Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2024 från Opera Canada

In the meantime, we welcome a new Editorial Director, Michael Jones, who took the helm on July 1st. Michael recently resigned as CEO of SK Arts, Saskatchewan’s major arts granting body, after eight and a half years in the role. Previously he has held major positions with the Metcalf Foundation, the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and Array Music. Michael brings a wealth of opera knowledge, arts management and administration experience to this position. “I am delighted that Michael is joining Opera Canada at a critical point in its 64-year history. The publishing industry is undergoing tremendous change and no magazine can continue to operate in a traditional fashion. We believe that Michael has the necessary skills and experience to steer Opera Canada Magazine and its expanding website in new…

Originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Dufresne is making waves internationally. After completing Opéra de Montréal’s prestigious Atelier Lyrique program in 2022. She went on to join the Jette Parker Artists Program at The Royal Opera House in London, UK, where she has had the opportunity to perform numerous roles on the main stage, including the roles of the Frasquita (Carmen), Gianetta (L’elisir d’amore), and the Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel). Dufresne’s 2024-25 calendar is bustling with engagements near and far, including debuts with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany. With the LSO in December, she will sing Yvette/Georgette in La Rondine with Sir Antonio Pappano conducting an impressive cast which also includes Nadine Sierra (Magda), Serena Gamberoni (Lisette), and Michael Fabiano (Ruggero). In Munich, she…

… Singers, join the chorus you’ve heard from adolescence: Talent is overrated. Talent only gets you so far. Yet just like creativity, opera defines this loaded word narrowly. What if instead, we quantified all of our talents and earned with them? Not simply for individual wealth, the ripples of this newfound agency could transform our industry. In retraining and reframing the value of talent as abundant industries do, we too could compete, innovate and be more self-sufficient. “People conflate a lack of focus with a lack of talent, but the strongest predictor of future success is your perseverance or grit”, Scott Galloway, NyU, Stern School of Business. “But don’t mistake focus for passion. People who tell you to follow your passion are often already rich. Follow your talent. The accoutrements that…

THE MOOD IS FRIENDLY as people line up for drinks, chocolate bars, and classic pub food. The decor is nostalgic and cosy, and you have a choice of tables right up against the stage, further back on the floor, or up on the raised platform where the bartender is mixing some liquid magic. Next to the bar, someone is selling T-shirts. The casually dressed patrons rearrange chairs so they can sit with their friends, while couples hunker down in the easy chairs in the back corners of the room. The lights dim even more, and the mood is set for some open mic jazz. On walk the performers and they begin to sing…..opera. This scene is being replayed over and over again across Toronto, and in different parts of Southern…

WE ARE ALL IN THE ZOOM ROOM. avatars or screens of the performers and I see myself on screen - just my name, on the black box - next to the names or creative team. In the world of the Zoom opera, I have been put “on stage” with them; I have been brought into the performance space in a very new way. Yet what I don’t see is the other viewers: I am as close to the singing and the performance as I am separated from my fellow audience members. The forced isolation of the pandemic can prompt an aversion to engaging in yet more solitary experiences—craving tangible community. What kinds of pleasures can we get from opera that takes place between ourselves and a screen? Attending this…

JULY Glyndebourne, United Kingdom Persian-Canadian countertenor, Cameron Shahbazi takes on the role of Tolomeo in Handel’s Guilio Cesere at Glyndebourne. This stellar production includes Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (Cesere), Louise Alder (Cleopatra), Svetlina Stoyanova (Sesto), and David McVicar (Director), and Laurence Cummings (conductor). June 23-Aug 23. glyndebourne.com/events/giulio-cesare/ Grange Park Opera, United Kingdom Canadian baritone Brett Polegato stars as Prospero in the world premiere of Island of Dreams, a reimagining of Shakspeare’s The Tempest with music by Anthony Bolton, libretto abridged by R.D Hamilton & Anthony Bolton, and directed by Sir David Pountney. July 11-13. grangeparkopera.co.uk Westben, Campbellford, ON In celebration of its 25th Season, Gerald Finley performs with Westben, in his only Canadian performance of the year. Joined on the piano by his cousin and Westben Artist Director, Brian Finley, these…

THERE IS A DELIGHTFUL NIP IN THE AIR AS I walk down the cobble stoned streets towards the Rhine River. While I am enjoying the crisp spring weather my focus stays chiefly on my footing as my ankles have yet to become fully accustomed to the cobblestones. I walk down my block in the Altstadt making my way through Schillerplatz and past the Fastnachtbrunnen, a whimsical bronze fountain made up of hundreds of characters in celebration of the famed Mainz Carnival. I continue through Gutenberg Platz and past the Staatstheater Mainz, which has been my wonderful artistic home for the past fifteen months. Finally, I reach the Rhine. As a gal from Ontario who has spent many an hour sitting by various rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes etc., I have always been…

Returning to his roots in Grande Prairie, Alberta combined Matthew Dalen‘s two loves - opera and cocktails These directors are related to the globalized corporate executives whose dress, habits and jargon they enthusiastically ape. The local kind are more difficult to describe simply because they are more varied. Their only common characteristic is that they usually work nearby where they grew up, literally or professionally. Tenor Matthew Dalen returned to his hometown of Grande Prairie, Alberta in 2023 and since then has been accumulating both official and unofficial roles. It sounds like an aggressive takeover of the vocal scene until you speak with him and realize he’s just an extremely enthusiastic person testing the limits of his own endurance: Artistic Director of the Peace Region Music Series, Vocal Performance Consultant…

In Bizet’s passionate opera Carmen, Micaela is the sweet, innocent village girl who brings a touch of purity and hope to the otherwise tumultuous world of Don José and Carmen. Micaela, ever dutiful and kind-hearted, ventures into the dangerous world of the soldiers to deliver a message and a kiss from Don José’s mother, reminding him of his roots and the love that awaits him at home. Her character embodies innocence, loyalty, and the unwavering strength of pure love. Inspired by Micaela’s gentle spirit and her quest to bring a mother’s love to the forefront, “Micaela’s Kiss from Your Mother” is a refreshing, nonalcoholic cocktail that is sweet, bright, and innocent… Also delicious because pineapple is awesome. Ingredients • 4 oz pineapple juice• 3 oz ginger beer• 0.5 oz fresh…

“Prima la musica e poi le parole” (first the music and then the words) is the title of Antonio Salieri’s one act opera with a libretto by Giovanni Battista-Casti, highlighting the classic debate of whether the music or the text is most important in song. Richard Strauss also threw his hat into the ring with “Capriccio” where one of the first lines uttered by the baritone (who plays the poet Olivier) is the exact opposite “Prima le parole - dopo la musica!” For Michael McMahon, Montréal-based Canadian pianist, vocal coach, and Ruby Award recipient, there is no question: the text comes first. “It is the text which inspired composers to write the music… of course there are great melodies… but they still are saying ‘Casta Diva’. There is something they are…

For over 40 years, Esther Gonthier has been a leading figure and a stalwart in the world of Canadian opera. A much-loved and respected figure within the business, known for her infallible skills, her musicianship and her professionalism, she remains somewhat of a mysterious figure when it comes to the general public due to the nature of her profession, which is, after all, a behind-the-scenes job: that of vocal coach. It involves an immense amount of hours spent helping singers before the start of a production, assisting the conductor and playing for musical and stage rehearsals until the orchestra arrives a few days before opening night. Even then, the coach remains on board, listening attentively in the darkened theater, ready to give notes and make sure everything stays at the highest…