Spotlight on: Keith Lam

Interview

Keith Lam and I met in the way that many, many opera-loving Canadians meet: at Opera NUOVA. The Hong Kong-born, Toronto-based baritone is a member of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, and he has sung with the excellent Canadian Opera Company Chorus. As a soloist, Keith has lit up stages with Against the Grain Theatre, The Banff Centre, Aspen Opera Theater, and he wrote me recently mid-rehearsals for Le nozze di Figaro at Highlands Opera Studio.

Check out: Loose TEA Music Theatre

Interview

Loose TEA Music Theatre is heading into its third season, currently in rehearsals for its upcoming production, Dissociative Me, which runs August 18-22nd at RED Night Club in Toronto. The show is an adaptation of Gounod's Faust, with a new libretto by Loose TEA's Artistic Director Alaina Viau and General Manager Markus Kopp. I do like me some devilish opera.

Opera culprits: the villain who thinks he's doing good

Editorial

Just like in real life, the most terrifying villains are the ones who firmly believe they're doing good. Sure, there are sociopathic/sadistic types, villains who just like to hurt people. The more fascinating, and dramatically challenging villains are the ones who have reasons behind their villainry. Sometimes the reasoning is good enough to pursuade, to make audiences understand where they come from; with bad guys like Dexter Morgan, Walter White, and even fun version of the Devil, audiences are arguably rooting for them to succeed.

On the road: the Bicycle Opera Project

Interview

The Bicycle Opera Project has never been busier. Currently, the group of cycling singers are finishing up a month-long run of Dean Burry's new opera, The Bells of Baddeck, and on Monday they begin their East Coast tour (August 3-11 in Nova Scotia, August 14-September 6 in Ontario, all by bike!) of shadow box, a tight collection of Canadian scenes and by people like James Rolfe, Chris Thornborrow, and Tobin Stokes.

Meet the Friends & their Seven Deadly Sins

Interview

You've met The Friends of Gravity, of Toronto's Indie Opera T.O. collective. Now, see them in action. Next weekend on September 25th and 26th, The Friends present a sexy little number.

Check out: The Friends of Gravity

Interview

The Friends of Gravity is all about "expressive immediacy," producing music theatre in intimate spaces, and combining live action and music with film and photographic media. This fall, The Friends of Gravity presents Kurt Weill's fantastic Seven Deadly Sins, complete with silent film elements.

Talking with directors: opera's Marvel

Interview

American stage director James Marvel's work has taken him across the United States and Canada (including the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy and Opera on the Avalon), not to mention gigs in South Africa, Belgium, Italy, Chile, Poland and South Korea. In 2014 he started Marvel Arts Management, which has a roster of seven directors, four conductors, and four designers.

#UncleJohn takes Ottawa

News

Also heading to Canada's capital are the Cecilia String Quartet led by Music Director Miloš Repický. I was lucky enough to help out on the music end for a short while, a bizarre-in-a-great-way reunion of people and ideas. It's an impressive thing to watch such a strong cast reconvene; there's efficient work in a show-specific shorthand, but there are still questions about the space, the audience, the dialogue, all in the name of keeping #UncleJohn fresh.

Opera's nomads

Humour

Ever notice how the guy from out of town, the traveller, the wanderer-sort of character is often a bit shady and untrustworthy? This isn't limited to operatic characters, but you can certainly find examples in the repertoire (more on those below). More so than I expected, it's difficult to find any serious backing to my musings; although you can find the Fortune-Teller or the Pirate among the list of stock characters, neither the Vagabond, the Foreigner, nor the Travelling Salesman aren't really a stock character in the same way as the Senex Iratus or the Femme Fatale.

Gems: Beverly Sills and Danny Kaye

Humour

Because they're both fantastic, the legendary soprano Beverly Sills teamed up with actor/comedian/singer Danny Kaye, for a hilarious parody bit on all things opera. Sills and Kaye trade short clips of some of opera's most famous tunes. I love this kind of stuff, because it shows that a) Kaye knows his stuff (he actually conducted a few orchestras in his lifetime, with varying degrees of seriousness) and b) Sills is all skill, no ego.