Toronto Masque Theatre, or Clowning Around

Review

Last night I went for the first time to see Toronto Masque Theatre, who are in the middle of their 11th season. I don't know much bout the masque tradition, but I've learned that it was most popular in the 16th and early 17th centuries, and combined music, acting, dancing, and even architecture into a piece of theatre meant to flatter the man paying for all of it. So You Want To Write A Masque? was a fun look at how this art form comes together.

Leslie Dala, on Postcard from Morocco, Julie, and His Conducting Bucket List

Interview

Canadian conductor Leslie Dala is currently in Toronto to lead two casts of students at the University of Toronto in their upcoming production of Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco. Dala is a busy guy, as Music Director of the Vancouver Bach Choir, Principal Conductor of the Vancouver Academy of Music, and Associate Conductor and Chorus Master of Vancouver Opera. I hopped on the phone with him this week to ask him about all of the different hats he wears at work.

Is the Cost of a Music Degree Ethical?

Op-ed

I'm not saying that music degrees are a financial black hole, but they cost either as much or near as much as many science degrees. The disparity begs an unpopular question: is it ethical for universities to charge such similar tuition for a music degree as they do for a science degree?

Erik Ochsner on conducting Star Trek: "goose bumps and tears are NOT optional!"

Interview

American-Finnish conductor Erik Ochsner has built himself a pretty cool career. On March 21st, he'll head to the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, for a viewing of Star Trek (2009) with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony playing the soundtrack, live, by Michael Giacchino. Ochsner is no stranger to combining popular culture with live music, having conducted concerts featuring music from Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, and Disney's Pixar films. I was eager to ask him about the significance of combining cultural elements of today with the symphonic orchestra of past centuries.

Proof that Music is Simply Unreasonable

Editorial

Musicians come in many kinds, and most work with a fascinating balance of pragmatism and imagination. We, like other artists, get a reputation for having our heads in the clouds, for making decisions based on emotion instead of reason. We are artsy-fartsy.

Go See This: Carla Huhtanen and Nicole Lizée in Tap:Ex Tables Turned

Interview

Tapestry Opera continues its 35th anniversary season with Tap:Ex Tables Turned, running March 20 & 21 at the Ernest Balmer Studio in the Distillery District. Soprano Carla Huhtanen (right) teams up with Montréal-based composer and turntablist Nicole Lizée (left) to present “a boundary-breaking, multi-media concert.”

St. Patrick's Day Potpourri

Humour

​Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! To give an operatic nod to the patron saint of Ireland, here are some appropriately-themed clips via YouTube.

Opera in Spring

Editorial

​With the official end of winter less than a week away, it's time to mark your calendars with some spring opera-going. Here are a few of the events I'm catching over the next couple of months.

In review: La belle Hélène

Review

Last night I went to see opening night of the Glenn Gould School's production of Offenbach's La belle Hélène.

The Introvert's Opera

Op-ed

opera is a fantastic industry in which to be an introvert. Those flashy singers are a small proportion of the team of people it takes to put up an opera. Assuming people fit into two broad groups, extroverts and introverts, I'd put most of the coaches, stage managers, designers, and orchestra musicians into the latter group.