Wouldn't Toi-toi have sufficed

Okay, this is supposed to be a Canadian opera blog, but I just can't let this go without mention: Joyce DiDonato slips and falls if act 1 of Royal Opera's Barber, thinks she has twisted her ankle, but keeps going - fantastic! I love this! This is the kind of singer that I hope I would be in this situation. The real kicker is, it's not sprained. It's broken. What's more, she's going to keep going with the run, via wheelchair! It should make the escape by ladder interesting but this is truly impressive - way to go! Although she asks that no one wish her "break a leg" in the future.

Kudos too to Juan Diego Florez who spent a better part of an aria holding her up to relieve her pain. Reminds me of Caruso and the Vecchia Zimarra where Caruso sang for Andres de Segurola during a performance of La Boheme when he whispered to him, right before the aria, that he'd lost his voice and couldn't do it. Caruso later recorded it:




Via BBC

Small Opera Companies

I just got a notice in my email (well my Facebook account actually, now that I think of it,) from a small Vancouver company named DragonDiva Operatic Theatre (web site, FB group) and it occurred to me, and not for the first time, just how really, really important these smaller companies are to both singers and to audiences.

For audiences who, in North America, might get 2-3 full operas a year if they're lucky (German cities can offer up 3-4 full operas a night, in season,) from their local large (by Canadian standards) company, this is an opportunity to see not only solid productions, often with orchestra, of works that they love to listen to but wouldn't get the chance to ordinarily see, but also to see a broader variety of talent, mainly young artist, which are occasionally more exciting to see because every time they step on stage, it's a big deal to them.

For the singers, these companies are even more important. There are a lot of steps in between university and, say for instance, Manitoba Opera, and a lot of those steps aree what are known as pay-to-sings, where the singer pays a fee to the company in exchange for working on a role. These too are valuable, but the real sweet spot here is the small professional companies like DragonDiva, Opera York, The Little Opera Company, Pellegrini Opera, and others who are able to pay singers to sing. These make singing just a little more viable for those singers, as well as rasing the quality bar accross the board.

I think that these are important and so I'm going to start profiling some of these. If you are involved in an opera company of a small or moderate size, and would like a little attention, just let me know, via email (gtheule a t gmail dot com) and I'll send you some questions for inclusion in an upcoming post. And as always, if you know of anything post worthy, (news, auditions, wacky stories,) just send it on over.

Measha's Canadian healthcare experience

I'm pretty sure that if I comment on this, I'm going to say something I regret with regards to my bewilderment over her comments and this article in general so I'll just post the link.

via the National Post

Comments?

Is Bruno Weil retiring?

The Monterey Herald out in California is reporting this morning that Maestro Weil will be retiring from the Carmel Bach Festival at the end of the 2010 season when he will only be 61 years young. What we'd like to find out is if that is the end of it or if he will be stepping down from his other posts as well, most notably Toronto's Tafelmusik where he is the Principal Guest Conductor.

Developing...

Amazing Canadian Art Song List

The Canadian Music Centre has made a spreadsheet available listing its complete Canadian art song repertoire listings which can be then borrowed or purchased from the CMC. Chris Foley is hosting the list on his teaching site, with a full list of links over on his Collaborative Piano Blog.

Opera director Robert Lepage promotedto CC

Robert Lepage, known, in opera circles at least, for his love of all operas dark and gloomy (Bluebeard and Erwartung at the COC, Nineteen-Eighty-Four at Covent Garden, etc.) just got a promotion yesterday. He's now a Companion of the Order of Canada -the highest rank in the membership. There are only 165 Companions allowed to be living at any given time (a sentence that I just re-read.... man that's ominous...) Congratulations to Robert! Your weird, weird vision has done great things.

Happy Canada Day

And now it's time for Act 2 of Die Zauber... I mean, O Canada. Have a great one!