Erik Ochsner on conducting Star Trek: "goose bumps and tears are NOT optional!"

Interview

American-Finnish conductor Erik Ochsner has built himself a pretty cool career. On March 21st, he'll head to the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, for a viewing of Star Trek (2009) with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony playing the soundtrack, live, by Michael Giacchino. Ochsner is no stranger to combining popular culture with live music, having conducted concerts featuring music from Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, and Disney's Pixar films. I was eager to ask him about the significance of combining cultural elements of today with the symphonic orchestra of past centuries.

Proof that Music is Simply Unreasonable

Editorial

Musicians come in many kinds, and most work with a fascinating balance of pragmatism and imagination. We, like other artists, get a reputation for having our heads in the clouds, for making decisions based on emotion instead of reason. We are artsy-fartsy.

Go See This: Carla Huhtanen and Nicole Lizée in Tap:Ex Tables Turned

Interview

Tapestry Opera continues its 35th anniversary season with Tap:Ex Tables Turned, running March 20 & 21 at the Ernest Balmer Studio in the Distillery District. Soprano Carla Huhtanen (right) teams up with Montréal-based composer and turntablist Nicole Lizée (left) to present “a boundary-breaking, multi-media concert.”

St. Patrick's Day Potpourri

Humour

​Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! To give an operatic nod to the patron saint of Ireland, here are some appropriately-themed clips via YouTube.

Opera in Spring

Editorial

​With the official end of winter less than a week away, it's time to mark your calendars with some spring opera-going. Here are a few of the events I'm catching over the next couple of months.

In review: La belle Hélène

Review

Last night I went to see opening night of the Glenn Gould School's production of Offenbach's La belle Hélène.

The Introvert's Opera

Op-ed

opera is a fantastic industry in which to be an introvert. Those flashy singers are a small proportion of the team of people it takes to put up an opera. Assuming people fit into two broad groups, extroverts and introverts, I'd put most of the coaches, stage managers, designers, and orchestra musicians into the latter group.

In review: Tap:Ex Tables Turned, or Go See This Show

Review

Last night was the first of two performances of Tapestry's 2nd annual Tap:Ex (Tapestry Explorations/Experimentations), this time the program is Tables Turned, featuring the music of Montréal-based composer and turn table artist Nicole Lizée, with percussionist Ben Reimer and the spectacular soprano Carla Huhtanen.

A Sneak Peek at the Barber of Seville

Interview

Rehearsals for the COC's Barber of Seville started a few days ago, and I had the chance to sit in on the concept discussion, led by director (and founder of Els Comediants) Joan Font and associate director Tanya Kane-Parry. They showed off some costume and set designs, discussed the Commedia dell'arte, and spoke about this story's web of fascinating characters.

Does a Good Artistic Director Read Music?

Op-ed

Do musically untrained artistic directors add to the problem of alienation between opera and its audiences? Or are opera companies right to leave arts administration to those who make it their day job, and leave the art to the artists?