In review: Pelléas et Mélisande

Review

Do you like Debussy? Go see this show. Do you like art? Go see this show. Do you like a coherent plotline that's easy to follow and sticks to a linear timeline? Maybe, prepare yourself before seeing this show.

May She Never Work Again

Op-ed

Georgian soprano and disgusting homophobe Tamar Iveri just got outed. In May of 2013, she posted an open letter (translated into English here) to Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who had condemned the violence that erupted during an LGBT activist rally in Tbilisi, Georgia. Tamar wrote to President Saakashvili, "yesterday, I was quite proud of the fact how Georgian society spat at the parade, organized by your (and not just your) team."

From Don Juan to #UncleJohn

Editorial

Don Juan. Love him or hate him, he's been around for at least 400 years. Why? Because he's a juicy character with which we've all got something in common. Everyone struggles with moderation in their lives; food, drink, and sex have forever played a role in our personal conflicts with desire and will-power. If you're mysteriously immune to the temptations of the Big Three, you're bound to be lured by something else. Or, you're a robot.

The pianist's tech week plight

Op-ed

I'm working on an opera right now, and this week, we go into tech week. It's a week where the role of the pianist becomes humbling. The tech rehearsals are so not about the music.

The COC's Summer Youth Intensive: Opera really is fun!

Interview

Each summer, the Canadian Opera Company presents the Summer Youth Intensive program, which is designed for young opera lovers, from grades 9 to 12. At the SYI, the participants bring their existing interests and skills, and refine them with the help of professionals in the operatic industry.

The language of snobs?

Op-ed

Remember that ridiculous clip from Glenn Beck's radio show about his trip to the Metropolitan Opera? That Neanderthal-like rant about how opera is full of "leftist" snobs that eat brie and say words like "lilt"?

Vania Chan on Airline Icarus

Interview

Canadian lyric coloratura soprano Vania Chan splits her time between Early Music like Mozart and Rameau, and New Music, like the upcoming Airline Icarus, opening in Toronto on June 3rd. Brian Current's opera, set to Anton Piatigorsky's libretto, tells the stories of several passengers on a Cleveland-bound flight.

In defence of pianists

Op-ed

I'm a pianist who works with opera singers. It's awesome, and I love it, and I can't stop doing it. But in all honesty, I must address some gross habits of disrespect and neglect with which pianists often have to deal. Enough is enough.

The Business of Passion

Op-ed

I kind of dread being asked what I do. That’s an awful thing to say, given what an interesting and unique job I have, but it’s true. At a non-music party [NMP, for your future reference!] or in a cab, the conversation usually starts something like this: “So you’re travelling a lot for work – what’s your job?”

When critics are jerks

Op-ed

Der Rosenkavalier opened at Glyndebourne on May 17th, and the opening night reviews ticked off some opera fans. Ordinarily, one would be happy that a bunch of critics can't stop talking about Irish mezzo Tara Erraught's performance of Octavian.