Don't miss: Century Song

News

"Once I became comfortable with my ability as an opera singer, once I got to the point where I felt immersed in the form, then I began to question the form itself," says Bickersteth. "I started to wonder how I, as a black person singing white European roles from another era, connect personally to this art form. It became problematic to connect with what I was trained to sing. I love the music, but I began to feel constricted in my expression of it. I began to look for other ways to fuse my training and love of classical music, with my dawning awareness of other modes of expression."

Moving on & up: 3 ways my old career prepared me for my new one

Editorial

In my own experience, coaching singers is kind of like journalism. There's a foundation of knowledge that continues to grow, but with every new singer - and every new story - there's the possibility of having your mind changed.

Spotlight on: Caitlin Wood

Interview

"Being a good colleague will get you much further and faster than being just a 'good singer'. People want to work with talented singers but they also want to make the experience as pleasant as possible. Be on time, know your music, be respectful in rehearsals, and be generous with your colleagues."

Talking with singers: Sasha Cooke

Interview

Hers is a career that proves the value of working well with one's contemporaries, be they professional or academic. "You don't realize when you're young that everyone around you will continue to be around you. Treat people well, be grateful." Cooke knows well that no musician is an island, and "in a way, being a musician is a perfect heightened example of being human. We are all dependent on one another."

Talking with singers: John Chest

Interview

American baritone John Chest is having a pretty stellar season. He was just announced as a Richard Tucker Career Grant winner, and this June, he'll be heading to Wales to sing as a finalist in the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Taking the leap from freelance to full-time

Op-ed

Throughout my freelance life, more often than not, the workload-to-compensation ratio was astronomically out of balance, but it soon became apparent that this was more of the rule than the exception. And of course, most of us accept these conditions because this is how we get work and experience, in the hopes that it will lead to bigger and better gigs where that ratio will hopefully seem a little more civilized.

In review: Rowan Pierce & the London Handel Players

Review

The London Handel Players gave us a fresh program of Telemann and Handel, showing us the very long lasting friendship and musical relationship between the two composers. Adrian Butterfield opened the concert by sharing the story of these two law students who much preferred composing music to studying the law - and if you had a musical brain that produced the Messiah, wouldn’t you drop out of law school, too?

Kira Braun: "So much music, so little time..."

News

Toronto-based soprano Kira Braun is one of those singers whose unselfish love of her craft is crystal clear. Following its official launch at Gallery 345, Braun has released The Echoing Air, an album of music by Purcell, Poulenc, Bellini, and Schumann with pianist Peter Krochak.

Don't miss: the 2nd annual New York Opera Fest

Interview

"New York is a magnet for talented and ambitious people, and we are seeing the benefits of the flowering of civic opera companies in the 60's onward who exposed people at a very young age to opera, and who are now grown up and want to participate and create. We are also seeing the benefits of our more connected industry."

5 opera crossovers we're dying to see

Humour

The combination of his belching, singing, and loud drunken soliloquies is enough to wake up the grouchy Fafner, a dragon who values his sleep. Surprisingly, Falstaff's jolly demeanour diffuses the usual rage that Fafner feels upon being woken up; the dragon takes the knight up on his offer for more wine, and the two get along famously.