As their spring opera, the vocal department at the Glenn Gould School presented a fully-stage production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Koerner Hall.
Koerner Hall is an unusual venue for staged opera. It has no backstage area, no wings and no fly space (although they cleverly managed to fly in a noose for Papageno’s “suicide” aria in the second act). It has, however, an extraordinary acoustic, and even the least mature voices were well-balanced with the orchestra and well-heard in the hall.
The production itself was good. Director Allison Grant wisely chose to stage the entire show on a single unit set designed by Kim Sue Bartnik and, apart from some projections by Nathan Bruce, allowed the audience to imagine the trials of Tamino and Pamina and larger stage pieces like the serpent in the opening scene. Grant also offered a framing device – a mute family drama over the overture where fighting parents (played by the same performers as the Queen of the Night and Sarastro) neglected their unhappy daughter. The daughter then followed the story of the opera through a beautiful pop-up book. This device was not particularly successful, as it left an additional character wandering aimlessly through random scenes of the opera without clear reason or intent. There was also an odd decision to move the intermission until after “O Isis und Osiris,” which might have been related to the size of resources available for chorus singing.
The Glenn Gould School orchestra, under the direction of Jennifer Tung, played beautifully. There were moments where the singers and orchestra seemed at odd over the tempos, and the winds were overwhelmed by the brass in the famous chords in the overture, but the strings in particular played spectacularly well. Their phrasing was clean and they played as one even in the most intricate sections.
As should be expected in a student production, the singers were young and at different levels of development, but they all acquitted themselves well.
Tenor Elias Theocharidis, who sang Tamino, has a robust voice that holds promise of a career in some of the more dramatic repertoire. Here, he had to work for control of his instrument in “Dies Bildniss,” but, as the voice warmed up, he was lovely in the “Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton” section of the first act finale. As Pamina, Olivia Morton had a lovely presence, although her voice is still missing some of the support that the role demands. She has beautiful high notes, but the voice lacked focus in her lower register.
Photo Credit: Michael Cooper
McKenzie Warriner as the Queen of the Night encourages Olivia Morton’s Pamina to kill Sarastro
McKenzie Warriner tackled the stratospheric notes of the Queen of the Night. She had strong presence as an actor, including making an interesting choice of singing to the dagger – almost fixated on it – during some of the coloratura sections of “Der Hölle Rache.” In that famous aria, she sang the grace notes incredibly cleanly (many a seasoned Queen of the Night could have taken pointers) and hit all four high F’s accurately, although her vowel colour seemed to change in her highest range. Warriner’s is a Queen of the Night that we will likely hear again. Of all of the performers, Matthew Li (who sang Sarastro) probably has the most experience. He has completed his residency at the Atelier lyrique de Opéra de Montréal and has already sung mainstage roles with the company. In the coming months, he will be singing both the roles of Leporello and Masetto with different Quebec companies. His Sarastro is beautifully sung, with resonant, well-projected low notes and a simple command of the stage.
Baritone Gennady Grebenchuk, as Papageno, was probably the least vocally mature of the principal singers in this production, but his lovely, light baritone timbre shows a great deal of potential, and he has a natural charisma on stage that speaks well for his future.
Although all of the other singers were strong, and I particularly enjoyed the characterization of the Three Spirits, I would like to single out two singers in smaller roles. Emma Pennell, one of the prize recipients at the recent Centre Stage competition at the COC, was a charming First Lady. They have great clarity of tone in this repertoire, and their personal magnetism made them stand out in the trio. Julia Kennific, who played Papagena, was also lovely, particularly in the scenes where she appears to Papageno disguised as an old crone.
As noted above, Kim Sue Bartnik’s set and Nathan Bruce’s projections were both attractive and serviceable. It felt like lighting designer Jason Hand could have used a few more instruments – and slightly more rehearsal time for his follow spot operators – but he worked well within the concert hall limitations at Koerner. Alex Amini’s costumes were beautiful. Special attention should be paid to her complementary but contrasting costumes for the Three Ladies and the Three Spirits. With both trios being performed by young women, it was important to establish the differences between the two trios through their costumes, and Amini handled that task capably.
Kudos, overall, to the staff and students at the Glenn Gould School on this production. It was a strong presentation of a classic Mozart work, and the work of all performers showed great promise for the future of this art form in Canada.
Photo Credit: Michael Cooper
Tamino faces off against the serpent in the opening scene of Die Zauberflöte at the Glenn Gould School
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Michael Jones has a BMus and MA from Western University, where he focused his studies on contemporary opera and theatre music. After “retiring” as CEO of SK Arts, he became Editorial Director of Opera Canada in 2024.
