Reviews
Royal Opera House
Andrea Chénier “This is opera at its finest””
Royal Opera House: Andrea Chénier
Edmonton Opera
Das Rheingold “It was compellingly forceful and intimidatingly compelling, and by the time he was cursing the gods who robbed him of his glorious future with the ring, this Alberich was perversely in charge, both operatically and narratively. Mazerolle sang his hope and fury splendidly.””
Edmonton —The phrase “Wagner chamber opera” sounds like an oxymoron, but that’s what Edmonton Opera offered its audience to end the company’s diverse 60th-anniversary season. Wagner’s first instalment of his Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold, is the shortest of the cycle’s...
Canadian Children’s Opera Company
The Hobbit “As long as imagination and creativity are alive, The Hobbit will continue to entertain and inspire the child in all of us for generations to come.”
From May 31st to June 2nd, The Canadian Children’s Opera Company (CCOC) presented four performances of Dean Burry’s The Hobbit at Harbourfront Centre Theatre in Toronto. Twenty years ago, the former Artistic Director of the CCOC, Ann Cooper-Gay, commissioned this...
Opéra de Québec
Die Fledermaus “The result was colorful, entertaining, and full of Quebecois allusions.”
Cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus was finally performed four times at the Opéra de Québec from May 11 to 18 in an entirely Quebec production, sung and spoken in French in a version inspired by Paul Ferrier's (1904). As the second...
Canadian Opera Company
Medea “an opera that seizes you by the scruff and makes you want to come back for more”
Greek myths might bring to mind settings of vast chalky columns bathed in Mediterranean light, but not so in this production of Luigi Cherubini’s adaptation of the tragic tale of Medea. After an exuberant, stormy overture, the curtain rises on King Creonte’s palace,...
The Little Opera Company
The Walk from the Garden Jonathan Dove “Taking the road less travelled with this gripping, metaphorical tale for modern times”
The Little Opera Company (LOC) took a bold leap of faith as it closed its 2023/24 season with the Canadian premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Walk from the Garden, a darkly ominous, allegorical church opera inspired by the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from...
Vancouver Opera
Carmen “Box office-breaking opening… the highest-grossing and largest scale production in the company’s 64-year history”
Carmen, the opera that Stephen Sondheim once called a non-stop hit parade, boasts a double cast of Carmen and Don José. Sarah Mesko starred opening night beside Alok Kumar as Don José while Ginger Costa-Jackson—stepping in for Carolyn Sproule who had to cancel at the...
Canadian Opera Company
Don Pasquale Endless high spirits
If you find yourself in search of a good few hours of worry-free merriment, the return of Don Pasquale to the Canadian Opera Company (COC) after a thirty-year absence will be all the balm you need. Donizetti’s charming, satisfying comedy lands with us in a production...
![Edmonton Opera Ayre “[McKenzie Warriner’s] soaring, penetrating, unhurried, clarion invocation…left the room in attentive silence, and then exuberant ovation”](https://operacanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/EO-Ayre-2024-0897-400x250.jpg)
Edmonton Opera
Ayre “[McKenzie Warriner’s] soaring, penetrating, unhurried, clarion invocation…left the room in attentive silence, and then exuberant ovation”
Edmonton Opera’s Artistic Director Joel Ivany continues his eclectic approach to opera company programming. After a traditional production of Carmen in the fall and a semi-staged Don Giovanni at the beginning of February, both at their mainstay 2,400-seat Jubilee...
The Metropolitan Opera
Roméo et Juliette “Theatrically, this is a good, tight, straightforward show”
The New York Times critic W. J. Henderson, back in 1897, punningly dubbed The Metropolitan Opera the “Faustspielhaus,” so dominant was Charles Gounod’s chef d’oeuvre in the company’s repertory. But another opera of Gounod’s, Roméo et Juliette, didn’t lag far...
Southern Ontario Lyric Opera
Carmen “Breathing new life into opera warhorses”
On March 2, Southern Ontario Lyric Opera (SOLO) presented Carmen at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC). The compelling characters, the beautiful music, and the emotionally charged story line have meant that Carmen – which had a disastrous premier in...
Toronto City Opera
SusannahDylan Wright, a “tour de force”
Carlisle Floyd’s 1955 opera Susannah is performed less often than it deserves. It’s dramatically well constructed and has an excellent score full of interesting musical details and with some terrific showpiece arias like Susannah’s “The Trees on the Mountain”. So, it...