Composer Umberto Giordano and librettist Luigi Illica stuffed their 1896 opera Andrea Chénier full of setting-specific details from the French Revolution. All the leading figures of that time are referenced, whether in a major role, a cameo, or in passing. Probably...
What Is Intimacy Direction? Theatre and opera lovers alike are familiar with the feeling of sitting in an audience and uneasily watching an act of sexual violence take place on stage. “Is the performer safe?” we ask ourselves and resume watching uncertainly. For...
When Opéra Comique announced it would be programming Jules Massenet’s Manon (seen May 13th) as part of their spring season I was overjoyed. Not only is it one of the most beloved operas of the French Romantic repertoire but it premiered in this very house in 1884 and...
Shanawdithit, with music by Dean Burry and libretto by Yvette Nolan is the story of Shanawdithit, last surviving member of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland who died before turning thirty, in 1829. The opera goes beyond simply narrating the last year of...
There are a lot of people working on Ghost Opera--the May 24th world premiere is a collaboration between Calgary Opera, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Old Trout Puppet Workshop. That’s why the Greek concept Ananke is how Judd Palmer, co-founder of...
In some circles, opera is perceived as a notoriously ‘colonial artform.’ But the creators of Tapestry Opera and Opera on the Avalon's Shanawdithit don’t believe in the label. After all, examples of opera—any piece of theatre that combines singing, acting, and elements...
Opéra de Québec announced details of their upcoming 19/20 season on Saturday night at the premiere of their current production of Verdi’s Nabucco. The season begins on Oct. 19th with Verdi’s classic, La traviata. The cast features a mixture of Canadian veterans and...
*tap tap* Is this thing on? Hello everyone. My name is Lydia Perović and I’m here to admit publicly that after years—nay, decades—of musical snobbery, I am coming out as a fan of Puccini’s La Bohème. SUPPORT GROUP FOR THE LOVERS OF SENTIMENTAL MUSIC: Hi, Lydia! This...
Vancouver Opera’s production of Giacomo Rossini’s La Cenerentola (seen May 1st) hardly put a foot wrong. Perfect casting, insightful yet genuinely funny direction by Rachel Peake, witty acting and above all, brilliant singing throughout added up to nearly three hours...
Arrigo Boito, the redoubtable 19th-century Italian poet and Verdi’s best known librettist, skillfully distilled and adapted Shakespeare’s Othello for the operatic stage but also, unfortunately for us today, flattened it into a morality play. Gone is Shakespeare’s Act...
Giacomo Puccini’s warhorse La Bohème is a tale about young artists’ whirlwind lives in the centre of the artistic world of 19th-century Paris. Audiences experience a window into their passion, ambition, and their poverty. Veiled behind Canadian Opera Company’s (COC)...
Early on in his career, a suggestion was made to tenor Russell Thomas that he only sing Mozart. “I thought that was the biggest insult,” he remembers, laughing. It turned out to be good advice. “When I was in college I sang a lot of repertoire that was probably...