Digital Svabda a ritualistic enigma, with some confusion

Review

I have to admit, after a while, the music did draw me in. This is an opera I suspect some people will have to sit with, but it will pull you into its language. And when it does, it does feel remarkably transformative afterwards.

Contributor Michael Pecak to make conducting debut at COT

Editorial

Next month, Pecak will make his principal conducting debut with Chicago Opera Theatre, in the world premiere of The Beekeeper. The opera is a one-act with music by Wang Lu and a libretto by Kelley Rourke that hints at mystery and a bit of spookiness.

A Merry Return to the Mainstage

Interview

Inside Calgary Opera’s preparations for The Merry Widow in spite of COVID.

Canadian pride: Boston's Svadba looks like a must-watch

Editorial

I have a special spot in my heart for this 2011 opera, often billed as Svadba-Wedding. I saw it in what I believe was it's earliest stages, in rehearsals for the first performance with Queen of Puddings Theatre in Toronto.

Opera creeps back to Canada & it reminds me of Beethoven

Editorial

In the before times, I was all for stories that had big emotions and swept me out of reality; now, it feels futile to expect that a great high note can affect us with the same ease that it did before we all lost ourselves to a public health emergency.

LYNX elevates its Amplify Series with new anthology

Op-Ed

To date, LYNX has worked with fifteen young writers and fifteen composers on new commissions which range in topic from experiences as a person with autism to climate change to favorite foods.

Enchanting Production Brings Calgary Opera Back to Live, In-Person Audience

Review

On this night, the company’s full roster of emerging artists (now branded as the McPhee Artists in honour of the company’s longtime Artistic Director and CEO) enchanted the audience with a whimsical production that the whole family would enjoy.

Helios Opera brings hilarious Service Provider home

Review

Service Provider is essentially an opera all about cell phone use; the characters are on cell phones for most of the run-time, pretty much ignoring everything around them.

Obscura Nox: Plato meets Mozart and Iman Habibi in remarkable short film

Review

Under Mary Birnbaum's assured direction this harrowing and cerebral story moves in a refreshingly linear way. The extraordinary melding of music, voice, dance and photography, not to mention Plato's philosophical discourse, have melded in a way that leaves us artistically and emotionally sated.

HGO Carmen "the epitome of unity"

Review

Everything about this production went out of its way to imbue the whole with artistic cohesion and integrity, even the elements that might have seemed vaguely avant-garde out of context.