Innehållsförteckning för Winter 2015 - 2016 från Opera Canada

When Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef stepped in front of the curtain on the opening night of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro early in February, there was a groan as the audience anticipated news of illness or a major cancellation. Neef quickly put those fears to rest before going on to make an unexpected statement that at one level broadly defended the sociopolitical value of the arts, at another reminded us of how lucky and privileged we are to live in a free and open society, and at yet another broached the subject of the public responsibilities of the arts. “Over the last few months,” Neef said, “we have witnessed terrorist attacks all over the world, in Paris, but also in Beirut, Bamako, San Bernardino, Istanbul, Jakarta, Burkina…

There can’t be many opera singers whose careers were launched by a polyp, but you can count Dominique Côté among them. “Yes, how that happened was very interesting!” I’m sitting with the beardedly boyish Québécois baritone in Wexford, Ireland, where he’s making his mark as the villainous Comte de Comminges in Hérold’s happily revived opéra-comique, Le pré aux clercs, and I’m getting the unlikely back story of just how he wound up there. “I did theatre school, as an actor, and then I started to play in theatre, but mostly on TV shows in Quebec—I did a couple of famous ones, like [TVA’s] Emma. I also was dubbing French versions of American movies, and doing voices for animated shows.” Combining those two pursuits for Hollywood’s Lion of Oz, he turned…

Thank you for the wonderful tribute to my father in the Summer 2015 issue of Opera Canada, “Remembering Jon Vickers” (p. 20). The article contains two inaccuracies that need some clarification. The most unfortunate inaccuracy, and it’s one that pained my father, is found in the statement: “Much has been made as to why, after 1964, Vickers refused to sing with the Canadian Opera Company.” The reason why my father never sang with the COC was not because he refused to, but because he was rarely invited to sing with the company, and on the few occasions when he was invited, he was booked elsewhere. It’s as simple as that. A comment made by former General Director LotfiMansouri initiated all the misunderstanding. When asked in an interview why Jon Vickers…

Toronto-based photographer and opera lover Veronika Roux-Vlachova has launched an ambitious project to photograph established and emerging opera singers, presenting their portraits alongside their own choices of favourite music. A first sample of Opera: Faces & Words was shown in an exhibition at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts during the Canadian Opera Company’s winter season, and here we present some more of Roux’s striking images. “By merging the stillness of photography and words,” Roux-Vlachova told Jenna Douglas in a Schmopera blog interview (Schmopera.com), “I wanted to present the singers in a classic style of photography—albeit captured digitally. The images are not retouched and only enhanced with lighting; the singers’ natural essence creates the impact of the portraits.” Inspired by Miroirs autoportraits, a 1970s collection that paired photographs…

Compiled by B. Krsek. Legend: C: conductor; D: stage director; Des: designer; Ctms: costumes; Lght: lighting; Chor: choreographer; *new production; **world premiere; ***national premiere; Op: opening date; M: matinée. Information correct as of Jan 31, 2016. Programs subject to change. Against the Grain Theatre (Toronto) againstthegraintheatre.com A Little Too Cozy (Mozart/Ivany). C: Mokrzewski; D: Ivany; Des: Pesic; Lght: Hand. Przybylo, Chaieb, Sheppard, Frazer, Ryan, Wood. May 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21. Calgary Opera. 403-262-7286. calgaryopera.com. Die Zauberflöte (Mozart). C: Tweten; D: Herriot. Mercer, Luther, Russell, Braid. Apr 16, 20, 22. Canadian Children’s Opera Company (Toronto). 416-366-0467. canadianchildrensopera.com. Opera Cabaret - Joie de Vivre. Apr. 25. Canadian Opera Company (Toronto). 416-363-6671. coc.ca. Opera Interactive. COC Ensemble Studio, Millan. Mar 15M. Choral Journeys: Then and Now. Mar 17M. Four Tenors.…

