English pianist, coach, and mentor Liz Upchurch has much to celebrate this season. 2019 marks her 20th year as Head of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio—a position that has confirmed her place as a central figure and mentor among Canada’s opera artists. It’s...
“Given in bits.” Such were the words acclaimed composer Giacomo Puccini used to describe productions of Il trittico, his anthology opera. “Brutally torn to pieces,” was his less diplomatic approximation. Indeed, Il trittico, one of Puccini’s final compositions, has...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Laurent Pelly’s drab production of Massenet’s Manon will never be a favorite of mine (he’s got a far, far defter hand for comedy), but the performance I saw on Oct. 2nd—its third of the new Met season—managed to easily outshine its...
Canadian Opera Company’s (COC) season-opening presentation of Puccini’s Turandot (seen Sept. 28th) showcased the full force of legendary avant-garde director Robert Wilson’s genre-shattering impact on opera. As much as Wilson’s sparse, hard-edged aesthetic felt deeply...
Edmonton composer John Estacio’s immigrant Portuguese family lived on a farm north of Toronto. When John was a child his family’s budget precluded music lessons at first, but at age eleven they purchased him an accordion. In junior high a teacher he’d known since...
Following weeks of rumours, Alexander Neef, the current General Director of the Canadian Opera Company was formally announced as the new Director of the Opéra National de Paris in late July. He starts in autumn 2021, succeeding current director Stéphane Lissner, who...
“I got up at 5am, but it’s okay—I’m an early riser!” Maestro Carlo Rizzi is still adjusting to a six-hour time difference. The celebrated Italian conductor is currently in Toronto preparing to open Turandot, which marks the start of the 69th season of the Canadian...
With a double bill that opened the Dutch National Opera (DNO) 19/20 season on Sept. 5th, Robert Carsen celebrates the traditional tandem of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with a special twist. First, he begins with Pagliacci rather than...
Manitoba Underground Opera (MUO) rose again from the netherworld of a frigid Winnipeg winter with an all-new summer festival of site-specific opera. The festival, loosely themed Reflections of Ourselves, was performed in repertory style between Aug. 16th -24th at a...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Now in its twelfth season under the leadership of General Director Valerie Kuinka and Artistic Director Richard Margison, Highlands Opera Studio (HOS) presented an impressive array of events highlighting the talents of twenty-five...
“I think they liked it,” Anne Sofie von Otter congratulated Joel Allison after he sang his first piece, an aria from Handel’s dramatic cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo. And indeed they did. The audience at the Young Singer Project (YSP) Masterclass at the 2019 Salzburg...
Among the many cultural summer happenings occurring simultaneously in the province of Nova Scotia, the 15th annual Halifax Summer Opera Festival (HSOF) distinctly held its own. In the true spirit of a festival, it hosted events in several venues across the city...