{"id":55961,"date":"2018-09-26T20:31:06","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T00:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=55961"},"modified":"2018-09-27T07:26:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T11:26:47","slug":"scrutiny-meet-the-young-artists-coc-ensemble-studio-concert-showcases-stars-of-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/09\/26\/scrutiny-meet-the-young-artists-coc-ensemble-studio-concert-showcases-stars-of-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | COC Ensemble Studio Sneak-Peek Wins Us Over"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(l.
(l. to r.) Simone McIntosh, Simona Genga, Samuel Chan, Lauren Margison, Anna-Sophie Neher, Lauren Eberwein, Joel Allison (Photo: Chris Hutcheson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now in its 12th season, the free COC Noon Hour Vocal Series offers opera fans a sneak peek of the annual Ensemble Studio roster, performing in the informal setting of the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. The artists this year are sopranos Lauren Eberwein, Lauren Margison and Anna-Sophie Neher, mezzos Simona Genga and Simone McIntosh, baritone Samuel Chan, bass-baritone Joel Allison, as well as pianists Rachael Kerr and St\u00e9phane Mayer.<\/p>\n

Four of them (Margison, Neher, Genga and Allison) are new; McIntosh, Kerr and Chan are in their second year, while Eberwein and Mayer are in their third. All hugely talented, with solid training, abundant musicality, as well as the desire and ability to communicate their art to an audience. They are here for that last little bit of seasoning, honing their craft in a young artist program before venturing out to forge their respective careers.<\/p>\n

I was fortunate to have heard the four new members in the COC President\u2019s Council season opener a couple of weeks ago. Their beautiful voices certainly whet my appetite for more. At this noon-hour recital at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, we got the full roster of seven singers and two pianists. They introduced themselves to the audience before performing.<\/p>\n

Kicking off the proceedings was mezzo Simona Genga in \u201cOmbra mai fu\u201d from Handel\u2019s Xerxes, one of the best-known arias in Baroque opera. Hers is a low mezzo of good volume and lovely timbre, and she sang this stately aria with rich, gleaming tone, good legato and long breath line. She chose not to trill in this aria, which I suppose is optional. A fine start to the recital.<\/p>\n

Lyric baritone Samuel Chan followed with \u201cKogda b\u00efzhizn domashnim,\u201d Onegin\u2019s Act One aria in Eugene Onegin. Chan\u2019s voice has developed very nicely during his tenure as an Ensemble member, gaining in richness and solidity.\u00a0 He sings this aria with nice tone and fine, well articulated Russian diction, according to a friend who speaks the language.<\/p>\n

Next up was soprano Lauren Margison, whom I heard some years ago in a RBA noon hour concert \u2014 as a pop and folk singer.\u00a0 (Many will know that her father, tenor Richard Margison, started out as a folksinger.) The soprano sang Mimi\u2019s Act Three aria, \u201cDonde lieta usci\u201d with lovely tone, if just a little short on Italianate portamento, and a high piano, essential in this aria.<\/p>\n

Another new Ensemble member, lyric-coloratura soprano Anna-Sophie Neher, offered Adele\u2019s \u201cEn proie a la tristesse\u201d from Rossini\u2019 Le comte Ory, singing with bright, vibrant tone and excellent flexibility. Mezzo-turned soprano Lauren Eberwein followed with \u201cSignor ascolta,\u201d Liu\u2019s Act One aria from Turandot. She sang with rich tone throughout her range, albeit with a slightly changed timbre at the top, with a somewhat covered quality. That said, kudos to her for a pianissimo B-flat that concludes the aria.<\/p>\n

U of T graduate bass-baritone Joel Allison contributed a dramatically vivid and well sung \u201cSe vuoi ballare,\u201d Figaro\u2019s aria from Le nozze di Figaro, his rich, virile sound a real pleasure. The recital concluded with mezzo Simone McIntosh as a scintillating Angelina in \u201cNon piu mesta\u201d from Rossini\u2019s La cenerentola. She displayed a mezzo of fine agility and lovely tone, plus an engaging stage persona. It\u2019s in this aria that the audience got the surprise of the recital \u2013 the other six singers formed an excellent chorus in the second half of the aria!<\/p>\n

Throughout the hour-long recital, pianists Rachael Kerr and St\u00e9phane Mayer couldn\u2019t have been more supportive, always attentive to the needs of each singer while holding everything together. In vocal recitals, audience members tend to focus on the voices and neglect the good work of the collaborative pianists.\u00a0 But if the singers sound good, part of the credit should go to the pianists, as it\u2019s their job to make the singers look good, and invariably they succeed!\u00a0 A most enjoyable concert and an auspicious start to the new season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COC Noon Hour Vocal Series offers opera fans a sneak peek of the annual Ensemble Studio roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":55964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14761,52,63,70],"tags":[5780],"yst_prominent_words":[13168,11030,22843,22837,13154,11096,13164,22838,22834,11098,16850,22836,22833,22835,22832,7164,10045,13166,10036,11115],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/2018-09-25-FCS-Ensemble-084.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-eyB","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55961"}],"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=55961"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55974,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55961\/revisions\/55974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55961"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=55961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}