SCHMOPERA | Opera for Kids

By Jenna Douglas on November 12, 2014

Q&A | 20 Questions for Aprile Millo

By Michael Vincent on November 5, 2014

After filling in for an indisposed soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984, Aprile Millo got her big break as Amelia, in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. The reviews rolled in, calling her “the Verdi soprano we’ve all be waiting for.” Performing in over 160 performances across 15 different, she has since gone on to become one of the most essential spinto sopranos of our time. She has performed alongside Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Ben Heppner, Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Muti, James Levine, and Giuseppe Sinopoli (to name a few). Franco Zeffirelli chose her as the singing voice of Elizabeth Taylor in the bio film, “Young Toscanini”. Her career has been nothing short of remarkable, and based upon a single foundation: her voice.

THE VOICE | Techno Callas-Thenics

By Neil Crory on November 4, 2014

The American-born, Greek soprano, Maria Callas (1923 - 1977), must hold a record for the sheer number of studio recordings made within a 20 year period: 26 complete operas and 13 recital discs in total. Apart from a few 78 rpms made at the beginning of her career for the CETRA label, all of Callas' subsequent recordings were made by EMI. Together, these discs became the backbone of EMI's rich vocal catalogue.

THE MORNING AFTER | Vancouver Opera's Stickboy: Does an opera have to be great, to be great for opera?

By Lev Bratishenko on November 3, 2014

Seven seasons of Opéra de Montreal have trained me to read a season brochure cynically and only with chemical support. I must find satisfaction in the absence of disaster rather than the chance of a triumph. Objectively, of course, this is awful; I love opera but have to travel for interesting productions. But I am much calmer now.

SCHMOPERA | The Opera Posse Phenomenon

By Jenna Douglas on October 30, 2014

Opera singers are masters of multi-tasking: they juggle an important list of technical elements in order to sing a performance, and they have to do it in foreign languages, while following a conductor and negotiating weird costumes/lighting/staging. Singers' to-do lists don't get simpler as they gain experience. Once there's a decent consensus amongst the opera industry that a singer is established, there's a weird phenomenon that occurs. The singer begins to pick up followers, hangers-on of a parasitic sort. These new companions are usually people who aren’t opera singers, but are really into opera for one reason or another. Voice teachers, coaches, audition consultants, agents, and even donors like to latch onto a successful singer (even better if they’re a young up-and-comer). They’re like really swanky groupies. So why do they cling to opera singers? Simply put: they want to vicariously live the perceived glam life.

THE SCOOP | Canadian Opera Company announces worst deficit in recent history

By Michael Vincent on October 29, 2014

I’ll give it to the Canadian Opera Company, they put on a brave face. The Canadian Opera Company released its 2014 annual report on Monday afternoon, and after four years of declining attendance and ticket revenues, besides a few upsides to report, there is little to be optimistic about. What the COC described as “impressive endowment growth, growing attendance and subscription figures,” is really negligible growth in attendance and major financial losses. After three years of serious declines, they continue to deteriorate with the worst numbers they have ever reported...

DVD/BLU RAY REVIEW | Richard Strauss: Capriccio

By Paul E. Robinson on October 27, 2014

Capriccio was described by its creators – Richard Strauss and Clemens Krauss – as “a conversation piece for music in one act.” In fact, it was Strauss’ fifteenth and last opera, premiered in wartime Munich in 1942. As the work of a 78-year-old composer it is remarkable. Yet it will probably always be a work for connoisseurs rather than the general public. For a one-act opera at about two and a half hours it is excessively long, and the musical style is almost continuous recitative. And the subject matter is, depending on your point of view, either rarified art or pretentious chit-chat. Some critics have even suggested it is little more than a make-work project for an aging composer.

REVIEW | Opera Atelier presents a racy Handel’s Alcina

By Michael Vincent on October 26, 2014

This is 1735, and the plot is slightly drunken, (Handel, after all). The Elgin Theatre’s gilded balconies shimmer as the patrons wander in from the un-seasonably warm October evening, hinting of unease for good Opera. Other than an errant spring in the Theatre’s 100-year-old aging seats, this was Opera Ateliers night to shine. In a city that adores all things early music, (even the Canadian Opera Company has jumped on that bandwagon), it was a sure fire hit – or was it?

FEATURE | Maria Callas In Toronto – A Night On The Town

By Neil Crory on October 15, 2014

"Maria Callas Is Coming!" trumpeted one newspaper headline a few days before the Greek-American soprano was to make her highly anticipated Toronto debut on October 21, 1958. Vocally, the diva was at the peak of her game and the height of her celebrity, so it is perhaps not surprising that an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 opera fans gathered to hear her perform in the cavernous Maple Leaf Gardens - home not only to the Maple Leafs, but also to New York's Metropolitan Opera on tour. So dense were the crowds of fans, the Toronto Daily Star reported, that when she appeared, police had to drive a path through the cheering throngs...

THE VOICE | The Proof in the Pudding is Puccini

By Neil Crory on October 14, 2014