Browsing: Opera

Montréal, March 28 2024 – Since 2018, Montreal opera creation company Musique 3 Femmes has been creating, developing and producing new operas by female composers and librettists. After nearly 6 years of existence, the company has now created 12 new chamber operas. Support for this was provided by the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes and various arts councils and foundations. Pandemic arts council funding afforded us the opportunity to transform four of these operas into films. Created by Iranian-Canadian duo Parisa Sabet and Nika Khanjani, the exquisite opera film Vanishing Point was recently premiered at the International Festival for Films…

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UofT Opera opened a sparkling new production of Massenet’s Cendrillon on March 15 at Toronto’s historic, neo-Baroque Elgin Theatre, the perfect setting for director Maria Lamont’s 1930s Busby Berkeley-inspired conception. Massenet’s 1899 version of the familiar Cinderella fairy tale, while not without its Belle Epoque froth, is also lined with a deeply moving vein of melancholy that was successfully brought to the fore by a promising band of student artists. The Elgin’s acoustic is notoriously dry, and so it was perhaps fortuitous that conductor Sandra Horst elected to reduce the size of Massenet’s original orchestration, especially given the lack of…

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Renowned Canadian opera director Michael Cavanagh has passed away suddenly at the age of 62. Cavanagh was one of Canada’s most prolific and sought-after opera directors who in 2020 was appointed Artistic Director of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. Cavanagh directed over 150 opera productions at 32 companies in Canada, U.S. and Europe. He had a particularly close relationship with San Francisco Opera where most recently, he directed new productions of their Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy: Le nozze di Figaro (2019), Così fan tutte (2021) and Don Giovanni (2022). Previous to his appointment in Stockholm, he directed high profile productions…

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Opéra de Montréal’s production of La Reine-garçon showed how important a strong cast can be to carry a contemporary opera, especially when its story of female empowerment and self-determination resonates with contemporary subject matter. Story Based on true events, the opera is set in 17th-century Sweden where after years of war, reigning monarch Queen Christine has brought peace and art and philosophy to her land. Now, she is expected to marry and produce an heir, but she deflects a multitude of suitors. Her secret is that she is in love with Countess Ebba Sparre, her lady-in-waiting. The story is about…

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[DALLAS, February 13, 2024]—The Dallas Opera (TDO) presents the final round of The Dallas Opera National Vocal Competition on Friday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m., at the Winspear Opera House. Hailing from across the U.S. and four countries, the nine finalists are: soprano Katerina Burton, soprano Adia Evans—who won TDO’s 2023 Lone Star Vocal Competition and automatically advanced to this final round, soprano Elisa Sunshine, mezzo-soprano Lisa Marie Rogali, countertenor Cody Bowers, tenor Matthew Cairns, baritone Navasard Hakobyan, baritone Yeongtaek Yang, bass-baritone Jongwon Han. Finalists in the 32nd annual competition, which is sponsored by Bravo!, formerly The Dallas Opera Guild,…

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It is now common parlance to note that even up until the early 1980s, Dvořák’s 1901 opera Rusalka was little-seen outside of its native Czech land. Since then, and it seems even more true in recent seasons, it has become a staple at major houses throughout Europe, the U.K. and even in North America. However, it had never been presented by the Hungarian State Opera barring two guest productions from Bratislava and Prague in 1956 and 1976. That neglect has now finally been corrected with János Szikora’s brilliant new production that premiered on January 27, and which I saw on…

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