Music Matters at Mini Mozarts Summer Music Camp

Interview

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.

The number one financial thing I wish everyone would know

Op-ed

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.

Aria guides: Una furtiva lagrima

How-To

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.

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

Interview

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.

Don't miss: The Living Spectacle

Interview

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.

Pyramus, Thisbe, and Canadian opera history

News

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.

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?

Hear a little opera, change some lives

News

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).

The psychology of an audition

How-to

On top of the fun of singer-pianist telepathy, I've gotten pretty good at the game of guessing which are the auditioners will ask for. In most auditions, opera singers present a list of about 4-6 arias; they choose which they want to start with, and after that the panel selects a second choice. The goal is for the singer to start with something they do very, very well, and for the auditioners to learn as much about that singer as possible in a two-aria span.

My WTF lightbulb moment

Editorial

Artists love it when they hear an artist of another discipline speak about their work, their struggles, and their (many) moments of insecurity. It's amazing when actors have stories that resonate with writers, when writers' plights are relatable to musicians. We get to hear common tales of working hard without any recognition, of taking depressing jobs to pay bills, of getting That Big Opportunity, and whether or not it led to anything interesting.