Reviews
Review: Emerging artists shine in Wilfrid Laurier University’s The Tender Land
Aaron Copland’s 1954 opera The Tender Land was given a strong and stylistically-astute presentation in this spring’s production by Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Music Opera Program. This far-too-rarely performed work is a simple ‘coming-of-age story,’ set in...
Review: Fresh voices, whimsical staging, deft conducting brighten Opera York’s Le nozze di Figaro
Now in its 21st season, Opera York continues its tradition of bringing opera to the York Region, which is roughly the area immediately north of Toronto and Highway 7. Two operas are presented each season. I’ve heard many fine young voices in the dozen or so years I’ve...
Review: The Abduction from the Seraglio reinvented at Canadian Opera Company, Feb. 7, 2018
Wajdi Mouawad’s much anticipated production of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio made its Toronto debut last night, having first premiered at Opéra de Lyon in 2016. In his program notes, the Lebanese-Canadian writer and director makes it clear his vision would...
Review: Jazzified HMS Pinafore at Edmonton Opera, Feb. 3, 2018
There’s a faction of Edmonton Opera supporters who would love to see an operetta every time they come to the Jubilee Auditorium—if not something by Gilbert and Sullivan, at least a production of The Merry Widow or Die Fledermaus. And those folks got their wish on Feb....
Review: Heggie’s Moby-Dick with Roger Honeywell, Utah Opera, Jan. 20, 2018
In composer Jake Heggie’s operatic treatment of Moby-Dick, there are significant obstacles when taking on the role of Captain Ahab. The entire part has to be sung on one leg, the other resting uncomfortably on a peg replacing the limb that the irascible captain lost...
Review: L’elisir d’amore, Vancouver Opera, Jan. 21, 2018
It has been nearly twenty years since L’elisir d’amore graced the Vancouver Opera stage, so the return of Donizetti’s ever-popular 1832 Tristan-und-Isolde-meets-Much-Ado-About-Nothing confection in this colourfully kinetic staging was eagerly anticipated. This...
Review: Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall, Jan. 21, 2018
When it comes to the live presentation of both orchestral as well as operatic works, the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall seems to exist in a league of its own. The service, which can be accessed on a one-time basis or via subscription, allows access to the...
Review: Christopher Alden’s didactic Rigoletto, Canadian Opera Company, Jan. 20, 2018
Christopher Alden’s production of Verdi’s Rigoletto originated in 2000 at Lyric Opera of Chicago where it was instantly retired after just one outing, not having found favour with that city’s conservative opera audience. Brought back to life by the Canadian Opera...
Review: Four Note Opera, Erato Ensemble, Vancouver, Dec. 9, 2017
What does an opera lover do on a raw December night in Vancouver, with no opera on the visible horizon until the new year? You grab at a ‘four note’ opera, as four are better than none! On Dec. 9 at the Orpheum Annex, Erato Ensemble presented Tom Johnson’s hilarious...
Review: Barbe & Doucets’ La belle Hélène, Hamburg State Opera, Dec. 31, 2017
One good parody deserves another. And so it was with the Hamburg State Opera’s revival of Barbe & Doucet’s 2014 production of Offenbach’s three act opéra bouffe, La belle Hélène (seen Dec. 31, 2017, the third of six performances, playing until Jan. 19)....
Review: Julie Boulianne in Massenet’s Werther, Oper Frankfurt, Dec. 30, 2017
Massenet's Werther (seen at Oper Frankfurt on Dec. 30, 2017), based on Goethe’s epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther written in Wetzlar near the author’s native Frankfurt, is one of those timeless operas which has enriched the coffers of opera houses the...
Review: Against the Grain Theatre’s BOUND, Toronto, Dec. 15, 2017
BOUND is Against the Grain Theatre at its best, blending old and new in an immersive operatic experience. With BOUND, Founder & Artistic Director Joel Ivany and Founding Member & Music Director Topher Mokrzewski have created a troubling exposition of an...