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Concert review: Toronto Masque Theatre pays homage to the genius of Henry Purcell

By John Terauds on November 16, 2012

Tenor Lawrence Wiliford and dancer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière were among Toronto Masque Theatre’s performers at the Al Green Theatre on Friday night (John Terauds iPhone photo).

English composer Henry Purcell (1859-1695) left behind a set of proto-operas as well as a broad musical legacy despite dying at age 35. Toronto Masque Theatre opens its ninth season by celebrating this remarkable composer and music at the Al Green Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights.

Two actors (Derek Boyes and Arlene Mazerolle), an historically informed dancer (Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière), six singers and eight instrumentalists do Purcell’s creations justice in a carefully crafted programme that lasts 2-1/2 hours with the intermission.

Artistic director Larry Beckwith, who discreetly led the proceedings from the first violinist’s chair, kept the music moving along briskly in the pit on Friday night, while the words, movement and singing took place on a stage nicely lit by Gabriel Cropley.

The small orchestra and the singers — sopranos Dawn Bailey, Michele DeBoer, countertenor Scott Belluz, tenor Charles Davidson and Lawrence Wiliford, and baritone Geoffrey Sirett — performed well. But there were several moments throughout the evening when it sounded as if everyone could have used a few more hours of rehearsal.

The theatre space itself wasn’t much help. Its dry acoustics are not kind to either a period-instrument orchestra or unamplified singers. This concert staging also had the singers placed quite far up the Al Green’s deep stage, detracting from the power and immediacy of the music.

Wiliford knew what to do to make Purcell’s gorgeous arias fly off the page — a feat that not all of the other singers were able to fully realise.

Although this may not sound like a perfect evening of musical theatre, Purcell’s creations are so beautiful and these performers are all so comfortable in this idiom, that it is still worth checking out this show. It includes a collection of highlights from Dido and Aeneas, The Fairy Queen, King Arthur and The Indian Queen, as well as other pieces, including Wiliford’s gorgeous performance of the closing “Now that the sun hath veil’d his light.”

For more information on this programme, click here.

John Terauds

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