Table of contents for Vol. LVIII, No. 1 in Opera Canada

“On the business of opera, there were sessions on how to get the younger generation into an opera house, on how to involve ethnic or other distinct communities in the urban centres that support major companies, and, of course, on how to beat the cash crunch many companies face. All the discussions led to the same bottom line: if opera cannot find a broad and supportive audience, it won’t have much of a future.” Baldly stated, you might think these words, citing as they do some current hot buttons in the opera business at home and abroad, summarize the conclusions of a recent conference or think tank. But I’m quoting myself, and the words were written almost a quarter century ago after I attended my first Opera America annual conference,…

Important competitions can boost careers, as witness the experience of Canadians who have won the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, starting with Teresa Stratas in 1959. The latest is 26-year old Kirsten MacKinnon, the 17th Canadian to reach the top at the Met as a winner of the 2017 Auditions in March. “I had a few moments of unbelievable nerves, then I settled down to enjoy the experience,” she said on the morning after her win. “It was so special—nothing beats singing on that stage with orchestra.” A hefty prize of US$15,000 came with the Met win, which she intends to put to good use covering all the bases in a burgeoning international career: “It’ll go towards lessons, coaching, health and travel expenses, housing, and performance attire.” The Met…

Starting at 1 p.m. EST unless otherwise stated CBC Radio 2 Saturday Afternoon at the Opera Aug. 19 Pelleas et Melisande Debussy Vienna State Opera C: Altinoglu; Keenlyside, Bezsmertna, Fink, Selig Aug. 26 Rodelinda Handel Teatro Real, Madrid C: Bolton; Crowe, Mehta, Angelini, Prina, Zazzo Sept. 2 Andrea Chenier Giordano San Francisco Opera C: Luisotti; Lee, Pirozzi, Gagnidze, Bridges, Sorensen, Pomakov Best Operas Series (Opera luminaries introduce favourite recordings with host Ben Heppner) Sept. 9 Brett Polegato Don Carlo Verdi C: Giulini (Warner: 554007) Sept. 16 Jane Glover The Rake’s Progress Stravinsky C: Gardiner (DGG: 459648) Sept. 23 Karen Cargill Madama Butterfly Puccini C: von Karajan (Warner: 545148) Sept. 30 Jake Heggie Susannah Carlisle Floyd C: Nagano (Virgin: 45039) Oct. 7 Atom Egoyan Wozzeck Berg C: von Dohnányi (Decca: 0289 478 3408…

Opera Canada Publications is pleased to announce the appointment of Gianmarco Segato as Editorial Director, effective Jul. 24th. He succeeds Wayne Gooding, who in August retires after a 25-year association with the organization, as editor since 1993. After an extensive national search, Gianmarco joins the organization as the 5th Editorial Director to lead the magazine during almost 60 years of continuous publishing. David Giles, Board Chair of Opera Canada Publications, said of the new appointment: “The Board and I are confident that Gianmarco is the right person to lead the magazine through its next exciting evolution.” Prior to taking up the appointment, Segato spent 10 seasons with the Canadian Opera Company, most recently as Adult Programs Manager. In this position, he wrote extensively for the company’s publications, delivered and programmed…

CATCHING UP WITH Joyce El-Khoury is no easy task. For a 2013 profile for Opera Canada, we met at a coffee shop in Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Philadelphia-based at the time, she was passing through to catch a connecting flight to Australia. For this 2017 article, we talked mainly through Skype video. The Lebanon-born, Ottawa-raised Canadian soprano is unofficially homeless. She gave up her Philadelphia apartment three years ago, putting all her possessions in storage to, as she puts it “suitcase” the world. “I thought I’d do it for a year, but now it’s been three. I’ve been so busy going from engagement to engagement that I haven’t really felt it. Even if I had a base, I would hardly have been there.” We finally met face-to-face recently, at a coffee…

