{"id":37845,"date":"2016-07-30T13:53:15","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T17:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=37845"},"modified":"2016-07-30T13:53:15","modified_gmt":"2016-07-30T17:53:15","slug":"scrutiny-toronto-summer-music-shakespeare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/07\/30\/scrutiny-toronto-summer-music-shakespeare\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | A Shakespeare Serenade A Potent Brew"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"TSMF:<\/dt>\n
TSMF: A Shakespeare Serenade<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Toronto Summer Music Festival<\/h3>\n

Patrick Hansen, Music and Stage Direction, Michael Shannon, Piano; July 28 at Walter Hall.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It can take a lifetime to complete certain cultural projects.\u00a0 Attaining a secure understanding of Shakespeare is one of them.\u00a0 By secure I mean a retrievable sense of the characters, plots and themes of the major plays, an appreciation of key speeches and poems, \u00a0as well as a truly personal feeling about them. \u00a0The personal feeling is the best part, the reason why you undertake the project. \u00a0It results from genuine engagement,\u00a0 which may start with studying the play in school, performing a part, or memorising and reciting a sonnet, and seeing productions.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just the beginning.\u00a0 Along with that, there are the adaptations and extensions of Shakespeare\u2019s works, which span a remarkable range from opera and art song to chick flicks such as Ten Things I Hate About You<\/em> as well as the wonderful Canadian television series\u00a0 Slings and Arrows about a struggling Shakespeare Festival.\u00a0 The goal is not to tick off every one of the plays as if it were a to-do list, but to achieve as much exposure as possible to the complete works.\u00a0 Given that certain works are performed more often than others, this is not so simple, even when you live near a Shakespeare Festival.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen more versions of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> than I would like but never had a chance to catch Cymbeline<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This year being the 400th<\/span> anniversary of the death of Shakespeare is a good one to make progress on your Shakespeare project, and right now the Toronto Summer Music Festival is in the midst of three days of programming on Shakespeare and Music as part of the overall theme of London Calling:\u00a0 Music in Great Britain.\u00a0 Tuesday introduced the massive subject of Shakespeare and Opera, (there are at least 270 operas based on Shakespeare) with a thoughtful conversation between Patrick Hansen, the Director of Opera Studies a the Schulich School of Music at McGill, and Shakespeare scholar Paul Yachnin, deftly moderated by Festival Artistic Director Douglas McNabney.\u00a0 This was followed Tuesday evening with A Shakespeare Serenade,\u00a0 a two-part presentation of musical \u201cspin-offs\u201d from Shakespeare\u2019s plays and sonnets.<\/p>\n

In the first half, an ensemble of leading young operatic performers staged scenes from the plays of Shakespeare followed by the same scene as it was adapted by a great opera composer.\u00a0 This combination of original text followed by the musical variation was a huge win-win-win, providing excerpts from\u00a0 heightened moments from five major plays:\u00a0 A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, The Tempest<\/em>, Otello<\/em>, Romeo and Juliet,<\/em> and The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>, with the\u00a0immediate <\/em>rendition in the musical form, so the two reverberated, and the similarities and the differences were apparent, plus enhanced by this talented group of young performers of demonstrations of both skilled spoken words with brilliantly staged physical movements, as well as astounding singing.\u00a0 There were too many star turns by these sixteen young singers to mention them all, so I will limit myself to five: Kevin Myers transformed Caliban from a deformed miscreant to a creature of magical dignity in his aria, \u201cBe Not Afeard\u201d from Lee Hoiby and Mark Shulgasser\u2019s The Tempest;\u00a0 The letter duet from Act 2, Scene 1 of The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em> from Otto Nicolai and S.H. Mosenthal\u2019s “Die Lustigen Weiber”, sung by Ana Toumine and Simone McIntosh in coordinated outfits was an operetta-like moment that brought to mind the comic genius of Lucy and Ethel conspiring together;\u00a0 Russell Wustenberg teeters and stumbles with the resilient grace of Ray Bolger, and given his roots on a farm in the mid-west, he deserves to reprise If I Only Had a Brain<\/em> for this generation; and baritone Keith Lam gave “Fear No More The Heat of the Sun”, from Cymbeline<\/em>, the dignity and sorrowful consolation that is this speech\u2019s due, using elegant posture and stillness in the midst of frivolity.<\/p>\n

The second half of the program, a simulated gathering of friends singing and reciting poems, sonnets and songs from some of the plays, felt a bit contrived, as they were now enacting excerpts while also simulating relationships between each other, which rang hollow at times.\u00a0 Mounting the production in Walter Hall, which, lacks theatre lighting and a curtain, was mildly problematic. \u00a0The cast entered from the back of the auditorium wearing street clothes, strolling down the aisles as if arriving at a party which then continued on the stage, but the lights had not dimmed, and the intermission was still transitioning, so it seemed at first, as if these were just latecomers who happened to be seated near the front.\u00a0 This was a minor limitation, however, and it was a welcome opportunity to hear several of the songs that are embedded in the plays so that they sometimes receive little attention, in a more focused setting.\u00a0 In particular, the performance of certain songs such as Come Away Death<\/em> by different composers was a rare chance to make comparisons. \u00a0This intense immersion in Shakespeare left me feeling as if I\u2019d been steeped in a mellow elixir.\u00a0 My Shakespeare project will never be complete, but during these three days of the Festival, I\u2019m making major strides forward.<\/p>\n

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

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