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| Page 2 | Feature Stories |
February 2011 |
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Music - CDs Classical
Music - CDs Light
Canadian Opera
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By Alidë Kohlhaas The Canadian Opera Company's (COC) 2011/12 season might well be described as 'something old, something new, something borrowed, and something of undefined color'. It will feature seven productions, some of which have never been presented in Toronto, two works that have only three characters, and some that we can easily describe as old war horses that are making a return visit in a new or semi-new format. The new program season clearly speaks of innovation, something that is uppermost on the company management's mind. This innovative effort also extents to Internet communication that once again made it easy for out-of-town media to be present when COC general director, Alexander Neef, made the announcement of what promises to be a varied season. Media conferences transmitted in real-time via the Internet are time and energy savers. This year's COC conference at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts proved this medium's value in this regard. It also bared the disadvantages of such a transmission. It offered the Internet participants no way to ask questions about the company's 62nd season following the announcements. Neef, of course, offered a question period to the members of the media on-site, sadly of which no one took advantage. And so the conference adjourned with an invitation to have refreshments, obviously taken up quickly because the transmission shut down at once. Which makes one wonder about Toronto's media outlets. Whom do they send to these events? A question one would have liked to be able to ask Neef is what he meant by "The Canadian Opera Company's job—the job of any opera company—is to find the best way to express the essential truths that lie at the heart of every opera." Surely such a statement is irrelevant in that this has always been so, more or less the purpose of a company. But, at the same time, did Neef imply something else? Did he indicate that the COC will give us more and more of the kind of directorial interpretation and tutorial stance that is called regietheater? This self-indulgent format generally takes on condescending tones aimed in the direction of the audience. But alas, there is no answer. We will have to see for ourselves as the season progresses. On the surface the 62nd season appears to be geared to many tastes. There will be seven productions on the program that include one double bill. Four of operas will be COC premieres, of which two will be shown for the first time in Canada. In addition many of the performers, directors and designers will make their COC debut in 2011-12. Opera buffs can, therefore, expect to see the full impact of the concept that Neef has in mind for the company as the years progress. This new season then is one that will have his full imprimatur on it. This coming fall the season will open with the COC premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck's (1714-87) Iphigenia in Tauris ( Iphigénie en Tauride ), his fifth opera for the Opera Paris with a libretto by Nicolas-Francois Guillard. His sixth and final opera for Paris and in general is Echo et Narcisse. Iphigenia in Tauris premiered in Paris on May 18, 1779. Its German version, Iphigenie auf Tauris, premiered at the Burgtheater, Vienna in 1781. At the COC it will be presented in the French version as a co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. This is the second Gluck opera for the COC within less than six months as it will present the composer's lyric drama, Orfeo ed Euridice, from May 8 to 28, 2010. This of course leads to another question that might have been asked: "What sparked the sudden new interest in Gluck here in North America and in Britain?" Gluck is famous for breaking away from opera buffo and opera seria, the two formats that had a stranglehold on opera in his time. By the time he started to compose the medium began to be filled with clichés and a focus on florid virtuoso singing that he felt had nothing to do with opera. Gluck, instead, preferred to focus on the psychological premise of the characters and story. This change in attitude thus helped to bring about the demise of castrato singing. It can also be said that his later works are the lead-in to the kind of operas we know today. Iphigenia in Tauris will star mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as Iphigenia and baritone Russell Braun as Orestes. Graham is renowned for her performance of this role at the Lyric Opera Chicago and at New York's Metropolitan Opera, as well as at San Francisco Opera and Royal Opera Covent Garden. This Gluck premiere will run for eight performances from September 22 to October 15, 2011. On September 29 a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto will take to the stage. Last performed by the COC in 2004, it will be presented in a new format as a co-production with the English National Opera. The COC's music director, Johannes Debus, will conduct the COC Orchestra and Chorus, the stage direction will be by Christopher Alden, who last directed the 2010 Flying Dutchman for the company, with sets and costumes by Michael Levine. Baritones Quinn Kelsey (in his debut with COC) and Lester Lynch will share the title role of Rigoletto. Sopranos Ekaterina Sadovnikova (her COC debut) and Simone Osborne will share the role of Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter. Bass Robert Pomakov, who has sung frequently for the COC, will sing Count Monterone. This production will run for 12 performances to Oct 22, 2011. Giacomo Puccini's Tosca is always a welcome addition to the COC line-up. It will