Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2021 från Opera Canada

Opera companies’ ‘forced’ embrace of digital content during the pandemic has, I think, caused many opera lovers to reevaluate their own relationship to ‘recorded’ opera, be it audio or visual For most of us I’d venture, our initial exposure to opera was probably via recordings, be they polished studio products, television or radio broadcasts, or more recently, DVD and then cinema HD transmissions. So, opera has long been consumed ‘one step removed’, but usually as an adjunct to the ‘live’ experience. In this issue’s ‘Final Word’, John Gilks is quite blunt in stating that opera companies will need to make a strong ‘value proposition’ for live performances if they’re to survive the awful, damaging closures of the past year. His opinion seems to fly in the face of a particularly…

1 Daily confinement routine? Morning physical warmup: Arrowfit, Pilates. Then voice, working on colour, extending range 2 Other creative expressions? Cooking! It’s a metaphor for singing. Learning a role is like slow cooking but you also have to be able to improvise 3 Audition prep? Since these are never in the best conditions, I enjoy what I can control: what I wear, including my shoes 4 A dream? Coming back to sing in Canada. I am booked to sing my first Bach “Magnificat” at the NAC in April, but who knows?…

…is Italian for “behind the scenes”—so grab a fan and maybe a sweater, because in these earthquake-shaken jewels that are Italian theatres, you’ll somehow be simultaneously sweltering and chilled. In this installment, we’re taking a COVID-friendly trip to Italy! As a dual citizen who works and sometimes lives here, I’m writing this dispatch from Abruzzo, between two auditions. There remains, perhaps, a mysterious exoticism surrounding Italy’s rather opaque opera market. So let’s have a peek, un occhiata and see come si fa. First, some context about the state of opera in Italy, as applicable pre-pandemic as it is now. Stereotypes are true. Italians are a food-obsessed, generous people. Their government is a shambles, the north is rich and the south is poor. Italians take enormous pride in their cultural heritage,…

Collaboration” might be the most important word in Perryn Leech’s vocabulary. The new General Director of the Canadian Opera Company comes from the behind-the-scenes world of opera production, having spent his formative years learning the literal and figurative ropes. Opera, he notes, is “the largest of the art forms: it has musicians, singers, technicians,” an art form wholly dependent on all its various parts working with an awareness of the demands of their respective roles within a greater whole. “I’ve always watched how things are put together,” Leech says on a snowy day in mid-December, “and touring with companies you get to understand what makes things tick. Turning the engine becomes easier if you understand all parts of the engine.” General Director Alexander Neef ’s early departure for Opera national…

APRIL 24, 1924 OCTOBER 12, 2020 As a four-year-old, I’d watch La bohème on VHS, reporting that “Miti lost her keys.” At six, I dictated inquiring emails to CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. When I grew older, I imitated the Queen of the Night until my fatigued parents finally enrolled me in a children’s choir. But as the recent loss of my grandfather, Ezra Schabas, sinks in, I’m realizing it was he who fostered the appreciation for opera that runs throughout my family. A devoted musician and educator, my grandfather lived and breathed music throughout his life of 96 years. On summer days in Muskoka, he’d sit back, listening to a recording of Leontyne Price singing “Summertime,” proclaiming, “What a voice!” He’d regale us with stories of playing under Britten and…

A Survey Of British Tenors Before Peter Pears MARSTON 5302 0-2 (3CDS) NEW RELEASES OF HISTORICAL vocal recordings from Marston are deliciously unpredictable. They drop ‘when ready’ and when they arrive, their lineups of bygone singers are chock-full of surprises. Call it the shock of the old. This latest multi-disc set is typical: 75 tracks presenting 32 tenors in opera, oratorio and art song curated from recordings made between 1901 and 1950. The common element is not that all are strictly speaking British tenors (Evan Williams was an American, though presented himself as Welsh), nor even that all are male (famed female tenor Ruby Helder is on the roster). The unifying feature over the four-hour playing time is the largely British, all Englishlanguage repertoire sung in a style that died…

MARCH Canadian Opera Company, Toronto On Mar. 5th, the COC introduces the team from Amplified Opera, the company’s new Disruptor-in-Residence, who lead an interactive discussion exploring how gender constructs affect opera professionals and the art form itself. Moderated by Aria Umezawa, stage director and co-founder of Amplified Opera. Available on the COC’s YouTube channel. Dalhousie University, Halifax The Fountain School takes on Johann Strauss’ revenge operetta, Die Fledermaus, in a staging made for video by Toronto director Anna Theodosakis. Set in their own student community, this Dalhousie young artists production will be available for streaming in March. APRIL Opera Atelier, Toronto Opera Atelier's Virtual Versailles Gala takes place Apr. 22nd. Performers include OA Artist in Residence Measha Brueggergosman and Artists of Atelier Ballet, Julia Sedwick and Dominic Who. Proceeds from…

FROM “SANTA LUCIA” to “Ho-jo-to-ho,” Canadian soprano Frances Ginzer enjoyed a 33-year career (1975-2008) that took her to the world’s most prestigious opera houses and concert halls, singing some of the repertoire’s most challenging soprano roles. Now comfortably into her second decade of a quiet but active retirement in her hometown of Calgary, Ginzer can look back on her career with satisfaction, gratitude, and perhaps even a sense of wonderment: “I was just your typical Prairie Girl—how did I go from being a painfully shy person to wearing Brunnhilde’s helmet and breastplate, I really don’t know!” Not only was Ginzer Wagner’s Warrior Maiden, but also an acclaimed Isolde, Senta, Leonore (Fidelio), Turandot, Tosca, Gioconda, and Jenůfa at La Scala, Covent Garden, Bayreuth and the Met, also singing with San Francisco,…

In Nov. 2020, a new production of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Oper Köln featured 28-year old Persian-Canadian countertenor Cameron Shahbazi as ‘First Angel/Boy’ opposite Québec soprano Magali Simard-Galdès. Benjamin’s celebrated contemporary masterpiece was a perfect vehicle for Shahbazi. Critics unanimously praised the sheer beauty of his tone, his angelic elegance and striking good looks. Eager to get acquainted with the young singer who left Canada after graduating from University of Toronto in 2015, I caught up with him in London. Hailing from Hamilton, Cameron received his initial training as a baritone at Wilfrid Laurier University with Kimberly Barber. After a year, he transferred to University of Toronto where he developed as a countertenor under Jean MacPhail. One of the master classes he attended at UofT stands out: Barbara…

THE CLASSIC Klosterhof Classic Frankfurter fare served up at an old Carmelite monastery STELLAR ROAST Bunca Oper Frankfurt’s unofficial coffee shop. Superb house roasted beans and the best cortado in town THE SPOT OF SPOTS Naïv Beloved watering hole; their massive craft beer selection hooked me PRE-OPERA BITE Pizzeria Montana Perfect char and chew; their crust might be the tastiest in town ARTISAN BEANS Holy Cross Brewing Society Rotating ‘guest’ beans from top European boutique roasters…

Among the many changes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic has been a transformation in the scale of live music. In certain locations, opera companies who would normally be in the middle of a season bulging with large-scale works now find themselves opting for smaller orchestrations of classics in order to keep performing whilst conforming to strict health regulations. Fullscore reductions have a long history, with many composers reorchestrating their own work as well as older compositions, sometimes to accommodate hall size, and frequently to fill pockets. Canadian companies like Opera By Request, Voicebox: Opera In Concert, and Tapestry Opera have long presented reduced works, operas in concert, or chamber operas as part of their respective mandates, but whether or not reduced versions will translate to larger organizations remains to be…