I had the good luck to see Rusalka in Montreal in November 2011, starring Kelly Kaduce. In my review I said

First and foremost, the production leans happily on soprano Kelly Kaduce, whose voice is always pleasant & in tune, and sometimes astonishingly expressive. The demands of the role are somewhat daunting if you consider that Rusalka is a mermaid who is transformed into human form, for a time bereft of her voice, and betrayed by the prince who prefers the heat of a high-maintenance princess to the unconditional love of Rusalka: a mute beauty who is as cold as the princess is hot. Kaduce’s physical beauty not only mirrored the innocent loveliness of the natural world from which she comes, but made this challenging story far more believable and absorbing.

Kaduce has a voice, a sensitivity to language & words, and acting ability. Her physical attractiveness adds an important dimension to her portrayals. And her range of roles is remarkable, as I discovered when I googled a bit further.

Anna Karenina (Kelly Kaduce) with her lover, Vronsky (Robert Gierlach). (photo: Deborah Gray Mitchell ). Click image for NY Times review

For her creation of the title role in Anna Karenina, Opera News proclaimed her “an exceptional actress whose performance was as finely modulated dramatically as it was musically… and her dark, focused sound was lusty and lyrical one moment, tender and floating the next.” For her Boston Lyric Opera debut in the title role of Thaïs, Opera News observed, “Kaduce sings with bell-like purity and silvery sweetness, and she suspends her legato with an effortless, sensual spin. A born actress, Kaduce is also a masterful illuminator of text.“

Kaduce seems to have done an amazing amount considering her youth. She created new roles in original operas such as Anna Karenina, Michael Berkeley’s Jane Eyre (another title role) , Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, Bright Sheng’s Madame Mao and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath. She’s done Donna Elvira, Pamina & the Countess in Marriage of Figaro, Desdemona & Violetta, Rusalka, Mimi & Cio-cio san, Susannah, Juliette, Marguerite, Salome, …and she turns 40 this year.

Does cutting it off like that make you want to hear more? Me too.

Kaduce is married to baritone Lee Gregory with a three-year old son. As she prepares for the title role in the Canadian Opera Company revival of Brian Macdonald’s production of Madama Butterfly in October, I ask Kaduce 10 questions: five about herself, and five about singing the part.

1) Are you more like your father or your mother?

I would say I have taken traits from both of them. My mother was a big influence in music for me. She plays the piano and is the local church organist in my hometown of Winnebago, Minnesota. I loved singing in the children’s church choir and had my first solo at 4 years of age in front of the congregation. “This little light of mine” A favorite of mine since it had fun hand actions that went along with the song! As you can guess I was certainly the loudest child in the group. My mother was the first to get me interested in playing the piano as well. On top of all that, she also was the pianist for the local theater group. I had my first role debut as Annie in 4th grade in the Winnebago Community Theater. A lot of my interest in music was initiated by her. I get my silly, playful side from my father along with my interest in home improvement projects. My father owns his own plumbing business and has a side hobby of renovating houses. That’s been with me from childhood. I enjoy doing hands on projects. He’s happy to be my phone consultant.

Another interesting side bar, I am adopted and have recently connected with my birth mother. Music has been a part of her life too. It seems I have had music in my genetics and in my environment!

Soprano Kelly Kaduce (photo by Devon Cass)

2) What is the best thing or worst thing about being an opera singer?

In the “Best” category it is hard to list them all! The act of singing itself is one of the biggest rewards. There is a very zen-like zone you get into. Some may call it spiritual or meditative. Not many people have a job that allows them to feel this state on a regular basis. Another perk is the many interesting and creative people involved in the field of opera. The last I will mention is simply the music! I love ALL kinds of music. Being a singer allows you to be SMACK in the middle of it. When you are required to learn a role and perform it over and over, you have the opportunity to learn pieces inside and out.

The worst things…well, one is the same as the best: The act of singing itself. There are days when you cannot find the zone, or you are under the weather, or just plain tired. On those days the act of singing can feel painful and frustrating, but you are required because it is your job. Another thing I have come to dislike is the act of travel. Not seeing new places mind you, but the packing, airports, trying to figure out how to travel with a toddler! I have a 3 year old.

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?

I do enjoy unwinding with all of the fascinating TV series that are out now. Game of Thrones, the Bridge, Nurse Jackie, Broadchurch, Wilfred, I could go on and on. Probably the standards that a lot of people watch. As for music, I have ALL kinds: Pop, Rap, Blue Grass, Jazz, etc. I enjoy running and listen to mixes while I run. Sometimes I will download talk radio from the National Public Radio station in the US and catch up on the news while I run. In truth, I rarely listen to opera or classical music outside of work. My husband and I will go to the opera or symphony on a date if we have the opportunity.

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

So many to choose from! I wish I had the skill and knowledge to build a house from scratch with my own two hands. I think I would find that very rewarding.

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favorite thing to do?

My ideal day of relaxation looks like this: Lay around the house, read and drink plenty of coffee. Plan and cook some delicious meals with fresh ingredients. Go for an easy jog or a yoga class. Wrestle with Colin, my 3 year old, on the bed. His favorite is “tickle toes airplane ride”. He has the BEST laugh. Then end the day with some tv watching with my husband.

Kelly Kaduce (photo by Devon Cass)

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Five more about preparing to sing Madama Butterfly.

1) Please talk about the challenges in Butterfly.

I do think Butterfly is more difficult than Salome or Rusalka. Salome technically requires more volume to cut the thick orchestra, but it is compact and the bulk of the pumping out of sound comes toward the end. Rusalka has more periods of rest built in. For the first half of Act 2, she is on stage but mute. One of the main difficulties of Butterfly is the amount of music she is required to sing with minimal time to simply be quiet. Also in most current productions, the intermission between Act 2 and 3 is removed which means even less time to rest. Another factor is her youth. Young people have A LOT of energy. Part of portraying her youth is the underlying energy. One of the vocal difficulties of Butterfly are the moments that require a lot of volume in the middle voice. It is a natural part of the lyric soprano voice to be able to create a lot of sound in the upper register, but not necessarily in the lower middle register. It can be quite tiring and requires a lot of concentration.

You asked about “big arias”. In fact there are 4 big arias and they are all quite different. Each aria gets progressively heavier and lower. The entrance aria sits the highest and has an optional high d flat at the end. The second aria is the most recognized, “un be di”. The third aria, “che tua madre” shortly follows un bel di and requires quite a lot of middle voice and dramatic use of the voice. The final aria, “tu, tu, tu” is considered the most dramatic and only goes to a high a. They are each challenging in their own right but this is an example of the very wide range of vocal colors a Butterfly needs to access each evening.

2) What’s your favourite moment in the opera?

I think my favorite moment in the opera is in Act 2. There is a light-hearted moment when Sharpless comes for an unexpected visit along with Goro and Yamadori. I love the contrast Butterfly gets to show here with her humor, sassiness and wit. My favorite characters to play are those that display a wide arch of emotions on stage that you get to share with the audience. This is one of those moments that is unexpected and a welcome shift from the seriousness of the drama.

3) How do you relate to the character and her plight as a modern woman and mother?

I get asked this question a lot regarding the characters I play and I’m afraid I always answer the same! It isn’t difficult to relate to any of the characters I play. It simply takes your imagination. It requires cultural and historical research so that you can create a clear idea of the situation in your own mind. Then the time to think and imagine their specific situation. You use this information to inform how you imagine the character may respond to a situation created by the text. But my secret is you do it “as yourself”, not as the character. How would YOU respond given the situation and circumstances. One of the privileges of acting is that it opens your mind to others. It fosters an understanding that although we may all look different and be living in many different situations, the basic emotions we all feel are the same and that commonality connects us all.

4) After taking on Rusalka, Butterfly and Salome, what’s your next big challenge?

My next big challenge is Tosca! I have seen many performances and sung a number of Puccini roles so I am looking forward to taking on this one! I have collected many ideas from other sopranos that I plan to incorporate and some unique ideas that have been brewing in my head as well.

5) Is there a teacher or influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

Baritone & voice teacher Lee Gregory

I’ve only had three voice teachers in my life. My first teacher, Anna Mooy laid the ground work for my interest in operatic singing. My second teacher, Penelope Bitzas, taught me how to sing and manage my voice. I currently get lessons with my husband, Lee Gregory. He is a baritone and voice teacher. Learning to sing is a life long endeavor and takes many years of study. I find it is difficult to go without an outside source to help listen and refine. As anyone has probably experienced, when you hear your own voice on a recording, it is not what you hear as you are producing the sound. That’s why I feel it is important to have outside input from someone knowledgable that knows your voice well. The voice is not a “set” instrument like a trumpet or piano. It resides in your body that is constantly changing and feeling different sensations. Therefore you need to constantly adjust and respond to it.

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Kelly Kaduce sings Madama Butterfly beginning October 11th at the Four Seasons Centre. For further information click.

It’s a coup when a great international artist comes to your city. But when the artist in question is one of the most talked-about singers of the year? AND she’s choosing to make her most important role-debut here in this city?

That’s a huge big deal.  The moment the Canadian Opera Company announced that Christine Goerke was coming to Toronto to star in Richard Wagner’s epic Die Walküre, in her role debut, might have been the highpoint of the tenure of COC General Director Alexander Neef so far.

Christine Goerke has recently elevated her singing to a new level, possibly because there’s a world-wide appetite for what she does. The audience response to her portrayal of the Dyer’s Wife in the Metropolitan Opera’s Die Frau Ohne Schatten roughly a year ago was rhapsodic, both in person and in social media. Those of us who couldn’t get there could only envy those who got to see and hear her in person. No wonder that shortly thereafter Peter Gelb signed Goerke to be the Metropolitan Opera’s next Brünnhilde. Ditto for Houston Opera.

But before NY or Houston, Toronto will be the lucky ones to hear Goerke in her role debut as Brünnhilde at the end of January in the remount of Atom Egoyan’s production of Die Walküre. Last season she sang Brünnhilde in concert with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, but this time the role will be fully staged.

Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera with Johan Reuter (click image for Christine Goerke’s website)

And so I had to ask Christine Goerke ten questions: five about herself and five more about preparing Brünnhilde at the COC.

Soprano Christine Goerke (photo by Gary Mulcahey)

1-Are you more like your father or your mother?

That’s a tough one… I have to say that I’m really not sure!

My Dad is *super* organized and likes everything “just so”. I’m a little OCD, and if things are out of place? It makes me crazy. My family laughs at me (and sometimes actually tilt pictures on the walls *just* a little to mess with me.. it completely freaks me out!) So, in that way, I’m like my Dad. He’s a very intelligent and self taught man.. so I hope some of that rubbed off also. Unfortunately, we lost my Mom when I was just twelve years old and she was just thirty eight. Though I don’t remember very much about her, sadly, I do remember her as a very gentle, caring, and sweet woman. I pray some of that has rubbed off and is evident in my parenting. I was lucky enough to have had an amazing stepmother in my life from the time I was eighteen until recently, when we sadly lost her as well. I tried to take some examples from her as well, as she was an amazing, giving, and joyful woman. I guess the old question of nature vs nurture comes in here!!

2-What is the best thing or worst thing about being a singer?

Best things…

The way that the music touches my soul. It’s an incredible gift to be part of something so much bigger than yourself.

That I can be transported from my life for a few hours.

The feeling – yes feeling – of the orchestra when I’m on stage. It’s physical, it’s visceral.

Finding that I have an “opera family”. When you settle in a repertoire, you tend to run into the same people over and over, and as lonely as it can get when you’re away? It’s so nice to know that you have “family”.

It’s FUN!

I get to be loud, dress up, and pretend for a living! What could be better???

Worst things…

Being away from my home and family. As a parent I doubt myself constantly about what is best for my children. I hear constantly about how incredible it is to show them that their mother is a role model.. someone who is doing something she loves and more importantly providing for her children…. but my heart breaks every single time I have to leave to go on a gig. Bless Skype and FaceTime. I try to be in contact twice a day with my family no matter where I am in the world. I do my best to plan my schedule to have chunks of time at home with my “monkeys”, and when I am home? Those kids *own* me. It’s so funny… I go from ball gowns to yoga pants. From riding in town cars to driving my mini van. My life is a series of extremes and I love it.

This is going to sound a bit insane and certainly like I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth? .. but I am honestly a little uncomfortable with all the attention that I’m getting now. I kind of liked it better when I was flying *just* under the radar. I just want to show up, be part of something bigger than myself, make music, create art (hopefully), and go home. The rest of this… not my thing. The “soccer mom” in me wins out here.

3-Who do you like to listen to or watch?

Well, as far as listening… I am from Long Island, NY, so if I don’t start my list with Billy Joel? I am officially betraying my “heritage”!

I adore Billy Joel, Queen, I love Earth, Wind, and Fire, Bruno Mars.. I tend to avoid listening to a lot of classical music unless I’m studying it for performances. I will say that as far as “who is the soprano you like to listen to” goes? I am a huge Varnay fan. Something about that voice just gets to me.

What do I like to watch.. I don’t leave for a gig without “The Princess Bride” and “Grumpy Old Men” on my iPad. No matter how bad my day has been? Those two movies always elicit giggles. My guilty pleasure is “Say yes to the dress”. I know, it’s silly… but I like pretty dresses! I also watch Storage Wars, Pawn Stars… kind of silly and light things. I find it’s a good way to take my mind faaaaar away from my job for a while.

I often find myself turning on the Disney channel when I am away. Just out of habit. In a weird way, it makes me feel as though I’m a little closer to my girls..

4-What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I wish I had the ability to be in two places at once. (is that an ability or a super power??)

I wish I was able to stop thinking and just turn my brain off occasionally. It’s so hard for me to walk away from things that are left undone. Sometimes? We just have to do that for our sanity, and I’m *lousy* at it!

I wish I wasn’t so hard on myself. I preach to my children that life is about learning. That perfection doesn’t exist. I wish I’d listen to myself and believe that! (because that’s right! … I just expect the impossible of myself.)

5-When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

I literally sat staring at the screen for a good five minutes thinking about this one, and realized my answer is … “just relaxing and not working? Is that a thing??” I’m a working Mommy! I guess the answer is sleep????

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Five more about undertaking the role of Brünnhilde for the first time in the Canadian Opera Company production of Die Walküre

1- Talk for a moment about the vocal challenges of undertaking your first Brünnhilde here with Maestro Debus & the COC.

Well, first, taking on what is the pinnacle of Wagner roles for me is both incredibly exciting and utterly terrifying! Wagner requires a rock solid technique, stamina for days, and irrational fearlessness! I was told from the time that I was twenty five years old that I would be a dramatic soprano. I thought, “Wow, that’d be cool!” .. but at that age, I was far away from actually singing this repertoire. I made a very happy living with Handel and Mozart operas, and suddenly – around age thirty two? Everything started to change.. and change *fast*. My voice got bigger/louder, deeper, more colorful, and it required me to retool the way that I was singing. It also enabled me to start into this repertoire. I had hoped *so much* to sing this role someday. So few women have the honor… the fact that I am actually doing this? It’s literally a dream come true.

COC Music Director Johannes Debus (photo: Bo Huang, 2012)

We are just a week into rehearsal for me, but working with Maestro Debus is a total joy. When you work with a conductor for the first time, you never quite know what to expect. With a role like this? You hope and pray that you will have a great connection with the conductor. I can honestly say that at the very first rehearsal, it was clear to me that I was safe. Feeling safe in this repertoire is huge. It enables us to take chances. To know that if I look down, Maestro Debus’ eyes will be on me. He’s an amazing musician, and more over? A lovely colleague. That is a big gift.

I’ve also been looking forward to working with the COC since I found out about this contract. I have heard nothing but raves from my colleagues about how incredible the company is, about the amazing people who make up the company, about the acoustics of the house, and about the artistic level here. I can happily report that it’s all true. To be prepared for Toronto in the winter I was told to show up with my score, Sorel boots, and a down coat. Add a flying horse, and I guess I’m all set!

2- What’s your favourite moment in the role of Brünnhilde?

This is going to be odd. I’m not actually singing. No one is! Just after I finish singing my role, there is the big “hug” moment in the orchestra in the third act. It is so unbelievably heartbreaking that I have yet to get through it without sobbing like a two year old. That’s technically in the role, isn’t it???

(..a girl loves a good ho jo to ho, too… ;)

3-Please talk for a minute about your pathway as a modern woman portraying a legendary immortal, a sung role in a stylized opera.

Interesting question… because I find her to be quite human (a huge part of her problem as an immortal… for now.. oops spoiler!). When we singers step on to the stage? We have to leave our daily lives behind. I find Brünnhilde to be one of the most remarkable characters in all of opera. Over the course of the three operas that she is in, she goes through every emotion, every joy, every sadness… In this one, she is young. The teen who knows everything, and knows better than her parents. Well meaning, always… but finding her humanity, leads her to a punishment of … well, humanity. I think that over the course of the three operas, we see how something amazing can come from a perceived tragedy. If that’s not a modern idea, I don’t know what is..

It may seem that the Ring Cycle is about Gods, and Dragons, and Castles… and it’s the stuff of lore. It is! .. but when you look past that? It’s about personal relationships that run very deep and have so much truth for each of us every single day.

