{"id":34493,"date":"2016-02-23T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=34493"},"modified":"2016-02-26T13:24:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T18:24:09","slug":"scrutiny-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/02\/23\/scrutiny-13\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Ensemble Artists Sparkle In The Canadian Opera Company\u2019s The Marriage of Figaro"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(left
(left to right) Iain MacNeil as Figaro, Jacqueline Woodley as Cherubino and Gordon Bintner as the Count in the Ensemble Studio performance of the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s production of The Marriage of Figaro, 2016. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio;\u00a0The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>.\u00a0Conducted by\u00a0Johannes Debus with the COC Orchestra and Chorus. Four Seasons Centre For The Arts. Monday, Feb. 21.<\/h3>\n

For the inveterate opera buff, a great opportunity to hear stars of tomorrow is the annual Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio\u2019s mainstage performance. This season, it\u2019s The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>. \u00a0The COC has scheduled a whopping 10 performances of this show with the regular cast, plus the single ensemble show.<\/p>\n

Experts tell us that Mozart is a balm for the voice, so this is an ideal vehicle to showcase young talent. Based on the most recent statistics of opera performances worldwide (5 seasons from 2009\/10 to 2013\/14), Nozze<\/em> is Mozart\u2019s 2nd<\/sup> most popular opera, (first being Die Zauberfl\u00f6te<\/em>) and the 7th<\/sup> most frequently performed opera in the world. It received 2,454 performances out of a total of 59,534 opera performances worldwide. Nozze <\/em>was last staged by the COC in the 2006-7 season, its first year in the new opera house.<\/p>\n

\"A
A scene from the Ensemble Studio performance of the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s production of The Marriage of Figaro, 2016. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cast of this special performance was a mix of current and past Ensemble Studio artists plus guests. The production by Claus Guth originated from the 2006 Salzburg Festival, revived in 2011, and has since been replaced by a new production there last summer. It\u2019s conceptually interesting and physically challenging for the singers. This is my 4th<\/sup> stab at the show, having seen a working rehearsal, the dress rehearsal, and opening night, not to mention the commercial DVD. With repeated viewings, I\u2019m warming up to Guth\u2019s vision, which underscores the eternal struggle between reason (societal convention) and desire (the darker side of human nature). It\u2019s certainly well executed, with excellent and very precise choreography in sync with the music. At first, I wasn\u2019t so fond of the Guth creation, a silent Cherubim (acted superlatively by Uli Kirsch). As I became more familiar with production, I\u2019ve come to appreciate more Guth\u2019s take on the piece.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve already written extensively on the production, I\u2019ll confine my comments to the performance. This work requires a very strong ensemble cast, and everyone last evening was up to the task, from the title role to the smallest character part. If I had to single out one artist for special praise, it would have to be baritone Gordon Bintner as the Count. He deputized for an indisposed Russell Braun at the dress rehearsal and blew everyone away, singing and acting like a seasoned pro. This singer has everything \u2013 voice, musicality, theatricality, looks, you name it. Last night, his big aria, \u201cHai gia vinta la causa\u201d was beautiful as usual although he noticeably held back a bit in the second half of the very strenuous piece \u2013 not easy singing with a grown man on your back! In any case, Bintner received the biggest ovation of the evening.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kudos to Iain MacNeil as Figaro. I must say he sounds wonderful\u00a0\u2013 the best I\u2019ve heard him \u2013 holding his own very well against the star power of Bintner. MacNeil was well partnered by the warm and luminous lyric soprano of Karine Boucher as an ingratiating Susanna, who acted with lots of temperament and sang a quietly exquisite \u201cDeh vieni non tartar.\u201d Soprano Aviva Fortunata has a powerful and gorgeous lirico-spinto<\/em> that\u2019s destined to go places.\u00a0 Her \u201cPorgi amor\u201d showed off her excellent sense of pitch, lovely legato and gleaming tone, with a nice dolcissimo<\/em> high A-flat ending. Her \u201cDove sono\u201d deservedly received huge applause from the audience. With the dark costume and wig, Fortunata looked almost like Dorothea Roschmann, the original Contessa in the 2006 premiere.<\/p>\n

Former Ensemble soprano Jacqueline Woodley was a surprising choice as Cherubino, but she made a believer out of me. She combined lovely singing with perfect acting as the lovelorn young man. \u00a0Robert Pomakov repeated his mainstage appearance as the crusty Dr. Bartolo, his huge bass sounding impressive in \u201cLa vendetta.\u201d\u00a0 Guest artist Megan Latham has a very fine mezzo, and she was the perfect comprimaria<\/em> as Marcellina \u2013 and I mean that as a compliment! Sasha Djihanian remains extremely funny as Barbarina, and she outdid herself this time with a gorgeous \u201cL\u2019ho perduta.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Aviva
Aviva Fortunata as the Countess and Gordon Bintner as the Count in the Ensemble Studio performance of the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s production of The Marriage of Figaro, 2016. (Photo: Michael Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure made the best of his brief moment in the sun as Don Basilio. Doug MacNaughton repeated his characterful Antonio, complete with Batman wings. Aaron Sheppard was so underutilized as Don Curzio that I hesitated to comment on his singing \u2013 I look forward to hearing him in a longer role next time! And special kudos to actor Uli Kirsch, who was the original Cherubim 10 years ago in Salzburg. The staging is very challenging, but this guy is up to the task every time, never having any hint of a problem with the unicycle. Johannes Debus led the COC Orchestra with brio, despite the fact that this was the fourth evening in a row playing this piece, with one more to go.\u00a0 I think anyone who has to do this five evenings in a row should be given a night off! And he will \u2013 as Jordan de Souza is slated to take over for the next two shows.<\/p>\n

There you have it, a most enjoyable Ensemble show.\u00a0 Sadly, there won\u2019t be an ensemble mainstage performance in this format next season. Not sure why, but I hope it\u2019s not a permanent omission. Three more performances with the regular cast \u2013 tonight (Feb. 23), Feb. 25 and 27.\u00a0 Well worth seeing if you haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Three more performances with the regular cast \u2013 tonight (Feb. 23), Feb. 25 and 27.\u00a0 Well worth seeing if you haven\u2019t. Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio takes a crack at The Marriage of Figaro on the main stage of the Four Seasons Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":34497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,43,52],"tags":[5923,5852],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/02\/15-16-04-E-MC-D-4707.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-8Yl","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34493"}],"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=34493"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34591,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34493\/revisions\/34591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34493"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=34493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}