Roundup, 2015

Editorial

2015 is almost done, everyone! Slightly incredulous over here. It means it's time for some retrospective writing about notable moments in the opera scene for yet another calendar year. 2015 started tangible conversations about looming issues around opera, the money it costs, and the reasons to produce it. Like water-cooler conversations, but with more substance.

Artists: they walk among us

Op-ed

I suppose it's the same as anybody with an interesting enough profession; I've probably stood in a Starbucks line with someone on Bay Street who just made himself $50M or something, or walked by a brain surgeon or two on my way up University Avenue. From my point of view, I simply saw another guy in a great suit, or a faceless person in scrubs outside a hospital.

Rehearsing "a Messiah that moves."

Op-ed

Of course, the final product was something greater than the sum of its parts. Each night, there was that great Against the Grain alchemy onstage, that amazing thing that happens when performers reach out to the audience, and the audience gives back. The proof is in the audience feedback, in truth. The run has stirred up the usual AtG-show Twitter buzz, full of people loving the novelty of this Messiah.

Andrew Staples: Messiah and multi-tasking

Interview

Music for me is all about collaboration and context. When you sing and play this piece with new people in different places it has to evolve. Each performance is different from the last and as people bring their collective experience and contexts together, a new version comes alive.

Bach was all about that bass

Editorial

It is not possible to overstate how crazy it would be to hear infrasounds in music for the first time. It would be like if tomorrow we discovered a new colour of visible light that we’d been overlooking since the beginning of time. A completely new response from a sense that had been giving you exactly the same feedback for decades. This sound, and therefore the music it's a part of, would make a huge impression on you.

Against the Grain Theatre: Banff-bound in 2016

News

Open Space is noticeably forward-thinking in its approach to training young artists. 13 young singers, 1 assistant director, and 1 assistant répétiteur will be selected for 5 weeks of music and staging rehearsals, lessons, coachings, and performance opportunities within the Banff community. "The focus of Open Space is to impart the skills of tomorrow to the young opera professionals of today."

Aria guides: Dalla sua pace

How-To

Ah, Don Ottavio. Is he the lame duck of Don Giovanni, or is he the quiet hero that doesn't get a lot of high notes? Whatever your opinions on the useless/heartfelt role of Ottavio, you can't deny that his arias are difficult, and often thankless. "Dalla sua pace" is an introductory piece to Ottavio's character; we get that he's sympathetic to Donna Anna's emotional highs and lows, and we know we'll never meet a more dedicated man when it comes to love.

Gems: Pavarotti's embarrassing onstage moments

Humour

In case you needed another reason to love The Pav, this video will seal the deal. In his accent that's about as charming as it gets, he answers audience questions about some of his most embarrassing moments onstage. Sitting in his underwear too long in Paris, and "fragile" chairs in which he sat. ("If I'm going to sit in that chair, I will break it.")

Party animals of opera

Humour

It's the holiday season, readers, and there's more excuses than usual to break out the wine, champagne, egg nog, and really old scotch. (Well, maybe not, since you're all artists.) So, let's pay homage to some of opera's greatest, booziest parties, and their onstage results. We're starting with what should really become the new Brindisi scene at opera galas.

Song guides: Widmung

How-to

We're continuing our Song Guides series with another guest post by mezzo-soprano and founding member of the art song initiative Lynx Project, Megan Moore. Schumann's "Widmung" is one of many songs Robert Schumann wrote for his wife, Clara. That's the fun part, and to get there, singers need to master things like singing legato in German, and pulling off a successful two-against-three.