It’s why I love it so much.

4-The opera world can be every bit as comical or tragic as the stories portrayed on its stages. Please comment on the business and how you observe it unfolding as an artist and as a citizen.

Wow… well? I can say that I have zero patience for ego and .. well, sorry but .. BS. Politics also. As I said earlier, I’m about showing up, creating something uplifting, and hopefully doing my job to transport the audience for a few hours. I never judge singers when I read about strange demands, etc. This is a reaaaaally weird job that we have, and it takes a lot of nerve to get out on stage and do what we do. We have critics at us left and right, and every person in every seat has a right to their opinion about what we do. That’s not easy! So if someone needs something specific to do that job? I say more power to them.

In the USA (and around the world), we’ve had a very scary run with the economy and we have lost a lot of our smaller companies. I am doing my best to help when I can, but I feel that we must support these smaller companies and bring *live* performances to people. To give them the opportunity to experience this amazing art form live. To have that visceral feeling coming over them as the orchestra starts, as the singers begin.

I would also really like to see less of folks listening with their eyes and more listening with their ears.

5- Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

I have been really lucky to have two women who have held my hand while I worked through my technique. From my start, I had the amazing mezzo Elaine Bonazzi, and for over ten years now the incredible soprano Diana Soviero. I can’t thank Diana enough for instilling the thought that *all* singing has to be based in a bel canto technique in me. It is the gift of longevity.

I also have to mention my manager, Caroline Woodfield. It’s a blessing to find a manager that understands that my family life is a huge part of my career planning, and that carving time out to be home is a necessity. She is a great “business mom” and I’m so incredibly grateful to have her in my life.

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Christine Goerke is Die Walküre for seven performances with the Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre, January 31- February 22nd.

The Valkyries, Susan Bullock as Brünnhilde and Adrianne Pieczonka as Sieglinde in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Die Walküre, 2006. directed by Atom Egoyan, Set and Costume Designer: Michael Levine (Photo: Michael Cooper). Click for information about the 2015 production

I’ve been hearing the name of Baritone James Westman quite a lot, of late. He’s been in new operas such as Silent Night just this past November in Calgary, or Tovey’s The Inventor.

James Westman plays Lt. Gordon in Calgary Opera’s Silent Night (Photo: Brigitta Diehl)

He was soloist in Messiah with the New York Philharmonic in December, and is fresh from playing Enrico in Pacific Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor in February. Later this month Westman sings the Count in Opera Lyra’s Marriage of Figaro in Ottawa, and sings Germont in the Canadian Opera Company’s La traviata to open next season.

But first on the occasion of his Count in Opera Lyra’s Figaro I ask Westman ten questions: five about himself and five more about the production.

1) Are you more like your father or your mother?

I am definitely more like my mother, Doris Levy-Westman. She recently passed away, which was very difficult for me, as she was a huge influence on my career. She taught music in over twenty regional school houses. A fantastic fiddler; she chorded piano for June Carter Cash, Ward Allen and the Tommy Hunter Show. She was a relentless yet graceful stage mom who nurtured a deep appreciation for all music in my youth. Many weekends were spent on the 1771 heritage farm jamming with great Canadian fiddlers, country stars and even classical musicians. I believe they came for her famous baked goods, nevertheless, I devoured the live music creations often joining in with my fiddle and voice! Her carefully crafted guidance in my youth enabled me to perform and record with Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Zander, Vienna Boys Choir, American Boys’ Choir, Paris Boys’ Choir, Boston Symphony and the Toronto Symphony; all before I was 13 years of age!

My traditional father desperately wanted his son to be a hockey playing farmer. He discouraged my mother from accepting a full scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto to become a farm house wife. He seldom attends my performances. He inspires me greatly in all my ‘Verdian’ paternal roles!

2) What is the best thing or worst thing about being an opera singer?

James Westman’s Ford with Bryn Terfel’s Falstaff in Houston

The worst thing about being an opera singer is the traveling – being away from loved ones, friends and family can be disheartening. As a dad, you miss first steps, graduations, first girlfriends, etc.

Just a few years ago I was only home for 25 days out of 365. It is a challenge, yet I must be creative in finding and pursuing ways to be involved in my families lives. My sons, Liam and Hardy are award-winning musicians and furthermore, play hockey at the highest AAA provincial level. I use Skype to coach, parent, and give them as much foundation as I can. My partner Dini is the absolute best and I am nothing without her! She guides the home front to outstanding success.

The best thing about being an opera singer is the beautiful pleasure of creating, healing and communicating with an audience. It is the best job in the world. It is the responsibility of all artists to relentlessly serve the audience by removing, revealing or escaping stresses of everyday life. Like a doctor loves to heal the body, I love to heal the souls of my patients (the audience)!

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?

I have collected a huge selection of old operatic 78-RPM records. I have converted many to my ipod and listen to them daily. I love to analyze the traditions of the greats like Warren, Battisti, Caruso, Etc. I play them on any of my several gramophones. The colors and nuances that these early 20th century artists produced continues to astound me.
In general, the current state of opera has little respect for true ‘bel canto’ singing; it’s all about how loud can you sing above an overblown orchestra in a hall usually built for traveling amplified musicals. It is a shame because the audience suffers the most from this trend – of course, there are exceptions to every rule!

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?



I am currently [a few days ago, when James sent his answers] performing Lucia di Lammermoor with the great Tracy Dahl (Pacific Opera Victoria) and her coloratura is simply amazing. Furthermore, I studied for many years with Dame Joan Sutherland; I would love to have the ability to sing high dramatic coloratura for just one night. It may be the old boy soprano in me… but to float with that much pure power would be divine!

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what’s your favourite thing to do?

To catch one of my sons hockey games, to hear them practicing their violin/cello. To spend long walks through the bush on my family farm. I never take these family moments for granted.

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click for more information about the Opera Lyra production

Five more about playing Count Almaviva in the upcoming Marriage of Figaro in Ottawa.

1) Please talk about the challenges of singing the role of Count Almaviva.

I would like to tell you that Count Almaviva is a challenge, but frankly, compared to some of the Donizetti/Puccini/Verdi roles I perform, Il Conte is a relative walk in the park. I think the recitative causes me the most grief and yet they give me the greatest rewards.

Like in all music the skill of any musician is achieving precise cooperative dynamics. Creating the perfect arched crescendos and diminuendos while maintaining precise Mozart articulation is a challenge with wonderful rewards.

2) The Count is a character who is sometimes seen as the villain of the piece, sometimes as a bit of a rogue. How do you approach your portrayal?

I love this character for his diverse relations to all that surround him. He is a political figure caught up with useless desires, traditional prejudices, and a displaced ego. Played seriously he is a true buffoon. I study regal posturing and mannerisms from different monarchs to give this character a true sense of stage presence. Even Almaviva’s Italian should be of the highest Florentine precision.

3) Do you have a favourite moment in the opera?

My favourite moment in this opera is the finale in Act 2. Having everyone come into the scene to crescendo into chaos demonstrates the true genius of the work.

My favourite Count Almaviva moment is at the end of the opera when he says “Contessa perdono” (Countess forgive me). It is a sublime truthful moment in the opera that finishes the dramatic arch of my Character. I am in tears every time I sing this.

Baritone James Westman (photo: Dario Acosta)

4) As Opera Lyra comes back from the brink, please speak about the importance of cultivating a strong group of Canadian singers.

We have a massive tradition of opera in Canada. It stems from the profound tutelage of the University of Toronto Opera School that was created from talented Italian opera ‘refugees’ after WW2. Most people do not realize that Canada produces more professional opera singers per capita than any other country in the world. Canadian singers have been representing Canada with excellence for many years.

I am to a fault, truly Canadian…… played hockey……made thousands of gallons of maple syrup…….played fiddle with the best of them and …..tinkers on a 1771 heritage farm. I have the authority to say it is our Canadian duty to support and nurture this truly Canadian art form called Opera. It is humankind’s greatest achieved art form and must continue to flourish in one of the world’s greatest societies; Canada. Canadian opera with Canadian singers healing Canadian audiences – we owe that to ourselves.

James Westman with Joan Sutherland

5) Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

Miss Patricia Kern is my mentor and without her guidance and vast knowledge I would still be toiling on the family farm. I have had many great close mentors (Dame Joan Sutherland, Martin Katz, Marilyn Horne, Neil Semer, Marlena Malas, Louis Quilico, Sheryl Milnes), however, Miss Kern’s wisdom is in the forefront of my mind every time I sing.

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James Westman will be singing the role of Count Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at Opera Lyra, opening March 21st and running until March 28th.

My stereotype of Krisztina Szabó is inaccurate of course. My questions may have made her laugh, even though she’s too polite to send me packing. In cobbling together a few questions –concerning a pair of 20th century compositions—I was far too narrow in my characterization of a singer who has cut a big swath through the Toronto scene. While she appeared in the Toronto Symphony’s concert performance of Benjamin’s Written On Skin just a few weeks ago, and played the Pilgrim in Canadian Opera Company’s L’Amour de Loin –the first COC opera composed in the 21st Century—she also sang the mezzo-soprano part in Handel’s Messiah for Against the Grain. So while she’s worked with the experimental opera groups such as Tapestry and Queen of Puddings (who regularly staged experiments that couldn’t happen without artists like Szabó) she also sings Mozart, Bach & Puccini.

This spring Szabó will again be exploring challenging compositions. First she stars in the Robert Lepage production of Schonberg’s atonal monodrama Erwartung for the COC opening May 6th. A few weeks later she sings Harawi in Against the Grain’s Death and Desire opening June 2nd. I had to ask Szabó ten questions: five about herself followed by five more about her upcoming projects.

1-Are you more like your father or your mother?

Somehow this feels like a trick question. Hmmm… well, I feel like I am becoming more my mother every day, but I think that I probably resemble my father more, at least in emotional make-up. Certainly, I resemble neither of them when it comes to career – my father was foreman of a welding company for 40 years and my mother was an accountant. My sister is an actuary, so I am the “weirdo” in the family. But I am told that my father had a beautiful voice – he refused to sing by the time I came into this world because he claimed to have “smoked his voice away”. And both my parents took part in local operettas and plays in their hometown of Écs, Hungary. So perhaps, I’m not such an anomaly after all…?

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo (photo: Bo Huang)

2-What is the best thing or worst thing about being a specialist in “new” music, often creating original work or singing unfamiliar repertoire?

Am I a specialist in “new” music? How did that happen?! When I think of “specialist”, I think of my dear friend, Barbara Hannigan who has a passion for contemporary music like no one else I know. I have done quite a lot of new music, particularly in Toronto, and I do love it, at least most of the time. I love dissecting music, and yes, I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to sight-reading… I owe that to my 6 years in the Toronto Children’s Chorus and piano training. I think the best part of doing new music is the freedom that it holds – nobody slots you into a box that you don’t fit into..in fact, if you’re lucky you get to work with a living composer who writes music tailor made to your strengths. But, would I love to sing Mozart: absolutely. I would love to sing a lot of things, but mostly I just want to keep singing, full stop.

3-Who do you like to listen to or watch?

I am a slightly obsessive Netflix watcher at the moment. In the last few months, I have watched 10 seasons of Friends, the new season of House of Cards, all 5 seasons of Downton Abbey (twice!) and most recently 2 seasons of Mr. Selfridge. When I’m on the road, I binge watch, and when I’m home, I like to watch an episode of something at the end of a day to wind down and relax.

4-What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

There are many skills that I wish I had, but the one that pops to my brain at the moment is the ability to “schmooze”. I am terrible at it, and in my business, it is an integral part of how things work. I used to be quite a shy child and I don’t think of myself now as shy necessarily, but in situations where I have to talk to people I don’t know, or make small talk with industry people I know only a little, my mind goes blank. Very annoying.

5-When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

Netflix, Netflix and more Netflix. Sleep. Oh, and eat sushi.

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Mark Johnson as the Psychiatrist and Nina Warren as the Woman from 2001 COC production of Erwartung, photo by Michael Cooper. Click for further information about the current production.

Five more about Erwartung in the Canadian Opera Company’s spring season (May 6th), and Harawi with Against the Grain Theatre (June 2nd) .

1-What are the challenges in singing Erwartung?

The challenge of Erwartung has so far been learning the thing. It is a beast of a piece – hands down, the hardest thing I have ever learned. And Schönberg doesn’t really help you much with a cue note here or there, or – God forbid – double the vocal line! I can think of only a few bars in which that happens. Learning it was daunting. But it is now learned, and either I have actually gone a little crazy, or I’ve just prepared well, because I’m feeling pretty relaxed about it (at the moment.. ask me again on opening night..!).

The challenge now that rehearsals have begun are to get all the details in the score correct, all the details that my lovely conductor, Johannes Debus, is after, get all the dramatic shifts of her madness.. and then there is the singing with the orchestra! The role can be quite sprech-y in places, but when she goes crazy, its big, full, dare I say “balls to the wall” singing. And its 35ish minutes of just me singing. No pressure..! Gulp.

2-As far as your personal politics vis a vis a work such as Erwartung or your upcoming appearance with Against the Grain Theatre (singing Messiaen’s Harawi), please talk about how modern music might lead to a different way of seeing tragedy and violence in theatre & story-telling, especially for the female roles.

Director Joel Ivany

I’m not sure I have “personal politics” as such. I’m excited by the human journey of every character I play. And I have been lucky in that I haven’t played too many victimized women, as such, but then, when I’m not doing contemporary shows, I do a fair amount of trouser roles. I like 3 dimensional characters, I like finding my way in the skin of these characters. I love singing Donna Elvira as much as I love singing The Woman. As for the Harawi with Against the Grain Theatre.. since it’s a song cycle that we’re staging, not an opera, there is a freedom to that that is quite exciting. It will be whatever we make it! And I have no doubt that Joel Ivany will take me on an interesting journey with that production..

3-Please talk about the psychology of your portrayals and how you come at the character.

I always approach things rather intuitively in terms of how to portray characters. Yes, I look at the text, but the music – or the choices the composer has made with the text – informs so much of the character. I respond instinctively to those musical choices. And I really try to find a way to make that character a real person with real emotions and a real journey, as much as I can. I have also been lucky to work with many wonderful directors who bring deeper insight into the characters and their journey. I find I really feed off of the process of rehearsing – I love any and all ideas thrown at me because it makes me think more, makes me feel more, and, not to sound too cheesy, it makes me be more.
(Because Erwartung is a remount, Lepage is not here to direct, but we are lucky to work with Francois Racine, who has worked on this show since its inception. The choices made by Lepage and his design team are pretty amazing…I think it’s a remarkable piece of theatre. I’m not sure how much more detail I can give at this point since today was our first day of staging..!)

4-Please put your feelings about new opera and new music into context for us.

My feelings about new opera? Well, I am excited by the possibilities that new opera presents. I like that we are doing innovative chamber operas in funky spaces, I am excited about doing big new operas in traditional houses – like George Benjamin’s Written on Skin and Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin. It exciting to create something new, its exciting to challenge myself as an artist, and I think we, as audience members, need a little challenging as well. One might be surprised at what one loves..

5-Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

Jean Ashworth-Bartle (click image for more information)

There have been a few pivotal people in my life along the way – I must mention Jean Ashworth-Bartle, founder and former conductor of the Toronto Children’s Chorus, because not only was the TCC the first place I really felt like I belonged and began to thrive, but she was one of the first people to see something special in me and give me a chance. Then, at the University of Western Ontario, I was lucky to find my first singing teacher, Darryl Edwards, who not only given me a solid technique, but guided me through so much – university and beyond, and most recently invited me to teach at the University of Toronto, a position I am enjoying very much. He’s always had my back, and that’s a pretty great thing to have. And finally, two very special conductors – Richard Bradshaw and Bernard Labadie. Richard gave me my first opportunities at the COC, and really was responsible for launching my career. And Bernard Labadie was the first person after my Ensemble Studio days were over to provide me with performance opportunities – so vital to a young artist trying to build a career.

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Official plug: come see the Canadian Opera Company’s Bluebeard Castle/Erwartung , and Against the Grain Theatre’s Death and Desire!  The COC double bill opens May 6th at the Four Seasons Centre, while the AtG program of Messaien’s Harawi also including Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin opens June 2nd  at Neubacher Shor Contemporary Gallery.

click for more information

You may know tenor Andrew Haji as a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, for his appearances with the COC in the Ensemble Studio performance of The Barber of Seville (as Count Almaviva in May 2015), and Così fan tutte (as Ferrando in February 2014).

Maybe you heard of Rob Ford the Opera? Haji’s portrayal of our former mayor might be his biggest previous claim to notoriety. 

Notice the effortless lyrical line of the voice (hm that’s not how I remember Rob Ford!), and his comfort in the spotlight.  Haji is a natural.

In September 2014, Andrew was the recipient of the Grand Prix, the Press Prize, and the Junior Jury Prize at the 50th International Vocal Competition in the Netherlands.  This week Haji will be taking on the role of the poet Alfredo Germont in the COC production of la Traviata that premiered last week, alongside fellow Canadians Joyce El-Khoury and James Westman. On the occasion of his first performance of Alfredo on Friday October 16, in a run going until November 6th, I ask him ten questions: five about himself and five more about the portrayal.

