Vocal - my/maSCENA

Some Great Canadian Sopranos

By Pierre Chénier on 11 October 2017 Opera, Vocal

For this issue of La Scena Musicale, I have chosen four sopranos of our time, active on the national and international stage: Adrianne Pieczonka, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Karina Gauvin and Suzie LeBlanc. Aside from their talent, I chose them to illustrate the voices, genres and styles that exist among our artists. Adrianne Pieczonka was born in the United States and at age 2, moved with her family to Burlington, Ontario. In an international career that took her to all major stages, she moved to Europe in the 1980s and returned to Canada in Toronto in 2005. Adrianne Pieczonka possesses a large operatic voice,…

Interview with Raphaëlle Paquette

By Patricia Weber on 11 October 2017 Opera, Vocal

Having toured the world for nearly six years in the part of Cristal in the opera Starmania, soprano Raphaëlle Paquette has enjoyed a wide-ranging career in Quebec. The classically trained singer, dancer and pianist has now turned her attention to pop music and mixed genres — for example in her Duo Cheek to Cheek — and often performs in nursing homes. The week of October 21–28 finds her playing Gilda in Opéra de Québec’s Rigoletto. As part of our coverage of the new season, Raphaëlle spoke to us openly about the challenges of opera singing and the realities of a…

Dress rehearsal of Manitoba Opera's production of Die Fledermaus at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dr. Falke (Gregory Dahl) sings praise to the joys of wine, good fellowship and love. The comic operetta opens Saturday, November 25 with additional performances on November 28 and December 1.

Gregory Dahl from Scarpia to Rigoletto

By Arthur Kaptainis on 11 October 2017 Opera, Vocal

Thank heaven for seniority. As a 28-year-old teacher of choral music in Winnipeg, Gregory Dahl did not have any. Which meant he was among the first to be laid off when the high school at which he worked decided to downsize. “I had this epiphany,” the baritone said before an open rehearsal of Puccini’s Tosca in Place-des-Arts. “I was in teaching, which I think is a stable job. And this stable job was unstable. For years I wanted to be on stage. I denied it to myself. Finally, I said, that’s it, I’m going to try it.” The baritone had…

Gregory Charles – Citizen involvement

By Hassan Laghcha on 11 October 2017 Opera, Piano, Vocal

“We have the responsibility that no Mozart be murdered.” The good is achieved through beauty.” This is how Gregory Charles sums up Piano and Voice, the 2017 Cardinal Léger benefit concert he will host with tenor Marc Hervieux on November 5 at Maison symphonique. This major musical charity event — a benefit for the Léger Foundation’s Feed a Child program — also features two young musicians from the Radio-Canada television show Virtuose. This performance benefits from the chemistry between Gregory and Marc. Both artists are characterized by their refusal to compartmentalize artistic work. Their unbounded love for music is part…

Vale Rideout (Hades), Michael Mayes (Lucifer), Colleen Daly (Persephone); photo by Kathy Wittman and Ball Square Films

The Devil Came Up to Boston for Cerise Lim Jacobs’ New Opera, “REV. 23”

By Charles Geyer on 9 October 2017 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

REVIEW of REV. 23, a new comic opera that sees beyond the End of Days, conceived and written by Cerise Lim Jacobs, with a score by Julian Wachner; performed September 29, September 30, and October 1, 2017 at Boston’s John Hancock Hall; viewed here September 30 and October 1. The End was at hand, and it was a devil of a good time. The city of Boston recently got a privileged, early glimpse of the Apocalypse – and beyond – courtesy of resident visionary, opera-maker, and eschatologist nonpareil, Cerise Lim Jacobs, who not only conceived and wrote the libretto for…

Austin Symphony’s “Feast of Voices” Imaginative Programming

By Paul E. Robinson on 9 October 2017 Choral, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Orchestral

“FEAST OF VOICES” Beethoven-Bruckner: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13 “Pathétique” (lst movement) Vaughan Williams: Flos Campi Mahler-Britten: Symphony No. 3 (2nd movement) Bruckner: Te Deum Bruce Williams, viola Julia Taylor, soprano Claudia Chapa, mezzo-soprano Brian Yeakley, tenor Charles Evans, baritone Chorus Austin (Ryan Heller, director) Austin Symphony/Peter Bay Long Center for the Performing Arts Austin, TX October 7, 2017 In his opening remarks, conductor Peter Bay informed the audience that they were about to hear only the second performance ever of Anton Bruckner’s orchestration of the first movement of Beethoven’s “Pathétique” Sonata, making this a U.S.…

Love Songs Opéra Not for Everyone

By Adrian Rodriguez on 2 October 2017 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

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…

Against the Grain Theatre #GoForBaroque in 2017/2018 season

By Newswire on 27 September 2017 Baroque and Early, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Newswire, Opera, Vocal

A Handel mash-up and an international co-production comprise AtG’s most expansive season to date TORONTO – Against the Grain Theatre (AtG) returns in its eighth season with BOUND, a pastiche workshop of new interpretations of Handel’s music, and a groundbreaking new production of Berlioz’s arrangement of Glück’s Orphée. AtG’s acclaimed #OperaPub nights return as a monthly fixture at the Amsterdam Bicycle Club, and the company collaborates with Canadian baroque-pop artist Kyrie Kristmanson at the Alliance Française in Toronto. In addition, AtG enters its second season as company-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company (COC). This December, Artistic Director Joel Ivany and Music Director…

Nora Graham-Smith (Fury), Jamie-Rose Guarrine (Fury), Michael Mayes (Lucifer), Melanie Long (Fury)

Cerise Jacobs is Full of Revelations in Her New Opera, REV. 23

By Charles Geyer on 27 September 2017 Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Newswire, Opera

PREVIEW: of the world premiere of Cerise Lim Jacobs’ new opera REV. 23 (music by Julian Wachner), at Boston’s John Hancock Hall – September 29 at 7:30 p.m.; September 30 at 7:30 p.m.; and October 1 at 3 p.m. Boston-based librettist and myth-maker Cerise Lim Jacobs has an imagination that literally knows no bounds, as amply demonstrated by her newest work, the opera REV. 23, which is set to premiere in Boston this weekend and take audiences on an adventure beyond the End-of-Days. Revving for Take-Off The title, REV. 23, is a shorthand formation designating a chapter of the Bible…

SCMQ 2017-2018 Season – Long live today’s music!

By Newswire on 21 September 2017 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Newswire, Opera, Quebec Music, Vocal

Montréal, Septembre 20, 2017 – Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) begins its Homage Series with six concerts plus three “special” events focussing on José Evangelista, a composer on a remarkable path. Evangelista has marked the recent evolution of music through a singular and coherent creative approach, with a greater openness to the world. Since 2007, alternating with the the Montreal New Music festival, the Homage Series allows for the discovery the body of work of a notable Canadian composer, with the cooperation of the cultural and educational milieu who are invited to include their works in their respective…

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