Bohème against the grain
composer Giacomo Puccini It’s been attempted before: taking that well-known and perhaps overly-familiar opera, Puccini’s La bohème, and reinventing it. Baz Luhrmann tried it with some success. So did...
View Article“Tosca leaps…”
Poster for Puccini’s Tosca If this were a debate, Joseph Kerman would be in one corner, dissing Puccini’s Tosca, the opera he famously called a “shabby shocker”. Kerman is not alone in that corner....
View ArticleUnexpected Tosca
Just when you think you know how a story will turn out –because it’s such a well-known opera—they throw you a curve. There’s no drama quite like experiencing a work you think you know, where they’ve...
View ArticleMornings after and music
Caution: some of this essay may stick in your head. As I write this on the first morning of the year, it’s a time when many of us are still feeling the after-effects of our celebrations, and may feel...
View ArticleCaird & Farley’s Conceptual Bohème
A great director: John Caird The Canadian Opera Company opened their 2013-2014 season tonight with Puccini’s La Bohème at the Four Seasons Centre. It’s a new COC co-production with Houston Grand Opera...
View ArticleCOC Peter Grimes
Tonight I saw the Canadian Opera Company production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. I’m late getting to the party for a production that opened on October 5th, but I was out of town that weekend....
View ArticleKeri Alkema: A Journey of Transformation
Today’s noon-hour recital at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre aka the foyer of the Four Seasons Centre was unlike any we’ve seen before. Readers of this blog may recall that I’ve expressed my...
View ArticleRobert Wilson and Turandot
I’ve been reading a bit about Robert Wilson in anticipation of the new Canadian Opera Company Turandot that is to launch the 2019-2020 season at the Four Seasons Centre, a co-production with Teatro...
View ArticleBe Not Too Bold: COC Schicchi
The headline is the inevitable result of a weekend watching and comparing two different virtual offerings from two opera companies, one much bolder than the other. Yesterday’s Opera Atelier headline...
View ArticleNews, positive and negative
It’s been a hard week so far. I’m heart-broken with the news in my inbox, that Elisa Citterio is leaving Tafelmusik. I can’t help but wonder about the subtexts for this change. Perhaps it’s just the...
View ArticleTosca on my mind
Tosca is on my mind after the final performance yesterday. Several of Puccini’s melodies are having their way with me, stuck in my head. I’m not complaining. But I can’t stop thinking about the opera...
View ArticleThe Butterfly Project
Teiya Kasahara gave the first iteration of a self-exploratory monologue from Amplified Opera tonight at the Toronto Summer Music Festival in Walter Hall. It’s called The Butterfly Project because it’s...
View ArticleVarieties of inclusivity in COC Boheme
Erika and I watched the Canadian Opera Company’s la bohème today at the Four Seasons Centre using our subscription tickets, a revival of John Caird’s production that we saw in 2013 and again in 2019....
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