1) Are you more like your father or your mother?

That’s a hard question to answer. I suppose the best thing I could say about my parents is that they raised me to be my very own person, and because of that I’m a very independent thinker. My dad taught me the value of hard work and for that I’m very thankful. I ended up choosing a career path very different from the one my parents had envisioned for me—and even different from the one I had envisioned for myself—but after realizing how much I enjoyed doing what I do, and seeing me find success in it, I’ve seen nothing but support from my family. They try to come out to see my performances from time to time, and even though they don’t really understand what it is I’m singing, they appreciate what I’m doing and are excited to see me do it.

Tenor Andrew Haji (photo: Veronika Roux)

2) What is the best thing about being a singer?

I love making people feel things. Happiness, sadness, love, loss; being able to affect people’s emotions is one of the most fantastic abilities, but it comes with much responsibility, as well. Many, many things combine to make a performance what it is—especially on the operatic stage, where you have the set, staging, costumes, lighting, orchestra, and all that—but at the heart of it all, we’re just telling a story. If you can tell your story in such a way that the audience feels like they’re living the story with you, I think you’ve done your job as a singer. Obviously the technical nitty-gritty is important, but if I had to choose between giving a meaningful and moving performance with an imperfect note or two, or a performance that’s technically flawless yet doesn’t really convey any sort of message, I’d take the former. I think most audiences would agree with that.

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?



Many people would say I have an eclectic taste in music. I find myself bouncing between two channels on my satellite radio—the Met Opera station, and the electronic music channel. Opera makes me feel things deeply, and electronic music tends to have the same effect on me. When it comes to opera, I have a shortlist of tenors I love to listen to—Pavarotti, Kraus, Bergonzi, mainly—but as much of my listening takes place on YouTube, I invariably end up listening to many others. It’s fantastic that we have immediate access to such a wealth of recordings at our fingertips these days.

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I wish I could fly. No, really. I’m just starting to realize how much travel is involved in this career, and I’m sure it would make my life a lot easier if I could just fly—or even teleport—from place to place. But other than that, I often wish I had a longer attention span—I tend to drift easily when doing any intensive work. It makes learning a new score or practicing a difficult passage more tedious than it should be. Oh, and cooking. I wish I was a better cook. Up until recently I tended to eat out more often than not, but now that I’m eating at home more I really need to add some tools to my kitchen toolbox.

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

Computers have always been a big hobby for me. In the 2 years following high school I tried to make it a career, but quickly learned that it just wasn’t for me. But I continue to do a lot of computer-related work both at home and for family and friends. I love learning about new technology and helping people get the most out of theirs. I started a small business that focuses on that, and keep it as a sort of side job to keep me “sane”, as I like to put it. It works a very different part of my brain than opera does, and it gives me a sense of balance in life. So if I’m not singing, I’m likely sitting at my computer or at someone else’s, learning, teaching, fixing, or doing a combination of the three simultaneously.

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Andrew Haji (photo: Veronika Roux)

Five more about singing Alfredo in la traviata with the Canadian Opera Company

1- For a classic role such as Alfredo, you must have heard other interpretations, either recordings or live, of such a well-known role. Who are your favourite interpreters of the part?

You know, I’ve been very careful not to watch too many other performances of La traviata while preparing the role. I know very well how easy it is to see someone do something a certain way and then emulate it. I want my performances to be my own—unique and meaningful in my own way. I did see a performance of the opera last December in New York, with none other than Quinn Kelsey in the role of Germont, and Francesco Demuro perform the role of Alfredo, filling in for an ailing Stephen Costello. I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable performance—little did I know that less than a year later, I would be performing the role myself. I believe it was just shortly after I returned from NYC that I got the call that they wanted me to do it here in Toronto.

2- What’s your favourite moment in the opera?

There are so many fantastic moments in the opera, that it’s really hard to pick one. The moment when Violetta implores Alfredo to love her after she has just been visited by Alfredo’s father—who asks her to leave Alfredo for good—is a big one. Then, when Alfredo confronts her at Flora’s party and pays her for her “services”—that’s a powerful moment, and possibly the turning point in the entire opera. Alfredo realizes how horrible he has behaved towards her and it really sets the scene for the final act to follow. The final scene, where Violetta musters enough strength to stand one last time before collapsing in her lover’s arms, is a scene which makes my heart beat faster every time I hear it. Every emotion comes crashing down on the stage—love, hate, happiness, sadness, remorse, regret—and Verdi’s score truly brings them to life. It’s magical.

3- Please talk a bit about this production, and the interpretation by director Arin Arbus.

This is very much a “traditional” production of the opera, but Arin has managed to make it even more meaningful and touching than your typical opera. During the entire staging process she emphasized how each person was feeling in a given scene, and she encouraged you to lock into those emotions and to show them in any way possible. The opera feels more realistic because of it, and I think it does a better job of bringing the audience into the experience than most of the operas I’ve seen. Her characters are three-dimensional, layering emotion on top of emotion and while it can sometimes be confusing to figure out, the payoff is so much greater. She is all about nuance and meaning and I really appreciate being able to really dig into the character in that way. It has been really fantastic to see the work she has been doing with our two Violettas, Ekaterina and Joyce. They both bring such a humanity and a depth to the character and it’s truly fantastic to watch.

4- Could you talk a bit about your upcoming engagements?

After a handful of Messiahs this December, I’m heading down to New York to sing in the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration at Carnegie Hall. I met Marilyn in the summer of 2013 when I participated in the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. She is just fantastic, and she has been such a great supporter of mine, and I’m very excited to be performing at Carnegie Hall for the first time because of her. After that I will be returning to Canada, but not to Toronto—I’ll be heading up north to Ottawa to perform the role of Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio. It’s a new role for me, and it will be my Opera Lyra debut, but after seeing the show performed this summer in Salzburg I’m very excited for what it has in store. Then, after returning from Ottawa I’ll be jumping right into rehearsals for Maometto II at the COC. I’m performing the role of Condulmiero in the mainstage show, alongside some really fantastic singers. Finally, to end my COC year and as a way of saying “goodbye” to the Ensemble Studio, I’ll be performing a recital of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings as part of the Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. I couldn’t ask for a better way to end my 3 amazing years with the COC Ensemble Studio.

5) Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

I was lucky to have the same voice teacher throughout my entire university career: Dr. Darryl Edwards. In fact, it was partly thanks to him that I decided to pursue voice studies in the first place. He taught me a lot more than just how to sing, and he motivated me to be better at what I do every single day. He believed in me, gave me as many opportunities as I could handle, and guided me through what was fairly new territory. I’ve worked with some fantastic voice teachers during my life, but Darryl has the uncanny ability to take a pile of rock and keep squeezing it until you realize that there just might be something shiny underneath, ready to emerge if you nurture it and if you truly want it. I couldn’t possibly thank him enough for what he did to get my singing career off the ground.

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Andrew Haji will be performing his first Alfredo Friday October 16th, at the Four Seasons Centre with the COC.  Click image (right) for more information.

I had a second look at Arin Arbus’ production of Verdi’s La traviata for the Canadian Opera Company with a few cast changes.

At the centre of this world is Joyce El-Khoury in the title role, opposite Andrew Haji as Alfredo Germont and James Westman as his father Giorgio. El-Khoury is the most beautiful Violetta I’ve ever seen to grace a stage, completely believable as the statuesque creature at the centre of the story, commanding the stage at every moment. The voice was big and powerful when necessary yet often surprisingly understated.

Soprano Joyce El-Khoury (photo: Kristin Hoebermann)

Her surprise suitor is Andrew Haji, seemingly in total awe of this beautiful woman who might be out of his league. And when he has the temerity to declare his love to her – “un di felice”—El-Khoury suddenly sat down, seemingly stunned by the sincerity of his declarations: and I felt very much the same way. The moment signified the earliest moment in this opera that I have ever burst into tears before. I was shocked at the drama created at this moment. And yet it was all about the singing. Haji has a tone that is perfectly Italianate, very musical and yet seemingly effortless.

Andrew Haji (photo: Veronika Roux)

The third of the principals is the flawless baritone of James Westman. His suavely sung interpretation sits on the fence between being the main obstruction in the plot and being hugely sympathetic & likeable.

Tonight’s character dynamics are substantially different than those of the opening cast of Ekaterina Siurina, Charles Castronovo and especially Quinn Kelsey, who has what I’d consider an unprecedented importance in that cast. As the strongest character by far (to say nothing of the impeccable voice), Kelsey’s Giorgio Germont rules the stage, such that the story in large measure becomes about him. In contrast, the charismatic El-Khoury is very strong in her scene with Westman, when she shows a genuine kindness, looking at the portrait of Germont’s daughter. Where Siurina’s tragedy is one of being overwhelmed by the strong will & presence of Kelsey, Westman as a more sympathetic Germont, makes it seem as though El-Khoury is bravely participating in making the choice rather than being pushed. It may sound like a small distinction but this seems like a different version of the story arc, a very different sort of tragedy. When we get to the last scene El-Khoury has a kind of heroic presence, and tantalizingly sings of redemption. Siurina (and by implication Castronovo) felt to me more like someone trapped in a melodrama, someone without any will to resist, without hope and therefore whose fate was written on the wall.

Baritone James Westman (photo: Rob Harrris)

Yes yes I know the story, and I’ve seen it a million times; but there are tragedies where one comes to a moment in the story that one dares to hope for a different outcome, to dream of a happy ending, even if it never comes (we may see it in King Lear, or in Madama Butterfly). Those were imaginable if not actually possible tonight in a way that they did not seem feasible in the darker story-telling via the other cast. How wonderful to have both options. I believe this second cast –in which the principals are all Canadians—gives us something more genuinely tragic, whereas the previous cast –also so very powerful & very moving—seemed to me more of the realm of melodrama than tragedy. But please don’t take that as an insult, as melodrama was alive and well in the 19th century when Verdi wrote this opera, and it may well be more authentic than a tragic reading, even if modern tastes seem to prefer tragedy—where the stories involve choice and agency—to melodrama—where the personages are helpless and have no control of events. Forgive me if this sounds academic, but i am deep in a fascinating book about melodrama.

Neil Craighead was a sympathetic Dr Grenvil, Thomas Goerz a suitably menacing Baron Douphol. Lauren Segal made an intriguing Flora, possibly the first time I wished we had a chance to find out more about this mysterious friend of Violetta. Iain MacNeil was the life of the party as the Marquis d’Obigny. As in my previous look at this production, Aviva Fortunata’s Annina and Charles Sy’s Gastone both took the stage boldly whenever they had the opportunity.

The chorus in their two scenes made these the most believable La traviata parties I can recall, vitally important to establishing the credibility of the action. Where the first is warm and joyous, the second is darkened by the plot developments hanging over the scene. And when we get to the last scene, the puppets we had seen at the party return as shadows of Carnival, possibly creatures of Violetta’s imagination rather than objective phenomena.

La traviata has eight more performances. The cast I reviewed tonight sing again Oct 30th and Nov 6th, while the other cast sing Oct 17, 21,24, 29, Nov 1, and 4. See it if you can.

Charles Castronovo as Alfredo and Ekaterina Siurina as Violetta (Photo: Michael Cooper)  Click image for further information.

Johannes Debus (Photo – Michael Cooper)

The Canadian Opera Company’s winter season begins soon, featuring two long operas led by the same maestro, namely Johannes Debus. Siegfried, the penultimate of the Wagner operas in the Ring Cycle premieres January 23rd, while Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro follows on February 4th. Between the opening and the final performance February 27th Debus will conduct sixteen performances.

Debus made his COC debut conducting War & Peace in 2008, one of the best things the COC have ever done. No wonder then that within a few months COC General Director Alexander Neef would sign up the brilliant young conductor as the COC Music Director. Debus & the COC Orchestra continue to be the cornerstone of the company, especially in a season like this one. As the COC’s most indispensable performer this winter I had to ask Debus a few questions: about his life and his work.

1) Are you more like your father or your mother?

I grew up in a small, yet pretty town in western Germany: father archivist, mother a trained librarian, three siblings… – I think we could call it an academic middle-class household. Life was simple and not fancy or flamboyant at all, yet I can say that I had a happy and sheltered childhood. My parents did care about their kids, and they tried to give us the support we needed to explore our own interests and live our own little dreams.

I don’t know, if I’m more like my father or my mother, but I know that I inherited certain human values and virtues that were key to them both: sense of responsibility, honesty, fairness, modesty, altruism, reliability etc. My fingers are crossed I can live up to their high standards.

2) What is the best thing about what you do?

Being a conductor I would say it’s the thrill of a great performance that excites me the most of what I’m doing. Being a conductor I also quickly realize, how much I rely on other people. So let’s say it’s the thrill of working together and creating something extraordinary with likeminded people.

On a different level it’s the combination and range of things my job comes with – pure artistic subject matters take turns with simply ‘profane’ practical ones. It keeps me inspired and grounded at the same time. The ivory tower has an exit door to the outside world.

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?

I’m attracted to beauty that comes from the rare combination of profound truthfulness, wit, esprit, (quirky) humour, boldness, vision and a dash of indescribable mystery. A soccer team performing like a corps de ballet, a majestic sunrise, Gigli singing “Mamma”, the acrobat/pantomime/clown/busker at the street corner, the ruins of an ancient temple, a stranger passing by – everything that belongs to and enriches the ‘Flying Circus’ of our lives…

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I would like to have legs to dance, arms to fly and hands to write music…

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

As I spend most of my time inside, it can be fairly relaxing to go for a walk/run and breathe some fresh air. My bicycle is also a good companion for a little ‘air-my-brain cruise’.

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Johannes Debus (photo: Bo Huang)

More questions about work as COC Music Director.

1) Conductors as a profession live long lives. You were conductor for Tristan und Isolde in 2013 and Die Walküre in 2014, and now with Siegfried in 2016 you’re again leading the COC orchestra in an immense long work. Are these operas like a marathon for the conductor –requiring you to train—or is this music actually making you healthier?

The biggest challenge conducting such extensive operas as Siegfried is to stay on top of things and not to loose track of the overall shape and the architecture of the scenes and each act. You have to know where the peaks and landmarks are and how to work organically towards them.

In that respect we can compare conducting immense long pieces with running a marathon. It is ultimately your mind, enabling you to conquer such dimensions and not being completely exhausted afterwards. And with growing experience you learn to know, how much you get involved physically. Small gestures are often more than enough.

2) Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro and Wagner’s Siegfried are a contrasting pair of works even though they’re both long. One is through-composed, while the other has numbers (recitative, arias and ensembles). Nobody seems to write this way anymore, whether we’re speaking of long music-dramas or comic opera. If you could push a button and magically get a composer to create a work in the same style as ONE of these two very different operas, which would you choose and why?

Before I push the button and get a composer to write music like Mozart or Wagner, I want to explore the means and the style our own time offers to create new masterpieces of such perfection and esprit as Mozart’s Nozze or of such visionary, bold conception and electrifying magnitude as Wagner’s Siegfried. Mozart and Wagner both take us in very different ways on a journey through essential, archetypal questions of human life. And there are creative minds around us who face those same archetypal, essential questions, yet will find their own ways to answer it – with their own means and in their own style.

The COC Orchestra and Conductor Johannes Debus. (Photo – Michael Cooper)

3) What is your favourite passage in each opera, and if you could perhaps explain why it’s a favourite?

In Siegfried everything seems to gravitate towards Brünnhilde’s awakening. It’s hard to imagine anything more ecstatic, overwhelming and thrilling than the moment when the 100-people orchestra in the pit starts this climactic cresc. on “Heil dir, leuchtender Tag!” Admittedly I’m not immune to the shivers it gives me, even if I know that it is an almost obvious, just so well calculated and crafted effect. Let’s call it my ‘guilty pleasure’ moment in Siegfried. Less obvious, yet incredibly exciting for me is most of Act 1: bold, wild, rather experimental, harmonically utterly complex and by a Beethoven-like rhythmical furor driven. Wagner might have never been as ‘avantgarde’ as here.

To single out one moment in Le Nozze di Figaro is very hard. Every aria, every ensemble, even the recits seem to be of the greatest perfection and profound beauty. One pearl follows another and all together they form a most amazing pearl chain.

4-Please describe how you prepare for your first rehearsal of an opera such as Siegfried or Nozze di Figaro.

The preparation for an opera no matter what is in general the same: I study the score which often includes to play the score (in slow motion) at the piano, read the libretto, find out what the words mean – a dictionary is an important companion for that, gather some knowledge about the composer and his/her time and the time she/he wrote that specific piece, gather some knowledge about possible performance traditions. To gather information about performance traditions certain recordings can be helpful, i.e. it is surely not a bad idea to listen to some Wagner from Bayreuth or even better to go to Bayreuth and get an idea of the special sound you get there due to Wagner’s revolutionary acoustical invention of the covered pit. At the end however it is your personal choices, your personal taste that defines how you bring each piece to life. And it’s important to have made your thoughts about your own approach before rehearsals start.

5-Do you have a favourite composer whose music you love to conduct and/or hear?

