Reviews

Second opinion: The Marriage of Figaro at the COC

Second opinion: The Marriage of Figaro at the COC

While I loved the added element of the character "Cherubim" representing the chaos that can be wreaked by the basest desires of each of the characters, I feel like we lost a lot of the original Beaumarchais and Da Ponte brilliance. A lot of the sexuality seemed gratuitous, I think in this examination of class and propriety, there has to be a level of decorum and innuendo, or it just looks like you're trying to "sex up some Mozart".

Greg Finney
In review: Squeezebox

In review: Squeezebox

In an eclectic program that only an accomplished company like Soundstreams can pull off, we were treated to Squeezebox, a program of instruments from the accordion family, which is a thing, and includes one played with your mouth (think harmonica meets tiny bagpipes and has a threesome with an accordion.)

Greg Finney
In review: The Marriage of Figaro

In review: The Marriage of Figaro

The comedy in Mozart's masterpiece isn't lost on Guth, but he makes a strong focal point out psychoanalyzing the characters, exploring how they perceive their relationships with each other, and how they deal with any emotion related to lust.

Jenna Simeonov
He said/she said: Songbook VI

He said/she said: Songbook VI

This past weekend marked the sixth in Tapestry Opera's Songbook series, which present new Canadian opera, performed by emerging Canadian artists. It sounds like a simple concept, but these workshop-showcase concerts are consistently an intense and memorable event.

Jenna Simeonov Greg Finney
In review: Siegfried

In review: Siegfried

Even since last season's Die Walküre at the Canadian Opera Company, I've been experiencing acute anticipation for Wagner's Ring Cycle to continue. In Canada, we have to be more patient than most about our Wagner consumption, yet last night I was sated by François Girard's production of Siegfried.

Jenna Simeonov
He said/she said: Mozart's Requiem at TSO

He said/she said: Mozart's Requiem at TSO

Greg Finney and I went to see one of Toronto's most anticipated concert events, presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Bernard Labadie returns to the TSO to conduct Mozart's Requiem, in an unique presentation led by director Joel Ivany, of Against the Grain Theatre.

Jenna Simeonov
Album review: Gino Quilico's Secrets of Christmas

Album review: Gino Quilico's Secrets of Christmas

Quilico sings with a lazy ease that sounds fittingly cozy for a Christmas album. His voice is straightforward, clean, but with personality and an air of improvisation. In the more popular, crooning numbers, he made me think of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and those Lawrence Welk Show Christmas specials.

Jenna Simeonov
In review: Sondra Radvanovsky at Koerner Hall

In review: Sondra Radvanovsky at Koerner Hall

She spent the aria pouring her voice out into Koerner Hall, showing us the steel in her sound that travels up to her warm, thrilling top. Radvanovsky is one of those singers that seems of another generation, of the old-guard of bel canto, the never-ending sound, hold-that-note-forever style that's truly a rare find (in any generation, really).

Jenna Simeonov
In review: Elektra

In review: Elektra

L'Opéra de Montréal is in the middle of a four-show run of Strauss' Elektra, the opera that I'm still waiting to see as a double bill on steroids with Salome, for a full night entitled, Women Who Behave Horrendously. It was a thrill to watch Yannick Nézet-Séguin conduct Strauss' delicious score with the huge amounts of energy he brings. He became somewhat of a meta-principal character in the show; it seems appriopriate, since the music speaks so much detail in this story of revenge.

Jenna Simeonov
He said/she said: Tap:Ex Metallurgy

He said/she said: Tap:Ex Metallurgy

Contributor Greg Finney and I went to Tapestry Opera's opening of Tap:Ex Metallurgy last night. It was one of those shows where one review didn't seem to do it justice. So, here's our She said/He said account of one of the coolest operatic events we'd ever seen.

Jenna Simeonov Greg Finney

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