The voice teacher series: Jennifer Casey Cabot

Interview

"Breath support is the foundation of everything we do as singers, so it is a constant focus in my studio to understand and integrate buoyancy, appoggio and breath pacing mastery."

Edmonton Opera delivers imaginative, inspired Don Giovanni

Review

If love is the soul of genius, as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once said, what would that make lustful abandon? In the case of one of opera’s best-known "bad boys", a fiery eternity of damnation.

Tristan und Isolde: drug-induced elegance

Review

Caught between duty, desire and despondence, Kaufmann's Tristan navigated with a melancholic and determined grace, building to fanatical splendor only to dissolve in hallucinatory turmoil. Whether he can sustain all of this vocally and emotionally in a full production is a question that the opera world eagerly waits to have answered.

When Don Giovanni is the "Don"

Review

There is a temptation for any director, therefore, to try something different or new. To quote Stephen Sondheim: "you gotta get a gimmick." In this case, it's not a gimmick but a brilliant conceit from director Josh Shaw that works on every level. Here, Don Giovanni is…well…the "Don" as in the head of the local mafia.

Pärt's Passio closes Seraphic Fire's passionate series

Review

Pärt's trademark, soaring dissonances churning uninterrupted, punctuated by tense, expectant silences and delicate instrumental interludes. During the lecture preceding Seraphic Fire's April 14 performance, Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley noted the symbolism behind this hardline continuity: a sense of predestination, advancing steadily through the traditional text toward the inevitable crucifixion.

Wendy Bryn Harmer Leads Sensitive, Inspirational Fidelio

Review

It is a great thing, then, that Boston Baroque has mostly found the right cast with which to lead this reading of the opera, especially with Wendy Bryn Harmer. By the end of it, I felt as inspired by Harmer's portrayal of Leonore as the other characters on the stage: and really, is that not the most important feeling one should have coming out of an opera where good triumphs over evil?

Confusing & creepy: Proving Up

Review

Personally, I felt like The Sodbuster was more of a symbolic spectre of death. Death must have been a powerful presence among settlers. It was an extremely perilous way of life, and people died frequently, often isolated and unknown.

Heartfelt and intimate: Manitoba Opera's La Traviata

Review

What I found really interesting and different, was that in the second act, and even more in his final duet with Violetta, Ms. Blue had to bring her powerful voice down in volume to his, to match the fact that he was crooning, not full-out blasting as you usually have to do to be heard over an orchestra. As a result, their tender final scene, as she lay dying, was amazingly touching and intimate.

Theatre company responsible for Canadian singer's death goes bankrupt

Op-ed

It's the question that crosses any touring performer's mind when the stage manager misses a stop sign or forgets to check their blind spot. You grip the armrests and wonder, "what if we crashed?" A year ago today, the members of one Canadian production found out.

Don Giovanni: "strengthened by reinterpretation."

Interview

"These classic opera scores, like any art form, are never static, and I believe they are strengthened by reinterpretation. We've all become used to hearing them in a certain way over the years, with the same orchestration, to the point that they have become museum pieces. My intention is to breathe new life into the scores, and I hope that audiences are able to gain a fresh perspective on the music as a result."