Technological change and innovations have affected opera companies in many ways over the last decade, but perhaps communications and marketing programmes have had to adapt most radically and rapidly. Like their counterparts across the cultural milieu, companies are still coming to terms with numerous trends that have led to a revolution of sorts in how they promote and publicize themselves and their missions. Just as the arrival and rapid development of the Internet and the World Wide Web promised a whole roster of new and potential opportunities, several traditional and conventional channels were also undergoing fundamental change. It was not all technology’s fault. In Canada, it was not a technological revolution that led our national broadcaster largely to abandon both its mandate and our cultural community. A fundamental part of…

As a teenager growing up in Niagara Falls, Ont., baritone Christopher Dunham worked at a little pizzeria, spending his tip money going to kitschy local museums to see wax figure celebrities. Today, he spends his spare time cooking gourmet meals rather than pizzas, and sings with real life stars in the opera world. Dunham dabbled in rock and roll and musical theatre in high school. In his graduating year, his father suggested that he take singing lessons, and his teacher introduced him to snippets of opera. Dunham continued those private singing lessons when he went on to study sciences at the University of Western Ontario. “After my first year, I had discovered that leaving biology lectures was all well and good, but when I left my voice lessons, I was…

In the theatre, it’s called a walk-on. In movies, it’s a bit part, or cameo. In opera, the minor role of the person who delivers your mail, or stops you at the customs gate, or announces dinner is called a comprimario. The word comes from an Italian phrase meaning “with the important people,” implying, somewhat accurately, that you are not. Stamina is not required, but sharpness is. The singer of a minor part has to be alert or his whole role could pass by while he is adjusting his wig. The essence of singing a small role is this: each deserves to be interpreted by the singer and heard by the audience as if it were the most important role in the story, for, of course, to the character himself,…

Compiled by B. Krsek. Legend: C: conductor; D: stage director; Des: designer; Ctms: costumes; Lght: lighting; Chor: choreographer; *new production; **world premiere; ***national premiere; Op: opening date; M: matinée. Information correct as of Aug. 5, 2017. Programs subject to change. Canadian Opera Company (Toronto). 416-363-6671. coc. ca. Meet the Young Artists. COC Ensemble Studio. Sep 26M. Celebrating the Invictus Games. COC Ensemble Studio. Sep 27M. Berio Folk Songs. Szabo. Oct 03M. Arabella (R. Strauss). C: Lange; D: Albery; Des: Hoheisel; Lght: Finn. Wall, Konieczny, Archibald, Fanning, Hintz, Sevigne, Latham. Oct 05, 10, 14M, 18, 20, 22M, 28. Golden Age of Opera. UofT Opera. Oct 10M. L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti). C: Abel; D: Robinson; Des: Moyer; Ctms: Pakledinaz; Lght: Palazzo. Haji, Osborne, Shore, Bintner. Oct 11, 15M, 17, 21, 27, 29. Chants…

CDs DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN WAGNER Orfeo: C 928613 Y There are many good reasons to invest in this live, 1961 Bayreuth Festival performance of Wagner’s epic Ring cycle, but for Canadian Wagnerians or anybody interested in the grand tradition of Canadian singing the most compelling is in the performance of Siegfried. Here, in very decent sound remastered from the original tapes of a Bavarian Radio broadcast, is a wonderful document of the Halifax-born bass-baritone James Milligan making his Bayreuth debut—at age 33—in the role of the Wanderer. He’s in the company of some of the most eminent Wagnerians of the immediate post-war decades, but listening to this Wanderer, you wouldn’t guess that he was a newcomer on the scene. Those who are familiar with Milligan, however, will know that…

David Pomeroy has built an enviable career in the heroic repertoire. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Faust in the “Met in the Parks” series, followed by the title role of Les contes d’Hoffmann in the house with James Levine. For the Canadian Opera Company, he has sung Faust, Hoffmann, Puccini’s Rodolfo and Pinkerton, Johann Strauss’s Alfred and Bizet’s Don José. In 2015/16, he made role debuts as Henri in Verdi’s I vespri Siciliani with Royal Danish Opera and Paul in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt for both Frankfurt and Calgary. Last season took him to Edmonton and Calgary as Puccini’s Calaf, Vancouver for the Verdi Requiem, Calgary for Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Warsaw for Braunfels’s Te Deum and Colorado for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. He sang Florestan in a new production…