Soundstreams announces the cast of Julie

News

This November, Soundstreams present the North American premiere of Julie, the chamber opera by Philippe Boesmans, based on the 1888 Strindberg play, Miss Julie. "Depicting a flirtation that turns into an erotic danse macabre between its aristocratic title character and her father’s valet, August Strindberg’s play Miss Julie was considered too scandalous to be produced when it was written in 1888—only to become a defining classic of modern drama."

Go hear Majesty, Madness & Murder

News

Next week, Ontario audiences have a chance to hear two exciting young sopranos in recital. On June 16 (Hamilton) and June 19 (Toronto), Teiya Kasahara and Stephanie Yelovich present *Majesty, Madness & Murder: An evening of Italian Opera and Art Song*, to raise funds towards tuition for the Operavision Academy in Urbania, Italy.

Opera on Steroids: Budapest!

Editorial

In late May I had the opportunity to experience opera from an entirely different viewpoint from which many of us are accustomed to in larger North American opera centres. I spent 10 glorious days in Budapest, attending operas, concerts and recitals in a variety of stunning venues, listening to a wide range of soloists, orchestral and choral ensembles in productions that simply blew the mind of this Torontonian.

In review: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Review

On Friday, June 5th I hit up Artscape Wychwood Barns to see a small production of William Finn's 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Based on an improvisation play called C-R-E-P-U-S-C-L-E conceived by Rebecca Feldman, this show took the Tony Awards and Broadway by storm in 2005. I love this show, so it was a no-brainer to check it out.

Spotlight on: Michelle Siemens

Interview

Calgary-born mezzo-soprano Michelle Siemens was heard this past season on the Four Seasons Centre stage, as a finalist for the 2014 COC Ensemble Studio competition. Michelle has trained across Canada and in the United States, and I had the chance to work with her on one of her stops, singing Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Opera on the Avalon.

Spotlight on: Emily Peragine

Interview

I met Montana-born soprano Emily Peragine during her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College Conservatory, and she struck me immediately as a rare breed. Emily is a real lover of singing, and a refreshingly thoughtful artist. You can see more of what I mean by reading her beautiful blog. For a while now, I've been looking forward to the chance to introduce Emily to my readers, and she doesn't disappoint with this interview.

I just wanna do my nails

Humour

Pianists, am I right? I'm speaking for the pianists who have a #justgirlythings side, the ones who like to look like a half-decent person on top of showing off their skills at the keys. There's no shame in that, ladies (mostly, probably). I too have to make the decision between wearing Weitzman pumps and a) tripping on the way to the piano, and b) being able to use the damper pedal.

Spotlight on: Julia Dawson

Interview

Julia Dawson is a Canadian mezzo-soprano currently based in the United States. Julia is a hardworking, creative artist, and she's been keeping busy singing at the Academy of Vocal Arts, the Glimmerglass Festival, and Opera Philadelphia, to name a few. Get to know this smart singer:

The Future of Opera is Indie

Editorial

What we call ‘indie’ opera is not necessarily any more ‘independent’ than Big Opera – ‘grass-roots opera’ might be a better definition. Whatever you call them, what these organizations do have is a license to artistic freedom and experimentation that big-budget opera has had to renounce in order to maintain an outdated model of funding: subscriptions, high-profile donors, and swanky corporate sponsors.

Nico Castel's dialectic genius

On May 31st, the opera world lost comprimario tenor and linguistic authority, Nico Castel. I never personally had the chance to work with Castel, but I'm among the many who thanked him every day for his *Complete Opera Libretti Translation Series*, the invaluable anthologies of opera libretti, translated and phoneticized.