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La Bohème 2019. Photo: Against the grain theatre

Against the Grain Reaches 10 Years

By Wah Keung Chan on 7 November 2019 Opera

The 10-year-old Against the Grain Theatre (AtG) company is flying high, breaking down walls in the world of opera one offbeat performance at a time. In addition to being company-in-residence at the COC, and the appointment of co-founder Joel Ivany as artistic director of opera at the Banff Centre, AtG has reached several milestones in the last two months: they hired their first Executive Director, Robin Whiffen; they embarked on their first cross Canada tour with La Bohème thanks to a Canada Council grant; and became the first opera company to be live-streamed on CBC Gem. The last part may…

The Ottawa Bach Choir: In Canada and beyond

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 7 November 2019 Choral

Led by conductor and founder Lisette Canton, the Ottawa Bach Choir presents A Bach Christmas in Toronto on Nov. 30 and in Ottawa on Dec. 1. Now in its 18th year, the ensemble will perform three Bach cantatas for Epiphany: Meinem Jesus lass ich nicht BWV 124, Ach Gott, vie manches Herzeleid BWV 3, and Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit BWV 111. “In 1725, these cantatas would have been sung during Epiphany Sundays,” said Canton. “Bachfest Leipzig requested these cantatas. We wanted our Canadian public to discover them.” The choir will perform them as part of the prestigious…

Filles du Rhin. Photo: Louise-Leblanc

Tempêtes et Passions: Flash Mobs to Demystify Opera

By Hassan Laghcha on 7 November 2019 Opera

Flash mobs in workplaces, shopping malls and other everyday environments, with singers in jeans: these are among the innovations favoured by Tempêtes et Passions, a Quebec City non-profit organization founded in 2007. This producer and broadcaster seeks to demystify opera and to make the lyrical art known and familiar to the general public. Storms and Passions is distinguished also by its programming, which gives pride of place to the little-known works of the Romantic period. “We also have a mentoring component for the promotion of young talent in support of young singers in their transition to professional life,” says Guy…

Photo: Tristan Brand

Opera in the Park: Democratizing the lyric art

By Hassan Laghcha on 7 November 2019 Opera

Opera attendance is declining.” That was the worrying finding that motivated soprano Nadia Neiazy to establish the creation of Alma Viva Productions in 2009. In 2014, this non-profit organization launched the Opera in the Park project at the rate of one production each summer presented free of charge and outdoors in a festive and family atmosphere. “We gave ourselves the mission to democratize and decompartmentalize opera,” the company’s director says. “And to approach the public in a public square, in the most frequented places.” Over the years, the process has paid off. Opera in the Park is among the projects…

L'homme et le ciel de FAWN Chamber Creative

Independant Opera Companies

By La Scena Musicale Team on 6 November 2019 Opera

by Andréanne Venne & Justin Bernard NOVA SCOTIA Maritime Concert Opera Founded in 2003 by Nina Scott-Stoddart, the Maritime Concert Opera Society aims to present works in concert (without staging, sets and costumes) and in original versions, to offer affordable tickets, to promote passion for opera, operetta and musicals as well as supporting culture and artists in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes. www.maritimeconcertopera.com QUÉBEC Maison d’Opéra et de Concerts Since 2014 Sherbrooke’s Maison d’Opéra et de Concerts has been offering high-calibre programming with talented artists with a thriving career in Quebec and abroad, often from the Eastern Townships, but rarely…

Opéra Bouffe du Québec Stages La fille du tambour-major

By Benjamin Goron on 6 November 2019 Opera

Premiered a little under a century and a half ago, Jacques Offenbach’s operetta La fille du tambour-major was the last in a series of stage works that packed Parisian houses for 20 some years. Simon Fournier, artistic director of the Opéra bouffe du Québec, shared a few of his insights on this work, with which he chose to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. “Staging Offenbach is no piece of cake,” Fournier states at the outset. “Tempos shift all the time. And being a man of theatre, his instructions and suggestions have to be accounted for in any…

Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20: Building operatic bridges

By Justin Bernard on 6 November 2019 Opera

Since 1976 and its foundation by Alain Nonat, Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20 has been helping young Canadian opera artists pursue their careers. It took time, energy and a lot of travel to build trust between different directors of opera companies and actors. In 1994, a program specifically dedicated to the professional integration of young emerging Canadian singers was set up. This is the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques (JAL), whose goal is also to build bridges with partners from around the world. This is a great source of pride to Alain Nonat. The general and artistic director of Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20 was just…

Photo: Vladimir Kevorkov

Gerzmava a soprano to reckon with

By Arthur Kaptainis on 5 November 2019 Opera

Russia and her neighbours remain a rich source of musicality in many categories. Opera fans can confidently add the name of Hibla Gerzmava to the international inventory of A-list sopranos based on what was heard Sunday evening in Koerner Hall. Not that this native of Abkhazia is an unknown quantity. In 1994 she became the first vocalist to win the grand prize of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, and made her Royal Opera House debut more than a decade ago. Next season Gerzmava takes the title role in a new Metropolitan Opera production of Aida. Yet her second Toronto appearance under…

Rocking Horse Winner 3. Photo Tapestry Opera

Tapestry Opera: Looking Back while Moving Forward

By Arthur Kaptainis on 5 November 2019 Opera

Tapestry Opera is turning 40 and is celebrating in part by trying out something rare for this inventive Toronto-based company: a revival. “Some people have chatted with me about bringing it back so soon,” Tapestry artistic director Michael Mori said of Rocking Horse Winner, an opera with words by Anna Chatterton and music by Gareth Williams that returns for six performances from April 23 to May 2. “But this is a special thing. It’s a strategic opportunity.” Based on the eponymous short story by D.H. Lawrence, Rocking Horse Winner got good reviews in 2016, plenty of social-media buzz and impressive formal endorsement in…

Photo: Opéra de Québec

Grégoire Legendre looks back

By Daniel Samson-Legault on 5 November 2019 Opera

He remembers that, in the staging of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle by Robert Lepage, when the women emerge from a bath covered in blood, teenage girls sitting close to the stage reacted very strongly. Oh, my God! “They were like in the cinema! Young people are more open-minded than their elders when it comes to contemporary opera productions,” says Grégoire Legendre, administrative and artistic director of the Opéra de Québec, who has announced his retirement. “A lot of people are very enthusiastic after a performance.” Most of the world’s opera houses face hardships owing to the aging and contraction of their…

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