Opera orchestras: robots, or out of the loop?

Op-ed

I've written before about the emotional rollercoaster caused by the arrival of the orchestra. In short: you, the singer/pianist/director/passionate stage manager, have spent weeks in music and staging rehearsals for a particular show, and you've no doubt grown close to the piece, and all your favourite moments in this particular production. For pianists, the way they play the score is informed by what they see being built up onstage; if it's an interesting rehearsal process, I'll probably play the score differently at the end of it than at the beginning, because I'll know more things about this story now.

Tapestry Opera's Selfie talks online bullying

News

Next week, Tapestry Opera opens its new season with a workshop presentation of Selfie, a new opera with text by Julie Tepperman and music by Chris Thornborrow. Selfie was a part of Tapestry's Opera Briefs in past seasons, where Artistic Director Michael Mori says "it received the most support."

Kyra Millan: Arts Education counts

Interview

Performer, teacher and artist educator Kyra Millan has taught countless students of all ages in school classrooms and in her private studio. She started the GLEESICAL music theatre program at the Classical Music Conservatory, and she leads workshops at the Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, the Royal Conservatory of Music, Workman Arts, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

10 Years of the Met at the Movies

News

2015/16 marks the 10th anniversary season of The Met: Live in HD, and they're celebrating with a meaty selection to show off the best of opera. Starting with Il trovatore on October 3rd, non-New Yorkers can get their Met fix in Cineplex theatres across North America (including four in Toronto!).

Check out: MYOpera

Interview

MYOpera is the brand new face of Toronto-based indie opera company Metro Youth Opera. Their commitment to providing professional experience to emerging artists remains the same, but MYOpera has a new name, and a new season. At the aptly chosen Opera Bob's Public House, Artistic Director Kate Applin announced MYOpera's upcoming production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in spring, 2016.

In review: The Seven Deadly Sins

Review

I'm always excited by Kurt Weill. Ever since my first exposure to Mahagonny and Down in the Valley (one of his American musicals) I've been fascinated by his work with Bertolt Brecht. On Friday, September 25th I got to re-hear one of my favourites presented by The Friends of Gravity.

Pianists: 3 tips for sounding like an orchestra

How-to

Pianists, when you're playing orchestral reductions, it's all a complicated system of smoke and mirrors. Rather than on getting every note under your fingers, your priorities lay in creating a broader palate of sound, representing the different sections of a hypothetical orchestra. There's a difference in sound between a viola and an oboe, and a group of strings can have a different collective rhythm than a group of winds.

Talking with singers: Othalie Graham

Interview

"If I'm cast in something, I show up incredibly prepared, I'm a very good colleague, and I do the things I can do to make it work. There's so much of it that we can't control, as you know. *So much* of it that you can't control. But I do the best that I can every day, I work really hard with the things I can control," she laughs. "Which isn't a lot."

Learn: Opera in the City

News

Looking to enhance your opera-going experience? The Royal Conservatory of Music offers Opera in the City, a four-week look into two of Toronto's upcoming shows, La traviata (opening at the Canadian Opera Company October 8th) and Armide, opening October 22nd with Opera Atelier.

Quick tips: the rolled R test

How-to

What I've found is that rolled Rs in a singer's text can act as a sort of litmus test for where that singer is maintaining their resonance. As a coach, if I ask for more consonants in an Italian aria, and a rolled R seems difficult to project, the problem usually lies in the preceding vowel.