5 times Handel got weird

Humour

There's something about Handel's operas that seems to lend a particularly blank slate to directors. Some of the wackiest takes on opera by the most Regie of the "concept" directors happen in Baroque opera, and Handel's works get their fair share. That's not to say that none of these ideas work well, but they sure can be weird.

Who are our comprimarias, & why aren't they funnier?

Op-ed

I have a sneaking suspicion that labels like "Charaktersopran" or "Charaktermezzosopran", as pure equivalents to *comprimario* tenors or *buffo* basses, are slightly off-putting to women. It may be because the available supporting roles for women seem too serious, or too important to the plot, to be "downsized" with the "character" classification.

Gems: who wins "Wälse"?

Humour

Today's find is oddly satisfying. Opera-loving YouTuber rexeterna posted this compilation of ten Heldentenors, each singing the infamous "Wälse! Wälse!" cry from Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre. My vote is Vickers (go Canada), but Lauritz Melchior wins for sheer duration.

The Ghost of Christmas Carols Past

Op-ed

People listen to substantially different music at Christmas than during the rest of the year. How different? Consider the information I found in this article in Time, listing the 19 most recorded holiday songs since 1978 (the earliest data they had). Those songs were, on average, around 164 years old, and the newest was 65 years old. They were basically a bunch of older religious songs, and a few secular ones composed around the 1940’s.

Seriously sung Christmas carols

Humour

Merry Christmas, readers! This week marks the obligatory Christmas-type post, where our attention goes to snow, pretty lights, overindulgence, and Christmas songs. Love them or hate them, you can always count on opera singers to melt the heart strings with their opera-sized carolling. Happy holidays to all of you, and enjoy the schmaltz.

There's still no opera on Netflix

Op-ed

The idea that companies are teasing, luring new opera lovers to their theatres with a taste of Verdi online, is outdated. Opera will begin to be consumed in video form only; purists can argue all they want that this is a lesser experience (and I'd agree with them), but the argument won't persuade people who aren't already into opera.

Have you heard? Opera is dirty business

Humour

When I was in my first year of my undergrad degree, I lived in a dorm, on a floor full of music students. I remember one day, when a floormate burst into our room, saying she'd just heard "the cutest pick-up line ever for musicians". I prepared myself for a nerdtastic joke, and was rewarded when she quoted, "I'm a fermata, hold me!"

Roundup, 2015

Editorial

2015 is almost done, everyone! Slightly incredulous over here. It means it's time for some retrospective writing about notable moments in the opera scene for yet another calendar year. 2015 started tangible conversations about looming issues around opera, the money it costs, and the reasons to produce it. Like water-cooler conversations, but with more substance.

Artists: they walk among us

Op-ed

I suppose it's the same as anybody with an interesting enough profession; I've probably stood in a Starbucks line with someone on Bay Street who just made himself $50M or something, or walked by a brain surgeon or two on my way up University Avenue. From my point of view, I simply saw another guy in a great suit, or a faceless person in scrubs outside a hospital.

Rehearsing "a Messiah that moves."

Op-ed

Of course, the final product was something greater than the sum of its parts. Each night, there was that great Against the Grain alchemy onstage, that amazing thing that happens when performers reach out to the audience, and the audience gives back. The proof is in the audience feedback, in truth. The run has stirred up the usual AtG-show Twitter buzz, full of people loving the novelty of this Messiah.