Party animals of opera

Humour

It's the holiday season, readers, and there's more excuses than usual to break out the wine, champagne, egg nog, and really old scotch. (Well, maybe not, since you're all artists.) So, let's pay homage to some of opera's greatest, booziest parties, and their onstage results. We're starting with what should really become the new Brindisi scene at opera galas.

Song guides: Widmung

How-to

We're continuing our Song Guides series with another guest post by mezzo-soprano and founding member of the art song initiative Lynx Project, Megan Moore. Schumann's "Widmung" is one of many songs Robert Schumann wrote for his wife, Clara. That's the fun part, and to get there, singers need to master things like singing legato in German, and pulling off a successful two-against-three.

"Vergesst uns nicht!": Adi Braun on Weimar cabaret

Interview

In the Weimar era, there seemed to be a cabaret for just about anybody. The dinner-theatre style of cabaret was common, says Adi, but there were also "comedy clubs, gay cabarets and political cabarets, [and] each cabaret likely had its own audience."

Hot topics: singers who scoop

Editorial

Recently, one of our readers posed a question about that particular vocal technique, commonly (and charmingly) known as "scooping". When a singer scoops up to a note, it means they start making sound on a pitch that's below the one they mean to sing. Pop singers do a similar thing, but usually with less vibrato. It's a stylistic choice, and it's often on a conscious decision by the singer.

Mireille Asselin's phone call from the Met

Interview

One week ago, Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin had one of those dream/nightmare moments for any understudy: she would be stepping in for Lucy Crowe (last seen in Toronto in the COC's Hercules), and going on as Adele in The Metropolitan Opera's production of Die Fledermaus, conducted for the first time by James Levine.

AtG's Messiah: a preview

Interview

Against the Grain Theatre is revisiting its innovative, "smash-success" production of Handel's Messiah, this time at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre, in partnership with the Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall. We caught a few moments of rehearsal, and chatted with the soloists and a few keen chorus members about adding movement and new meaning to Handel's masterpiece.

Nerding out: Mozart's blurry barlines

Editorial

All those squiggly lines that he wrote are erased bar lines. The duet is in 6/8 time, and in this version, Mozart has the downbeats lined up with words like "Männern" and "Liebe"; they're good words for downbeats, but Mozart apparently thought the pulse of this duet was a bit heavy-handed. So, he moved the all of the barlines over by half a measure, and the effect is pretty amazing.

Album review: Gino Quilico's Secrets of Christmas

Review

Quilico sings with a lazy ease that sounds fittingly cozy for a Christmas album. His voice is straightforward, clean, but with personality and an air of improvisation. In the more popular, crooning numbers, he made me think of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and those Lawrence Welk Show Christmas specials.

In review: Sondra Radvanovsky at Koerner Hall

Review

She spent the aria pouring her voice out into Koerner Hall, showing us the steel in her sound that travels up to her warm, thrilling top. Radvanovsky is one of those singers that seems of another generation, of the old-guard of bel canto, the never-ending sound, hold-that-note-forever style that's truly a rare find (in any generation, really).

Mozart ladies with a twist: Miriam Khalil & Shantelle Przybylo

Interview

In 2014, they put up #UncleJohn (based on Don Giovanni), featuring soprano Miriam Khalil as Donna Elvira; Khalil has since reprised Elvira in #UncleJohn for two subsequent productions, in at Toronto's The Theatre Centre and at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. The following year at the Banff Centre, fellow Canadian soprano Shantelle Przybylo took on the role of Felicity (also known as Fiordiligi) in AtG's A Little Too Cozy, based on Così fan tutte.