Medea (Canadian Opera Company) Set to a broody and demanding score by Luigi Cherubini with Carlo Zangarini’s Italian libretto translation, the COC’s ambitious new co-pro mines Euripides’ iconic tragedy for every ounce of its delicious melodrama and winningly rejects pressure to impose important modern meaning upon the disturbing tale. A twist ending that sees the […]
Don Giovanni (Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre) The COC’s new production of Don Giovanni replaces a much more casual, modern version that I loved but few others seemed to. In its place is a more conventional take with period costumes and the hulking cube set from Fidelio repurposed with doors in place […]
Beethoven only wrote one opera, refusing to return to the medium after the self-described torturous process of getting Fidelio to the stage. Upon finally seeing the much-anticipated production at the Canadian Opera Company (their first since 2009), it’s not difficult to see the fault lines where creative conflict surely stepped in. The opera’s premise […]
The Canadian Opera Company’s fall season presents a well-balanced duo of contrasting classics to signal that, even without the world renowned artistic director we recently lost to Paris, the COC is back on its feet. First up, The Flying Dutchman is a quick hit of Wagnerian sorrow coming in at only 2 hours and […]
The Canadian Opera Company designed a playful Winter Season…
All right I’ll be honest. Did every time I describe the show I was seeing tonight, did I use the phrase, “Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!” Yes, I did. For one, it is the one of the most iconic parts of the show so easily quotable and it is impossible to sing it without smiling. Go ahead […]
The Canadian Opera Company has set out a delicious 2019/20 season. I have been excited to see Turandot since last fall when the upcoming season was released. Knowing little about the particulars of storyline, I anticipated seeing Puccini’s work, in particular that glorious piece “Nessun Dorma” with excitement and high expectation. I knew still less […]
The Canadian Opera Company’s production of Otello is passionate, bleak, dramatic, and nearly everything one could want from an opera. Based on Shakespeare’s tempestuous tragedy, it is far from a comedic opera one might imagine with giggling maids, young lovers, and sets dripping with brocade and jewels. The set is modern and stark, a creative […]