Bellini’s 1831 opera “Norma,” which opened the Metropolitan Opera’s season on Monday, is rich in themes that resonate in today’s political and social climate. Brutal, boorish clashes of culture and religion drive the story. The title character, a high priestess of a...
Lyric soprano Layla Claire, who hails from Penticton, B.C., was a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist program and made her debut on that storied stage as Tebaldo in Don Carlos in 2010. Since then, her career has advanced quickly,with...
On September 16, artistic director and conductor Sabatino Vacca launched Southern Ontario Lyric Opera’s (SOLO) 2017-2018 season with Puccini’s La Bohème. The popular crowd-pleaser is so well known that it can be a mundane experience—however, this is not the case with...
Vancouver Opera presents dramatic works onstage, but there has been some drama offstage as the company shifts from a traditional season to festival model – and back again, sort of. Two years ago, as it struggled with the same issue many opera companies deal with –...
A new opera is taking audiences back in time at Todmorden Mills. Each weekend in September, Tapestry Opera’s production of Bandits in the Valley is performed in the historic buildings and forests of the Mills. It’s about an hour long with no intermission, and the fast...
A new take on an old story Handel’s take on the Greek myth of Acis and Galatea received a refreshingly twenty-first century approach by re:Naissance Opera and Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre at the Annex Theatre in downtown Vancouver on September 16. Collaborating...
On October 30, Opera Canada hosts its 18th annual awards gala The Rubies. One of this year’s three honourees is Yves Abel, Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philarmonie. Originally from Toronto, Abel’s career spans over twenty years and is truly international....
2017 marks the 18th annual Opera Canada Awards, The Rubies, and among this year’s honourees is soprano Karina Gauvin. With an international career spanning over 25 years, she met with Richard Turp to discuss her achievements for the upcoming issue of Opera...
This was Karg’s Proms debut, and many of the songs performed - by Reynaldo Hahn, Charles Koechlin, Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc - were receiving their first performance at the Proms, although Karg’s programme is itself quite well-travelled: she’s performed...
No wonder tickets almost sold out as soon as they went on sale. Everyone in town seemed to be there. Thomas Quasthoff sat in the coffee shop, holding court with friends and fans. Simon Rattle got cheered when he came in sight on the stage, still in street clothes, by...
We were all eager participants, harangued lengthily and forcibly by a high priest of the Greeks to accept martyrdom. Some of us were actually absorbed into the crowds of the condemned citizens of Corinth transfixed by the priest’s ecstatic vision of freedom....
For the climax of the BBC Proms celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Butt and the Dunedin Consort performed Bach's St John Passion at the Royal Albert Hall in the context of Lutheran Vespers, with organist Stephen Farr performing chorale preludes...