{"id":40028,"date":"2016-11-17T10:13:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T15:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=40028"},"modified":"2016-11-17T13:12:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T18:12:00","slug":"joel-ivany-cendrillon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/11\/17\/joel-ivany-cendrillon\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Joel Ivany On The Transformation of Mazzoleni Hall: Cendrillon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joel Ivany transforms a prosaic venue into an Enlightenment Salon for this 19th-century Version of Cinderella.<\/h3>\n
\"Joel
Joel Ivany directs Pauline Viardot\u2019s Cendrillon featuring students from the Glenn Gould School\u2019s vocal program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>he beloved fairy tale Cinderella is a story with myriad variations tracing back to before the birth of Christ.\u00a0 Any narrative that\u2019s hung on that long must contain important emotional truths while being adaptable enough to switch up cultural and historical specifics so that it speaks to different sensibilities. \u00a0Debates still rage over which version of Cinderella is the most beneficial for children with no consensus in sight.\u00a0 The feminists don\u2019t like the prince.\u00a0 Rossini didn\u2019t like the glass slipper, replacing it with a bracelet. \u00a0I share psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim\u2019s disapproval of Perrault\u2019s sugary additions of the fairy godmother and her magic transformations of the pumpkin, the mice, and the lizards, preferring the Grimm version in which Cinderella progresses through stages of internal maturation. \u00a0But post-Disney, the pumpkin is here to stay, even Prokofiev\u2019s cynical spin, as adapted by the National Ballet of Canada,\u00a0 (and currently on stage) keeps it. \u00a0Cinderella\u2019s transformation from a girl in rags by the hearth, to an elegant young lady making an entrance in style is one of the more gratifying elements of the story, whichever version you prefer.<\/p>\n

What better way to dramatize the story of a girl of humble circumstances being transformed into a glittering princess than to present it in a space that has been transformed in the same fashion?\u00a0 This is director Joel Ivany\u2019s approach for the Glenn Gould School fall opera,\u00a0 Cendrillon,<\/em> to be performed November 18 and 19th<\/sup>\u00a0 at the Mazzoleni Concert Hall in the Royal Conservatory. \u00a0It\u2019s not inaccurate to say that this venerable, modest and very cozy venue for just over 200 people is the often-overlooked stepsibling of the glamorous Koerner Hall to which it is attached.\u00a0 But come Friday night, as if by magic, it will be transformed into a lavishly appointed 19th<\/sup> Century style French salon, complete with draperies, settees, footstools, floral arrangements, a harp and a pianoforte.<\/p>\n

\"Sketch
Sketch of costumes from the Glenn Gould School\u2019s vocal program production of Pauline Viardot\u2019s Cendrillon. (Illustration: Anna Treusch)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it\u2019s not magic, it\u2019s the innovative ingenuity of Joel Ivany<\/a>, the groundbreaking founder and artistic director of Against the Grain Theatre, who updates, adapts and transfers operas from conventional theatre spaces to theme-related sites, presenting\u00a0La boh\u00e8me<\/em> in a Bar, and A Little Too Cozy, (from\u00a0Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em>) in a TV Studio. \u00a0Ivany usually takes a canonical work and moves it outside the theatre.\u00a0 This time, restricted by the spatial limitations at the Conservatory building, he transported the location itself through time and space to the period in which the opera was composed.\u00a0 As this version of Cendrillon is a Salon opera, composed by the legendary opera singer, pianist, composer and man-killer, Pauline Viardot, (1821 to 1910) to be performed in her own home in 1904, Ivany wanted to create the ambience that the original audiences would have enjoyed in the intimacy of a private and elegant mansion.\u00a0 Taking it a step further, he has not only provided the surroundings of a Salon, but also transformed the cast into the guests who would have frequented Viardot\u2019s Salon.\u00a0 Each performer, in addition to singing their part, has an alter ego who mixes and mingles in the Salon (aka the lobby) before the play, where the audience will be able to meet and interact with them.\u00a0 Given that Ivany has named the venue H\u00f4tel de Rambouillet, a historical gathering place for such intellectuals as La Rochefoucauld and wits such as Madame de S\u00e9vign\u00e9, the performers should be very good company.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in Mazzoleni Hall many times, and I have loitered in the lobby and around the adjacent registration area, finding it pleasant but fairly nondescript.\u00a0 But when I walked through the lobby and the antechamber to meet Ivany in the hall itself, I immediately felt as if I had entered an enchanted space, even though the transformation of it was not yet complete.\u00a0 Small touches had already begun to have their effect.\u00a0 A red upright piano is positioned at an angle beside a round settee, and curtains have been drawn back to frame a space that is usually used for storage, but now reveals an intimate nook with a pianoforte, a settee, and glowing light.\u00a0 In the concert hall itself, the stage, which is usually dominated by two gigantic and scratched up concert grand pianos, has a charming set of a drawing-room with comfortable arm chairs and a day bed.\u00a0 I\u2019ve read Cinderella, attended the National Ballet of Canada\u2019s production, seen the Met HD performance of Rossini\u2019s La Cenerentola, <\/em>and grew up on Disney\u2019s cartoon.\u00a0 But until now, I never felt as if I had stepped into the story myself.<\/p>\n

\"Sketch
Sketch of the stage from the Glenn Gould School\u2019s vocal program production of Pauline Viardot\u2019s Cendrillon. (Illustration: Anna Treusch)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Directing a fairy-tale opera at this point is particularly apt for Ivany, who has a three-year-old son.\u00a0 In addition to reflecting on his son\u2019s bedtime stories, Ivany\u2019s also been thinking about his musical development.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family was Salvation Army,\u201d he explained to me.\u00a0 \u201cSo I was given an instrument at a very young age.\u00a0 I played the tuba. \u00a0Then there was theory, sight singing, and my mom taught me piano.\u00a0 I went through the RCM until Grade 8.\u201d\u00a0 As parents who have a legacy to hand down often do, Ivany now recognizes how much was involved in his own musical education.\u00a0 \u201c Now I\u2019m thinking if we don\u2019t invest in our children\u2019s musical development, how are they going to acquire the skills I was given?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ivany sees the Glenn Gould School operas as important contributions to developing musical talent. \u201cThese young performers deserve to be showcased,\u201d he told me.\u00a0 \u201cThey are outstanding developing talent, and from productions like these, they go on to perform with mainstream Opera companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cultivation of talent, the refinement of musical taste and related questions are the kinds of subjects that were once discussed at the great Salons of the past.\u00a0 The conversation was as much of an art as music.\u00a0 To get a taste of those bygone social institutions, and to experience an opera created expressly for that venue, hone your aphorisms and come to the H\u00f4tel de Rambouillet on November 18 or 19<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? F<\/em>ollow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or Twitter<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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