When the late John Crosby created an opera house in the middle of the New Mexican desert, just north of Santa Fe, one of the operas in its inaugural season (1957) was Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. As much as possible, Crosby featured a Strauss opera every...
Enjoy a snippet from writer Catherine Kustanczy’s feature in our upcoming issue exploring ‘light opera’ and where things stand at home for the unjustly maligned genre: Operetta has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts at various European companies, particularly at Komische...
Our 2018 Opera Canada Awards: The Rubies honoree Dominique Labelle was recognized in a New York Times article last week for her vocal artistry and depth of character portrayal (with a nice shout-out to Opera Canada!) Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, a classical music...
Back in the days before we expected Handel’s oratorios to be staged as operas, the smart comment was always that they were essentially the same thing; because the Church decreed that operas could not be staged during Lent, Handel instead tackled biblical subjects and...
After a seven-year absence, fully staged opera returned to FirstOntario Concert Hall for one night as BrottOpera mounted Mozart’s The Magic Flute (seen July 19) in an English-language production directed by Patrick Hansen. Founded in 2014, BrottOpera’s two-week...
It’s no secret that Robert Carsen’s production of Falstaff (seen July 13), which premiered at London’s Royal Opera House in 2012, has become an absolute must for zealots of Verdi’s ultimate opera, not to mention for unconditional Carsen fans. After some highly...
Opera Canada is proud to announce the three distinguished honourees who will receive the 2018 Opera Canada Awards for their exemplary contributions to the industry: Wayne Gooding, opera educator and Editor, Opera Canada (1994-2017) Dominique Labelle, soprano and vocal...
Now in its 9th summer, Ottawa’s Music and Beyond festival was launched by Ottawa cellist Julian Armour after his split with Ottawa Chamberfest which he founded 25 years ago. The newer festival takes place two weeks before Chamberfest, and tries hard to differentiate...
On 27th June 1918, the Canadian hospital ship, HMHS Llandovery Castle, laden with doctors, nurses and medical supplies, was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Ireland by German submarine U86. 234 people, including 14 Canadian nursing sisters died. There were only 24...
June 26th, 2018: The recipients of the 39th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards were announced last night in Toronto at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre, with the collaborative production of Orphée dominating the opera division with an impressive five-award win....
Cmajor: DVD 743308, Blu-ray 743404—”La Scala’s Orchestra under the direction of Marc Minkowski plays beautifully from start to finish…and his connectivity between singers and orchestra is seamless” —John Holland
ArtHaus Musik 109338—”Michèle Losier’s Dorabella is a beautifully sung and witty characterization of a young girl whose natural impulses churn to break through the veneer of her romantic idealism right from the start” —Wayne Gooding