Bach is my composer of choice for the desert island, however I would miss many others. And gladly I can keep Bach for the desert island, as I get to conduct so many of the other great ones here at the COC and elsewhere. I like the fact that at the COC I can go from the early beginnings in operatic history to the most recent creations. The spectrum is wide, undogmatic and pluralistic. As long as the piece speaks to me, as long as I feel a connection to it, I feel good about performing it.

6-Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

At the age of five onwards I had a wonderful chorus master who not only knew how to give young people access to the beauty of music, he also impressed me with his wide cultural knowledge in general. He could equally explain to you James Joyce’s Ulysses as he would give you an insightful analysis of a fresco by Piero della Francesca or would share his joy and enthusiasm about a Beatles’ song.

Hans Werner Henze. Credit Erich Auerbach/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images

Later in my life I was extremely fortunate to meet with Hans Werner Henze, the great German composer, and to share a profound friendship for more than ten years until his death. I wish he could have taught me composing, but that’s a talent I don’t own (see question no. 4). Yet he opened my ears, eyes and my heart to the magnificence of life. He was clearly thinking big, and he was living the richness and freedom of life to a degree that was unknown to me before. His music can tell you all about it.

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Johannes Debus gives the downbeat for Wagner’s Siegfried on January 23rd at the Four Seasons Centre, first of seven performances.  The Marriage of Figaro follows on February 4th.  For further information click here.

Canadian Opera Company Music Director Johannes Debus with the COC Orchestra (Photo – Michael Cooper)

Today’s noon-hour concert at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was the first collaboration between the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and the COC Orchestra Academy.  As I so often do I’ll begin with a preamble, one that corresponds to the gap between my expectation and the actual recital.

(l-r) cellist Drew Comstock, violinist Hua-Chu Huang, bassist Doug Ohashi, violist Meagan Turner, and violinist Yada Lee,

This is the third year of the COC-OA, a three-week intensive program, drawing upon students from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music.  This year’s five  are mostly from the GGS:

• GGS cellist Drew Comstock
• GGS violinist Hua-Chu Huang
• GGS violinist Yada Lee
• GGS bassist Doug Ohashi
• U of T violist Meagan Turner

The COC Orchestra and Conductor Johannes Debus. (Photo – Michael Cooper)

The program is a kind of residency including time playing in the orchestra alongside professional mentors.  I understand that the five played last night’s epic dress rehearsal of Siegfried, and today –likely riding the same emotional high mentioned by our host & Master of Ceremonies Johannes Debus—they had to play a very different sort of music in a different venue. Where an orchestra pit is a dark place where you might be able to hide (even if Johannes & your mentor likely hears your errors) the RBA concert is the exact opposite, in its exposed playing, in a kind of fishbowl.  I’m sure some dread this kind of thing, although Drew Comstock seemed very confident as he stepped into the limelight for the introduction to the second—and lengthier—piece on the program by a Mendelssohn.

I came because the title of the concert made me eager to hear “La bonne chanson” of Fauré, to hear Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure sing, in collaboration with pianist Anne Larlee and the five member COCOA (hm… I like chocolate.. perhaps that’s why I enjoyed COCOA?).  While we may be Canadians in a bilingual country, one rarely gets this kind of treat, namely hearing a francophone clearly articulating a subtle piece such as this one in French.   Fortier-Lazure sang long phrases, clear sentences, occasionally opening up the throttle to offer us a passionate mezzo-forte. He puts me in mind of a recording I have of Les Troyens conducted by Charles Dutoit, employing a francophone chorus from Quebec, an eye-opener for me after having heard the way the Met chorus chopped the same work up into a series of discreet syllables of unintelligible gobbledy-gook.  This is very intimate ecstatic music (oh my, a song cycle from a happy person? that almost sounds like an oxymoron). I’m also mindful of Brahm Goldhamer’s subtle playing a few days ago at the RCM, where a small space created an opportunity for gentle music—making.

Fortier-Lazure has a fabulous operatic tenor that we heard for example in Barber of Seville about half a year ago; but he opted for some of the subtlest singing I’ve heard in the RBA space.  It’s a live room to be sure, but with some rep one really must resist the temptation to push. Fortier-Lazure took that quieter road.

I had to wonder how the seven players understood their relationship.  In the old days one might have thought that the musicians must accompany the voice, but that’s not what I saw.  Fortier-Lazure sang at times as though himself an ensemble musician rather than a singer, with no apparent ego on display. That the text is about images of flow and nature and love makes it all the better that we saw such a fluid interaction.

The big piece by a Mendelssohn?  The e-flat string Octet.  When I get a bit ambiguous about the composer it’s in response to the possibility –introduced to me in Comstock’s introduction—that the Octet (and perhaps the famous violin concerto!?) might have been composed by Felix’s sister.  I have no data (say it ain’t so, Giacomo!), only the memory of my outrage when I lost “pur ti miro”, snatched by a scholar in the 1990s from another famous composer whose name begins with M.

Whoever wrote the octet, it’s a very different sort of gig from playing hours of Wagner in the orchestra pit.  Three of the four movements go quite fast, including a great deal of exposed playing for everyone.  I was thinking that it’s not just a test for the COCOA but for their mentors as well.  For this work bassist Ohashi sat down, while the other four were joined by COC Orchestra players Paul Widner, assistant principal cello, Keith Hamm, principal viola, plus violinists Marie Bérard (concertmaster) and James Aylesworth.

Violist Hamm seemed especially comfortable in the spotlight, perhaps the de facto leader of the ensemble, as violists sometimes are, even if Bérard played an enormous number of notes, almost as though it’s her concerto (especially in the first movement).   After my close-up look at the Toronto Symphony earlier this month, I can’t help thinking about the ecology of this orchestra, the ways that this kind of exercise –the mentoring of the young players, and the chamber music recital—is valuable in building the orchestra, valuable for the Music Director and the community of music he wants to grow.  On the heels of last night’s immense opera, it was a delicious performance.

Debus & Alexander Neef were present for this charming hour of music-making, a very different sort of concert from the usual.

COC Music Director Johannes Debus and COC General Director Alexander Neef. (Photo: bohuang.ca)

We were all invested with a sense of community. As I sat making notes afterwards, Joseph Johnson’s solo cello kept playing away, as though he didn’t want to go home.

I think it’s fair to say that so far Jeff Melanson is making good on his promise to make the Toronto Symphony “the most innovative, inclusive orchestra in the world.”

The buzz around the program this week to conclude the Mozart @260 Festival (a semi-staged Mozart Requiem causing sold out houses all week) was unmistakeable. Conducted by Bernard Labadie, directed by Joel Ivany, sung by the joint forces of the Amadeus Choir & Elmer Iseler Singers led by Lydia Adams, and soloists Lydia Teuscher, Allyson McHardy, Frédéric Antoun and Philippe Sly, this was a Requiem unlike any other.

Let me repeat, we were all invested. How? I assume it was Ivany’s idea, a clever little ritual before the performance began.

We were given blank cards as we came in.

Melanson asked us in his pre-concert introduction to write the name or names of someone whose passing we would choose to celebrate or mourn. A new ritual & convention of mourning was invented on the spot.

It didn’t mean anything right away.

And then to begin the concert the TSO Chamber Soloists played a kind of overture, the slow movement from the K581 Clarinet Quintet. As Joaquin Valdepenas, Jonathan Crow, Mark Skazinetsky, Teng Li and Joseph Johnson played an ultra-soft reading of the movement (that is, with a quieter dynamic range than usual, surely in keeping with the occasion & its purpose), we watched a slow processional up the aisles of Roy Thomson Hall, as the chorus members and the orchestral players walked in slowly, depositing their own cards on two well-lit slabs, and took their places. For me this created a sense that we were all invested, that we each had this symbolic connection to the event, to our predecessors, to our collective memory. Those cards were powerfully evocative, reminding me of the cards posted after the twin towers came down, as survivors sought the missing.

Each of us used the card in our own way, but this abstract template furnished a place where we all met.

My thumb, my card, my loved-ones’ names.

My own photo that I show here against the view of the stage has two names on it, corresponding to loved ones I remember.  I am sure some people wrote a lot more. But it was a private thing that i’m sharing here even as it was at the same time, communal: not unlike mourning itself.

Ivany took on a daunting task, to direct a beloved work in a conservative town. He’d already done well with Messiah via Against the Grain, and clearly has caught the attention of the great and powerful, both at the COC (who have him directing Carmen later this season) as well as the TSO. Ivany has shown his penchant for daringly original re-writes of well-known works that don’t flout their newness, not guilty of any of the sins attributed to Regietheater (aka “director’s theatre”) because he normally leaves the plot or subject matter essentially intact but framed in a new way.

The card motif became a part of the staging as the loose piles of cards are eventually organized and given something like a place of honour on the stage with the soloists. A mimed ritual honouring our collective memory is enacted, while the Requiem is sung. It’s highly abstract, likely containing subtexts, but it does no harm to the original, allowing each of us to celebrate and mourn, or at least drink in the Mozart in our own way. Notice that we not only saw innovation but inclusiveness too.

Instead of stiff bodies and enforced cold distance, we had moments of contact between performers onstage, gestures of comfort and condolence, and a sense of catharsis by the end.

The TSO played wonderfully, inspired by the occasion and Labadie, who often took them at a historically informed clip, their playing clean and elegant. Adams’ choirs made the most exquisite readings I’ve ever heard (live or on record), their Latin words enunciated more clearly to my ear than that of most of the soloists.

What more could one ask for? I’m glad I got to see it, and do hope the TSO will repeat this or offer a similar experiment sometime soon.

Jordan de Souza, “the fast-rising young Canadian maestro with a busy international career” (Ottawa Citizen), is currently a Guest Conductor, Assistant Conductor, and Cover Conductor at the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, and the Bregenz Festival (Austria), and is the newly appointed Resident Conductor for Tapestry Opera, Canada’s leading contemporary opera company.

There’s a great deal more in the bio you can find on his website.

In February Toronto audiences will encounter him

• playing the piano in collaboration with Wallis Giunta for Tapestry Opera’s upcoming songbook VI Friday February 5^th
• as conductor with the Canadian Opera Company (Le nozze di Figaro) in performances February 23^rd & 25^th.

I had to ask him some questions.

1) Are you more like your father or your mother?

I feel fortunate to have inherited characteristics of both my parents and strive to be like them in many ways: I have my mother’s inward temperament (and hair) and aspire to her sense of purpose and compassion; I inherited my Dad’s cerebral matter (and love of sport) and follow the example of his love of family and work. I have both of them to thank for my love of music: being part of a large family, music was our lifeblood. (I’m the seventh of eight children, a.k.a. #LeadingTone or the best time signature of 7/8) We had four pianos in the house growing up and there were times when they were all going simultaneously!

Pianist and Conductor Jordan de Souza (Brent Calis Photography)

2)    What is the best thing about what you do?

Music gives us the chance to be. We learn to listen and appreciate diverse vantage points, to engage as a community in a creative act that reflects the sum of its parts but has a life of its own. Poverty of mind and spirit is not a new challenge but, with art as the oxygen of society, we have the chance to understand each other and ourselves better. When the world is dark, it keeps the light inside you bright.

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?



My favourite people to listen to are my nieces and nephews: I’m always guaranteed to discover something original, quirky, and wonderful! This season I began with the National Ballet of Canada and I’ve fallen in love with the art of dance. I’ve learned so much about music (e.g. phrasing, gesture, etc.) from watching the dancers. 

I also watch my Toronto sports teams as often as I can: I’ve been a Raptors, Jays, and Leafs fan since childhood and enjoy following their progress on my ESPN app and catching the odd game now that I’m back in Toronto. (Though I also secretly root for the San Antonio Spurs…)

Jordan de Souza (Brent Calis Photography)

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I’d love to be able to dunk a basketball like Vince Carter, hit a homerun like Bautista, or dance around the pitch like Messi. Sport has always been a major passion: I admire the art of athletes as much as the athleticism of artists.

I heard a high C at the opera last week that easily warranted a bat-flip! 

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

Bass Robert Pomakov will be Dr Bartolo

I enjoy spending time with friends and family. One of the advantages of a life in music is that we meet so many people over the course of our varied projects; and we spend real, valuable moments with them. Seeing somebody every day for six weeks and going through the vulnerability of creating a theatre piece forges a certain connection. And then you don’t see them again: sometimes for three years, sometimes for ten. But when you do, it’s great to catch up and reminisce! I’m working on Figaro at the COC right now and there are two other alumni from St. Michael’s Choir School that I’ve known since I was a child: Robert Pomakov was in my older brother’s class and Michael Colvin has been familiar to me since childhood.

More about Jordan de Souza’s upcoming projects Tapestry Songbook and conducting Marriage of Figaro

1)     How was Songbook VI –the upcoming Tapestry recital with Wallis Giunta and yourself at the piano—assembled?

This is a superb endeavour by Tapestry: all the repertoire being presented was commissioned by Tapestry over the last 36 years. It’s a testament to their innovation, dedication, and longevity. The works are all at least 50% (if not 100%) Canadian: that is, the librettist and/or composer is Canadian (with half the pairing sometimes an import such as a Scot, Irishman, or American). The rep is incredibly varied and showcases a wide range of musical expression. Consider that while all of these works might not have been homeruns as a whole, they each have some really thoughtful and moving musico-dramatic scenes. It will be a pleasure to collaborate with so many talented young artists, as well as my dear friends Wally and Michael, in bringing them to life again. A veritable treasure trove of Canadian dramatic music!

2)     At the same time that you’re preparing the songbook – a recital by you on piano in collaboration with Wallis Giunta, you’re also preparing to conduct The Marriage of Figaro at the Canadian Opera Company later in the run.  Could you talk about stretching yourself, reconciling piano & conducting, modern singing with Mozart? 

Conductors have a universal disease that propels us to be eternally immersed in as much music as possible. For me, I seem to have avoided specialization by loving too much diverse repertoire. I love working on Bach and Mozart as much as Verdi and Puccini, Strauss (either) and Wagner, or contemporary repertoire. Each informs the other. Understanding rhetoric, Affektenlehre, and the lack of diacritical markings in baroque music shapes me as a musician and, while I wouldn’t play Verdi like Bach, I can’t look at f-minor as an innocuous tonal region or sing the interval of a rising seventh without feeling the reverb of the rhetorical idea of exclamatio. Anything that brings this music to life in our imagination (i.e. left side of the brain serving the right) is encouraged. Regarding the piano vs. conducting, I think it’s crucial for conductors to stay in touch with an instrument: we must actively make music in a chamber setting in order to stay fresh in enabling others from the podium. 

3)     If you were offered the chance is there any opera or piece of music you’d like to perform either with Tapestry or with anyone else in Toronto?

I’m not a big bucket list guy: I’m too engrossed in what I’m doing presently to think about what I’d rather be doing; perhaps it’s one existential crisis too many. But if you asked me right now to choose any opera to conduct next month… La forza del destino just popped into my head. 

4)     Is there a teacher or influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

Too many to name! Suffice it to say that musicians are some of the most fortunate because we have a built-in system of mentorship. We would be searching in the dark (which is sometimes good) without the guidance of those who have walked the path before us. I’ve had the pleasure of studying with several wonderful mentors who understand that failure is necessary and acceptable, and that criticism can be a positive and creative agent. But above all, they’ve taught me that as an artist, you get to create the world. So why not use some imagination?

*******

Jordan de Souza will be collaborating with Wallis Giunta in Tapestry’s Songbook VI on Friday February 5^th, and conducting the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Marriage of Figaro February 23 & 25.

Of the four operas in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle the closest thing to a comedy is Siegfried. Yes we do have a couple of deaths and a couple of would-be rulers of the world thwarted but it’s got a happy ending, literally love on the rocks as Siegfried and Brunnhilde are about to get it on, considering that their last words are “lachender Tod”, or “laughing death”, surely a clumsy euphemism for orgasm.

I am torn. I admire the work done in this production, loving almost every performance and certainly appreciating the contribution of every single person up there, so let’s set aside my concerns until after I’ve properly appreciated what’s right about it.

I was fortunate to be sitting off to the side near the front, which meant I could spend a great deal of the show basking in the pleasure of Johannes Debus’ conducting. The COC orchestra was a force of nature, particularly in the big set-pieces where Wagner turns over the story telling to his brass, string, percussion, woodwinds, and conductor. Debus was very sensitive to his singers, some of whom had much more to offer than others. Anyone coming from out of town to hear the big stars might be confused, that they were hearing a performance as good as what you might hear at one of the world’s major opera houses even though they’re in Toronto.  But the amazing opera house changes everything, helping singers who would be inaudible singing the same role in a bigger house.

Three performances stood out for me tonight in a cast with no weak spots.  Stefan Vinke sings this role as no one I have ever heard, from his first appearance, singing a high C that is usually omitted. Wow! Vinke sang, rather than barking or shouting, his lyrical line getting more beautiful the longer he was singing. Amazingly he was in a better groove in Act III than in Act I, in what is surely the most taxing role in all of opera. I begin to understand the people I see coming back to see it again and again. Vinke is the main treat of this production, singing some of the most difficult lines more clearly than I’ve ever heard them. If that weren’t enough –singing the role better than I’ve ever heard it—he is an attractive presence, and a wonderful actor. Whether in the many comic moments –parodying his guardian, sassing the dragon, trying to play a hand-made reed –badly– the few moments of genuine pathos such as the revelations about his past, or the times we want to see something heroic, he is the most believable, musical, heroic Siegfried I’ve ever seen.

