Spooky shows: The Tell-Tale Heart

Interview

"The old man's glass eye triggers her murderous rage – as she sings about the eye, she sees it and is held captive by its image – so the eye gets its own trance-like music. There's furtive, creepily joyful music while she describes her cunning murderous actions. There's a demented waltz that gets progressively weirder as the narrator's tenuous grip on sanity loosens."

Spotlight on: Owen McCausland

Interview

"Get used to listening to yourself. That recording of your last - lesson/coaching/recital/opera has important information and it will help you move forward. Video is even better. It can be hard, especially at first, but it will highlight the things you can’t hear and also help you forgive yourself for dumb mistakes."

Talking with singers: Héloïse Werner

Interview

"Getting a job at the Royal Opera House in the chorus, for me, even if that would be amazing for most other singers, I wouldn't like it." Werner is aware of the different pursuits of professional singers - career stability, for example. "I can totally understand why most people aren't like me."

Don't miss: Boys of Paradise

Interview

"The whole show is an analogy of the Phoenix mythology, a bird that burns brighter and brighter and then burns out. This is such a classic, ancient story, and our characters are off their faces for the majority of the show, so I felt okay with sticking to a quirky, acoustic instrumentation. Also it was a fun challenge to conjure up the feelings of euphoria when coming up on ecstasy, or getting drunk, using conventional instruments."

Talking with singers: Christian Bowers

Interview

"There are a lot of times when I'm in an empty hotel room, and I'm looking at Facebook and I'm seeing you with pictures of your kids, the pictures of your house and the garden you planted," he explains. "All my stuff's in my room that I grew up in, and I live out of a suitcase or two for five weeks at a time."

Rhythm: the good, the bad, and the stressful

Humour

To be clear, readers, this bit of grumbling isn't meant to say, "look how bad the average person's rhythm is!" It's truly an impressive feat to master the art of keeping a beat. It's a skill that makes a stellar beat-boxer, and adds to the value of a great drummer.

In review: Don Giovanni at Nashville Opera

Review

Commendations go to stage director John Hoomes. We were promised a "visually striking" production, and that promise was fulfilled. Mr. Hoomes, whose choice to juxtapose the classic opera with modern, minimalist (yet effective) set design, action that ebbed and flowed between pleasing camp and very human, and innovative color schemes, used exciting visual symbolism to highlight the thematic duality of the story.

Audition season, or the annual Festival of Shattered Dreams

Op-ed

The business of opera is at times wonderful and at other times loathsome. It is, sadly, mostly run by the ill-informed and the ill-equipped. It is therefore oftentimes arbitrary and frivolous though it can sometimes be sublime.

"Thank you for the music..."

Review

I would highly recommend checking out the TSO Pops series. It's a great way to stay in touch with the orchestra and their incredible versatility, but it's also nice to sit and relax and hear some of your favourite tunes from the pop side of life. I love Mahler too, but every now and again one needs a little disco in their life.

Spotlight on: Alexander Hajek

Interview

"For 'good' singing, I use a few benchmarks to keep myself in check. After the curtain goes down, is my voice in good enough shape to do the whole thing again? Did I manage to make the audience laugh AND cry? Did I discover a deeper truth about the piece or myself?"