Elza van den Heever and the MET Orchestra: A stunning all-Strauss program
In review: shadow box
ReviewLast night I went with conductor, pianist, and man of Against the Grain Theatre Topher Mokrzewski to hear The Bicycle Opera Project, at, well, a bike shop. Curbside Cycle on Bloor West was the first Toronto stop along Bike Opera's tour of Nova Scotia and Ontario.
Suor Angelica at Oshawa Opera
InterviewOn Sunday, September 27th, Oshawa Opera presents Puccini's one-act, punch-packing tragedy, Suor Angelica. This in-concert production features Oshawa Opera's Artistic Director, Kristine Dandavino, at the piano, with a cast of Canadian talent. I spoke with Kristine, and with Ukrainian-Canadian soprano Natalya Matyusheva, singing the heartbreaking title role.
Plácido Domingo, Verdi baritones, and the ripple effect
Op-edThe complaint is: legendary tenor Plácido Domingo has retired his notorious Don José, Cavaradossi, and Otello, and has started taking on baritone roles (Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride, and the title roles in Simon Boccanegra and Rigoletto). The argument is that his singing these roles takes away a potential gig from a hard-working, vocally appropriate Verdi baritone.
Class Acts: Kiri Te Kanewa at the Met Centennial
If you're a singer, watching this video might give you the creepy-crawlies. It's Dame Kiri Te Kanewa singing "Dove sono i bei momenti" from Le nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera's Centennial Gala, 1983. Kiri sings this staple aria of hers as beautifully as you would expect.
Check out: Liederwölfe
InterviewI met Liederwölfe Opera Collective co-founders and delightful ladies Francesca Perez and Lindsay Michael at the Banff Opera Colloquium this summer, where they wowed Canada's opera biggies with their proposal for Opera Peep Show. The premise is delicious: a ticket gets you into a hotel bar, where you can hear a few opera samples. From there, listeners can get keys to various rooms in the hotel, each featuring previews and excerpts from various other companies.
Interviewing the Greats: Virginia Zeani
InterviewIt is no wonder that opera collectors call Romanian soprano Virginia Zeani "l’Assoluta." In May 1948, Zeani made her stage début in Bologna, singing Violetta in La traviata; she went on as a last minute replacement, never having sung with orchestra and with no rehearsals. In her career, she would go on to sing 648 times.
If you could accessorize with opera...
HumourAccessories designer Diana Broussard is introducing a new resin handbag this November. This doesn't seem like a topic worthy of an opera blog, but stay with me. The handbag comes equipped with an LCD screen, and wearers can play video and audio of their choice, whatever goes best with your outfit, I suppose.
Vote for a note: crowdsourced songwriting?
EditorialWhat do you get when you ask a crowd what a song should sound like? CrowdSound.net is currently completing a melody, generated one note at a time by people on the Internet. Users can vote for each subsequent note in a melody, choosing from a list of diatonic pitches.
Back to school opera: a practical glossary
EditorialThe summer winds down, and school and other seasonal activities (like opera!) are soon back in session. In anticipation of a brand new season of opera-going, I figured a practical crash-course was in order.
4 Opera scenes that should have happened
HumourAbove: Suzuki gets real with Cio-Cio San, just like we all wished she would (Not actually.) Ever watch an opera and think, "I wonder if those two characters would be friends"? Seems odd, maybe; I've always done it with TV and film characters, and when I got into opera, the trend continued. Like, I used to think about whether or not the Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow would all be friends if Dorothy weren't in the picture. Or in The Little Mermaid, what it would be like for Eric to hang out with Sebastian.