The Artist of the Week is Canadian conductor Simon Rivard, who will be conducting Giovanni Battisti Pergolesi‘s La Serva Padrona and Gian Carlo Menotti‘s The Medium with Opéra de Montréal on October 8th. This double bill performance features the singers of the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal (info and tickets here).
Simon is one of Canada’s most sought-after conductors both at home and abroad. In 2023, he was appointed music director of Edmonton Opera, the first in the company’s history. This season, Simon will return to Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre classique de Montréal and to Edmonton Opera to conduct Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. He will also be making debuts with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and Opéra de Montréal.
This week, Simon chats about his inspirations and mentors, the pros and cons of opera life and his favourite place to be (besides the podium). Read on to find out more.
Drink of choice?
A post-concert negroni! It was the drink of choice of my mentor, the late Sir Andrew Davis. I love to keep his tradition alive.
Favourite place?
The forest next to my father’s place in the Laurentian Mountains. I love everything about this magical place: the smell of the trees and moss, the call of the white-throated sparrows, the brooks… They evoke feelings of gratitude mixed with nostalgia.
Top 3 favourite operas?
Excluding the most obvious choices, I would say Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.
Who is a singer you admire that is currently working? Lately, I have been obsessed with Isabel Leonard. In addition to her glorious voice, she is unmatched in Italian recitatives. It’s always so free, funny, genuine and witty… Go watch Il barbiere di Siviglia or Le Nozze di Figaro on MET Opera on Demand!
What’s something most people don’t know about opera life?
People often underestimate the amount of work that happens before the first rehearsal – studying the libretto, learning the whole opera by heart, developing your unique connection to the words and music, integrating so many complex emotions, putting everything into muscle memory and so on. It’s a massive physical, intellectual and emotional undertaking that we start anew for each project!
Which role do you wish you could sing, but is not in your voice type?
I have always said that if I could be granted one wish, it would be to have the voice and stamina to sing a good Siegfried! As a teenager, I was obsessed with Siegfried Jerusalem‘s 1992 rendition of Nothung! Nothung! I wish I could do that!
Are there more musicians in your family?
In my family, all six children play a musical instrument! My sister Geneviève, in particular, is a terrific clarinetist. My sister Alice plays clarinet with the Montérégie Youth Orchestra. I’m very proud of her!
What’s your favourite classical group/orchestra?
I absolutely LOVE what Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and his group I Gemelli do with Monteverdi’s operas. Everything they touch turns into gold!
What’s the downside of being an opera artist?
I would say that the downside of being an opera conductor – and this is true for all traveling artists – is loneliness. Time on the road, away from our loved ones, can be very difficult. Fortunately, organizations I know well – TSO, Edmonton Opera – are a kind of replacement family. Also, I wish people talked more about the depressive state that follows the end of any significant opera production, because I suffer from that a lot.
Are you a cat person or a dog person?
Anyone who has spent even a small amount of time with me will know that I’ll stop any conversation if a Husky or a Shiba Inu passes by. I’ll lose all focus until the dog is out of sight.
What book are you reading at the moment?
I’m currently in the middle of Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday. Discipline is one of my core values when it comes to my artistic practice and my life.
Do you enjoy cooking? If yes, what is your best dish?
I really enjoy it, but I’m the type of cook who really needs a recipe (a score!) to get started …though I make a mean shakshuka.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Denise Panneton, my counterpoint teacher at the Conservatoire de Montréal, told us “When you hear a musical passage that moves you, analyze it and figure out why!” This piece of advice kindled my curiosity and a passion for the analysis of beauty.
What is the ultimate goal of opera?
To me, a “big feelings” type of person, opera is about conjuring emotions that are on the highest level of intensity and complexity. Scenes like the final trio of Rosenkavalier, where plot, harmony, counterpoint and vocal prowess come together as one, make us feel things that we would never be able to express in words.
What was the first opera you ever saw?
The first opera I saw was Robert Lepage’s production of Schoenberg’s Erwartung and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle at Opéra de Montréal in March of 2004. This coming February, 21 years later, I will have the privilege to conduct Bluebeard at Edmonton Opera with a dream cast (Russell Braun and Krisztina Szabó)!
Who inspired you to become a conductor?
My main inspiration for becoming a conductor is my former teacher Raffi Armenian. His devotion to being the composer’s advocate, his strong musical principles, and his dedication to opera and the human voice, have always been like a guiding star.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SIMON RIVARD
VISIT HIS WEBSITE
With Sir Andrew Davis
© Loie Fallis
Leading Orchestre classique de Montréal’s Messiah in 2022.
© Brent Calis
La Serva Padrona & The Medium
Atelier Lyrique de Opéra de Montréal
October 8
LA SERVA PADRONA – PERGOLESI UBERTO: Jamal Al Titi
SERPINA: Sophie Naubert
VESPONE: Angelo Moretti
THE MEDIUM – MENOTTI MONICA: Bridge Esler
TOBY: Ian Sabourin
MADAME FLORA (BABA): Camila Montefusco
MME GOBINEAU: Chelsea Kolić
M. GOBINEAU: Mikelis Rogers
MME NOLAN: Justine Ledoux
STAGE DIRECTION: François Racine
LIGHTING ENGINEER: Anne-Catherine Simard-Deraspe
CONDUCTOR: Simon Rivard
Come and enjoy an intimate, lively performance of two chamber operas performed by the rising stars of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal. La Serva Padrona by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Pergolesi’s Serva Padrona, a light, comic interlude delight the audience’s senses with amusing misunderstandings and pretense. The Medium, a one-act opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, transports us the macabre world of murder and chaos.
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