Artists management pages: a PSA for singers

Editorial

So, take 10 minutes today to see if your management page really is a one-stop place for your current biography, your website and social media feeds, and great downloadable photos. You know, all that stuff that you worked hard at and for which you paid dearly.

What's your opera dress code?

Editorial

The opera world is often full of rich-looking theatres, expensive concessions, and wealthy patrons; but in truth, the vast majority of the artists making it all happen are not in the wealthy camp. They spend staggering proportions of their income on a great pair of shoes, a well-tailored suit, and a few great dresses that they hope will carry them through seasons of donor dinners, after-show cocktail parties, and other events where the starving artists need to look anything but broke.

Ariodante, or the Hebridean Handel

Review

As Dalinda, Ambur Braid delivers the most nuanced and moving performance. As the meek and quiet and withdrawn maiden, you're drawn in to her from the moment the curtain rises. Then she sings, and she pours every ounce of Dalinda's yearning, innocence, and devotion into every note she sang. She had the remarkable ability to blend into the scenery and be all you can see at the same time.

Review: Sondra slays in Bellini masterwork

Review

Obviously, Canadian-American soprano sensation Sondra Radvanovsky knocked it out of the park. The instrument is astounding, the acting is on point. Watching Radvanovsky sing this role is guaranteed to remain a highlight of the season, not just for me, but for Toronto as a whole. I could go on and on (and on), but the only way you're going to understand is really to get your butt down and hear it.

"A dove, as you know, is respected."

Review

At the back of the Natural History gallery, soprano Christine Buras was found in pigeon-like garb, curiously inspecting the listeners with twitching movements and unsettling direct eye contact. The story unfolded of a pigeon, whose feet had been cruelly severed by "country folk," and put "in the pockets of farm boys," as a good luck charm.

Opera in virtual reality: The Parksville Murders

Interview

"In episode 1, two young women (Sarah and Corrine) wake up confused and terrified in a dark, surreal, music-filled world of incongruities and evil intentions, a space where Time seems to have curved in on itself somehow. Grotesque, masked figures slowly gather around the two from the corners of the darkened room, ceremoniously awaiting the women’s fate."

Talking with singers: David Shipley

Interview

Shipley also sang in Tosca with Angela Gheorghiu ("She was lovely."), and in Nabucco with Plácido Domingo; this season, he'll join Sondra Radvanovsky in Manon Lescaut, and Bryn Terfel in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. "You're having a conversation with these huge figures of the opera world," says Shipley of the opportunity to work closely with top-tier singers in the industry.

Great love affairs: singers and pianists

Editorial

So, perhaps we've dubbed this Friday "Hug a Singer Day" for the pianists out there, and "Hug a Pianist Day" for the owners of lovely voices. Together, singers and pianists are our favourite example of something that's greater than the sum of its parts.

Spooky shows: The Tell-Tale Heart

Interview

"The old man's glass eye triggers her murderous rage – as she sings about the eye, she sees it and is held captive by its image – so the eye gets its own trance-like music. There's furtive, creepily joyful music while she describes her cunning murderous actions. There's a demented waltz that gets progressively weirder as the narrator's tenuous grip on sanity loosens."

Spotlight on: Owen McCausland

Interview

"Get used to listening to yourself. That recording of your last - lesson/coaching/recital/opera has important information and it will help you move forward. Video is even better. It can be hard, especially at first, but it will highlight the things you can’t hear and also help you forgive yourself for dumb mistakes."