Spotlight on: Angel Blue

Interview

"Be yourself and be happy being yourself. Often times so many young singers in the opera world feel that they need to "fit in" with whatever is popular in the field. In slang terms we say, "do you!" Just be yourself and be happy being yourself, singing like yourself, looking like yourself, be comfortable with your voice...its strengths and its weaknesses. Even the weaknesses (if you choose to call them that) make you unique."

Standing out: Giles Tomkins joins the CCOC for The Hobbit

Interview

"The most fun is almost being a kid again. I grew up in choirs, not the CCOC, but it's kind of instilling this love of mythology and magic. I know it sounds corny but working with kids just bring such an energy to the rehearsal room. They bring a particular enthusiasm to the work which is infectious. You really find yourself becoming a kid again and re-instilling that love of theatre and stage."

The flip side of the baby opera singer coin

Op-ed

What if instead of considering this some sort of bastardization of great art, you were to look at it as some sort of pop inspired by opera? What if you recognize that popular songs tend to get covered in any genre — as well as across genres — and that this is actually a part of our classical heritage also, even if we rarely celebrate it?

Over the Misty Mountains: the CCOC on The Hobbit

Interview

"I think the hardest part was trying to figure out my character. For some characters, they're really specific in what they want and need, but other characters - like mine - you have to figure it all out on your own. I had go on the internet and find out a bunch of stuff on my character. "

Baby "opera singers" & getting angry for the right reasons

Editorial

And if the show's audience thinks they're witnessing musical history, fine. They don't know any better, and there are worse things about which to be uneducated. But Laura Bretan may now find herself courted by recording contracts by folks like Simon Cowell; that's exciting news for her, but it's in this girl's potential career where there could be true damage done.

Canadians abroad: the quarterly report

Editorial

It's been invigorating to hear such exciting voices that are new to our ears. Perhaps it's our bias showing, but the conclusion we draw is that Canadian singers are pretty fantastic. It's not a better-than situation, and we don't waste our time comparing the voices onstage over versus back home; but really, for a country that can struggle with niggling inferiority complexes, it's a neat thing to see that Canadian singers hold their own among the great voices working in one of the world's most established artistic centres.

Talking opera & mythology with the TFCO

Op-ed

Day led us through a survey of the similarities between the two subjects. He explained the idea of the sword as mystical icon, how the sword embedded in stone had its roots in Norse mythology, as Odin stuck his sword in the family tree and said only he who could remove it would rule. The dragon slaying, the underdog being worthy, etc., they are all related to the same source material.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, musicals, and great timing

Editorial

With a few years of unsettled music direction, and a real need to try something actually new (perhaps veering towards what many opera fans would call "pandering"), it seems like a perfect opportunity for the Met to take a serious try at adding musicals to their heavy roster of over 20 productions per season. There's perhaps an untapped, enthusiastic potential audience that would love to pair the grandeur and the chandeliers with the kind of onstage action that is less foreign to their eyes and ears.

4 ways to give notes & still be liked

How-to

Part of the job of the music staff working on an opera is to deliver notes to the singers. Notes, in this context, are basically "things the singer is doing wrong". If you're a music staff member with compassion, this process can leave you feeling at best like Toby from The Office, or at worst, Estelle Costanza from Seinfeld.

Taking a bow: curtain calls for your voice type

Humour

Bosom first, she glides across the stage like Morticia from The Addams Family. At centre stage, one hand presses in between her breasts, the other gracefully clutching at her skirts in preparation. One foot invisibly steps upstage under metres of fabric, and the leading lady descends into a curtsy so deep it could convince you that she's actually only a bust, perched upon a hydraulic office chair hidden beneath her tulle.