There’s almost always a certain splashy excitement attendant on a new production’s opening night, but sometimes it’s the next season’s revival that delivers the greater musical and dramatic punch. That’s what happened with Metropolitan Opera's Tosca, unveiled on New...
I’m an unabashed admirer of verismo opera, but I freely admit having qualms when Wexford announced a pairing of Franco Leoni’s L’oracolo (1905) and Umberto Giordano’s Mala vita (1892) to open its 2018 festival. I knew Leoni’s gory Chinatown pasta pot from its vintage,...
While David Alden’s production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor contains a few puzzling or unresolved aspects, it is powerful, memorable and effective. First seen at English National Opera in 2008, it has returned to London for a third run, having also been...
“The Empire holds its breath, awaiting orders.” These lines, sung early in the Canadian Opera Company’s world premiere of Hadrian (seen Oct. 17th), plunge us immediately into the opera’s primary conflict of an emperor torn between his duty to lead and the mourning for...
Canadian Opera Company’s season-opening, Eugene Onegin (seen Sept. 30th), was thrilling in its portrayal of gut-wrenching conflict and pathos as well as touching in its many sensitive and warm collaborations between orchestra and singers. Tchaikovsky’s three-act...
October 22, 2018 - The 18th annual Opera Canada Awards — 'The Rubies,' was a stupendous success. Our sold out gala brought together members of the opera community from across the country including Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montréal, Victoria, as well as guests from across...
From the dark, brooding tale of punishment that is Charpentier's Actéon to the ethereal splendour of Rameau’s Pygmalion, this Opera Atelier two-in-one production will bring mystical worlds of darkness and delight to life on October 25th. In fact—make that a...
Pacific Opera Victoria’s season-opening production of Beethoven’s Fidelio is musically magnificent. From minor roles to major, the voices are superb, and the Pacific Opera Chorus—mostly young, all volunteer—is impressive. The Victoria Symphony, too, played with verve...
At Canadian Opera Company on Oct. 13th, Daniel MacIvor and Rufus Wainwrights’ first collaboration, Hadrian, came to life as a fairly accomplished opera. It could have been a greater experience had it not been tied to an unimaginative production that appears to have...
For the first time in its 18-year history, the 2018 Rubies is honouring one of its own. Fittingly it’s Wayne Gooding, the recently retired editor of Opera Canada. Wayne joined OC in 1992 as a volunteer board member. Soon he was drafted to assume the role of Chair of...
Hadrian, Rufus Wainwright’s all-new operatic creation, is days away from hitting the main stage. As all eyes train on Toronto for its highly anticipated world premiere, the Canadian Opera Company is hosting a conference called “Hearing Hadrian,” aimed at exploring the...
Soprano and vocal pedagogue Dominique Labelle feels honoured to receive one of this year’s Opera Canada Awards (a ‘Ruby’). “It is humbling but heart-warming to be recognised by your country and your peers.” Dominique Labelle adds with a wistful grin, “in addition the...