Opera Kitchener Auditions

Opera Kitchener looks like they're holding auditions in June for next season and beyond. They'll be held in Brampton and Kitchener June 17-20. Just visit their audition page here to sign up. They're looking for soloists and chorus and tend heavily towards non-Equity singers. The 09/10 season looks like this:
Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) - October 3 & 4 - 2009
Die Fledermaus (Strauss) - January 2, 3, 9 - 2010
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) - March 14, 15, 26 - 2010

I've worked with them a few times when they were Brampton Lyric Opera and they're a great company. Full orchestra and costumes with performances not only in Kitchener but actively selling their shows all over the GTA so there are typically multiple performance opportunities.

Resource sites singers should know

I think that I'll post some of these every once in a while. Singers, especially young singers (not that I'm an old man myself yet,) should know about stuff like this.

The Aria Database:

Exactly what it sounds like. A somewhat comprehensive list of opera arias, complete with range and Tessitura, midi sound files translations, and more. 139 bass arias alone!


Role Classification Databases:

The ones at AGMA (the US singers union) and at CAEA (the Canadian singers union) both keep a list of roles, voice types, and role sizes. A fantastic resource to get an idea of role size, particularly when researching a new role. The AGMA one is a little easier to navigate as it's just a drop down menu. The CAEA ones are appended to the "Opera" agreements which can be found here.

Hockey and Opera: What's the connection?

It looks like Jim Balsillie, who is currently making a bid to bring the Phoenix Coyotes back to Canada, is going to have a major say in the success of Hamilton arts organizations including Opera Hamilton (formerly Opera Ontario). Hamilton's local daily is reporting that the RIM boss is negotiating for control of Copps Colleseum so that his new hockey team would have somewhere to play. The key is that to control the arena, he would need to control Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc., the group that runs it and (and here's where it effects the arts) Hamilton Place where Opera Hamilton performs, along with other groups such as the Hamilton Philharmonic. The concern is that with a new, for-profit entity controling the facility they could either force the arts groups to pay market rent, or make date selection incredibly difficult with their currently discounted rates.

Performance

I just received an email about a performance so I figured I'd share it. Feel free to email me with anything you'd like shared.

Lo Speziale/Der Apotheker Haydn/Mahler

Presented in a version completed by German musicologist Robert Hirschfeld (1858 - 1914), as Der Apotheker (1895), which was conducted by Mahler.
By kind permission of the Vienna State Opera


Performers:
Grilletta, (apothecary's ward) Eve Rachel McLeod
Volpino, (rival suitor; a pants role) Vilma Indra Vitols
Mengone, (apothecary's apprentice) Nils Brown
Sempronio, (elderly apothecary) Peter McGillivray

Narration: Michael Schmidt

Aradia Ensemble
Kevin Mallon Music Director, Conductor

So it's a new blog

Well there are a couple of posts down so I might as well explain. This is a blog covering opera, and more specifically, opera in Canada. I haven't quite decided completely what form this will take but let's sit back and find out! Welcome to my blog!

MIMC finishes

The Montreal International Music Competition has just finished and Toronto's own Yannick-Muriel Noah finished second. Also impressively she was the only Canadian in the final round. Yay Muriel!

How do they do it?

99% attendance? I know a lot of companies that work with half that but the COC seems to thrive. It looks from their numbers that it's not necessarily paid attendance, but nonetheless, that's an impressive feat.

Edited to add: It looks like they're not alone: Manitoba Opera just announced that their Butterfly drew 95% attendance. Maybe things are in better shape than we think.