Kidon Choi
#RoundUp2014
Op-edThe dwindling calendar days of the year, the family time, and the potential hangovers tend to bring out our best days of nostalgia. In my case, it’s flipping through the collection of events I’ve had the fortune to attend over 2014, remembering the good, forgiving the bad, and noticing no ugly. In the spirit of wrapping things up, I offer up a list of my most memorable moments of the year. And since he’s contributed to Schmopera with his own sets of expertise over the year, I also asked guest writer Greg Finney to list his 2014 highlights.
Schmopera is One!
EditorialCheers, readers! There's yet another reason to celebrate during this festive season: Schmopera is one year old!
In review: Ah! Mikado!
ReviewLast night I went to see Toronto Operetta Theatre‘s production of The Mikado at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Neither Gilbert nor Sullivan show up frequently on my list of must-sees, due to personal taste and perhaps too many earworms (#iamtheverymodelofamodernmajorgeneral). But I had much faith (and a few friends) in the Canadian cast, and I absolutely wasn’t disappointed.
Christmas, of course
EditorialIt’s Christmas, guys. The Messiahs, the Christmas carols, the Hänsels and Gretels, they’re all fair game for this season of nostalgia. I was deciding on my pick for this year’s Christmas-ful opera, assuming I’d end up in the direction of Amahl and the Night Visitors, or going for an exception to the opera theme (it’s Christmas, after all) and voting for A Charlie Brown Christmas instead.
I sang along at Tafelmusik's Messiah
ReviewSunday, December 21st was 2014’s Winter Soltice, and it was an apt day to head over to Massey Hall and hear Tafelmusik’s 28th annual Sing-Along Messiah. I had actually never been to a Sing-Along Messiah, save for the obligatory singing-along of the Hallelujah Chorus at all the other Messiahs I’ve seen.
The COC's unexpected collaboration
Editorial"Mark down 2014 as the year the Canadian Opera Company put out an album with Broken Social Scene and Fucked Up. No, really." That's right. With The Globe and Mail and recording label Arts & Crafts, the COC is a presenting partner of Broadsheet Music: A Year in Review, a new (and free!) album full of songs about the stories and issues of 2014 that affected Canadians.
The Mikado and Champagne
EditorialLooking for something to tide you over between the annual stretch of Christmas-New Year's-Regular Life? Want a way to get some catchy songs in your head that aren't Christmas carols? Me too.
#UncleJohn: the Toronto story
I went to see opening night of Against the Grain Theatre's production of #UncleJohn, the re-imagination of Mozart's Don Giovanni by Joel Ivany. It was fantastic, but I'm hardly the unbiased media figure I should be in order to offer up a true review.
Cecilia Bartoli: "atonal music creates a barrier between composer and singer"
Did anyone catch Cecilia Bartoli's comments earlier this year, in an interview promoting her new album, St Petersburg? Cecilia is known for her singing of Mozart, Vivaldi, and plenty of long-lost songs from the 18th-century and earlier. Early Music folks are notoriously eccentric, and at their worst, annoyingly closed-minded about "modern music".
Tales from the score: Violetta
EditorialVerdi's La traviata is one of those operas, like Il barbiere di Siviglia or Die Walküre, that's so full of famous stories and tunes that the real significance of these moments is almost forgotten. But because it's Verdi, let's not dock him points for being obvious.