Alongside Vinke we get to see the Mime of Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke. When I recall the first time I saw this production (directed by François Girard, designed by Michael Levine) more than a decade ago in the old theatre, I can’t forget how frustrating it was, that for several minutes I couldn’t distinguish one character from the other, that Mime (supposedly a hunchback dwarf) and Siegfried (supposedly a great hero), both in their white pajamas were hard to distinguish from one another, because they were roughly the same height and sounded alike. This time the contrast is spectacular, both in the physical presentation and the voices. WA-S is one of the best actors I’ve ever seen at the COC, in a vocal interpretation putting me in mind of Gerhard Stolze (on the Solti recording), playing up all the opportunities Wagner puts into the score for vocal comedy. At times I didn’t know where to look, because Vinke and WA-S were both so interesting to watch.

1211 – (left to right) Jacqueline Woodley as the Forest Bird (background) with Stefan Vinke as Siegfried and Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as Mime Director François Girard, Set and Costume Designer Michael Levine, (Photo: Michael Cooper)

Fortunately I am going to see it again.

The third extraordinary performance is the big name draw of the production, namely Christine Goerke. Her awakening was electric, both in the marvelous hand gestures, the vocal commitment and the magic between the two left onstage. I did not expect the last scene to be the best scene of the whole opera. There were other great moments though.

Jacqueline Woodley’s Forest Bird was wonderfully accurate, and very musical, while Meredith Arwady’s Erda was extremely powerful, especially some amazing low notes.

I first saw (and reviewed) this production back in 2005 when Girard & Levine first unveiled it —and so I am inclined to believe that maybe the problem is that the production doesn’t work as well in the Four Seasons Centre (that magical theatre I was speaking of earlier). I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against the director or designer.  Four Seasons Centre puts everyone under a bit of a microscope, giving us stunning close-ups. It helps highlight performances, seeing the strengths and weaknesses of singers & their acting, and the concepts in the production. Where Girard’s idea that seemed to situate everything in the mind of the young Siegfried seemed fresh and powerful in the big theatre, where everything was far away, hard to see, and impossible to hear, in Four Seasons Centre? Up close it doesn’t quite work so well, the bodies in the mental-tree seen from afar become a bit disturbing in closeup, if not creepy after awhile.

In the program note Girard speaks of how abstract Siegfried is, even though he conveniently skips or ignores the most concrete elements, such as the forging of a sword (magically handed to the hero, rather than created in steps, steps that Girard skips), or whittling a reed to make a flute (this time Siegfried finds his flute hanging in a tree).  Even so, I will mention a couple of directorial choices that bother me. One of my favourite parts of the entire Ring is the opening of Act III, Wotan’s last scene of the cycle as he confronts Erda, seeking a way to avoid the unavoidable. It’s music of despair with backbone. So it’s odd to open the act with the Forest Bird leading Siegfried (yes it’s a beautiful effect, but i missed it at the end of Act II, not inserted to begin Act III) while the music screams a heroic “no way out what do I do now” loudly for 5 minutes, and then to let your Wanderer shamble onstage like an afterthought.  Argh i know i sound like i’m getting old, as I was hungry for the post-modern stuff a decade ago.  Post-modernism means never having to say you’re sorry (and making a joke a decade ago gives me permission to repeat myself).

Stefan Vinke as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde (Photo: Michael Cooper)

And of course the Wanderer is in this white outfit, just like Erda and everyone else onstage, except for Brunnhilde and Alberich. I get the concept, that there’s all this stuff in the hero’s head. But when Wotan (Wanderer) shows up in disguise in Act I, he should not be in white. Alberich has a grey jacket on, because he too is from the outside. Brunnhilde is in a sexy costume, which makes sense. Erda & Wotan should also escape the white PJs.
And let me add another white PJs footnote while I’m on the topic. Brunnhilde wakes up, and looks for the one who has brought her back to life, woken her up with a kiss.
I get that the magic fire is done with all these people in white pajamas. It was better in the O’keefe and stunningly beautiful at that moment when Wanderer steps aside and can’t stop Siegfried any longer. But when Siegfried has crossed through the curtain of fire, why keep these people lingering there like spectators? And so, when Brunnhilde says “Wer ist der Held, der mich erweckt’?” (OR Who woke me up?) she wants to know, not because the stage is this confused mess. Why, François, do you leave 15 white-clad extras onstage, and have Siegfried drift upstage into this mess. And then when she asks her question she might well say (in German) “which one of you people was the one who kissed me awake”?

I mean François, why deconstruct the most romantic moment in the whole opera?  Get them off the stage. Brunnhilde and Siegfried are supposed to be alone.

I should have known that the reason Debus said that the opera points to the last scene was because in this production it’s so good. No wait maybe it’s because there’s too much conceptual clutter everywhere else, too many moments where Girard’s ideas –some good, some not so good—just plain get in the way of the opera. There are moments where the production is clever. I enjoy the dragon. I love the bird.  I love the fire and those extras (including John Allemang, who told us his story recently in the Globe and Mail). But on balance I don’t find the production concept illuminating, not when at least part of the time it’s holding me back rather than adding something. It’s odd to me that this scene that usually seems like an extraneous afterthought—the last one– works best this time. Is it because it’s so good? or simply because it’s the only unobstructed scene,  where two people are allowed to sing without all the conceptual shenanigans?

The Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies at University of Toronto are in the midst of a residency by Cakes and Puppets, a Czech puppetry company.  Who are they and what are they presenting in this brief visit?

Cakes and Puppets/Buchty a Loutky is an experimental puppet theatre company from the Czech Republic. Founded in 1991 by graduates of the puppet department of the Prague Academy of the Performing Arts, Cakes and Puppets has premiered over 40 live productions for adults and children and they have designed stop-motion sequences for films including Lars von Trier’s The Antichrist. Their performances combine old toys, discarded objects, and fine art sculpture. Their aesthetic has been called “punk puppetry” and “the theatre of Do-It-Yourself.” Their work spans fairy tales, opera, and a recent “Reloaded” series of puppet productions of classic and cult films including Rocky, Psycho, Jaws, and Barbarella.

For their North American premiere, Cakes and Puppets will bring two productions to the Luella Massey Studio Theatre at the University of Toronto. The first is their adaptation of Petr Sis’s Caldecott Award-winning book Tibet: Through the Red Door. Sis’s father, a documentary filmmaker, was sent to China in the 1950s to film a Chinese construction crew building a highway. Separated from the workers and caught in a blizzard, the elder Sis witnessed events that he could only communicate to his son through tales of gentle Yetis, an encounter with the Dalai Lama, and other “magical stories.” In 1994, Sis discovered his father’s diary, locked in a red box, with the message “The diary is now yours.” Tibet filters Cold War intercultural tensions through the eyes of a child—and an adult reflecting on his Central European past. 

The Three Little Pigs is a retelling of the classic children’s story with modern updates, including wisecracking pigs and at least three houses that are built and blown down by a determined wolf. Children and parents are encouraged to stay after each performance to meet the company and try out their puppets.

In addition to appearances in classes the troupe will present

• TONIGHT A video of their collaboration between the Czech baroque ensemble Collegium marianum and Buchty a loutky (“Cakes and Puppets”) in La Calisto, by Francesco Cavalli
• Feb 12 & 13 at 1:00 pm: Three Little Pigs (for children & adults)
• Feb 11, 12 & 13 at 8:00 pm: Tibet: Through the Red Box

Before the opera video we had a question & answer session.  While it may have been unorthodox to start with the questions, it was out of respect for the jet-lagged artists/artisans who had just arrived, and have a full agenda over the next few days.  Professor Veronika Ambros served as translator, assisting moderators Linda & Michael Hutcheon, who followed the showing with additional Q & A from the floor, while sharing some fascinating stories of puppet opera from around the world.   Thursday afternoon there’s an additional session with the Hutcheons and Buchty a loutky discussing “operatic puppetry”.

It seems clear to me that we can see most of these things at least two ways: there are troupes specializing in various disciplines –thinking particularly of puppets, dance or circus and aerial work— and also,, when we come to opera, these artists / artisans are called upon to become part of the team, if not the expressive vocabulary of opera.  Robert Lepage once called opera “the mother of all the arts”, perhaps in recognition that he was himself promoting (if not re-patriating) the pure spectacle of the old operas from the 17^th century (a choice that’s been resisted in some quarters, embraced in others).  Tomorrow I’ll be seeing the Canadian Opera Company’s Siegfried (directed by François Girard / designed by Michael Levine), that features prominent aerial work and puppetry (thinking for instance of the giant dragon made up of humans strung together into a wiggly pyramid).  Every decade there are different design trends, so I wouldn’t dream of what the next decade holds…

(left to right) Acrobats Antoine Marc, Sandrine Mérette and Ted Sikström in a scene from the Canadian Opera Company production of Love from Afar, 2012. Conductor Johannes Debus, original production by Daniele Finzi Pasca, set designer Jean Rabasse, costume designer Kevin Pollard, and lighting designers Daniele Finzi Pasca and Alexis Bowles. Photo: Chris Hutcheson

There was a lot of giggling in the first ten minutes, perhaps out of the simple delight in the marionettes.  We saw portrayals of gods and goddesses by marionettes and humans alike, including a Zeus who made a fantastic gender change right before our eyes to imitate the goddess Diana, changing from a bass to a counter-tenor (although the voice change was not done through any sort of surgical intervention!).  The laughter subsided as the beauty of the medium worked its magic.

The video was a bit frustrating in some of the same ways that the recent Lulu from the Metropolitan Opera high definition broadcast series was frustrating (in fact Lulu drove me nuts).  The camera zeroed in on exemplary performances, while often leaving us wondering about the overall stage picture.  For La Calisto this was particularly concerning, because we missed the visual tension between the puppet theatre and the surrounding ensemble of singers & players, some of whom stepped into that puppet theatre space.  Any video of a live performance must make such a choice (and you can’t please everyone), losing the extra possibilities one has in the live performance space.

Fortunately everything else being offered is live, so you don’t risk that kind of frustration.

The schedule is here.  Tickets are available through www.uofttix.ca  or call 416-978-8849.

Canadian bass-baritone Iain MacNeil joined the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio in the fall of 2014, after studying at University of Toronto Opera with Canadian soprano Wendy Nielsen.  There’s a more complete biography on his website: here. His career is off to an impressive beginning.  I singled him out in his portrayal of Dr Bartolo in the Ensemble’s Barber of Seville last spring, making me especially eager to see his latest comic creation: the title role of The Marriage of Figaro February 22^nd.

I asked him some questions.

1- Are you more like your father or your mother?

I’d be hard-pressed to determine which of my parents were more influential toward the person that I’ve become. Both of my parents spent a large portion of their childhood abroad, my Mom in Liberia and my Dad in Australia, so I think I come by my wanderlust honestly. As for music, both of my parents sing in choirs and play an instrument or several. Their love and appreciation for music was passed directly on to my siblings and me by placing us in piano lessons, voice lessons, violin lessons, and dance lessons, as well as by encouraging us to participate in school and community bands and theatre. Where I think I resemble my Dad more than my Mom is in my passion for acquiring new skills. My Dad will pick up a new skill and pursue it until he has it completely within his grasp, even if it means hours and hours of reading, practising or whatever kind of training the skill entails. Thanks to this kind of diligence, he’s very handy, plays several instruments, was a committed rugby and basketball player in his teens, and went back to school in his forties to obtain a Master’s degree. I think the Jack-of-all-Trades gene was successfully handed down from him.

Baritone Iain MacNeil

2- What is the best thing about being a singer?

There are a plethora of joys that singers experience. Travelling is high up on the list for me, especially when it’s to a place where I get to test run another language. In this international art form, opera singers are really lucky to have the chance to immerse ourselves in other cultures.

We are also really fortunate to be immersed in powerful music every day, and to be surrounded by passionate artists and lovers of the art form every day.

The ultimate gift, however, is less of an aspect of being a singer and more of a feeling. It’s the feeling of being completely unified with the music, and existing as its vessel for the audience. It is the most enabled, effervescent, connected and meaningful state that I know of, and it certainly does not occur every single time I sing. But when it does, it’s like your whole being is riding a wave, and the audience is riding it with you. There is nothing better.

3- Who do you like to listen to or watch?

When I was 14 I bought an MP3 player, and the music that was at my disposal was my Dad’s CD collection. Therefore the foundation of my musical taste is more or less music from the 70s: Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, Queen. I think from living in Halifax for four years I’ve added East Coast traditional, folk, and Indie music to my regular diet, and from studying classical music at Dalhousie, I’ve added classical music, too! When I bought the MP3 player Dad said, “You can have this MP3 player, but make sure it contains 30% classical music.” I laughed, but ten years later it contains a lot more than that!

4- What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I suppose this is more of a superpower in its level of attainability, but I would like the ability to understand every language and every dialect that exists in the world.

5- When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

My favourite thing to do outside of work is ride my motorcycle. If I have weeks in a row of free time I’ll take a trip. I’ve been to St. John’s, Newfoundland and back on my 1974 Honda CB450, and let me tell you there is nothing like travelling with an un-obstructed view of the landscape and a bit of wind in your face, as long as you’re alright with being cold and wet every once in a while.

Playing guitar or jamming with my friends is tied for first as a favourite thing to do outside of singing.

*******

Five or six more about singing Figaro in Marriage of Figaro with the Canadian Opera Company

Iain MacNeil and Karine Boucher (Dr Bartolo and Berta in the 2015 Ensemble Studio performance The Barber of Seville) will be re-united as Figaro & Susanna for the 2016 Ensemble Studio Marriage of Figaro (Photo: Michael Cooper)

1-For a role such as Figaro, you must have heard other interpretations, either recordings or live, of such a well-known role. How do you reconcile yourself to the forest of video & audio out there that might influence your own interpretation?

I don’t worry about people seeing or hearing an influence from another artist or interpretation.

In fact I’m absolutely open to having help in creating my own interpretation. I think that’s why we  collaborate, with many brains being better than one. All I can hope is for people to believe my Figaro. Bryn is my favourite Figaro, so if someone heard bits of his Figaro in mine, I’d be flattered.

With regards to this production, I did watch DVDs of past productions, but it was the rehearsal process that has brought me closer to what I believe Claus Guth’s concept to be after.

2-What is your favourite moment in the opera?

Le Nozze di Figaro is full of fantastic moments, gorgeous music, and endless potential. The Act IV finale is currently my favourite 15 minutes of the opera, and arriving at, “Ah, tutti contenti saremo così,” with my colleagues is currently my favourite moment. At this point the “giorno di tormenti” is finally suspended for a few seconds of peace, tranquillity, and community. I can only imagine how it will feel to sing it with my fellow Ensemble members after a night on stage together.

3-Please talk about the COC production of Marriage of Figaro and Claus Guth’s take on this story.

When I first saw bits of the production years ago on YouTube, I was averse to the character of Cherubim, who is absolutely central to this production.

Director Claus Guth’s most invasive moment? Forcing Russell Braun to sing the Count’s hardest aria while carrying Uli Kirsch as Cherubim (Photo: Michael Cooper). Miraculously Braun pulled it off.

Admittedly I did not know the opera well at all, and had no grounds other than a lack of understanding on which to dismiss the unicycling angel. However, the Ensemble cast became flies on the wall to the main cast’s rehearsals, Cherubim’s purpose became increasingly clearer to me. Da Ponte continuously refers to a God, or devil, or immortal being of some sort that is responsible for upsetting the plot at every turn. Claus Guth embodies this external force as Cherubino’s alter-ego, the angel Cherubim. Cherubim, also a pubescent boy who embodies Freud’s Eros, or life drive, arrives throughout the opera to remind the women of their suppressed longings in life and to drive the men crazy. Furthermore, he seems to have the special power to stop time and make his presence known at some of Mozart’s most beautifully suspended musical moments. It is during these times that the characters are often referring to a “diavol” or “nume” that is pulling the strings and orchestrating the craziness of this day. As such, the angel’s existence in this concept is aptly justified, and even organic.

As for my character, I’ve always seen Figaro as an outgoing, hot-headed individual, with a careful, calculated side that can’t be ignored. In this concept he is portrayed as more of an intellectual, almost autistic individual who, while still subject to outbursts, by nature carries out his scheming, plotting and conflict-resolution in an introverted, cerebral, logical kind of way. It’s a really interesting take on the character. Challenge: accepted!

4-I’d ask you to reflect on your time with the Ensemble Studio, and how it culminates in this production.

My time in the Ensemble Studio has been a full on dive into the art form, the business, and the craft of singing. In my two years I have met life-long friends, started a relationship with a prolific company, and acquired tools that I will call upon regularly if not daily for the rest of my life. I am proud to have made it through to the other side with a hugely expanded knowledge of what it means to be a classical singer today, and I look forward to continuing to take ownership of that knowledge.

