Bring back opera on late-night TV

Editorial

In an earlier post, I was hunting for operatic tributes to David Letterman as his retirement quickly approaches. Few and far between as they may be, there seems to have been a definite "Golden Age" of opera on late-night television. From the 1950s to the 80s, folks like Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Maria Callas, Leontyne Price, Richard Tucker, Martina Arroyo, and Beverly Sills made appearances on late-night shows with Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, and Merv Griffin.

Hat trick in the Amphitheatre

Editorial

The Free Concert Series in the Four Seasons Centre's Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre is winding down for the summer, and this week marks the end of the Vocal Series performances. At noon this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, you can catch some stellar singing, for free.

Meet the Amici School of Music

Interview

Toronto-based singers Leigh-Ann Allen and Michelle Garlough are the founders of the Amici School of Music. The school offers private lessons as well as Music Together® classes for kids 0-5 years old (and their parents). When they're not teaching, Leigh and Michelle are active performers on the opera stage.

Singing Jaden Smith's Tweets

Humour

Happy long weekend, guys. Here's baritone Zeffin Quinn Hollis singing tweets by Twitter's beloved Jaden Smith (who apparently deleted his Twitter account after he became fodder for people like Zeffin Quinn Hollis).

Artists, administration & reputations

Op-ed

Artists are such neat people because they're a creative bunch, not an organized bunch. Good, employable artists know that they can't be flighty, or bad at returning emails, or constantly late; yet it's not hard for me to imagine the artist that, left to his or her own devices, would probably keep odd and inconsistent hours, a messy workspace, and they'd occasionally get wrapped up in their work enough to forget to buy groceries.

Entire MFA class drops out of USC

News

I came across this pretty engrossing story yesterday. An entire class of Masters of Fine Arts students has withdrawn from their degrees, after ongoing administrative struggles, including misinformation and changes to the terms of their program.

(not quite) In review: The COC Ensemble Studio's Barber of Seville

Review

After much hype and much rehearsal, the young artists of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio had their go at The Barber of Seville on the Four Seasons Centre Stage. This is a yearly offering for the Ensemble Studio; for one performance a year, they step into the roles of a mainstage production, which they've also been following as understudies.

Opera on Letterman

Humour

In case you haven't heard, David Letterman is retiring from his late-night hosting duties tonight. So, I went to work finding some opera on the Late Show, as my small but mighty nod to Letterman and his 33-year career (22 years on CBS, 11 on NBC).

In review: Toronto Masque Theatre's Les Indes Mécaniques

Review

I braved the land of construction last night, heading to the Fleck Dance Theatre at Harbourfront Centre to catch the final instalment of Toronto Masque Theatre's 2014/15 season. TMT presents Rameau's Les Indes Mécaniques (ou Les Automates de Topkapi), a delightfully bizarre opera about girls and boys, and how they end up with each other.

Fach-isms & stereotypes for a reason

Humour

I do get the jokes. Stereotypes for a reason, and all that. It's interesting to note that even if singers of different voice-types don't align perfectly with the above cross-section, there are still a few fach-specific thought processes that I've noticed from my seat at the piano.