{"id":39424,"date":"2016-10-24T09:47:02","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T13:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=39424"},"modified":"2016-10-24T09:47:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T13:47:02","slug":"the-scoop-2016-rubies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/10\/24\/the-scoop-2016-rubies\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Opera Canada Awards Honour Three Outstanding Canadians"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(l.\u2013r.)
(l.\u2013r.) Ernesto Ramirez, Sondra Radvanovsky, Ben Heppner, Nada Ristich, Richard Margison. (Photo: Peter Phoa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

October is a great month for Toronto opera fans. Not only does it mark the start of the opera season for both the Canadian Opera Company and Opera Atelier, but it\u2019s also the month of \u201cThe Rubies\u201d or Opera Canada Awards. \u201cRubies\u201d is named after the late Ruby Mercer, Metropolitan Opera soprano, author, and founder of Opera Canada magazine, the only periodical devoted to opera and voice in Canada. The 16th<\/span> Annual Opera Canada Gala Awards Evening took place at the headquarters of BMO Financial Group, on the 68th<\/span> Floor of First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto on October 12th.\u00a0 This award is given to three Canadians (occasionally organizations) each year for their outstanding contribution to opera at home and abroad. This year, the three recipients were soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, film\/stage director Atom Egoyan, and L\u2019Op\u00e9ra de Qu\u00e9bec General Director Gr\u00e9goire Legendre.<\/p>\n

Representing BMO Financial Group was Nada Ristich, Director of Corporate Donations. She gave a short welcome speech, followed by Stephen Clarke, Chair of Opera Canada Publications. Then one of the most familiar faces to opera fans, the inimitable Canadian tenor, and CBC Broadcaster Ben Heppner, came on as MC for the evening. It was a gala benefit event, with dinner and drinks. I can attest to the fabulous food! But the main reason to be there was to see old friends and make new ones, and most of all, to support Opera Canada magazine in this gala fundraiser.<\/p>\n

\"Gregoire
Gregoire Legendre, Sondra Radvanovsky, Atom Egoyan (Photo: Peter Phoa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kicking off the proceedings was the Principal and Youth Choruses of the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company. This group was founded by Ruby Mercer when it was then called Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Chorus. With Teri Dunn conducting and Gergely Szokolay at the piano, the chorus sang \u201cWe Are the Operatic Chorus\u201d by Derek Holman, followed by the Overture to Mozart\u2019s The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>, arranged by Howard Cable.<\/p>\n

The first to be honoured was L\u2019Op\u00e9ra de Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s Managing and Artistic Director Gr\u00e9goire Legendre. He was introduced by Patrick Corrigan, the General Director of Op\u00e9ra de Montreal. A former singer with an international career, Mr. Legendre has been the Company\u2019s General Director since 1996. In 2007, Mr. Legendre received the Prix de la Fondation de L\u2019Orchestre symphonique de Qu\u00e9bec for his contribution to the development of classical music in Qu\u00e9bec City. He brought Placido Domingo\u2019s Operalia to Qu\u00e9bec in 2008 and launched the Festival d\u2019opera de Qu\u00e9bec in 2011. Singing in honour of Mr. Legendre was soprano France Bellemare, in a lovely, pure-toned rendition of Song to the Moon from Rusalka<\/em>, with frequent Rubies collaborative pianist Rachel Andrist.<\/p>\n

\"Ben
Ben Heppner and Richard Margison (Photo: Peter Phoa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

American-born and newly minted Canadian citizen soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was the second honouree of the evening. Ms. Radvanovsky is considered one of the greatest spinto-dramatic sopranos of our time. She recently triumphed at the Met by singing the \u201cTriple Crown,\u201d all three Donizetti Queens, in a single season. Her most recent Canadian triumph is in the title role of Norma<\/em> currently on stage at the COC. I had the great good fortune of attending a working rehearsal, the final dress rehearsal and opening night of Norma.<\/em> I was totally blown away by her incredible vocalism. Without a doubt, her Rubies Award is richly deserved. She was introduced by fellow colleague and tenor Richard Margison. Singing in honour of Radvanovsky was Mexican-American tenor\/Toronto resident Ernesto Ramirez, who stepped in to sing one performance opposite Radvanovsky in the COC Roberto Devereux<\/em> two seasons ago. His \u201cFrederico\u2019s Lament\u201d was remarkable for its warm, gorgeous tone, complete with the optional high note at the end. Rachel Andrist was ever the supportive pianist. Radvanovsky gave a touching, heart-felt thank you speech, interspersed with tears, tears of joy to be sure.<\/p>\n

The final honouree was film and stage director Atom Egoyan, introduced by retired COC Artistic Administrator Philip Boswell. In addition to his many award-winning feature films, Egoyan has also won accolades in the opera world. \u00a0His 1996 Salome<\/em> remains one of the most provocative and visually stunning productions at the COC.\u00a0 His 2004 Die Walk<\/em>\u00fcre<\/em>, created as part of the COC Ring that opened the Four Seasons Centre in 2006, was recently revived to uniform praise. Mr. Egoyan\u2019s most recent work at the COC was a re-thinking of Mozart\u2019s Cosi fan tutte<\/em>. Singing in honour of Egoyan was mezzo Wallis Giunta, the Dorabella in his production of Cosi <\/em>and currently in Toronto for Opera Atelier\u2019s Dido and Aeneas. <\/em>Giunta, no stranger to trouser roles, sang with gleaming tone Romeo\u2019s First Act aria, \u201cSe Romeo t\u2019uccise un figlio\u201d from Bellini\u2019s I Capuleti e i Montecchi<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Ernesto
Ernesto Ramirez, Sondra Radvanovsky, Joseph So (Photo: Peter Phoa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There you have it, another year and another group of Rubies recipients. It underscores that opera is alive and well in Canada. It also serves to remind us that \u2014 this most extravagant of art form, to quote author Herbert Lindenberger, needs the support of every<\/em> opera lover in the country. While this art form is largely defined by the \u201cbig shows\u201d the likes of those at the COC, we\u2019re witnessing a burgeoning \u201cIndie Opera\u201d movement, one of a group of dynamic, nascent, often small-scale opera companies that re-think standard repertoire and strive to bring new vigour to the art form, offering new works that reflect 21st<\/sup> century aesthetics. With the wealth of talent and interest in opera in our country, and despite the financial and demographic challenges, the future of opera in Canada is assured.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Seeing old friends and make new ones at The Rubies,\u00a0Opera Canada Magazine’s gala fundraiser and awards night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":39426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,5,39,43],"tags":[5666,6438],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/Rubies_3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-afS","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39424"}],"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=39424"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39431,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39424\/revisions\/39431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39424"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=39424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}