Members of the 2015/2016 COC Ensemble Studio. (l-r) tenor Andrew Haji, bass-baritone Iain MacNeil, bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, intern coach and pianist Jennifer Szeto, soprano Karine Boucher, tenor Aaron Sheppard, tenor Charles Sy, soprano Aviva Fortunata, tenor Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure, and intern coach and pianist Hyejin Kwon. (Photo: Chris Hutcheson)

A huge part of this knowledge has been acquired by sitting in rehearsal listening to the artists that sing here, and just by going to the opera a lot. Being in La traviata with Quinn [Kelsey] meant hearing his Germont many times, and I was always fascinated by it. Watching the rehearsal process is incredibly useful and informative for us as young singers so that we can understand what’s expected and what’s possible.

I enjoyed all of my role assignments. Dr. Bartolo was a definite highlight. It was frustrating but eventually so liberating to commit fully to a character that I wouldn’t normally sing. Figaro, however, promises to rival as a highlight for me, as does the opportunity to perform Songs of Travel with members of the COC orchestra in May.

5-The torch is always being passed to a new cohort, but sometimes it seems that the torch is about to go out, that opera is dying.  Please talk about the next generation of opera (composers, singers, musicians) and what your peers bring to the table.

I haven’t been around long enough to be able to predict the future of this business, but I have been around long enough to have been completely transformed by this art form. I don’t doubt that it will change, and that part of my job will be to change with it, but I know that the foundational aspects of opera are timeless. For example, on a fundamental level I believe in the power of the human voice to connect with people. I am hopeful that composers of new operas also believe in that power, and I am hopeful that generations of future opera goers will also be transformed by the existing and growing canon of magnificent operas.

My job is to never stop learning, never stop honing my craft, and to never stop giving generously from the stage to the people in the audience. That is where I plan to direct my energy. I am absolutely aware that most opera-goers are not 25 years old, but I am, and if opera can grab a hold of my life from all the way out in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada – and my story is not unique- then there is incredible potential for a future audience.

6-Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

I am indebted to and hugely appreciative of my mentors and teachers Wendy Nielsen, Liz Upchurch, and Rachel Andrist. These ladies care so much about opera and nurturing young talent, and they live this vocation daily. I am very happy to have them in my life.

Marcia Swanston, professor of Music at Dalhousie University

I mentioned my Alma Mater, Dalhousie University. Without it, I doubt that I would be here. More specifically I would like to thank my Dalhousie voice teacher Marcia Swanston. She put the fire of singing in me, and guided me through the beginnings of understanding the craft and being a vessel for the music. I am very fortunate to have had her as a teacher.

*******

Iain MacNeil and the Ensemble Studio take their turn suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous eros in Claus Guth’s production of The Marriage of Figaro, February 22^nd at the Four Seasons Centre.

There’s a curious mix of adventure and nostalgia that goes with the annual Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio performance of one of the season’s operas.

After having seen a production with a cast of seasoned professionals, each year we get a chance to see the same thing redone with the young talent in residence at the COC.  It could be Diane Arbus’s Magic Flute (2011) or El Comediants Barber of Seville (2015), or this season –last night in fact—it was Claus Guth’s Marriage of Figaro.   

We’re watching young singers moving towards professional careers. The momma and poppa birds, aka the professional mentors & teachers at the COC such as Liz Upchurch, Rachel Andrist, Johannes Debus, Alexander Neef, watch conflicted.  Their little songbirds take bold test-flights out of the nest.  Does one feel pride at the growth seen over the past couple of years? Or perhaps sadness at the imminent departures.  It may be the first time we see what a singer can do just as they’re standing close to the door, about to leave.

Sigh…

There’s another layer to this, if I didn’t hear wrongly.  In February 2017, instead of an Ensemble Studio performance of an opera we’ll see a series of scenes in a Showcase presented by members of the studio.  So there’s an additional bit of nostalgia given that last night may have been the last time the COC made the huge investment of energy and money to put their Ensemble Studio into a performance of an opera.  What an opportunity!  I can’t help connecting the weak Canadian dollar with this decision to abandon the fully staged Ensemble performance, even as I wish the COC might offer more roles throughout the season to these talented singers as an economy measure.

So if this was indeed the Last Tango, nothing seemed to be held back in a truly fitting climax to a wonderful tradition.

Unlike opening night that I reviewed it was a very different kind of evening.  In fairness my joy in the younger cast is likely a reflection of my antipathy to the production.  Jane Archibald (Susanna) & Russell Braun (the Count) managed to capture something that was genuinely conflicted, a troubling emotional ambivalence that might be deeper and truer, surely more modern than what Mozart, da Ponte (and Beaumarchais) wrote, whereas Karine Boucher and Gordon Bintner last night (in the comparable roles) gave us something perhaps closer to Mozart and less true to Guth’s dark vision.  Was that because they’re younger?  I hope I can be forgiven for saying I liked it more last night, much more.

At least some of that enjoyment can be credited to remarkable interpretations.

I thought Gordon Bintner sounded like the second coming of Thomas Allen, but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised considering that he and Allen shared the role of Don Alfonso in the COC’s 2014 Cosi fan tutte.  Okay, he sounds like a younger version of Allen, complete with all the vocal power, fabulous diction, physical eloquence and good looks.  I’m very sorry I had to miss that 2014 Ensemble performance of Cosi, as this was—for me that is—the first and last chance to hear that awesome voice and confident demeanor in such a big part.  I remember wishing that he’d been given more opportunities to shine on the Four Seasons Centre stage, thinking especially of a mis-casting I recall from 2014 when Quinn Kelsey played Sancho Panza, a bit of a fish out of water singing below the best part of his range instead of appearing in Roberto Devereux where his voice would have been idiomatic and a worthy match for Sondra Radvanovsky.  I wonder what Bintner could have done with the Massenet, admittedly a role that doesn’t offer the singer all that much to do.   So at the very least i suggest that Alexander Neef consider giving thankless roles to his (hypothetically low cost) Canadians rather than expensive imports.

And speaking of singers I missed in the 2014 Ensemble Cosi, there’s Aviva Fortunata, with a voice & commitment to match Bintner.  I wouldn’t dream of saying her voice sounds like anyone. It’s unique, but paticularly when she lets fly at the top of her range, it’s clear that the sky’s the limit. Speaking of ready-for-prime-time voices, I think it’s time for the COC to offer her a major role, something that she likely can do at the very least in a performance or two double-cast with a higher-priced singer.

The other two major players –Karine Boucher’s Susanna and Iain MacNeil’s Figaro—seemed like a happy antidote to Guth’s dark spin on Figaro.  I confess (okay it’s obvious by now), I really don’t understand the dead birds.  It’s probably true that this production makes tons of sense to the cast members who learned the subtext.  But I submit that when theatre is still about communication, rather than an arcane cult ritual of obscure signals understood only by the participants/celebrants, I shouldn’t have to read a big long treatise to understand what it means.  I’ve been in shows where we were all convinced of the brilliance of what we were doing, but if the audience doesn’t get it?  it doesn’t matter.  If you’ll excuse me for projecting, Boucher & MacNeil seem to be naturally happy people, or at least happy when onstage, completely at home at the centre of attention.  Their Susanna and Figaro seem ready for happiness in this version of the story, whereas Archibald and Josef Wagner were in that darker place, a sophisticated and modern couple that has everything to do with what Guth wanted but perhaps overlaid over what Mozart wrote.  I was far happier with what Dmitri Tcherniakov did last year with Don Giovanni even though both productions  (DT’s DG and CG’s Figaro) seem to show a progression, a change or evolution.  In the DG mankind seems to be outgrowing the seducer archetype; in Figaro we watch as the winged Cherubim –a very inconsistently applied deus ex machina –is eventually ignored by all except Cherubino.  If Cherubim is meant to suggest libido or the disorder of desire, the way he is ignored at the end would imply that in marriage we stop having sex. What? that’s ridiculous, an insight perhaps worthy of Fred Mertz, not Lorenzo da Ponte. Maybe I didn’t understand ? which brings me back to the earlier comment about productions that you have to be in to understand.

(left to right) Iain MacNeil as Figaro, Jacqueline Woodley as Cherubino and Gordon Bintner as the Count in the Ensemble Studio performance of the Canadian Opera Company’s production of The Marriage of Figaro, 2016. (Photo: Michael Cooper)

Against all odds this happy energetic quartet, particularly MacNeil and Bintner, manage to keep the story relevant to what they are singing, whereas I felt as cold as one of those dead birds watching Wagner, Archibald, Wall and Braun et alia singing “corriam tutti” on opening night.

My favourite performer opening night was Robert Pomakov, and chances are he heard me guffawing last night as well.  I felt he was the only one in the opening night cast who jumped over the chasm of Guth’s production to arrive safely back in the realm of sense when singing da Ponte’s words (quite a feat for a guy in a wheelchair).  Megan Latham was his new partner and eventual wife, and a worthy adversary for Boucher and MacNeil.  I had a bit of a laugh watching Jacqueline Woodley as Cherubino bemusedly picking up one of the white feathers strewn about the stage, as though suddenly recalling her recent heroics as a bird in white.  Between her fluid portrayal of a boy and Sasha Djihanian again stealing every scene as Barbarina, there were no weak spots in the cast, including Douglas McNaughton even more over-the-top as Antonio, Aaron Sheppard as Don Curzio and Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure as Don Basilio.

Some of these singers will be back next year.  For others it will soon be time to say “ave atque vale”.  Hail and farewell? i hope we’ll see them again.

I raced at top speed, not from jungle to city but from one end of the U of T campus to the other after work, afraid I’d be late for the (lecture about) opera, somewhat like the hero of Werner Herzog’s 1982 film Fitzcarraldo.  It was a keynote by Linda and Michael Hutcheon, as close as I could get to hearing Caruso at 5 pm on a Friday in Toronto (the relevant clip is the first nine minutes).

“No work of art can withstand the alchemy of adaptation without suffering the consequences of tranformation, especially when the adaptation is from one art form to another.”

So said Nilo Cruz as cited on the first slide of Linda & Michael Hutcheon’s talk, titled “Operatic Transformation: Translation, Adaptation, Transladaptation”. Theirs was a keynote address at the Trans- Conference 2016, at the University of Toronto Centre for Comparative Literature.

I’d like to digress for a moment to unpack that by quoting the conference call for papers.

Internal and external changes. Movements outside, beyond, or within. Our annual conference explores the theme of trans– in any of its forms. Particularly of interest are explorations of the relationships between movement, position, and change. What mind shifts are required with trans– shifts? In transition, what is lost and what is gained? pIn times of increasing mobility and placelessness, how can we ensure the transmission of meaningful information between generations and across borders?
The organizing committee of this conference invites all contributions that respond to the need to think about trans- as a subject and as a prefix in our disciplines and in our world. Possible topics for presentations include, but are not limited to:
transgression Traduction Transgenre translittération transfert transformation
transport transmission Transubstantiation transversal transplantation transnational
transhumain transrationnel Transposition transcription Transaction transcendance

As you can see on that poster, this is a trans-disciplinary conference, and as such an ideal venue for a conversation about operatic adaptation & interpretation. Michael & Linda situated their conversation in the collegial space that is jargon free, explaining their terms when necessary. By working more or less from first principles it made their argument all the more powerful.

After explaining history & context, they did a bit of a case study comparing two different approaches to the Mozart/da Ponte opera Don Giovanni:

• Against the Grain Theatre’s #UncleJohn presented in Toronto in December 2014 (after an earlier workshop presentation in Banff).
• The Canadian Opera Company’s Don Giovanni presented in January- February 2015 (which had been presented in Europe).

The COC DG was directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, while #UncleJohn was a new translation and adaptation of the Da Ponte libretto by Joel Ivany, leading to a new word coined in response, namely “transladaptation”.

Early on we were treated to an image of the score of Don Giovanni, suddenly splattered in red, suggesting that the opera was a crime scene for this case study. There’s a word missing from the title of their CSI, namely Regietheater (or director’s theatre). I have to think this talk was a very cathartic experience for a pair of opera fans who have likely been frustrated before by invasive and transgressive directors.  Michael did admit that he was not entirely thrilled by Tcherniakov’s interpretation, likely the motivation for that bloody image.

There’s no arguing with their conclusions, contrasting the reception experience of the two operas. The Hutcheons were raising a simple question, namely when does an interpretation go so far that it’s no longer an interpretation but something else? It’s a sticky one to answer, although we were offered some criteria to work with such as the notion of “Werktreue” (a concept that could be translated as “faithfulness to the composer’s intention”).

Instead of fussing unduly over that question, we spent far more time looking at two contrasting approaches and how they impacted the audience horizon of expectations, which was understood to be the site where this battle is ultimately fought, for the hearts of the operatic audience:

• Tcherniakov’s DG was presented by the COC with surtitles and stage action that seemed nonsensical at times. One might argue that this production was no longer the opera Mozart & Da Ponte wrote (in other words, no longer true to the work: Werktreue), but an adaptation, that deserved to be identified as such.
• Ivany’s #UncleJohn foregrounded its divergence from the original work, declaring its differences, its bold newness,  in its name & a subtitle. I vaguely recall seeing “transladaptation” at the time, although I don’t know that I paid much attention, as I was mostly busy enjoying the production: and the work.

Linda and Michael Hutcheon at the launch of their new book last summer.

What seems clear is that a work honestly presented and advertised as a modernized adaptation encountered less friction than a production purporting to be the original opera. I couldn’t help wondering if the forthright communication strategy of Against the Grain is a big reason for the smooth reception (which is kind of ironic when you remember what “against the grain” literally implies). It might also be relevant to observe in passing that while Ivany’s transladaptation modernizes and juggles a few elements of the story, that it feels less divergent from the original than Tcherniakov. Perhaps the key is the avoidance of the cognitive dissonance from too much of a gap between expectation and the transgressive production, whether by means of honest advertising or in hewing close to the original.  Then again the fact that COC productions are much pricier could also be a factor. I couldn’t help wondering if the COC’s ventures into Regietheater would be easier to sell with clearer communication.

Left to right: Miriam Khalil, Sean Clark, Betty Allison and Cameron McPhail, in the December 2014 Toronto production of #UncleJohn

I was perhaps out of step with many in this room (horizon of expectation being associated with “interpretive communities”, presumably a way to separate out different history & varieties of taste), as someone who loved Tcherniakov’s DG: but then again I had seen it on TFO at least three times before I saw it live in the theatre, one of several operas of his that i had seen and enjoyed. Similarly someone called the COC’s Semele “bad”, a position I don’t share, believing it to be one of the best things I’ve seen there this past decade: but in that case too, I had advance preparation in getting to see the set from up close in a backstage preview.

But however i may rationalize those experiences, I’m grateful that this presentation today elegantly theorizes Regietheater and its reception.

Director Joel Ivany

So perhaps because I saw a rationale for these two interpretations, because i’d either done my homework (watching DG on video) or been educated (by being invited backstage by the COC to see the Semele set), I was more ready to meet those works on their own terms. Divergent as they may have been I was not similarly impressed by Claus Guth’s Figaro. No wonder then – in conversations about productions eliciting varying degrees of dismay—that Against the Grain stands out as a beacon in an otherwise dark conversation.

At the back of the room sitting un-noticed was the hero of the hour, namely Joel Ivany himself. In a few days he begins rehearsals for Carmen at the COC opening April 12th (NB a standard production rather than an adaptation), while in May Against the Grain will offer their third and final transladaptation based on the Mozart- da Ponte trilogy, namely A Little Too Cozy.

I’m writing about Against the Grain Theatre right now as I think about their imminent co-production of Gluck’s opera, that they are calling Orphée⁺ (the original press release said “an international co-production between AtG, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Opera Columbus“, although AtG now also mention “NYC’s Company XIV” on their website).

The production’s arrival in Toronto is imminent, a show that premiered last night south of the border with Opera Columbus, who are already known hereabouts as the employer of Opera Atelier regular & star Peggy Kriha Dye, the General and Artistic Director of Opera Columbus.

Against the Grain music director Topher Mokrzewski

Let me make an analogy.  Let’s say Against the Grain are the Beatles and it’s still the 1960s.  All four were still alive back then in the 1960s when they could do no wrong and if you were like me, you hung on their every word, guitar strum and batted eyelash.  The thought they might ever break up(??!) was as unthinkable as growing old and dying to those of us who were young at the time (who knew!?).

I’m a fan who wondered at times if AtG could break up, as we watched Topher take a job for awhile in Calgary, as we watched Joel take all sorts of directing jobs all over the world.  Would they continue creating edgy projects here in Toronto? Or had they outgrown AtG? I am sure I’m not the only one who figured that after their Da Ponte trilogy of transladaptions, each more impressive than the last, after presenting and reviving Boheme and Messiah, that maybe they would lose interest, perhaps not be bothered.  Would they be distracted by better offers elsewhere?  Was AtG merely their youthful proving ground where they found their first fame, before going on to bigger and better things?

