Table of contents for Vol. LIX, No. 3 in Opera Canada

‘Tis the season for opera companies across the country to announce their 19/20 plans—the first time opera fans get to see which operas, singers, productions and directors will be coming to their local theatres. As of writing, companies in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montréal and Toronto have released their 19/20 details, as well as the 2019 Festival d’opéra de Québec. In general, most are sticking to tried and true repertoire, with an abundance of Traviatas, Barbers and Rigolettos on the roster. (A notable exception being Pacific Opera Victoria’s Il trittico and Flight.) Tellingly, the Canadian Opera Company’s six opera season is comprised entirely of works one would broadly characterize as ‘19th century’—the oldest being 1816’s Barber and the newest, 1926’s Turandot, still very much representing the tail end of the Romantic…

“One could call her a prodigy but she’s beyond a prodigy because she has the self-possession that most prodigies don’t have.” If you hear the term ‘millennial’ and think of an entitled narcissist, scrolling through Instagram while living rent-free with their parents—you should have a word with Emily D’Angelo. “I worked really hard and I practiced,” said the 24-year-old mezzo-soprano, when asked about her numerous competition prizes and three roles this season at Metropolitan Opera. She chalks up her accomplishments to “a lot of support, a lot of hard work and being prepared for opportunities that have presented themselves.” After making her Met stage debut as Second Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute last December, she will return in March as Annio, in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (originally scheduled…

APRIL 4 OPERA ATELIER, Toronto. Measha Brueggergosman repeats her star turn as Elettra in a revival of the company’s 2008 production of Mozart’s Idomeneo with Colin Ainsworth in his role debut as the title character. 4 AGAINST THE GRAIN THEATRE, Toronto. The company remounts their 2017 Banff Centre production of Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus starring mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan. See our Vivier feature on p. 39. 6 CALGARY OPERA. Verdi’s Rigoletto with a starry Canadian cast including Gregory Dahl, Nikki Einfeld, Lauren Segal & Valerian Ruminksi joined by American tenor, Leonardo Capalbo. 6 MANITOBA OPERA, Winnipeg. Baritone Elliot Madore, a Canadian star performing with major companies in New York, Munich, Zürich, Sydney and San Francisco makes a rare appearance in his native land in the title role of The Barber of Seville.…

In May last year, a news item appeared in Signal Toronto which caught the eye of Toronto opera goers. City Council, reported Arianne Robinson, was cutting part of the Canadian Opera Company and Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s cultural grants. An advisory panel had found that COC and TSO audiences, programming, boards and staff were not diverse enough—and not reflective of Toronto’s multicultural makeup. The COC’s grant was reduced from $1.6 to $1.5 million. A couple of media outlets picked up the item, which added fuel to the recurring conversations on social media about big bad non-diverse opera. Toronto’s Economic Development and Culture sector aren’t the only ones weighing in on this: Canada’s arts-funding bodies have added diversity as a major factor in determining what gets funded. Media periodically checks in on…

In Memoriam With the passing of Neil Crory, Canada’s classical-music community mourns someone whose work in the decades around the turn of the century was especially important and influential. On his retirement in 2011, he was Senior Music Producer for the CBC, though the bald title covered a breadth of technical and creative expertise. In long days “at the office” (his term), he juggled the roles of concert producer, record producer, impresario, programmer, researcher, writer, editor, creative director, music advisor and consultant. Never one to seek the artistic spotlight, he pursued his roles behind the scenes with relish and was tireless in his efforts to present the artists and groups he worked with at their best. It’s a testament to his grace, diplomacy and understanding that his professional network over…

No art form can exist in a vacuum, not even one that relies so heavily on creations from centuries past. The #MeToo social movement has sparked media debates about movies once deemed modern classics, songs once thought harmless, and comedy once viewed as cringeworthy, but still funny. Opera isn’t—and shouldn’t be—immune. Its plots are rife with objectionable behaviour, stereotyped characters, and outdated social norms. Everyone knows it: singers, directors, and audiences. That said, no one is arguing that many of these problematic operas aren’t masterpieces. It therefore seems like the right time to take stock and speak with the singers who consistently have to go on stage and play victims of misogyny and abuse. How, from their perspective, has the movement impacted the opera community; what does it mean to…

Asitha Tennekoon The first time I met Asitha Tennekoon, we were backstage after a Bach Magnificat in Ottawa in December. I had wanted to introduce myself to Tennekoon, an engaging young Sri Lankan lyric tenor who has called Toronto home since 2014. As we were chatting, the conductor interrupted to ask if we were related (I’m bi-racial; my mother is from India). I brought up the incident when I saw Tennekoon again in January in Montréal, where he was rehearsing the role of Luis Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s jazz opera Champion at Opéra de Montréal. Tennekoon laughed and shook his head. “In 2010 I was singing Tamino in the Magic Flute at BayView (a summer festival affiliated with a well-heeled cottage community in northern Michigan),” the 33-year-old singer recalled over…

Opernhaus Zürich attracts a well-dressed crowd, with beautiful architecture, top-notch service, and a very elegant auditorium. The house also features an eclectic array of inspiring and sometimes challenging offerings on its stage, works which are both familiar and not, in theatrical presentations that push ideas about what opera can and even should be in the 21st century. The house—with its neo-classical exterior, gold/burgundy jewel-box-style auditorium and superlative acoustics—has hosted numerous premieres, including Berg’s Lulu (1937), Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler (1938), and Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron (1957). In 2014 it beat out Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to win Opera House of the Year at the International Opera Awards. As with most everything in this lovely Swiss city, it’s pricey but also high quality, and very classy: sip…

CDs AYRE GOLIJOV Against the Grain ATG001CD Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre has a hit on its hands with this recording of Argentinian-born composer Osvaldo Golijov’s genre-bending song cycle Ayre, which fuses elements from Arabic, Hebrew, Sardinian and Sephardic folk melodies and texts. In addition to the folk elements, we hear influences as varied as Canteloube’s “Songs of the Auvergne” and modern pop music (including turntable effects). This live recording from 2016, made at the city’s Ismaili Centre, features an astonishing tour-de-force by Syrian-born Canadian soprano Miriam Khalil, who has performed this in many North American cities as well as in Argentina. It has become her signature piece. The ensemble, which deserves equal credit as there are some instrumental bits, includes parts for flute, clarinet, horn, viola, cello, double bass,…