{"id":110696,"date":"2024-12-30T15:45:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T20:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=110696"},"modified":"2025-01-13T10:08:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:08:39","slug":"scrutiny-soloists-orchestra-shine-salute-2025-opera-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/12\/30\/scrutiny-soloists-orchestra-shine-salute-2025-opera-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Soloists And Orchestra Shine In The Salute To 2025 Opera Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R:
L-R: Kindred Spirits Orchestra conductor Kristian Alexander; soprano Alexa Frankian; bass-baritone Geo Chobanov (Photo: Travis James Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alexa Frankian, sop., Geo Chobanov, bass-bar., Kindred Spirits Orchestra, Kristian Alexander, conductor. George Weston Recital Hall, December 28, 2024.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For music lovers, one of the joys of the Holiday Season is the many concerts being presented at this time of year. In addition to the pre-Christmas Messiahs and other religious programming, one can look forward to a feast of alternative musical genres in between Christmas and New Year.<\/p>\n

I attended my first on December 28, at the acoustically friendly George Weston Recital Hall. It was \u201cSalute to 2025,\u201d an opera concert presented by the Kindred Spirits Orchestra. It featured fast-rising Canadian soprano Alexa Frankian<\/strong>, whom I first heard when she was a student at the Glenn Gould School, as Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Even then, one could tell she had what it takes for a fine career.<\/p>\n

This evening, she shared the stage with Bulgarian bass-baritone Geo Chobanov<\/strong>. I confess I was unfamiliar with this artist. Went to his website which contains an impressive dossier, listing many engagements in European opera houses singing roles as diverse as Dutchman in Die fliegende Hollander and title character in Don Pasquale. I wonder if this concert marked his Canadian debut. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll hear from him again!<\/p>\n

Kicking off the proceedings were 96.3 FM radio personality Mark Wigmore<\/strong> and Aurenda Foundation director Emiliana Blagoeva<\/strong>, welcoming the audience and giving brief introductions of the performers. Under the expert baton of Maestro Kristian Alexander<\/strong>, the concert got underway with several Mozartian gems from Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. Chobanov sang Figaro\u2019s signature aria \u201cNon piu andrai\u201d with mellow tone, followed by a lively Catalogue Aria by Leporello in Don Giovanni.<\/p>\n

Alexa Frankian opened with the Contessa\u2019s showstopping \u201cDove sono,\u201d an ideal aria that shows off her big, bright full lyric soprano, with its surfeit of squillo. She followed with \u201cEbben, ne andro lontana\u201d from the rarely staged Catalani opera La Wally, capped by a thrilling B natural at the climax. Then it was Mimi\u2019s Act 3 \u201cDonde lieta usci\u201d and Musetta\u2019s Waltz, impressing the audience with the contrasting tones of gentleness and flamboyance.<\/p>\n

\"L:
L: Aurenda Foundation director Emiliana Blagoeva & 96.3 FM radio personality Mark Wigmore; R: bass-baritone Geo Chobanov & soprano Alexa Frankian (Photo: Travis James Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first half ended with the Papageno\/Papagena duet from Die Zauberfl\u00f6te. A bit of a silly piece, but these two were perfectly game to turn up a notch on the ham metre. In fact, Chobanov\u2019s instrument is more of a character baritone to my ears, more ideally suited to Leporello and Pasquale than the straightlaced Don Giovanni. The two of them sang the funny Zauberfl\u00f6te duet with relish. A great end to the first half.<\/p>\n

The second half opened with a rousing performance of the overture to Carmen, showing off what this fine orchestra can do. Kristian Alexander and his band later offered a typical Christmas holiday piece, the \u201cValse des fleurs\u201d from the Nutcracker, a highlight of the evening, with a lovely harp solo. Chobanov took on the Devil in \u201cVeau d\u2019or\u201d from Gounod\u2019s Faust, musically done, if a bit short on the blood and thunder menace of a basso profundo. In fact, to my ears he\u2019s more of a baritone than a true bass, evidenced in his firm top notes in the aria from Ernani.<\/p>\n

The formal program concluded with the lovely Don Giovanni-Zerlina duet, \u201cLa ci darem la mano.\u201d The audience gave the singers and orchestra sustained applause, and they were rewarded with another typical Holiday fare, in the form of the Radetzky March, with the audience joining in with the rhythmic clapping. By then, the audience was really in a celebratory mood, and they enjoyed the final encore, the lovely \u201cLippen schweigen\u201d from Lustige Witwe.<\/p>\n

All in all, a marvellous start to the Year End festivities. Bravi tutti!<\/p>\n

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\u201cSalute to 2025,\u201d an opera concert by the Kindred Spirits Orchestra, featured Canadian soprano Alexa Frankian and Bulgarian bass-baritone Geo Chobanov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":110699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40967,76,19,43,52,63],"tags":[41659,1867],"yst_prominent_words":[16538,7161,12220,16537],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2024-12-30T153954.770.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-sNq","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110696"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110958,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110696\/revisions\/110958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110696"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=110696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}