Spotlight on: Michael Nyby

Interview

"The singer must be a master of their own unique and peculiar instrument, an adept musician with an intricate understanding of rhythm, pitch, function, gesture, etc., functionally proficient in a handful of languages, and a capable dramatic actor. To top it off, the singer must be all of these things at once."

Talking with singers: Leah Crocetto

Interview

American soprano Leah Crocetto is a Cardiff BBC Singer of the World, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Grand Finals Winner, a former Adler fellow at San Francisco Opera, and this season, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Liù in Franco Zeffirelli's iconic production of Turandot.

How it's made: stage combat

Interview

Like much of rehearsing live theatre and opera, stage combat direction is one of those elements that goes unnoticed until done poorly. Enter the fight director, who specializes in staging duels, tussles, and brawls that looks like the real thing. Choreographing onstage combat can be a long and difficult task, resulting in a sequence that lasts minutes at most.

Spotlight on: Jeremy Bowes

Interview

"The singing world is rich with possibility, and it needs every part of the machine to fire in order to succeed. That said, do not blend in, for heaven’s sake. Ruffle some feathers! If I hear tisking from one end of a panel, and see ear to ear smiles from another, I know I am on the right track."

Andrew Staples: Messiah and multi-tasking

Interview

Music for me is all about collaboration and context. When you sing and play this piece with new people in different places it has to evolve. Each performance is different from the last and as people bring their collective experience and contexts together, a new version comes alive.

"Vergesst uns nicht!": Adi Braun on Weimar cabaret

Interview

In the Weimar era, there seemed to be a cabaret for just about anybody. The dinner-theatre style of cabaret was common, says Adi, but there were also "comedy clubs, gay cabarets and political cabarets, [and] each cabaret likely had its own audience."

Mireille Asselin's phone call from the Met

Interview

One week ago, Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin had one of those dream/nightmare moments for any understudy: she would be stepping in for Lucy Crowe (last seen in Toronto in the COC's Hercules), and going on as Adele in The Metropolitan Opera's production of Die Fledermaus, conducted for the first time by James Levine.

AtG's Messiah: a preview

Interview

Against the Grain Theatre is revisiting its innovative, "smash-success" production of Handel's Messiah, this time at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre, in partnership with the Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall. We caught a few moments of rehearsal, and chatted with the soloists and a few keen chorus members about adding movement and new meaning to Handel's masterpiece.

Mozart ladies with a twist: Miriam Khalil & Shantelle Przybylo

Interview

In 2014, they put up #UncleJohn (based on Don Giovanni), featuring soprano Miriam Khalil as Donna Elvira; Khalil has since reprised Elvira in #UncleJohn for two subsequent productions, in at Toronto's The Theatre Centre and at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. The following year at the Banff Centre, fellow Canadian soprano Shantelle Przybylo took on the role of Felicity (also known as Fiordiligi) in AtG's A Little Too Cozy, based on Così fan tutte.

Talking with singers: Peter McGillivray

Interview

"I came to opera a little bit later," says McGillivray, who studied English, history, and Political Science before turning his attention to singing. "I think it was helpful for me to have to make the conscious decision to study this, because in the end you do decide that it's the only thing you can do."