Vocal - my/maSCENA

The Devil and The Details Haunt Silenced Metropolitan Opera

By Charles Geyer on 8 April 2021 Classical Music, Opera

The ghost light standing vigil on the Metropolitan Opera’s silent stage has never burned this constantly or for so long. Even during the flu pandemic of 1918, the Met – like virtually every other theater in New York City – carried on. There has been death on the Met stage (the performance continued), suicide in the audience (which halted things that day), even a bizarre sprinkling of cremated human remains into the orchestra pit (causing cancelation of half a matinée plus that evening’s performance). But, by and large, the Met’s seasons have unfolded in regular and stately grandeur every year…

Festival Stella Musica: 6th edition in memory of Anne-Marie Trahan

By Justin Bernard on 7 April 2021 Canadian Music, Opera, Piano

Initially scheduled for spring 2020, but postponed for a year because of the pandemic, the sixth edition of the Stella Musica Festival will be presented for the first time in a hybrid way, in front of a live audience in the Gesù amphitheatre – if health measures permit this – and online. The traditional networking evening cannot take place, but the Stella Musica Festival will nonetheless pursue the mission that has inspired it since its inception: supporting women composers, women performers and, more broadly, highlighting the contribution of women in the world of music and the arts, including in leadership…

Me René Branchaud

Opéra de Montréal announces new board President

By Newswire on 12 March 2021 Arts Industry, Opera

Montreal, March 12, 2021 – The Opéra de Montréal’s board of directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Me René Branchaud, a partner at the law firm of Lavery, as board President. With over 30 years of experience in the fields of securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate law, Mr. Branchaud has built a strong business network he can call upon when carrying out the mandates entrusted to him. He succeeds outgoing President Bernard Stotland, who has been at the helm of the board of directors for close to 10 years. Mr. Stotland will remain an active member…

Spring Break at the COC: Exploring New Opera

By Newswire on 11 March 2021 Education, Opera

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company invites students, ages 12-18, to see what a career in the performing arts could look like, through a new digital program slated to run during Ontario’s April Break for schools. Spring Break at the COC: Exploring New Opera offers five days of live webinars from April 12 – April 16, with daily sessions taking place from 2 – 3 p.m. ET. “Our team is incredibly passionate about opening wide the doors to a creative industry that has historically been seen as ‘high art’,” says COC Deputy General Director Christie Darville. “We want students to…

Opéra de Montréal cancels Le Nozze di Figaro

By Newswire on 4 March 2021 Opera

Montreal, March 4, 2021 – Health and safety restrictions imposed by the federal and provincial governments have obliged the Opéra de Montréal to cancel its production of The Marriage of Figaro, with performances planned on May 8, 11, 13, and 16. The Opéra de Montréal will contact all ticketholders to inform them of the next steps. “This past year has been very difficult for opera companies everywhere. Cancelling a production is a last resort to which we have resigned ourselves with great sadness,” explains Patrick Corrigan, General Director of the Opéra de Montréal. The company will do all it can…

Mohammad Reza Shajarian

The RCM and Tirgan celebrate Mohammad Reza Shajarian with Kayhan Kalhor

By Newswire on 26 February 2021 Vocal

The Royal Conservatory of Music and Tirgan together present a one-of-a-kind online concert honouring the legacy of one of Iran’s greatest vocalists, Mohammad Reza Shajarian (1940-2020), starting on Saturday, March 20, to coincide with the Persian new year celebrations. Lost in The Desert Sky: Kayhan Kalhor in Memory of Maestro Mohammad Reza Shajarian was filmed in the spectacular Mahinistan Palace in Kashan, Iran, and features all new music by Kayhan Kalhor with his ensemble and vocalist Hadi Hosseini. Iranian vocalist and master of Persian traditional music, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, whose career spanned over 50 years, was “regarded as one of his country’s national treasures…

The COC receives $644,372 for its Digital Infrastructure Enhancements Project

By Newswire on 18 February 2021 Arts Industry, Opera

Toronto – In an announcement made this morning by the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Opera Company will receive $644,372 in crucial funding provided through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund toward the Digital Infrastructure Enhancements Project at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The infrastructure plan, developed in partnership with The National Ballet of Canada, aims to implement a range of digital upgrades to the opera house, significantly boosting both organizations’ recording and broadcast capabilities in the immediate, as well as helping to improve both community and global access to Canadian artistry and other community programming showcased in the…

Jake Heggie and baritone Joshua Hopkins

New song cycle by Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie to be released

By Newswire on 9 February 2021 Art Song, Contemporary

HOUSTON, Texas – February 9, 2021 – On the morning of September 22, 2015, in Renfrew County, Ontario, a single man went on a killing spree, brutally murdering three ex-partners in their separate homes. They were victims in a crime now recognized as one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Canadian history. The murders devastated the rural Ottawa Valley community where baritone Joshua Hopkins grew up – his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, was one of these women. Hopkins has since set out on a journey to use his voice to wake people up to the global epidemic of gender-based violence…

Scenes from Canadian Opera Filumena Now Streaming Online Via Brott-To-You

By Newswire on 8 February 2021 Classical Music, Opera

Hamilton, Ontario – February 8, 2021 – BrottOpera is delighted to share Scenes From Filumena, a uniquely Canadian opera experience, now available to stream online. The opera Filumena, composed by John Estacio, libretto by John Murrell and set in Alberta, Canada, tells the story of the last woman to be executed in the province of Alberta. It is a tightly-woven tale of romantic entanglements, bootlegging, crime, and punishment. “The music is hauntingly beautiful, highly dramatic and Puccini-esque” said conductor Boris Brott. Brott’s production features the National Academy Orchestra and an all-star cast including baritone Gregory Dahl as Picariello, tenor Ernesto Ramirez as Stefano,…

Photo credit: David Allen

Opera San José presents Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers online

By Newswire on 4 February 2021 Classical Music, Opera

SAN JOSE, CA (3 February 2021) – In keeping with Opera San José’s mission to expand accessibility to its work, the company has announced that through the support of generous donors it is able to extend access to its hit virtual production of Jake Heggie’s chamber opera, Three Decembers, now making it available on a pay-what-you-can basis for streaming on demand. The production is being offered with subtitles in Spanish and Vietnamese, as well as English, furthering its accessibility to the Spanish and Vietnamese speaking members of the San Jose community, two of the largest populations in its home region. Featuring world-renowned mezzo-soprano Susan…

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