CDs NIOBE, REGINA DI TEBE STEFFANI Erato: 0825646 343546 Cecilia Bartoli fans will know her 2012 CD, Mission, featuring selections from operas by Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), including several from Niobe, Regina di Tebe. Bartoli continued her Steffani voyage, shifting to his sacred music on the subsequent CD, Stabat Mater. Born north of Padua, Steffani received a good schooling as a choirboy, appearing regularly on stage by age 11. The Elector of Bavaria took a shine to him and appointed the teen as court organist in Munich. After studies in Rome, he returned to Munich, was ordained a priest and assumed diplomatic duties alongside his responsibilities as court chamber musician. It was for Munich that Steffani composed his first several operas, including Marco Aurelio in 1677. Shortly after the premiere of…

After a summer at Santa Fe Opera, where he sang Monterone in Rigoletto and created the roles of Owens and Ethan in Jennifer Higden’s Cold Mountain, bass Robert Pomakov's 2015/16 season started at Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Vodnik in Dvorák’s Rusalka, then in December took him back to the Metropolitan Opera—he's been on its roster since 2010—as Monterone and Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. He began 2016 at home in Toronto as Bartolo in the Canadian Opera Company’s Le nozze di Figaro, and looks forward to closing the season as Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’s staging (May-Jun). Next season brings important assignments, including Mathieu in San Francisco Opera's season-opening new production of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, his debut with Frankfurt Opera…

Company News The Board of Directors of Vancouver Opera have appointed Kim Gaynor as the company’s next General Director, effective Jul. 1 and succeeding James W. Wright, who is retiring after 17 years in the position. Born in Hamilton, ON, and growing up in nearby Burlington, Gaynor holds an MBA from York University in Toronto and began her career as a Touring Officer with the Canada Council. Her experience in Canada also includes stints as Administrative Director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Marketing Director of The National Arts Centre Orchestra and Managing Director of Opéra de Montréal. Gaynor joins VO after a decade as Managing Director of the Verbier Festival, the Swiss-based international music festival. She has also worked abroad as administrator of the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in London,…

He’s looking very different, Tomislav Lavoie, from his current operatic alter ego, the slavishly modish Girot, genial host of the eponymous inn in Le pré aux clercs. Gone are the ruff, the doublet, the puffy breeches, the little hat that resembles an over-yeasted brioche. Instead, he’s in 21st-century-casual mufti, sipping coffee at a corner table in the panoramically picturesque café atop Wexford’s National Opera House, where Hérold’s charming opéra-comique of 1832 is currently playing a festive run. How does it feel, I inquire, to wear the show’s most endearingly silly costume? “Surprisingly good!” he answers in his warm bass-baritone. “Those pants are actually really comfy. But that ruff collar—it’s very loose around the neck, but it absorbs sound, and it can be hard to hear yourself—for a singer, it takes…

Andrea Hill is the only singer in her family. "Apparently, both my grandmothers enjoyed singing in choirs, but that’s as close as it gets,” she says with a wry smile. The mezzo is enjoying a robust career in Europe, performing with Opéra national de Paris, as well as Opéra national de Montpellier and Milan’s La Scala. However, she recently returned home to Calgary for a couple of engagements. This past fall, she performed at the new Bella Concert Hall with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as part of its inaugural celebrations; in November, she appeared with Calgary Opera in Delibes’ Lakmé as Mallika, and gave an especially lush turn in the famous “Flower Duet” with soprano Aline Kutan. Poised and articulate during a recent interview, Hill admits she “always loved singing.”…

There are times when dramatic personal loss steers an artist toward her true calling. To Othalie Graham, the Canadian-American dramatic soprano now settled into a blooming mid-career, the death of her much-loved father looked so insurmountable she was ready to quit singing. She had only discovered the potential of her voice, connected with the right teacher and started auditioning for music schools a handful of years before, in her early 20s. When her father died, it looked like none of it was going to come to fruition. “He was 48, I was 25, an only child, madly in love with him, it seemed like we spent every waking minute together, my parents and I,” she recalls. “My mother was fragile. I thought I’d stay home, and that was it. But…