Singing at the TSO, 2015/16

Editorial

This morning, Peter Oundjian announced the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's 2015/16 season. It looks creative and diverse, and there are more than a few items on the menu I can't wait to see. One of them is The Decades Project, a collection of six concert programmes featuring music from 1900-1909 (Oct. 21-Nov. 14, 2015), and 1910-1919 (May 25-Jun. 11, 2016).

In review: Street Scene

Review

On Sunday afternoon I went to see VOICEBOX: Opera In Concert's production of Street Scene at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Kurt Weill's "American Opera", with text by Elmer Rice and Langston Hughes, is a fantastic piece, and I agreed with Artistic Director Guillermo Silva-Marin when he said that the show doesn't get done enough.

In review: Tcherniakov's Don Giovanni

Review

After much anticipation (and averting my eyes from the opening night reviews), I had the chance to see the COC's current production of Don Giovanni, directed and designed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, and conducted by Michael Hofstetter. The production was new to me, and my curiosity was piqued by some press photos and a few rumoured details.

Mozart's Birthday Doozy

Humour

As someone who has his own laundry list of embarrassing things done in the throes of Wild Birthday Celebration (I now celebrate an 8 day festival, commonly called 'greggyfest'), I want to share this doozy.

A Tale of Big Hair at the Met

Op-ed

Who else saw that piece on Jezebel by Collier Meyerson, about her trip to the Metropolitan Opera? It's not really an article about opera or the Met, but I'm inclined to weigh in on it on behalf of opera-goers, because this story edges towards the elitism amongst opera fans.

He said/she said: Songbook V

Review

Marking the end of my weekend hat-trick of stuff to see, was Tapestry’s Songbook V. It’s the fifth year of Tapestry’s New Opera 101 Program, which gives singers and pianists a chance to work on contemporary opera with some of the best in the business; the rep is chosen from within Tapestry’s impressive library of commissions.

In review: Modern (Family) Opera

Review

Last night Opera 5 opened their double bill, Modern (Family) Opera, which was made up of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna and the world première of Darren Russo’s new opera, Storybook. Stage directors Grace Smith (Wolf-Ferrari) and Opera 5 Artistic Director Aria Umezawa shared the double bill, bringing their unique styles to two pieces that couldn’t have been more different.

Regietheater? Ja oder nein?

Op-ed

This past weekend, I attended The Opera Exchange, an event presented semi-regularly by the Canadian Opera Company to discuss relevant opera topics, structured around the COC’s current season. With Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of Don Giovanni set to open on January 24th at the Four Seasons Centre, it was a good opportunity to chat about that polarizing topic, Regietheater, or director’s theatre.

In review: Mozart's Obscure Opera + Mass in C Minor

Review

Thursday night was the first of three concerts to be given by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, programming Mozart’s fantastic Mass in C Minor, K. 427, with fragments of two of his lesser-known operas, Lo sposo deluso and Zaide (K. 430 and 344, respectively). Paul Goodwin conducts the TSO, both the Amadeus Choir and the Elmer Iseler Singers, as well as the evening’s line up of formidable singers: soprano Hélène Guilmette, mezzo Julie Boulianne, tenors John Tessier and Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure, and baritone Gordon Bintner.

In review: Songs of Love and War

Review

At lunchtime on Thursday, January 22nd, members of the COC Ensemble Studio gave a concert in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Just past the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the music on this concert dealt with themes of war, love, and separation; we heard songs by Erich Korngold, Charles Ives, Hanns Eisler, and Francis Poulenc.