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Kinder gentler Flute
I just saw the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Considering the reputation of its director, Diane Paulus, an American known for putting Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna...
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10 Questions for Simone Osborne
Simone Osborne will be taking the lead role of Gilda in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto in September 2011. I ask her ten questions: five about her and five...
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Upwards
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the images from Kaija Saariaho’s opera Amour de Loin in its Toronto production from the Canadian Opera Company as “Love from Afar“. When I hit the publish...
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Fledermaus: just like our century
No matter how well they may sing, Johann Strauss Jr’s operetta Die Fledermaus requires its singers to act. Although the music may be irresistible, I haven’t fully surrendered to any of the Fledermice...
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Six years since Richard Bradshaw
It was August 15, 2007. I recall hearing the news that Richard Bradshaw had died. The Canadian Opera Company now have a resident conductor & a general director. Johannes Debus conducts the COC...
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COC Peter Grimes
Tonight I saw the Canadian Opera Company production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. I’m late getting to the party for a production that opened on October 5th, but I was out of town that weekend....
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Centre Stage: COC Ensemble Studio Competition Gala
Two years ago the Canadian Opera Company began experimenting with a public singing competition as the final part of the selection process for membership in the Ensemble Studio. In 2011 & 2012 the...
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Mezzo madness at the COC Ensemble Studio Competition
Centre Stage 2015, the Canadian Opera Company’s ensemble competition gala, was a celebration of Canada & Canadian talent. Co-hosted by two former winners, we were treated to both official...
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Questions for Johannes Debus: busy baton
Johannes Debus (Photo – Michael Cooper) The Canadian Opera Company’s winter season begins soon, featuring two long operas led by the same maestro, namely Johannes Debus. Siegfried, the penultimate of...
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Ensemble Showcase 2018
An Evening With the Ensemble Studio is a special opportunity. It’s interesting to get a closer look at the members of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. For most of the year they’re confined...
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Homecoming for Carsen’s Eugene Onegin
Better late than never, the Canadian Opera Company have premiered Robert Carsen’s Eugene Onegin, a production originally premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1997. It’s a triumph of Canadian talent...
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Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian
Tonight I saw the world premiere of Hadrian, an opera commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company with libretto by Daniel MacIvor, music composed by Rufus Wainwright, directed by Peter Hinton and...
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Centre Stage 2018: a Night of Voices
There are several ways to watch the annual Centre Stage competition, when young singers vie for a series of awards while seeking places in the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. You can watch...
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Toronto Symphony–Mendelssohn Choir Messiah
Toronto is Messiah town, as I’ve joked before. Handel’s most popular Biblical oratorio is everywhere at this time of year. Tonight I took in the second of six offered this week by the Toronto Symphony,...
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Elektra-fying
There’s a moment in Richard Strauss’s adaptation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto for Elektra that tells you everything you need to know. This is the same family constellation we know from the...
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Elektra again
Today I had a second chance to see & hear the Canadian Opera Company’s Elektra at the Four Seasons Centre. It was so much better for me the second time, possibly because I was sitting closer. That...
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Rusalka: and now for something completely different
Tonight the Canadian Opera Company premiered their take on the recent Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Dvořák’s Rusalka directed by Sir David McVicar. It stands in rather stark contrast to the...
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Framing the Pollyanna proposition
January is named for that two-headed god who is able to look ahead and back. As I ponder the wreckage of 2019 I wonder if Janus was too busy looking down at his phone and not watching where he was...
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Parenthood, poverty, Hansel & Gretel: a conversation with Joel Ivany
In a few days Joel Ivany, Artistic Director of Against the Grain Theatre, will be premiering his new Hansel and Gretel at the Four Seasons Centre, in a Canadian Opera Company production. Singled out...
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Make-believe Hansel and Gretel
Oh to be a child again. I saw the opening night of the Canadian Opera Company’s new Hansel and Gretel tonight before a delighted sell-out crowd at the Four Seasons Centre. While there were children...
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