Love Songs Opéra Not for Everyone

What you miss: A great performance by the polyvalent mezzo Marie-Annick Béliveau as she explored with sounds that go from raspy-bluesy to classical to flat out screaming. Saxophonist Jean Derome also showed a big palette of colours and nuances. The music will please any fan of experimental sounds and dissonant harmonies. For those expecting an opera in the traditional sense, be warned, this is more of a song cycle with staging. The sense of the piece seems to be more to explore ways of expressing love than the search of beauty.

Grapes: If you’re not a contemporary music lover and instead enjoy formal tonal music, you will probably dislike this work. It has cacophonic melodies, symbolic staging very sober all back staging and costumes, it is written mostly in incomprehensible languages, making it impossible to follow the story.

Read Dino Spaziani’s positive review.