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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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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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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In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Brothers Grimm collected fairy tales, the Canadian Opera Company presents GrimmFest. Running from December 4 – 8, 2012, this week-long festival offers a variety of family-friendly activities taking place at locations throughout Toronto. The festivities culminate in the 500th performance of The Brothers Grimm, an engaging...
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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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What do you get when you blend champagne, lust and German humour? Why, it’s nothing but fun, fun, fun. Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) debuted in Vienna in 1874 and has not been staged by the Canadian Opera Company since 1991; this new production brings an age old story to life...
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When explaining the story line of Verdi’s Il Trovatore, it sounds juicier than a reality television show in which Conte di Luna loves Leonora but Leonora is devoted to Manrico, and Manrico’s mother is the woman who killed di Luna’s brother because she was avenging her own mother’s death. If it sounds complicated, the...
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Handel’s Semele has an unconventional opening, and unconventional it continues throughout the performance. The orchestra plays and a short film captures the screen masking the stage and explains the origin of the set and director Zhang Huan’s inspiration for the theme of the interpretation William Congreve’s libretto. However the downfall of this performance is...
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