Nathan Shubert makes the most of Official Piano Day

News

Nathan Shubert, Vancouver-based pianist, session artist, and composer, is one of these artists. He has released his debut solo album, which includes "Saga Norén, Länskrim, Malmö", named after the protagonist of the Swedish/Danish television show, Bron (The Bridge). It's mesmerizing and more than a little bit beautiful - have a listen, and be sure to check out more from Shubert on Soundcloud.

36 high C's to perk up your day

Editorial

Tonight, we're pretty excited to hear Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez in recital at Royal Albert Hall, as part of the Rosenblatt Recital series. The tenor is famous for his stratospheric singing, and although one of his signature arias, "Ah, mes amis" from Donizetti's La fille du régiment isn't listed on his programme, there's always the promise of an encore...

Helpful singers: opera does house calls

Editorial

To singers and others immersed in opera, this may seem like a surprising way for people to seek therapy; our first reaction was to go through a mental list of arias, and imagine what operatic excerpts would serve to help people with their modern-day problems. It's an amazing test of time for the repertoire, and for the singers, who choose arias for people going through romantic troubles, problems with children or parents, bereavement, symptoms of depression, or the good old "sick of being single".

Don't miss: Conversations with Isabel Leonard

News

OPERA America continues its Conversations series on April 7th, with an intimate chat with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. At the National Opera Center, OPERA America President/CEO Marc A. Scorca will sit down with the star singer, fresh from her run as Cherubino in The Metropolitan Opera's Le nozze di Figaro.

3 life lessons that practice rooms can teach you

Humour

Music students and graduates, how many hours do you think you've spend sitting in practice room hallways, thumbing through your scores, eagerly looking up as a door opens, hoping to God that it's someone leaving, and not just going for a pee/water break. Remember that poster/meme that was popping up for a while, something about "everything I need to know in life, I learned in kindergarten"? The game of finding a practice room is sort of like that.

Party on the stage with Gustavo Dudamel

Humour

This video has made the rounds, both in its full form and in GIF-sized bites, since Gustavo Dudamel gave a New Year's Eve concert with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra and the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble in Caracas, Venezuela in 2007.

Talking with singers: Christian Van Horn

Interview

Carmen will mark Van Horn's third contract with the Canadian Opera Company, and it's a place he likes to be. "It's a world-class company," he says. "It always has been, but especially in the last five years, specifically since Alexander [Neef] got here, he's really turned this into a place to be. There's not a singer in the world that doesn't want to sing at COC."

Lucia Cesaroni: Isis and Osiris, the value of new opera, & "bad b*tches in charge"

Interview

"I don't want to keep comparing to the States, but we're behind. We hate to admit it, but we are behind - and that's okay. We're a younger country, we're a younger industry. We may be behind here, but look at all the other places where we're ahead. It's very important to me that we find a way to secure a creative, successful, tenable way to secure a future for opera in Canada."

Undergrad degrees & why you'll use that theory class after all

Editorial

It's true that "school", whatever that means to you, isn't for everyone. No formalized system of learning will fit all, and musicians perhaps have an advantage when it comes to examples of successful rebels of the education system. That's different than deeming a university course "not practical" or "pointless". It's a funny, bold thing to decide that you know that much about the topic, before finishing the course. Simply put, you don't know what you don't know.

Still stunning: Written on Skin

Review

As one hopes, there were new layers uncovered with our second hearing of Written on Skin. Martin Crimp's libretto juxtaposes a story set in the 12th century, where a woman feels stifled in her marriage, and a man responds with a tightened grip on his wife, with images of the 21st century. Car-parks, airports, and concrete buildings pull against everything we know about Agnès: a woman married at 14, never taught to read or write, with a husband that confidently and explicitly declares her his property.