2015
Music Matters at Mini Mozarts Summer Music Camp

Music Matters at Mini Mozarts Summer Music Camp

Most artists want to touch the lives of others with their work, and I spoke recently with a few Canada-based singers who have found a very tangible way to do some good with their talent. Tenor Paul Williamson and soprano Allison Cecilia Arends travelled last summer to Kingston, Jamaica, where they held their inaugural Mini Mozarts Summer Camp with the St. Andrew Parish Foundation.

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 22, 2015
The number one financial thing I wish everyone would know

The number one financial thing I wish everyone would know

I love personal finance. I love the budgets, the savings, the maddening complexity of an obscure tax rule. Maybe I’m still in a 'honeymoon' phase because that love is still pretty new to me. It was only a few years ago when money was a huge stress for me: I avoided thinking about it, I avoided talking about it, I just plain didn’t pay it any mind at all.

Christopher Enns - Oct 21, 2015
Aria guides: Una furtiva lagrima

Aria guides: Una furtiva lagrima

Tenors, we haven't forgotten about you. Continuing our series of Aria Guides, we're focusing on Nemorino's very lovely, very popular aria from L'elisir d'amore, "Una furtiva lagrima". It's one of those arias that can show a lot, and if you sing it well, it's great for auditions and crowd-pleasing concerts alike. It's not a easy feat to pull off this bel canto staple, but here are a few tips meant to help.

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 20, 2015
Canadian Children's Opera Company's Lullabies: from kids, for kids

Canadian Children's Opera Company's Lullabies: from kids, for kids

The Canadian Children's Opera Company is in its 48th season, and the first under new Artistic Director, Dean Burry. After 15 years, Ann Cooper Gay retired from her leadership of the CCOC, which consists of 6 choruses for young singers aged 3 to 19. Cooper Gay has left an extraordinary parting gift, entitled Lullabies, a CD of lullabies in 12 different languages, recorded by the CCOC. The CD will be given, free of cost, to new parents and their babies at Toronto-based hospitals, shelters, and care centres.

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 20, 2015
Don't miss: The Living Spectacle

Don't miss: The Living Spectacle

On November 7th, the Canadian Art Song Project presents a concert of new music, featuring some of my favourite artists. Sopranos Ambur Braid and Carla Huhtanen join pianist Steven Philcox and dancer Jennifer Nichols in a showcase of a brand new song cycle by Erik Ross The Living Spectacle, and music by Brian Harman (Sewing the Earthworm), Libby Larsen, and Richard Strauss.

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 19, 2015
Pyramus, Thisbe, and Canadian opera history

Pyramus, Thisbe, and Canadian opera history

Sunday night I got to witness a dress rehearsal for an amazing thing happening here in Toronto. For the first time I saw a Canadian composer take a curtain call on the Canadian Opera Company stage after the performance of what will be a world premiere Canadian work.

Greg Finney - Oct 19, 2015
Is technology making it harder to tell stories?

Is technology making it harder to tell stories?

As technology develops and more and more of our problems are solved, creators of opera will be charged with finding truer and truer ways of getting to emotional heights. The challenge comes in the form of a question: now that you have the Internet in your pocket, what's left to sing about?

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 19, 2015
Hear a little opera, change some lives

Hear a little opera, change some lives

This Friday, October 23rd, at Heliconian Hall, "Duelling Divas" Kathleen Promane, mezzo-soprano, and Allison Arends, soprano, present a concert full of arias and duets. Pianist Maika'i Nash joins the two ladies, who will be looking very bejeweled indeed with accessories by designer Catherine Sequalino-Poitier. Tickets are $25 at the door and $20 in advance, available by email phone (647-833-5400).

Jenna Simeonov - Oct 18, 2015

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