Egyptian soprano Amina Edris is in Toronto, preparing for the first of five role debuts in her 2023/24 season, singing Mimi in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, running Oct 6 to 28. This week, she shares seminal moments in her career journey with us and reflects on the importance of investing in yourself as an artist.
Canadian soprano Kirsten MacKinnon is in her hometown of Montreal making her company debut with Opéra de Montréal kicking off their 2023/24 season with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which runs until Oct 1. She takes us to beautiful, colourful Montreal this week to explore mural-filled city streets, cafes with snuggly rescue kittens, and so much more.
Canadian-German soprano Anna-Sophie Neher is in Toronto, preparing to return to the Canadian Opera Company’s stage as Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio which opens this Friday, running Sept 29 to Oct 20. This week, we sat down with her to discuss her life and career, singers that keep her inspired, roles she’d like to be singing, and what it’s like to juggle family with a career in opera.
In Denise Wendel-Poray’s words: “Relyea‘s final entrance as the Commendatore is electrifying…his massive stature, charismatic presence, and sonorous voice, looming through the penumbra to deliver the final and fatal blow.”
French-Canadian baritone Hugo Laporte is in Montreal, preparing to reprise the role of Conte d’Almaviva in Opéra de Montréal‘s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, opening Sept 23. We caught up with him to reflect on early career beginnings, favourite composers, how he defines success and all things opera life. To Laporte, success is about “cultivating inner peace… and even better, sharing happiness with others!”
For opera fans who are also movie buffs, a highly anticipated event of the 2023 TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) is Seven Veils, a new film written and directed by Canadian opera director and filmmaker Atom Egoyan. It is based on his 27-year-old production...
Manitoba Underground Opera took audiences from heaven to hell this summer, with Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, its second production of its Odyssey 2023 festival. This year’s line-up wraps up with Verdi’s The Corsair being staged on deck of the historic Nonsuch ship...
Canadian soprano Jacqueline Woodley is in rehearsals in Vancouver preparing to sing one of Handel’s most ambitious cantatas, Apollo e Dafne with Early Music Vancouver. We sat down with Woodley to chat all things opera – from early career inspirations to what it means to be brave in music, and how she defines success.
Canadian-Armenian bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian is in San Jose, CA rehearsing for Opera San Jose‘s production of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet and making his role and house debut as Friar Laurent. This week, he takes us to San Jose, CA and shares his favourite spots with us – from sunny coffeeshops to iconic flea markets, and everything in between.
When La Traviata was first performed in Venice in 1853 it was a major disappointment. This was the age of Wagner and Verdi and big operatic drama. Verdi had disregarded the moral and artistic convention of his time, as well as the expectations of his audience; instead...
Operagoers may have been tempted to think that an opera from the likes of a teenage Mozart would be a lightweight thing, but in the hands of director Dan Rigazzi, Il Re Pastore (“The Royal Shepherd”) offered a fresh look at what it means to rule and who should do it....
This summer, in its 17th season, Halifax Summer Opera Festival brought enthusiastic young singers to town again to produce two double-cast fully staged operas: Serse (1738) by G.F. Handel and La Jolie Parfumeuse (1873) by Jacques Offenbach, the latter apparently a...