Ivor Novello however, on
Ivor Novello however, on March 3, TOT presents a major rarity in the form of Ivor Novello’s operetta Perchance to Dream (1945), the only work for which he wrote both the music and the libretto. The operetta tells the usual story of the inhabitants of the same house, Huntersmoon, in three different historical periods – the Regency, the Victorian age and in 1945. Though a huge success in Novello’s day, it has seldom been revived, though many will know its most famous song, We’ll Gather Lilacs. Vera Causa: While we have focused so far on opera in Toronto, it’s worth noting that recently small opera companies have been sprouting up across Ontario. One of these is Vera Causa Opera, based in Cambridge and serving what has become known as the Golden Triangle, Ontario’s answer to California’s Silicon Valley. For VCO the 2018/19 season is its most ambitious since it was founded by artistic director Dylan Langan in 2015. It begins with the 1884 rarity Le Villi (The Fairies), Puccini’s very first opera, which happens to be based on the same story that provided the scenario for Adolphe Adam’s ballet Giselle (1841). The opera will have three performances in Waterloo from November 16 to 18. VCO’s second production is the world premiere of Langan’s own opera Dracula, to be performed in Cambridge on February 15, Waterloo on February 16 and Guelph on February 17. The company’s third production is Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore, to be performed in the same three cities in the same order from April 5 to 7. VCO’s season concludes with its Canadian Opera Fest, which will include two brand new operas performed in the same three cities from June 14 to 16. Busy September: In addition to the 2018/19 seasons above, September itself is very busy for local opera. Opera by Request, the concert opera company where the singers choose the repertory, is presenting an encore of its successful performance of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena on September 7, with Antonina Ermolenko as Anna and John Holland as Enrico VIII. On September 28, OBR presents Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, with Peter Bass as the Dutchman and Brigitte Bogar as Senta. On September 14 it presents Mozart’s Don Giovanni, with Norman E. Brown as the reprobate and John Holland as Leporello. Then OBR takes the opera on tour – first to Ottawa on September 16, then to London on September 22 and finally to Windsor on September 30. This is a great way to serve cities that once had or never had professional opera available. Opera has returned sporadically to the Hamilton area because of the Brott Music Festival. But a new company, SOLO, or the Southern Ontario Lyric Opera, is presenting its second fully-staged opera in the area, with Verdi’s Rigoletto on September 16 in Burlington. Jeffrey Carl sings Rigoletto, Allison Cecilia Arends is his daughter Gilda and Romulo Delgado is the lecherous Duke of Mantua. SOLO founder and artistic director Sabatino Vacca conducts. Paper Canoe and Cahoots: Also in September, running from September 9 to 30, is a play from Paper Canoe and Cahoots Theatre that ought be of interest to those curious about early North American opera. The play is I Call myself Princess by Jani Lauzon, about a modern-day Métis student who encounters the opera Shanewis: The Robin Woman, which was written for Creek/Cherokee mezzosoprano Tsianina Redfeather (1882-1985). The opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1918 and was later performed in Measha Brueggergosman in Opera Atelier’s 2008 production of Idomeneo Denver and Los Angeles. Lauzon’s play features music from Shanewis composed by Redfeather’s creative partner Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946), an American composer in the early 1900s who was part of a musical movement which sought to use Indigenous music to create a distinct North American musical identity. The question the play raises is similar to some of the issues encountered in the recent COC production of Harry Somers’ 1967 opera Louis Riel –namely, “How can we engage with tensions between representation, inspiration and cultural appropriation?” Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman sings the role of Tsianina, Richard Greenblatt plays Cadman, Marjorie Chan directs and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate conducts. Christopher Hoile is a Toronto-based writer on opera and theatre. He can be contacted at opera@thewholenote.com. 2018-2019 C o n c e r t S e a s o n TORONTO UKRAINIAN MALE CHAMBER CHOIR COMMEMORATING HOLODOMOR Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 5:00 PM Runnymede United Church 432 Runnymede Road, Toronto Commemorating the 85th anniversary of Famine-Genocide in Ukraine Special guests: Elmer Iseler Singers & musical director Lydia Adams, Gryphon Trio and soprano Antonina Ermolenko CHRISTMAS CONCERT Sunday, January 13, 2019 at 3:00 PM Islington United Church 25 Burnhamthorpe Rd., Toronto Traditional and contemporary Ukrainian Christmas carols and New Year’s songs. LET OUR SONG TAKE WING Sunday, April 7, 2019 at 3:00 PM Humber Valley United Church 76 Anglesey Blvd., Toronto A spring concert featuring music of Ukrainian Canadian composers. The beautiful melodies and lyrics convey memories of Ukraine and its rich folk traditions. www.vesnivka.com Info: 416.246.9880 or 416.763.2197 nykola@vesnivka.com https://www.facebook.com/vesnivka Olzhych Foundation UKRAINIAN CANADIAN SOCIAL SERVICES INC. TORONTO BRUCE ZINGER 32 | September 2018 thewholenote.com
Beat by Beat | Choral Scene First Step? Start a Choir. That’s What Annegret Did. SCARLET O'NEILL BRIAN CHANG Lucas Harris All it takes is one person with initiative and a few friends to start a choir.” The speaker is Lucas Harris, current artistic director of the Toronto Chamber Choir (TCC). The person he is talking about is Annegret Wright whose initiative it was, five decades ago, to get the TCC started. Not many arts organizations can sustain themselves for decades, and 50 years is a remarkable feat, requiring not just loyalty to an organization’s founder but also the ability to change. Harris is now at the helm, taking the TCC into its golden jubilee, but “[past conductors],Elizabeth Anderson, Mark Vuorinen and David Fallis are all heroes of mine,” says Harris, “and I’m honoured to feature them in this concert.” Together on September 29, 7477 the combined forces of these impressive artistic leaders should make the start of the TCC’s 50th anniversary season a celebration to remember. Harris reaches me by email, providing a glimpse into how the choir retains its awareness of its history. The choir’s archivist, Sharon Adamson, has kept meticulous records, he explains. These include “the choir’s complete membership history, every concert performed, every venue rented, every work sung, every soloist/section lead/ instrumentalist hired over the choir’s entire history.” He gives me statistics that can be drawn from the archival work: 177 concert programs, 1500 works performed, 418 members across the decades, 357 instrumentalists hired, and five artistic directors. Impressive. The work for this concert began last season, and the programming reflects Harris’s awareness of its past. He has programmed “hits by the choir’s all-time favorite composers, including Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Britten and more,” he says. There’s even a chorus from Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (Funeral Music) that was in the very first TCC 7477 173 2018 – 2019 Season Robert Cooper, C.M. Artistic Director Edward Moroney Accompanist Peter Pan “Clap your hands if you believe” A Child’s Christmas in Wales “Bring out the tall tales that we told by the fire as the gaslight bubbled...” Raising Her Voice Celebrating Women in the Choral Art Orpheus by Request YOUR opportunity to direct the Director! October 27, 2018 December 18, 2018 March 8, 2019 May 15, 2019 Eglinton St. George’s United Church 35 Lytton Blvd Eglinton St. George’s United Church 35 Lytton Blvd Grace Church on-the-Hill 200 Lonsdale Rd Grace Church on-the-Hill 200 Lonsdale Rd Subscribe and Save! Subscriptions start at www.orpheuschoirtoronto.com The Jackman Foundation thewholenote.com September 2018 | 33
