At a time when even core repertoire can be called into question, General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin reflects on the issue of appropriation: As a Latino in Canada, I soon became aware of the unique potential of my position as General Director of two performing arts...
For my entire career, opera has been as reliable as Monday mornings. It just happens. Opera is big, with so many moving parts, with artists booked years in advance, so nothing could get in its way. The last two years has shown us otherwise. Postponements,...
This piece by Lydia Perović was originally published in the Final Word section of our summer 2021 issue. To check out the full issue, or to see our subscription options for exclusive content, click here. I had a lot of time this year to think about what factors...
When I first watched Against the Grain Theatre’s production of Gustav Holst's Sāvitri I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew I was excited to be watching an opera about the Sāvitri story, one of the first Hindu myths I learned about, and a favourite of mine. Sāvitri, a...
"You have such a pretty face." "You carry yourself so well." "You're not fat, you're beautiful." These are "compliments" that I have received countless times, delivered to me by countless people, some of whom spoke from places of good intention. The last one, however,...
Opera companies’ ‘forced’ embrace of digital content during the pandemic has, I think, caused many opera lovers to reevaluate their own relationship to ‘recorded’ opera, be it audio or visual. For most of us I’d venture, our initial exposure to opera was probably via...
If you couldn’t tell by his operatic adaptations of films like Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, and Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light, Canadian librettist Royce Vavrek is a movie buff. So, since we’ve all got more time on our hands than usual, I figured it would be an...
This piece was originally published in our Spring 2021 issue; for this and the rest of our exclusive content, peruse our subscription options. Due to the COVID pandemic there have been, for some time in Canada at least, no truly live, in-person performances, so we’ve...
This time last year, I was supposed to be in Frankfurt. It was my birthday, and also closing night of Barrie Kosky’s new production of Salome, starring my friend the excellent Canadian soprano, Ambur Braid. As an incredible birthday present, my husband had gotten me...
It's almost overwhelming, the amount of digital operatic content that has flooded the internet in the last twelve months. It's no doubt alarming, because online opera has, whether we admit it or not, been a placeholder of sorts for the live performances that are still...
Note: this article was originally published on Schmopera.com, and is being reprinted here with permission by the author. There was a funny little anecdotal post on r/opera, about the habits of basses during curtain calls. "I have noticed this in many performances,...
This article was originally published on Schmopera.com in 2017. It is being reposted here with the author's permission. Dear "listeners", Though you indeed are whispering, everyone around you can still hear the conversation you insist on having during the show. You...