Talking with singers: Craig Colclough

Interview

Immaturity may not seem like it goes hand-in-hand with an artist who is serious about his work, but Colclough makes a great point. "If you get too serious or too full of yourself or too jaded," he says, "you start cutting off emotional parts of yourself that you need to use onstage." It's part of what's scary about singing or acting, to be an open, vulnerable person, in life as well as at work.

Don't miss Datong: The Chinese Utopia

Interview

"The Kang Youwei story, especially the Hundred Days Reform, has riveted modern Chinese audiences for more than a century, probably as a reminder of the setback for China's political modernization. The incident has been reimagined in movies many times."

5 opera mothers from hell

Humour

They're mean, mad, and even murderous: call it sexism, or call it a series of very loud Freudian slips, but the creators of opera have never been too kind to mothers. Still, Mother's Day is fast approaching; despite the generally poor representation they have in our favourite operas, these crazy mamas sure do get some great music.

"A very Bohemian undertaking": AtG's La bohème

Editorial

Poverty - and the limited options that come with it - is a major theme in the original story of 19th-century Paris. Today, young people across Toronto still have the same limitations, particularly those who choose to pursue the arts. "There are a lot of constraints on their ability to live," says Mokrzewski. "Bringing [La bohème] into this context exaggerates, almost, the underlying class stuff that was happening."

A week in the Amphitheatre

Review

It was Megan Quick's performance of Robert Fleming's The Confession Stone (The Songs of Mary) that left the deepest impression. She sang five songs from the Canadian set written for Maureen Forrester, and showed off an enormous, rich mezzo that seemed to shake the intimate Amphitheatre. Her performance was subtle and thoughtful, yet centred in the voice; she had us thinking of a young Jamie Barton, and we're excited to hear her on the big stage.

A fine mess: an emerging opera composer vs. the American new opera machine

Op-ed

I soon learned that cold-shopping an out-of-the-box stage work is a thorny, if not downright impossible, proposition. In the autumn of 2015, I reached out to roughly 200 small- to medium-sized American opera companies. In a 100-word email, I introduced myself and asked for a five-to-ten-minute phone conversation about trends in the commissioning and production of new opera (a subject that obviously interested me but was benign enough for an initial discussion).

Talking with singers: Angela Meade

Interview

I also feel like I've always connected with Norma's character. She, like Donna Anna, is a strong woman, caught in the politics of her situation. Even though she is the one in charge of the Druids, she is still expected to maintain decorum regarding her sexual life and especially with those in the enemy camp. She is a bit impulsive and falls in love deeply and quickly, and so when she is burned by Pollione the flames of betrayal, hurt, pain and desperation engulf her.

Infographic: exercising for your art

How-to

Since we're in the business of helping you all stay passionate about it, we're pleased to share this great infographic from the folks over at TakeLessons.com. In the midst of all the things there are to learn about singing and musicianship, it can be easy to skip the bare essentials, like keeping your body healthy, limber, and prepped for great artistry.

Don't miss: live in-concert recording of Harbison's Requiem

News

"This is an important work, reflective of a critical time in our history, and we are honored to be documenting it for posterity," says Tucker Biddlecombe, chorus director. "It has all the elements of the great pieces of music we all love, from Brahms-like fugues coupled with complicated and exciting harmonies, to the Dies Irae movement that hearkens to the great music of Verdi and Mozart describing the final judgement day."

A game of "would you rather" or, please prove me wrong

Op-ed

Oftentimes, the singers who spend most - or all - of their time singing the tragic operas by Puccini, Verdi, maybe a bit of Donizetti and Gounod, tend to have acting skills that are less well-honed. That's in comparison to singers who perform a lot of new opera, Baroque opera, and subtler stuff by the likes of Britten, Janáček, Shostakovich, and even Wagner and Strauss.