In Review: Tap:Ex Revolutions

Review

I saw something beautiful on Friday night, and I'm not quite sure I can even tell you what it was. I can tell you that it was the inaugural presentation of Tapestry Explorations: Revolutions, and that it left an impression on me. The evening seemed to evolve on its own accord, beginning with understated and subtle entrances by performers Neema Bickersteth, Andrew Love, Andrea Ludwig and Adrian Kramer.

Go, Canada!

Review

I went to hear some music by Canadians yesterday at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, as part of the Free Concert Series (that you should all be checking out!). It was a chance for the public to hear some of the products of the ongoing Canadian Art Song Project, headed by artistic directors Lawrence Wiliford and Steven Philcox.

In Review: Stiffelio

Review

On Sunday, I attended the final show of the season by Voicebox: Opera in Concert at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. They presented Verdi's Stiffelio, one of his lesser-known opera written after Nabucco and Ernani, but before La traviata and La forza del destino. I'd certainly never heard of it, so I was curious.

In review: Albert Herring at UofT Opera

Review

So much celebration happened on Thursday night. Director Joel Ivany celebrated the opening night of his production of Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring in the MacMillan theatre at the University of Toronto. UofT celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first opera performance in 1964: Albert Herring. And of course, everyone celebrated Albert the Good.

In review: The Talisker Players' Bestiary

Review

I went to a concert on Tuesday night, one of the Talisker Players' main concert series at Trinity St. Paul's United Church. I'd never been to see the Talisker Players, but I was lured both by singers Norine Burgess and Geoffrey Sirett, and by the evening's title: Creature to Creature.

My Train of Clicks Led Me To Marilyn Horne

Humour

I was browsing through r/Opera (which should be your new favourite place), and noticed on the sidebar a welcome message, in italiano. The message was clearly the text of an aria, and I was more than a little miffed that I couldn't immediately identify it.

Simon Cowell, stop it: An Update

Editorial

Yesterday I posted a link to a ridiculous track from 10-year-old Amira Willighagen's new album, produced by Simon Cowell's label, Syco Entertainment. The track was a duet version of Puccini's "Nessun dorma," which featured the dubbed and transposed voice of Luciano Pavarotti, taken without permission from one of his studio recordings of the aria.

Simon Cowell, stop it.

Editorial

Well, it's happened. Child opera singer (and human oxymoron) Amira Willighagen will release her first album, and it's going to be on Simon Cowell's label, Syco Entertainment. It features the poor little thing singing things like "O mio babbino caro" and dub-over duets with Luciano Pavarotti. Wait, what? Yup.

Opera Gossip is the best Gossip

I heard some interesting news through that long and winding operatic grapevine: Toronto's small and mighty opera companies are banding together! There are some great creative minds behind this indie opera collective, and the possibilities are even greater. By forming a collective, the companies will be able to share resources like performance venues, audition space, and their respective contact lists of singers.

That great scene in...

I'm on the House of Cards train, because I'm always rooting for the underdog. Kevin Spacey's the underdog, right? Anyway, I watched this brilliant scene play out in one of the episodes; it was one of those incredible scenes where both parties have clear objectives, but one party's objective is to screw the other party over.