Sarah Chan

  The last opening night of the season brings a particular mixture of happiness and sadness. One is excited to see the final production of the Spring 2013 season, but to know one has to wait until the Fall to experience it again feels a little wrong. The Canadian Opera Company caps off its...
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The house was full on a Tuesday night for the third of eight performances of Strauss’s Salome. And I wonder if the audience was wondering the same thing I was: “I guess Salome wears a new dress with every show,” as her dress is covered in the dripping blood of the severed head of...
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There’s a buzz throughout the Four Seasons Centre on the opening night of Lucia. Perhaps it’s the start anew of the spring season or perhaps the audience is in on a little secret: ground is going to be broken tonight, and it’s going to blow you away. Spring is about renewal and freshness, and...
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In my workplace, I always like to play to my strengths, because I produce better work when I know I’m passionate about it. And even if it’s the same task I’m executing, each version has its own interpretation and what I’ve learned from the first time around only makes the next round even better....
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When the doorbell rings, it really could only be a handful of people – Avon calling, travelling vacuum salesperson, if you were really lucky it was Girl Guide cookies and if you were really, really lucky it was the good people wondering if you had found Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon spreads the...
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Author’s Note: Full disclosure, due to taxi troubles and a snowstorm, I missed the beginning of La clemenza di Tito and watched the first act from the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre on screen. I learned three things from this experience: 1. Don’t trust cabs in a snowstorm. 2. The anticipation of entering the auditorium and...
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Your ears are hungry; let them feast on Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. In my attempt to review operas as entertainment for a newer and wider audience, I often write that opera is a wholly sensory experience. Peter Sellar’s debut with the Canadian Opera Company is no different. Last seen at the COC in 1987,...
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As the city winds down from the Argos win this past weekend, a very different throw down went down at the Royal York last Wednesday night. The third annual Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown in support of the Vancouver Aquarium saw 12 Ontario chefs in the battle for chowder supremacy. The battle for sustainable seafood...
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It takes a bit of time to decompress from the long winded World Mastercard Fashion Week, hereafter referred to as Fashion Week or TFW. Hurricane weather helps, and ultimately your liver thanks you. But suddenly the warm sunny feeling of the Spring/Summer ’13 collections feel so far away as I’m under a blanket on...
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Opera Atelier’s 2012-2013 season lights up the stage with their Fall production, Der Freischütz (The Marksman). Each show begins with a few words from director Marshall Pynkoski updating the audience on the company’s achievements and provides insights on the evening’s performance ahead. Pynkoski’s genuine enthusiasm and passion for the stage always sets the mood...
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