The Canadian myth for success especially in theatre, opera and music has essentially been the story of artists who get their legitimacy by being discovered abroad:

• Robert Carsen
• Joni Mitchell
• Donald Sutherland
• …and I’m sure you could list another 100 very quickly

Against the Grain Artistic Director Joel Ivany

Or is that template now out of date?  Topher split his energies east and west for a time.  Joel & his wife Miriam have a child and probably have more than enough miles just going out to Banff where they workshop their shows before bringing them to Toronto, without adding a host of foreign destinations.   I hope I’m right in sensing that Against the Grain have renewed their covenant with themselves & the company in this new project pulling them together (admittedly in a co-production with others outside Toronto), everyone seeming committed and making an important contribution.  But a co-production is a great way to be able to do something exciting in Toronto.

I’m going by the promotional materials I’ve received plus the press I’ve read concerning Orphée⁺, in considering three elements, namely burlesque, aerials and the musical side.

Burlesque has been re-invented in the last decade, a site for women to reclaim their bodies in all shapes and sizes.  It is no longer the voyeuristic spectacle of objectification & pornography from the last century, indeed the aim to titillate has been replaced by a kind of fun celebration, as burlesque has come to signify inclusiveness & empowerment.

We’ve seen burlesque begin to enter the visual lexicon, part of the movement vocabulary for theatre practitioners.

• Opera 5 gave us their spectacular Die Fledermaus in June 2016 including aerials & burlesque
• Pulse Theatre’s sexy production of Flea in her ear in the 2017 Fringe used burlesque & dance to inject sexiness into every moment of Feydeau’s farce

The challenge for any show is to make the new and glamorous element an organic part of the whole.

Aerials are now solidly established as part of the visual theatre vocabulary, an addition to the toolkit that a director can’t ignore.

• We know aerials have roots in the realm we sometimes call “circus”, from companies such as Cirque du Soleil
• Theatre artists have been importing aerials for a long time, for instance Robert Lepage, who brought aerials into Erwartung (1993), Damnation de Faust (2008), his Ring cycle (2010 – 12) and Needles & Opium (2013)
• An essay I wrote about it a couple of years ago .
• Inspiring imports such as The Return ,Triptyque
  and
• Inspired local creations such as Balancing on the Edge  and Bruce Barton’s experimental YouTopia
• …and we can’t forget inspiring productions at the Canadian Opera Company (in addition to (Erwartung) such as Love from Afar, and Semele

So it would seem like a natural to remake Amour, aka The Goddess of Love as an aerial goddess of glamour as in the pictures I’ve seen (such as the one at the top of this blog).

As for the music I’m on shakier ground in my projection/ speculation. The Berlioz take on Gluck was used recently by Opera Atelier in their production. But perhaps more importantly there’s also the use of electronics & sound design. Is this too part of a new vocabulary?  One can look at electronic incursions into classical performance, for example:

• Haus Musik (where Tafelmusik regularly marry their authentic sound with new electronic improvisation + staging to match)
• The annual Electric Messiah

Electronic and Electro-acoustic music have been there for awhile, and regularly  incorporated into operas, either in the score or in adaptations of older rep.  I could list lots of productions, but I have no idea what AtG’s adaptation will be like, so they’re not terribly relevant, except as a reminder that electronic music and electronic/digital processing of sound & music are normal ingredients in theatre.  We will see & hear soon enough. I sense that AtG want to ensure that their adaptation is an update both in the visual and sonic realms, but I’m just guessing. This weekend they’re in Columbus.

On the AtG website it says
“Against the Grain Theatre, The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Opera Columbus, and NYC’s Company XIV collaborate to present the Gluck/Berlioz masterpiece, the opera Orphée et Eurydice. We all know the original Greek myth: the musician Orpheus is grieving the death of his lover Eurydice—and gets one chance to retrieve her from the Underworld. In 2018, we think this would become an electronic, baroque-burlesque descent into hell. While staying true to the original score — which features the world’s most exquisite melodies of love, loss, and desperation — and honouring the traditions of Baroque opera, this new production pushes the boundaries of operatic presentation through an orchestra that mixes acoustic and electric instruments, features captivating choreography from burlesque dancers, aerial artistry, and a global virtual chorus.”

I’m looking forward to seeing Orphée⁺ next weekend, one of the three Toronto performances.  When I went online to buy a second pair of tickets to go with my comps (because four of us will be going; I said I was a fan, remember?) there were still some available.

Find out more & book tickets by going to AtG’s website.

Sondra Radvanovsky is the story.

Sondra Radvanovsky as Anna Bolena in the Washington National Opera’s production of Anna Bolena, 2012. (Photo: Scott Suchman)

There is no better singing in an opera in Toronto than what you’ll hear if you go see Anna Bolena with the Canadian Opera Company, and she’s not the only great voice.

I can talk about the number of times I was moved to tears. (I’m of a generation reared to believe guys aren’t supposed to cry openly, and opera is one of the safe places for me to let it out: and I do)

How many? Nine times, nine different places in the opera. Not all of them were Sondra’s doing, although by 6 or 7 I was thoroughly tenderized for the emotional last scenes.

Spoiler alert: they’re all dead. But that’s because this is an opera based on historical figures who died hundreds of years ago. Some of the characters in the opera are to be executed although I won’t tell you whether we see anyone die or not.

Did I mention that there are some amazing talents in this production?

Sondra isn’t just a great singer but also an amazing actor. From time to time she blind-sides me with a facial expression or an interpretive choice that moves me very much. Sondra plays Anna, aka Anne Boleyn. If you just arrived in Toronto or haven’t been paying attention, Radvanovsky is a world-famous star who happens to have blessed us by choosing to live in the GTA, and choosing to make herself available. Lucky us!

There’s another wonderful soprano role in this opera, namely Jane Seymour, aka Giovanna aka Seymour, portrayed by Keri Alkema. Alkema was a remarkable Tosca last year (unique intelligence in her portrayal) and a fabulous Vitellia in 2013. She makes an intriguing contrast to Radvanovsky, a worthy addition to the ensemble.

While you might believe the show is built around Radvanovsky because she’s such a megastar, it’s not so. Yes Anna Bolena is largely composed around the title character. But for most of this opera, the key character is King Henry the Eighth aka Enrico, in the big physical presence of Christian Van Horn. While he might be taller than anyone else in the show, he is often lounging in a chair while being pushed about the stage. No wonder he gets fat later in life, although at this point he’s still a handsome figure of a man. He’s also a scary piece of work who always gets his way, and has no scruple about who might get hurt.

From left, Allyson McHardy is a boyish Smeton, Christian Van Horn as Enrico VIII reclines centre and Jonathan Johnson as Hervey, far right in red (Photo: Michael Cooper)

Tenor Bruce Sledge is Ricccardo (Richard) Percy, once betrothed to Anna and still in love with her, singing some of the prettiest music of the night. Jonathan Johnson is Hervey, who is the ears and eyes of the King, in a slippery portrayal that had some people hissing at the curtain call: which tells you he did a great job.

Allyson McHardy looks like a handsome boy when she wears the right sort of wig in the aptly named role of Smeton, a young man who is indeed smitten: with Anna. McHardy’s luscious voice reminds you of her gender whenever she starts singing.

And so the last two Canadian Opera Company productions have now opened. Two weeks ago they gave us the premiere of The Nightingale & other short fables, a production where the visuals in Robert Lepage’s concept take you back to childhood in a series of departures from usual practice in an opera house. Today it was time for something more normal, namely opera relying upon the singing voice & musicianship in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, the second Donizetti opera of the season. Depending on what you like in an opera, they’ve saved the best for last. While I am a total sucker for the visuals in The Nightingale, a perfect first opera, a wonderful production for children, I’d have to crown Anna Bolena the best thing I’ve seen from the COC all year.

This is Stephen Lawless’s production, to complete his take on Donizetti’s Elizabethan trilogy presented in recent years. We had Roberto Devereux also starring Radvanovsky in 2014 and Maria Stuarda in 2010. Lawless & his set designer Benoit Dugardyn remind us of the Elizabethan theatre in their staging concept. That we are looking at a playing area enclosed as though it were the Globe Theatre makes sense when we see that the King, his women (Anna & Jane) and the courtiers all thrust into a kind of performance role, their every word scrutinized and judged. We watch from our side across centuries while another audience of his contemporaries onstage looks upon the courtiers & the King, sometimes straining to hear what’s being said, voyeurs in the lives of the great & powerful: just like us.

Notice the resemblance to the Globe Theatre in Benoit Dugardyn’s design for the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Anna Bolena, 2018. (Photo: Michael Cooper)

Like the Lepage show it’s a great piece of theatre, although Lawless is just one piece of what makes Anna Bolena so good. Conductor Corrado Rovaris led a taut reading, the COC Orchestra shining brightly throughout, while the COC chorus were fascinating both for their musical contribution but also in their regular visits upstage as that mysterious audience.

We even see the young Elizabeth, a non-singing role.

Anna Bolena continues until May 26th at the Four Seasons Centre.

Sometimes recordings can open a window on the past. I’ve got a “new” CD, actually an old one that’s only new to me. Forgive me if I choose to write about something that’s not easily available but the CD immediately took me back decades to several powerful moments.

1. One of my first live opera experiences, at the U of T Opera School (later the Opera Department)
2. One of my most powerful moments ever playing for singers
3. The first night of the Canadian Opera Company under Lotfi Mansouri

What or rather who do these three moments have in common?  Tenor Ermanno Mauro.

#1, up close in the MacMillan Theatre of the Edward Johnson Building, Mauro’s voice was a powerful experience, in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia.  I remember very little except the visceral pressure of the voice in a space that seemed tiny when he let fly, an effortless sound, and my first real experience of a huge voice.

#2: Playing? I think it must have been the year my brother sang Schaunard with the Canadian Opera Company opposite Mauro as Rodolfo, and so Ermanno came to dinner at my mom’s house: where I still lived, a teenager.  In Opera Viva (that wonderful and sometimes astonishing history of the COC by Ezra Schabas & Carl Morey), I see that it was in the autumn of 1972, when Peter was all of 23 singing on the COC’s mainstage, and Mauro? a mature singer ten years older than my brother with that huge voice.  His Rodolfo could be lyrical, but from an instrument of such power.  I’ve never heard anything like it before or since.

That 1972 experience (#2), one of the most powerful musical experiences of my young life, felt like I was riding a wild horse, playing the Otello vengeance duet while Peter & Ermanno sang.  I played as loud as I could, barely able to hear the piano, while the two voices enveloped me, in my mom’s back-room.  Afterwards I only recall the kindness of the man, so sweet to me while I had been struggling to keep up, sight-reading Verdi, turning pages,  while these two amazing voices belted out music that I had recently heard and embraced from records.  I was 17 and star-struck, but will never forget.  Ermanno’s voice is remarkable, an ideal instrument honed for verismo, spinto singing.   He can sing soft delicate phrases but has a direct sound and secure high notes.  I hear a bit of Giuseppe di Stefano here (particularly in the gentle oh so Italianate pianissimo passages), a bit of James McCracken there (the vowel diphthongs, a sound we sometimes hear from American tenor Russell Thomas).  But unlike di Stefano or McCracken the voice stayed together, the production impressive even in his maturity.

Listen to him sing Otello in this video, nearly 70 years old, and still an amazing voice.

#3 was a curious moment.  The opening of the 1977 fall season, I was sitting in the cheap seats at the back of the O’Keefe Centre for the opening night of Don Carlos, as the COC got the jump on the Metropolitan Opera as the first company in North America to present the original five act version in French. While its acoustics are famously bad, the back rows of the orchestra under the balcony actually tended to be better for sound, as there was a bit of a concentration of the sound there, unlike the dead spots in the midst of the orchestra.  I was back there because it was all I could get, but by a magical fluke, there he was.

Lotfi Mansouri.

He stood directly behind me, pacing, fidgeting about. What was he thinking, I wondered? I could feel his tension.  But the production was handsome and very beautiful in places.  Mauro played the title role.   And the production was the beginning of a quantum leap for the COC.

Pardon me for the preamble, but that’s more or less meant to indicate that when I slipped the CD into the player in my car, I was somewhat breathless in anticipation, encountering an old friend.  The CD is from the CBC SM5000 series in the 1980s, a DDD recording (meaning, fully digital), Mauro singing a dozen arias accompanied by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra conducted by Uri Mayer.  The Boheme aria you see shared via youtube above is from this recording.

In addition?

• “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” from Carmen
• “O souverain” from Le Cid
• “Nessun dorma” from Turandot
• “Un di all’azzuro spazio” from Andrea Chenier
• “Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci
• “Niun mi tema” from Otello
• “Pourquoi me réveiller” from Werther
• “Ah! lève-toi soleil” Romeo et Juliette
• ”Ma, se m’è forza perderti” from Un ballo in maschera
• “Ah si ben mio” from Il trovatore
• “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca

While a purist might take issue with some of the interpretations, Mauro’s pragmatic vocalism is a good match for most of these operas.  In 2018, we could use a voice like this. At times his muscular sound is as big and loud as any I’ve ever encountered, wonderfully reliable on top.  I’ve now listened to his “Niun mi tema” from Otello twice, totally destroyed by it both times.  While his “vesti la giubba” skips the histrionic crying, the way this Otello chooses to die is heart-breaking, and very original to my ear (and speaking of crying, I had enough sobs for the both of us).  Mauro has a very vulnerable soft voice he employs in places, for instance to begin the flower aria, or in “E lucevan le stelle”: but not in the places I expected.  His “oh dolce baci”, going up to the F-sharp, is soft as the kisses he would describe, so gently evocative that you can see the scene he is describing.  The middle voice is huge when he wants to call up a dark and passionate power, as Werther or in Le Cid.

Ermanno Mauro? Quite a voice.  I will be listening to the CD again and again.

Better late than never, the Canadian Opera Company have premiered Robert Carsen’s Eugene Onegin, a production originally premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1997. It’s a triumph of Canadian talent on all sides, from the sets & costumes by Michael Levine, to the performances of the principals, including Gordon Bintner in the title role, Joyce El-Khoury as Tatyana, and Joseph Kaiser as Lensky.  I hoped to see the Toronto boy take a bow at the final curtain although I suppose this show is ancient history.

Conceived long before the Met began their high definition series, I think we’re again seeing a production that’s better in person than at the movies. Although I’m looking forward to seeing it again from up close (my subscription seats are right at the front) this handsome reading of Tchaikovsky’s opera is full of big moments, from the work of the chorus singing, dancing and even raking leaves, to the stunning lighting designed in the original by Jean Kalman (and for the revival by Christine Binder), especially in the duel scene.  The stage picture was well-conceived and an organic part of the story-telling, often stunningly beautiful. I’m glad I was far enough back to be able to see it this way.

Coming in at just under three hours, the time flew by. Don’t miss it.

I didn’t understand Carsen’s minimalist approach when I saw it on TV, but it’s clear now that I’ve seen it on the Four Seasons Centre stage many years later.

I’ve been preparing for this all week, inflicting Tchaikovsky on my household (piano pieces) while reading an English translation of the Pushkin poem as preparation. (here’s the version I read, 170 pages including lots of marginal notes ) I’ve encountered critics opining that Tchaikovsky’s opera is not a faithful response to Pushkin. I’d direct the critics to Carsen, whose reading makes a wonderful case for the opera, especially when you consider this part of his director’s note:

Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin, based on Pushkin’s verse novel of the same title, has come to represent Russian character and emotion at its most intense. When Michael Levine and I developed our production for the Metropolitan Opera, we sought to find a poetic response to this most intensely subjective and emotive of operas. Pushkin’s original work, however, is much cooler, distant and critical in tone, and so we also tried –where appropriate—to re-capture some of the distinctive spirit of the original.

Many essays about Pushkin’s work reference Byron. Indeed Byron turns up regularly both in the opera and the verse-novel. In the Fourth Canto Lenski calls Onegin “a true Childe Harold”, invoking one of Byron’s world-weary anti-heroes. Byron’s influence is so huge that Berlioz, Pushkin, Tchaikovsky and so many others were all falling over themselves to be more Byronic than Byron himself. A few years after Onegin Tchaikovsky would also write one of his most personal works, his Manfred symphony. Unlike Berlioz (whose Harold in Italy ends in a tumult, the hero and his viola alter-ego drowned out in the wild orgy of brigands that ends the piece) Tchaikovsky would insert a kind of happy ending, a kind of Hollywood absolution for his unhappy Byronic wanderer, a misrepresentation of what Byron wrote to make Nahum Tate blush. If there is a problem with Tchaikovsky and Byronic heroes, it’s simply a matter of his temperament & sympathies. I can’t help thinking that Tchaikovsky likes Lenski & Tatyana much better than Onegin, the Byronic antihero. Perhaps his Manfred symphony can be thought of as a rewrite of the opera, absolving the hero at the last moment.

More fundamentally, though, we have polar opposites, two different personality types that are fundamental to this opera in Carsen’s production, the director capturing something “cooler, distant and critical in tone”. It’s only clear to me now in retrospect, with the help of Carsen’s lucid production that foregrounds two very different approaches to life & love:

• The direct and spontaneous style of Lenski & Tatyana: at least in her youth
• The more distant and reserved approach we see from the cynical Byronic hero, Onegin.
• And one might ask: and what about Tatyana in the last scene? Has she become more like Onegin in her ability to say no to her own desires, detaching herself from her feelings?

