Preparing for performance: what I didn't know I knew

Op-ed

I've always been amazed how the rehearsal process produces in me a higher awareness of what I have written. To think that I know every motivation behind every note and gesture is, for me, conceit. I need another's inquiries to drag out the nuggets of meaning and all the things I didn't know I knew about the piece.

Taking tweed seriously: lessons for the emerging opera composer

Op-ed

I could easily represent myself as a safe choice, saying, in effect, "I'm not going to be a problem for you. I’m not one of those crazy egocentric composers who is going to make ridiculous demands and make you sorry you wanted to work with me." I can assuage these preconceptions with a picture that pretty much sums me up: "I'm normal! I'm a nice guy! I'm wearing tweed, for God's sake!"

Faces in the crowd: opera's supernumeraries

Interview

"Being on stage with these performers is truly a magical experience. You learn very quickly that these people are like high-level athletes. Their instrument is wonderous when you're close to them. Also, you learn quickly that most of them are pretty funny and entirely approachable (they like to hear how wonderful they are all the time!). Onstage the performers are incredibly focused but also have fun if the opportunity presents itself."

In review: Suffragette

Review

Director Jessica Derventzis opened The Boatswain's Mate with a rousing British chorale vigorously waving Canadian Flags, Gay Pride Flags, and Trans Pride Flags - only to not introduce a single queer character. It seemed disjointed, out of place, and kind of pandering. While I respect that there are queers all over this industry, if you're going to wave our flags in your opening number of your show, we should at least be in the show somewhere. Ultimately, I felt like Dame Ethel Smyth's suffragette mentality and protest spirit was missing in the material.

Spotlight on: Danielle Buonaiuto

Interview

"A successful performance is happening when I can make some eye contact, elicit laughter or other commentary, feel energy coming back from the audience - in short, when everyone in the room is engaged in the moment with me. After such a concert, I'll often have audience members want to connect with me directly to talk with me about the experience."

In review: Hamlet at Glyndebourne

Review

Allan Clayton was sensational in the title role. From the first scene we get a sense that he is a black sheep to the rest of the royal family, and in the two acts of the opera he is in a constant state of unhinge - sometimes he is laughing and enjoying life with Horatio, but one comment from Gertrude can set him off into a frenzy. Clayton played Hamlet on the brink of a breakdown without sacrificing the beauty in his vocal production.

Spotlight on: Jennifer Davis

Interview

"Honestly, I think that most of my learning has taken place in a rehearsal room. It's there that you get to explore yourself and you also gain so much from your colleagues; their input cannot be emphasised enough. The conversations you have in those spaces are where a lot of my own self-discovery and development have taken place."

Talking with composers: Alexina Louie

Interview

"Inspiration doesn't just suddenly strike. Most often, I sit at the piano and improvise until I find a musical idea that is worth keeping. I will sketch it out and work with it. Sometimes when I am stuck on a passage unable to come up with a musical solution, I think about it when I am not at the piano. Sometimes I work out possibilities in my head and get back to the piano to realize them. I have pages and pages of drafts, most of which I don't use, but working out the ideas gets me to a new place."

Talking with composers: Juliana Hall

Interview

"Despite its difficulties, there is nothing I can imagine I would rather be doing with my life than composing art songs...it is my world, and it is where I belong."

Don't miss: Luminato's Bearing

News

"Bearing is the first production in which I am examining what Indian Residential School means - to myself, to this company, and more importantly to this nation. This is not something that happened to a few people a long time ago; what happened then echoes and reverberates through all our lives. That's what Bearing means - how do we carry this history? How do we come to terms with it?"