{"id":50792,"date":"2018-02-04T09:44:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-04T14:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=50792"},"modified":"2018-02-04T09:45:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-04T14:45:26","slug":"50792","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/02\/04\/50792\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Opus 8 Choir Revels In The Bawdier Side Of Song At Heliconian Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Opus
Opus 8 with Robert Busakiewicz (conductor) at Heliconian Hall, Toronto. (Photo: John Terauds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Dark. Opus 8. Robert <\/em>Busakiewicz, conductor. Heliconian Hall. February 3. www.Opus8choir.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

We all know that the real fun begins after dark. And that\u2019s the effect Toronto\u2019s recently formed Opus 8 choir was looking for in a concert for a packed house at Heliconian Hall on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Opus 8 is something special for Toronto. The city has an abundance of fine choirs, but no small ones offering just one or two voices per part\u00a0 \u2014 something like England\u2019s The King\u2019s Singers (an all-male sextet) or the Nylons (a male quartet), but featuring women as well as men \u2013 singing a cappella. It\u2019s the ultimate portable show.<\/p>\n

This, in itself, is cause for celebration. Opus 8 is in its second year of offering a small concert season in a variety of venues and featuring a variety of musical styles. The singers have already released a calling-card first album, Melancholy & Mirth<\/em><\/a>, which is an excellent showcase of their fine craft.<\/p>\n

Most of the singers are associated with the choir at Toronto\u2019s St James Cathedral, where Opus 8\u2019s conductor, Robert Busiakiewicz, is also the music director.<\/p>\n

The program tantalizingly offered risqu\u00e9 songs from the Renaissance to the Spice Girls, splitting the pre-19th-century material into the first half of the 90-minute program (including intermission) and the contemporary stuff into the second half.<\/p>\n

The 19th<\/sup> century was conspicuously absent from the bill. But, then again, the 19th<\/sup> century wasn\u2019t known for being amorously adventurous in public. I wonder how a Victorian audience might have reacted to the evening\u2019s opening song, which translates as \u201cLick My Ass,\u201d by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.<\/p>\n

Most of the other ancient amorous exclamations and exhortations \u2014 by Palestrina, Monteverdi, Tomkins, Sch\u00fctz, des Prez and l\u2019H\u00e9ritier \u2013 were a bit more circumspect, but lust was never far from the surface. It was no different in the English-language second half of the concert, which ranged from Gary Turner\u2019s \u201cTequila Samba\u201d to Busiakewicz\u2019s own arrangement of a Spice Girls\u2019 medley cheekily titled \u201cCanticum Puella Spicies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The octet sound quite good, in a red-blooded, full-throated way. Busiakewicz has worked the details, and it shows. The program was neatly arranged, and the conductor\u2019s commentary between songs added just the right dose of humour. The audience loved every minute \u2014 especially when the songs were in English.<\/p>\n

But there was a strange disconnect in the overall feel of the concert. We sat in the formal, traditional way, in neat rows facing the tiny Heliconian Hall stage. The singers stood in a taut semicircle with their music stands. But the music was of the sort that should have been sung around a crackling fire, with alcoholic libations flowing freely.<\/p>\n

It was also strange that the polyphonies of the older music could just as well have been conveying an august sacred text \u2013 and that this went unacknowledged in spoken word on in the printed program.<\/p>\n

Perhaps like the woman being sung about in one of the evening\u2019s songs, the whole setup needed \u201ca sip of Tequila,\u201d to \u201creveal a spirit dancing joyously for the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and reviews before anyone else finds out? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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We all know that the real fun begins after dark. And that\u2019s the effect Toronto\u2019s recently formed Opus 8 choir was looking for in a concert for a packed house at Heliconian Hall on Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14761,11,76,19,52,63],"tags":[9515,16325],"yst_prominent_words":[13265,13260,16323,7202,10549,16316,8336,6616,16315,16311,8295,16320,16324,16322,11765,7134,10620,16313,8306,6741],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/Opus_8.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9bakr-50792","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50792"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50795,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50792\/revisions\/50795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50792"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=50792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}