The Tatyana of the letter scene and Lenski are romantics in the old-time sense, wearing their hearts on their sleeves, rather than concealing their feelings. The Byronic approach, very much alive and well in the modern era, aka “cool”, is exemplified in Onegin, who only discovers something passionate and romantic in his later encounter with Tatyana: when she’s already married.

Gordon Bintner as Eugene Onegin and Joyce El-Khoury as Tatyana in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Eugene Onegin, 2018, (photo: Michael Cooper)

Gordon Bintner is very likable in a role that’s hard to like. The voice is so rich & full that even when he’s singing softly we get every note & nuance, and when he wants to, he’s the biggest voice in the show, the voice well-produced & never strident or forced even at its loudest. It’s a great pleasure to see him getting his chance at a starring role, one of the strongest recent graduates of the Ensemble Studio program. I hope we see him again, as he brings ample vocal skill, impeccable intonation and strong dramatic skills to everything he does.

Joyce El-Khoury was a favorite of the audience as Tatyana. Hers was a very literary interpretation, well thought out and making a very clear distinction in her performance between the girl and the woman we see in the last scene. I can’t help thinking that we see her through the filter of Carsen’s idea, which is that she is a creature of Onegin’s mind, seeing her in retrospect.

Joseph Kaiser is the third strong Canadian in a leading role, profoundly moving as the poet Lenski. He gave a very subtle & understated reading of the great aria “kuda kuda”. The duel scene—acting, lighting, singing—is one of the most effective creations I’ve seen on a COC stage.

Perhaps most impressive for showing us her range? Varduhl Abrahamyan, who was previously seen in 2016’s Ariodante, the trouser role of Polinesso (remember the scary preacher?), this time, Olga, Tatyana’s outgoing sister.  She could have muttered “and now for something completely different”.

In the TV broadcasts, I didn’t understand what Carsen was doing with the dances in this opera: that is, until I saw them today on a full stage. I now get that his focus was on Onegin, that this is largely a subjective and retrospective reading. So the waltz is danced by the chorus, the cotillion not shown, as we watch Lenski (who’s left behind) gradually coming to a boil, the polonaise not staged because it’s done entirely as Onegin gets dressed after the duel. I love divertissement & the trappings of grand opera, so had been somewhat frustrated in my first encounter –via television—with this production, watching Dmitri Hvorostovsky getting changed when I’d wanted dance instead. Was it a cost-cutting measure? Of course not, but the first time I saw it, I really didn’t get it because I had not seen the invaluable director’s note.

When it comes into clear focus is with the two versions of the Ecossaise. The first version is a bit voyeuristic, as a solo virtuoso pair dance this frenetic piece, watched by the chorus. Onegin sees Tatyana and is inspired by the sight of her, or perhaps more precisely, excited to the point of infatuation. The young girl he rejected is now a woman, a wealthy princess, poised but more beautiful than ever. The scene ends with a reprise of the Ecossaise, this time danced by the entire chorus, as though everyone has caught the erotic fervor of the dance: Onegin sprinting madly through their midst. Perhaps it’s implicit in what Tchaikovsky wrote, but Carsen makes it explicit, with the help of choreographer Serge Bennathan.

There’s a lot more I could say but I’m worried this review is already way too long & academic. I’ll probably write again when I see the show from up close. I should also mention the excellent work of the COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus, a busy fellow because he’s conducting both of the operas this fall, one a world premiere.

Eugene Onegin continues until November 3rd.  See it if you can.

Cori Ellison is the Dramaturg for the Canadian Opera Company’s world premiere production of Hadrian¸composed by Rufus Wainwright and with libretto by Daniel MacIvor.

Cori Ellison, a leading creative figure in the opera world, was recently appointed staff Dramaturg at Santa Fe Opera, and has previously served in that role at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and New York City Opera. Active in developing contemporary opera, she teaches dramaturgy for American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program and was the first dramaturg invited to participate in the Yale Institute for Music Theatre. At New York City Opera she was a curator of the annual VOX American Opera Showcase and co-founded and led City Opera’s ‘Words First’ program for the development of opera librettists. She is a sought-after developmental dramaturg to numerous composers, librettists, and commissioners, including Glyndebourne, Canadian Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Arizona Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Beth Morrison Projects. She has served as production dramaturg for projects including L’incoronazione di Poppea at Cincinnati Opera; Orphic Moments at the Salzburg Landestheater, National Sawdust, and Master Voices; and Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo at National Sawdust, as well as Washington National Opera’s Ring cycle, Opera Boston’s The Nose, and Offenbach!!! at Bard Summerscape. She is a member of the Vocal Arts Faculty at the Juilliard School and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute and has taught and lectured for schools, performance venues, and media outlets worldwide. She creates supertitles for opera companies across the English-speaking world, and helped launch Met Titles, the Met’s simultaneous translation system. Her English singing translations include Hansel and Gretel (NYCO), La vestale (English National Opera) and Shostakovich’s Cherry Tree Towers (Bard Summerscape). She has often written for the New York Times and has contributed to books including The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The Compleat Mozart.

I welcomed the opportunity to ask Cori a few questions about her role as the Dramaturg in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Hadrian that opens October 13th at the Four Seasons Centre.

barczablog: Thank you for letting me ask you some questions. So to begin: how would you understand the role of dramaturg (or “dramaturge” as some might say it)? Perhaps it’s an immense question.

Cori Ellison

Cori Ellison: Actually I’m asked that question all of the time. So what I would ask you is, are you specifically talking about a dramaturg in the context of a new opera being developed, or a company dramaturg, or a general production dramaturg?

barczablog: I guess the question is, what is the role you’re playing with the COC in the production of Hadrian?

Cori Ellison: I’ve been engaged to help develop this new opera, work that I frequently do with many opera companies and many opera projects. I work with composers and librettists in developing their new operas and that can start anywhere from the place where the composer and librettist have already been engaged. That’s how I came into the project here with the Canadian Opera Company. And from there, normally the process is that the composer and the librettist come up with the basic story that they want to tell. You may be part of the process of helping them identify the story they want to tell. In the case of Hadrian they were already set on the story of Hadrian. I came in while the libretto was being written.

And what I do is to make sure the libretto is clear and it tells the story in a clear manner, and it provides ample opportunity for lyrical expansion. That is what makes opera opera, when the music can take wing and express emotion, in those moments that are non-narrative. And then when the libretto is more or less set, then the composer will go away and begin to write music. And then we went through a process of a workshop, at Cincinnati Opera’s Opera Fusion program in collaboration with the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. And when you see a new opera in a piano-vocal workshop a lot of things become evident. You help the composer and the librettist make revisions, tighten the piece up, make it clearer. Sometimes you might help in a research capacity, especially in this case where you’re dealing with a story that takes place in ancient Rome. There was a lot of research to be done. That’s a service that a dramaturg can provide.

(left to right) Dramaturg Cori Ellison, composer Rufus Wainwright, librettist Daniel MacIvor, director Peter Hinton, COC General Director Alexander Neef_at Opera Fusion New Works panel on Hadrian in March 2018 (photo: Phil Groshong)

Also, and this was very important in this particular case, a dramaturg can be instrumental in getting the composer and the librettist on the same page. Composers and librettists, indeed all artists are big personalities, and what makes them great is that they have very particular individual visions. And opera is the most collaborative of art forms. Composer Rufus Wainwright and librettist Daniel MacIvor are very different people. They have very different ways of feeling and seeing the story. They even gravitated towards different source material. Rufus’ main inspiration was the Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, which is a work of historical fiction, a rich emotional tapestry. And Daniel, on the other hand, his main source of inspiration was Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome, a history book by Anthony Everitt. And that alone tells you a lot about these two guys and their personalities. So a dramaturg may be someone who will help artists of disparate type see eye to eye, and make sure we’re all writing the same opera, if you will.

barczablog: do you sometimes feel like someone holding up a mirror to them, to show them what they’ve done?

Cori Ellison: Yes, that’s definitely part of it. And sometimes you’re like the marriage counsellor.  Also, when the opera was fundamentally finished, then my attention shifted towards being of service to the creative team, the director and the designers, and helping them to understand the piece and the story they wanted to tell, and how they were telling the story, helping them shape the production. And then at that point I began to be of service to the COC administration, also, in introducing them to the piece, which of course is a new piece.

And of course now I’ve been in rehearsals, from the very beginning, and in that case helping the singers find their footing, assisting the director and his team in that respect, and also, helping to shape the piece. It’s still in formation, up until opening night. Trimming and tightening and so on. And so from conception until the birth, a dramaturg can be involved in many different ways.

Thomas Hampson (left) who creates the role of Hadrian with Director Peter Hinton (Gaetz photography)

barczablog: So, different question here. What are the numbers that you think of as your favourites moments?

Cori Ellison: Oh my God that’s so hard to say because I’m so close to it. Well, I very much like Sabina’s Act II aria.

barczablog: So there are arias? This is an opera with arias?

Cori Ellison: Oh, of course! Rufus is a huge opera fan and his favourite is 19th-century romantic opera. Hadrian is like a Romantic grand opera, but written in the 21st century. It employs all of the formal tools of a traditional standard-repertory opera, but infused with Rufus’s very contemporary harmonies, rhythms, and melodies.

barczablog: So what opera would you say it’s closest to, at least superficially? Is it like Samson & Delilah but with a homoerotic love story instead?

Cori Ellison: Well, you could say that, although Rufus’ chief inspirations, both musically and dramaturgically, have been Verdi, Berlioz, and Wagner. Those are the operas that he knows really well and loves.

barczablog: Does it remind you of Aida perhaps?

Cori Ellison: In the sense that it reminds me of late-middle Verdi, because there’s an intimate love story at its heart which is set against a larger political landscape, which is what you get in Don Carlo or Aida. It’s very much a Verdian model.

barczablog: May I ask you a question about the erotic content? There’s a kind of disclaimer on the website cautioning people:

“Content advisory: Hadrian contains nudity and scenes of a sexual nature. The opera is recommended for audiences 18 or older.” 

Can you compare it to what’s gone before? Salome was banned initially. Is it in any way risqué, or even forbidden in what it shows?

Cori Ellison:: It is the most romantic and tasteful opera and production, I think, that could possibly have been done. And you treat a gay love story the same way as you treat a heterosexual love story in, say, a Verdi opera. I think it’s the kind of idealized love you find at the heart of Les Troyens with Dido and Aeneas. There is one love scene between Hadrian and Antinous at the beginning of the Third Act, which is a very beautiful idealized scene, both musically and in the way it’s staged. Tender and romantic. I don’t expect people to get bent out of shape about it, because it’s beautiful and it’s tasteful. If you come to the opera knowing what the story is, it’s not going to be shocking to you.

barczablog: I hope the COC has been very canny in programming this, because I think there’s an audience for this. It’s overdue in some ways.

Cori Ellison: You mean there’s an audience for new opera? I don’t think it’s ghettoized, or for a particular constituency. Hadrian is an opera for opera lovers.

barczablog: I just hope that in this day and age, it doesn’t matter that the love story is between two men.

Cori Ellison: Well, it shouldn’t because as I said before, if people buy tickets, they know they’re coming to see a love story between two men. If they decided to come see it, I don’t know why they would get upset by it.

barczablog: So… different kind of question. Did you find that the writing gives opportunities for virtuoso singing? For singers to show off?

Cori Ellison: Absolutely. It does. That’s something Rufus enjoys very much in opera.

barczablog: Something to be excited about! That’s wonderful.

So would you say Rufus Wainwright’s music resembles any composer you’d care to name?

Cori Ellison: Resembles? He has certain reference points. People may hear echoes of Wagner, of Berlioz, of Verdi, of various 19th-century Romantic opera composers: although the music is 100% Rufus’s. The harmonies are the type of harmonies you’ll find in his popular music. The melodies are completely his own. It’s tonal, it’s beautiful, it’s full of character and full of colour. There are influences, yes, but the music is entirely his own.

barczablog: Does he make any inter-textual references: you know, like where he might quote another composer? I guess it’s not a common thing to do.

Cori Ellison: I would say no to that.

barczablog: Could I ask you for a quick synopsis of the plot?

Cori Ellison: Sure. It begins as Hadrian is ill and in the process of dying. He is still mourning the death of his lover Antinous, which happened seven years before the beginning of the opera, and he’s having trouble letting go of that grief. One of the reasons he’s having trouble is that the death of Antinous was surrounded in mystery. He drowned in the Nile. But nobody knows whether he sacrificed himself, committed suicide, whether he was murdered, whether it was an accident. Nobody knows this. And it’s something that absolutely torments Hadrian.

So Hadrian is visited by the ghosts of the previous Emperor, Trajan, his step-father, and Empress, Plotina. They try to make a bargain with him. They will reveal to him how Antinous died if he will fulfil a task for them, which is to ensure their immortality as gods by ensuring the preservation of the Empire: because the custom is when Roman Emperors die, they became revered as gods and this is something that Plotina is very interested in. She really really doesn’t want to be forgotten. So they make this bargain that the cause of Antinous’ death will be revealed to Hadrian, if he will preserve the Roman Empire by putting down a rebellion of the Jews and the Nazarenes. This is the age of early Christianity, and the new sects are rising and threatening the Roman Empire. And Plotina and Trajan call upon Hadrian to quell this rebellion of the Jews and the Nazarenes. Then we’re shown in flashback the meeting of Antinous and Hadrian and their falling in love and some of their life together. And we’re shown the manner of Antinous’ death and we see Hadrian learn it. And so Hadrian gains a lot of insight as a result, but I’m not going to give you a spoiler and tell how it ends!

(left) Karita Mattila (Plotina) and composer Rufus Wainwright (Gaetz photography)

barczablog: Sure! So there are these two large-scale plot elements. There’s his discovery about the past, and the bargain with the ghosts that he will do, as part of the politics of the time.

Cori Ellison: Right. It’s that Verdian framework, of the love story set against the larger political story.

barczablog: Interesting… So may I ask… You wear a number of hats. I wonder if you were to advise the readers of my blog. For a young composer or young librettist, is there anything you’d advise them to do, if they want to advance the art form of opera? What would you tell them to do?

Cori Ellison:… Well… I teach composers and librettists at American Lyric Theatre in New York, which is a fellowship training program for emerging composers and librettists. And what I teach them, and what I advise all emerging composers and librettists, is to look to the heritage of opera. There’s no better teacher than Mozart or Verdi. You need to know the heritage of opera, you need to know how an opera walks and talks. It’s not that you have to write conservative old-fashioned operas. It’s like if you’re going to be a doctor you need to study skeletons, you know what I mean? You need to study the human body and how it works.

Some upcoming composers and librettists think they’re going to reinvent the wheel. You can’t write an opera without understanding what an opera is. True, the definition of what an opera is has expanded, absolutely exponentially. But you still have to understand it, what a creature it is.

barczablog: So what is your favourite opera, if there is one?

Cori Ellison: Oh my gosh, that’s so difficult. Mozart is my number one guy. Verdi would be close second. But Mozart is my favourite. And it’s so hard to choose a favourite Mozart opera because they’re all such masterpieces. But if I have a gun to my head I would have to say Cosi fan tutte.

barczablog: Ha… not surprised. But we sometimes admire works that are imperfect. Is there an imperfect work that you admire?

Cori Ellison… Oh yes, absolutely. The number one thing I have to say about that is Verdi’s Don Carlo. It may sound like sacrilege to suggest it’s imperfect, but the very fact that it exists in so many editions, so when you go to put on a production of Don Carlo you have to make loads and loads of choices.

barczablog: Do you prefer five acts or four, and in French? Are you a five-act purist in French?

Cori Ellison: Well the five- act version in French is absolutely revelatory because that’s the original. But I love the five-act Italian version as well. It’s the most beautiful opera, though it can be a little ungainly. And then of course Verdi’s next opera is Aida, which is a well-oiled machine. Verdi solved all of the problems of Don Carlo in Aida. But to me it’s not nearly as moving. I have a great, great love for Don Carlo.

barczablog: So one last question. Is there a teacher or an influence that you would care to name that you want to thank or to admire?

Cori: Oh my gosh. That’s really difficult. There are a handful. I would mention Gerard Mortier, who was a relatively recent mentor. His way of looking at opera was a huge influence on me. He also gave me such a vote of confidence that it allowed me to grow even more.

There are other influences. An early voice teacher, Herbert Beattie, who showed me the difference between being a singer and being an artist.

But there are more. Frederick Noonan, who ran Great Performers at Lincoln Center and the Mostly Mozart Festival for many years, and who helped me immeasurably early in my career. And teacher and conductor named Cynthia Auerbach who worked at New York City Opera, and Beverly Sills and Julius Rudel, my New York City Opera godparents, if you will. So I keep very busy trying to pay it forward.

barczablog: Thank you so much for doing this!

*****

The new opera Hadrian composed by Rufus Wainwright, with libretto by Daniel MacIvor, premieres October 13th at the Four Seasons Centre in a Canadian Opera Company Production. For further information and tickets  click here.