In review: Puss in Boots & Berio's Folk Songs

Review

The Glenn Gould School presented its fall opera this week, a double bill of Xavier Montsalvatge's El gato con botas (Puss in Boots), and Luciano Berio's Folk Songs. The two shows are objectively different in musical style and dramatic inspiration, but director Liza Balkan writes that pairing El gato and Folk Songs "is a desire for storytelling that embraces surprise, humour, truth, freedom of play, and a willingness to be fearless and intimate with you, the audience."

Things more important than opera

Op-ed

Opera and music and theatre mean a whole lot to me, and I take seriously what I write about it. To talk about the arts during times like this, after the horrific attacks in Paris, seems to take more justification than usual.

Playing the long game: fostering artistic respect

Op-ed

The only necessary ingredient in bringing up a generation of respect for the arts is constant exposure. It's not a passive thing at all, and what makes me nervous is that it's largely up to the grown-ups to plant the seeds.

A great show at the AGO

Review

Last night I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario for their AGO Friday Nights series; this month, Friday Nights includes a little music with your art. Complementing the AGO's current exhibition of works by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), Painting Set Free, is a series of concerts curated by Tapestry Opera's artistic director, Michael Mori, entitled Music Set Free.

To Be Announced III: new music via Toy Piano Composers

Interview

Toy Piano Composers is a Toronto-based collective of composers, currently in their eighth season of concerts presenting their new works. Next Saturday, November 21st, they're holding their next event, To Be Announced III, a showcase of world premieres by five emerging composers, selected from their most recent call for works.

In review: Mahler & other beauties at the TSO

Review

I took a break from straight-up opera last night, and headed to Roy Thomson Hall to hear the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the latest instalment of their ongoing Decades Project, in partnership with the AGO, which looks deeply at the music of the early 20th century, last night in particular, 1900-1909. These years brought us a large orchestra, with lush, creative sound palates that are a clear predecessor to soon-to-come film scores. It's the culmination of all the Romantic music coming out of the 19th century, and all the experimentation and industry of the early 1900s. A simplified way of describing it is, "more is more".

Talking with singers: Jorell Williams

Interview

Jorell Williams is a baritone based in New York City, back home after a busy summer with Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Program, singing in productions of La fille du régiment, Rigoletto and the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain.

Don't miss: Julie

Editorial

Tomorrow night is the North American premiere of Julie, Philippe Boesmans' 2005 opera, presented by Soundstreams. The piece is based on the Strindberg 1888 play, Miss Julie, which has one of those fantastic premiere stories of scandal followed by success. I mean, in the 19th century, a story about a woman who tried to "train" her fiancé with a whip is pretty darn honest.

Live theatre & respecting short attention spans

Op-ed

The other day, I was witness to the stunning brevity of a first-grader's attention span. I spent a couple of days playing opera for kids, and I remembered how easy it was to lose an audience of young listeners; any lulls in the action, in the drama, any slow-ish music that goes on for just a bit too long, these are opportunities for kids to get bored during the show, and instead spot something fascinating on the opposite wall, or on the bottom of their shoes.

4 steps to taking (& fixing) notes

Editorial

One mark of a professional opera singer is his or her ability to take notes. At the end of a rehearsal, a singer may have a collection of notes from music staff, diction coaches, their teacher, even an enthusiastic donor or two. Taking notes "well" isn't necessarily about being a polite professional and not taking anything personally; it's about what a singer does next.