Table of contents for Vol. LXI, No. 2 in Opera Canada

We are about to begin the most unusual opera season ever. Under normal circumstances, companies across Canada would be unveiling their season opening productions. As the comprehensive cross-Canada reports in this issue suggest, companies have responded to current restrictions in a huge variety of ways. Some will produce all-digital seasons… others are holding out hope for a return to live events in 2021. If anything positive comes out of the enforced pause brought about by COVID-19, it’s the opportunity to take a deep, hard look at the opera industry. This has manifested in two distinct ways: questioning why artists of colour and other marginalized groups are not being given a place at the table, and the stark financial repercussions for artists’ livelihoods. We tackle both of these topics with features…

When Ruby Mercer founded Opera Canada in 1960, the existing opera business largely amounted to the Canadian Opera Company in the private sector, along with the established teaching institutions and our public broadcaster. The Canadian opera network today is considerably more complex geographically and economically. There’s a roster of performing companies big and small almost from coast to coast, and while the CBC long ago abandoned its role as a producer and sponsor of live opera, the conservatories, universities and commercial teaching programs remain a vital component of the sector. But just how big is Canada’s opera industry? How do the performing companies stack up against each other as businesses? What might be the sector’s overall economic clout? This first edition of the Opera Canada Top50 launches an initiative to…

CDs THAÏS MASSENET Chandos CHSA 5258(2) Massenet’s 1894 opera about the Egyptian courtesan, Thaïs, who is converted to Christianity by the monk Athanaël, has a storied recording history. Three of the earliest feature great French sopranos of the 1950s: Géori Boué, Andrée Esposito and Renée Doria who set high standards for authenticity of style and nuanced delivery of the surprisingly philosophical libretto. Subsequent glamorous singers who have recorded Thaïs include Anna Moffo, Beverly Sills and Renée Fleming. So, the bar is high for this new Chandos release, recorded live in Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall last November with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under their music director emeritus, Sir Andrew Davis. Listeners hankering for a modern recording offering wonderful singing, playing and the most up-to-date sound quality need look no further. In…

In Memoriam RICHARD COVELLO May 16, 1931 – July 17, 2020 Richard Covello, Opera Canada’s long-serving, Chicagobased contributor, passed away on July 17, 2020, at 89. A passionate lover of opera and the performing arts, Richard’s byline first appeared in the magazine in the Spring 1973 issue on a review of Lyric Opera of Chicago productions of Berg’s Wozzeck and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. His most recent review, of a Lyric Opera Queen of Spades with soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, appeared in the Summer 2020 issue. As a regular contributor throughout the period, he can be credited with a portfolio spanning almost half a century focusing on the Chicago opera scene and the Canadian artistic contribution to it. As soon as Lyric Opera or Chicago Opera Theatre announced their seasons, he…

Earlier this summer, I contacted Canadian soprano Florie Valiquette for an interview. At the time, she should have been at Glyndebourne making her debut there as Soeur Constance in a new Barrie Kosky production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. Instead, I found her in her Parisian home near the Marché de la Bastille indulging happily in her passion for cooking. She was preparing a vegan gourmet dinner for a small group of friends, the first in months! “Because of my lifestyle, I started creating my own healthy recipes,” said Valiquette. “I currently live…next to the Marché de la Bastille, where I go twice a week. In my neighbourhood there are many bio food stores and even a vegan baker… it’s almost too tempting. I started filming cooking videos…and I even…

We’ve all seen the pictures: Salzburg Festival defied the odds and put on two staged operatic productions this summer. The festival had a covid-testing clinic in situ, tight protocols for testing, masking, foot traffic, as well as who could work closely with whom. Their Cosí fan tutte had to be cut to 2 ½ hours with no intermission, but they did it. And they’re not the only ones. All across Europe and East Asia, live classical performance has begun to stir. Lucerne Festival Orchestra put about 60% of their seats on sale and masks were mandatory… and their Martha Argerich concert conducted by Herbert Blomstedt went ahead. Prague, Oslo, Copenhagen, Vienna have all seen concerts given by their local orchestras and opera companies. Before you tell me that all that…