run from January 21 to February 25, 2012 in 14 productions. Renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka will sing the title role. Since her debut in this role she has drawn high praise from critics in the United States. Six of the opera's 14 performances will feature soprano Julie Makerov in the role. The conductor will be Paolo Carignani in his debut with the COC, while Paul Curran will make a return to the company to direct this co-production with the Norwegian National Opera. Baritone Russell Braun will return to the COC stage in the Canadian premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's Love from Afar. This five-act, three-character opera will be sung entirely by Canadian performers. Braun will sing the troubadour Jaufre Rudel, soprano Erin Wall his faraway amour, Clemence, and mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo will sing the enigmatic Prilgrim, who carries messages of yearning between the two lovers. Johannes Debus will lead the COC Orchestra. The director will be Daniele Finzi Pasca, who has worked with Cirque du Soleil and created the closing ceremonies for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. The sets will be by Jean Rabasse and costumes by Kevin Pollard. All three will make their COC debut. Love from Afar will run for eight performances from February 2 to 22, 2012. Jaques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann will make a return visit to the COC stage for the first time since 1988. This 2011/12 production originates with the Belgian company, Vlaamse Opera, and will feature Debus as music director. He will be joined by English director Lee Blakeley, Israeli set designer Roni Toren, and costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, all three making their debut with the COC. Hoffmann will be sung by tenor Russell Thomas in his COC debut, with two of the eight performances sung by David Pomeroy. The multiple role of Lindorf/Copelius/Dr. Miracle/Dapertutto will be sung by the internationally famous Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea, who makes his long-awaited COC debut. The Tales of Hoffmann will run from April 10 to 27 and May 3 to 12. The double bill will consist of two one-act operas, A Florentine Tragedy (Eine Florentinische Tragodie) by Alexander Zemlinsky and Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi. They will be staged from April 26 to May 25, 2012. Both operas will be presented in new productions directed by Catherine Malfitano. The American soprano turned to directing in 2005 with considerable acclaim in the USA and Europe. This will be her directorial debut at the COC. Zemlinsky, the composer of the highly satiric opera A Florentine Tragedy, was born in Vienna in 1871 and died near New York in 1942. Although he had a flourishing career in Europe, when forced to leave the continent because of Nazi persecution he was unable to make a career in the United States. Zemlinsky taught counterpoint to his brother-in-law, Arnold Schoenberg, the only formal music lesson that composer ever received. Schoenberg succeeded where Zemlinsky, whose music also influenced Alban Berg, failed. The opera A Florentine Tragedy is based on a fragment of an unfinished play by Oscar Wilde and premiered in 1917. Sung in German, it will make its Canadian premiere at the COC. The well-loved Gianni Schicchi returns to the COC in this new production as conceived by Malfitano. The opera's comedy resides in the frantic scheme by members of a family to benefit from a will from which they have actually been excluded. The title role will be sung by bass-baritone Alan Held, who will also sing Simone in A Florentine Tragedy. Soprano Gun-Brit Barkmin will sing Nella in the Puccini opera and Bianca in Zemlinsky's work. Both will make their COC debut in this double bill. Sir Andrew Davis, best known to Canadians as the former music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and now its conductor laureate, will direct the COC Orchestra. The sets will be designed by Wilson Chin and costumes by Terese Wadden. Both designers make their debut with the COC in these twin productions. The final work in the COC lineup will be George Frideric Handel's Semele, an opera in three acts with a libretto by William Congreve. It will run from May 9 to 26, 2012. This COC premiere is directed and designed by Chinese sculptor and performance artist Zhang Huan, who manages to blend Baroque esthetics with those of the Ming Dynasty. It comes to the COC from the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels and the KT Wong Foundation, London. The production's centerpiece is a Ming Dynasty ancestral temple which Zhang salvaged from a village in China. It will be his directorial and designer debut with the COC. The original Congreve story, based on Greek mythology, is about a love affair between the god Jupiter and the princess Semele that goes wrong because of the princess's efforts to become immortal. Zhang has melded this Greek mythological tale with that of images from China and so created an almost new work set to Handel's music. When it was performed in Beijing in 2010 the color of the Greek chorus costumes had to be changed to suit Chinese censors because in the original version they look too much like Tibetan monk robes. Also among a number of other changes some gestures had to be toned down because of their sexual connotation and Chinese subtitles had to be excised from a film that runs with the story . At the COC Semele will be conducted by Baroque specialist Rinaldo Alessandrini, while the costumes are by Han Feng. Both make their COC debut. Semele will be sung by Canadian coloratura soprano Jane Archibald, Juno/Ino by Allison Hardy, and Jupiter by William Burden in his COC debut.> An interview with author Dennis Bock has been moved to Archives |
