Reviews
UBC OPERA RUSALKA “a youthful cast bursting at the seams with talent”
Opening on June 23 for a four-night run, this was the third production of Rusalka in UBC Opera’s almost six-decade history.The first—a lot more significant in retrospect than it ever seemed at the time—was just over 45 years ago in March, 1977, when it was staged by...
Toronto Operetta Theatre A Waltz Dream: “hugely entertaining staging”
Toronto Operetta Theatre (TOT) billed its season-closing production of Oscar Straus’s A Waltz Dream as a Canadian premiere, though that needs a little qualification. The book, lyrics and music in TOT General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin’s hugely entertaining staging...
Opera Lafayette’s Silvain Artistic Director Ryan Brown “came through big-time in the pit”
I’d very much missed Opera Lafayette, whose annual visits to New York from its homebase in Washington DC had been highlights of my pre-Covid decade of opera-going. The company had its ups and its downs, but one thing was utterly consistent: its commitment to...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 7 Aria finals, dessert
Eleven days of absurd artistic competition came to an end in a two hour squeeze on Thursday night. At the end of the marathon even our famously grateful Canadian audiences could not find the strength for standing ovations. I can’t imagine how the singers felt. I’ve...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 6 Aria semifinals, pasta course
The second semifinal started with a warning that we would first hear an overture; the previous night's unannounced one must have really freaked people out. The question going into last night’s concert was whether mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny and baritone Brian Murray,...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 5 Aria semifinals, first course
The competition moved to the big garish canoe, the Maison Symphonique, for the rest of the aria rounds; it’s hard on the eyes but cozier for big voices than Bourgie Hall. Most singers sounded much better than in the little room where their power can be alarming, with...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 4 Art Song finals, let’s call it a tie
The absurdity of comparing performers becomes the most acute in the finals. Typically, by now, token local competitors and other political choices are eliminated and your ears are left with more than they could possibly eat. This was certainly true in the Art Song...
Canadian Opera Company The Queen in Me “timely, provocatively entertaining addition to the genre”
Nikkei-Canadian Teiya Kasahara developed The Queen in Me over about five years, bringing the latest iteration with orchestra to a sold-out, three-show run at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre June 2-4. Co-produced by the COC, Nightwood Theatre, Amplified Opera (of...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 3 Art Song Semifinals
It was harder to enjoy the singers in the Art Song semifinals, the rep orbiting late 19th century romantic poetry like a donkey tied to a grindstone. Angst is universal: don’t we all go through a phase of uncontrollable sighing and obsessions with flowers, moonlight,...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 2 Art Song takes the lead
(and we taste disappointment for the first time) The second eight-hour concert hits differently. Repertoire begins to repeat, Bourgie Hall’s “discount sepulchre” vibe closes in; you glare with outrage and longing at the judges’ complimentary cushions. It becomes...
Tapestry Opera’s R.U.R. A Torrent of Light is “musically brilliant”
Nicole Lizée and Nicolas Billon’s new work R.U.R. A Torrent of Light was, overcoming many COVID inflicted delays, finally presented by Tapestry Opera in collaboration with OCAD University in the Great Hall at OCAD. The story concerns a couple; Dom and Helena, who own...
Concours Musical International de Montreal Part 1 It’s getting judgy in here
It’s good that music competitions are rare. It keeps them weird. I suppose for many people they are just concerts, which sounds like it would be nice. Since you’re reading this in Opera Canada you’re likely more familiar than most with competitions, which are one of...