Volume 30 Issue 5 | April & May 2025

ON OPERAVERSAILLES TO

ON OPERAVERSAILLES TO TORONTOA sea-change forOpera AtelierDAVID PERLMANBRUCE ZINGEROpera Atelier’s All is Love, April 2024 at Koerner HallSingle tickets of Opera Atelier’s 40th anniversaryseason production of Charpentier’s David andJonathan went on sale January 13, 2025 and withinminutes of the announcement, OA’s Marshall Pynkoskiwas there in our editorial inbox as well – his enthusiasmeven more contagious than usual.“This is the most significant undertaking in Opera Atelier’s history,”he wrote. “The first time that we are bringing a production thatoriginated in France to Toronto … It’s a historic moment for all ofus at Opera Atelier … to be able to present a unique staging of it inKoerner Hall, before returning the production to Versailles where wefirst staged it. I’m attaching some photographs to give you a sense ofwhat the project looked like and a link to a short video they have justproduced, featuring the prologue with Saul and the witch of Endor –referred to as the Pythonisse by Charpentier’s librettist.”It has taken 14 years for the relationship between Opera Atelier andRoyal Opera of Versailles to reach this moment – a de facto co-productionbetween the two companies, with Opera Atelier’s co-directors asthe tie that binds.BRUCE ZINGERJeannette Lajeunesse Zingg has no trouble recalling the 2011 firstinvitation to Versailles and the 2012 tour that followed: “It remainsone of our most treasured memories. We had received an email fromLaurent Brunner, the visionary director of Château de VersaillesSpectacles who had seen our film of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Perséeon the internet. When he heard we were in the theatre preparing aproduction of Lully’s Armide, he flew to Toronto at once, and afterseeing the production, immediately invited us to bring our Armide tothe Royal Opera in the Château de Versailles.”Jeannette Lajeunesse Zinggand Marshall PynkoskiArriving in Versailles, shesays, was like an invasion:“what with all of TafelmusikBaroque Orchestra, 16 Artistsof Atelier Ballet, 12 singers,our entire creative team andstage management, plus tensof thousands of pounds of sets,costumes and machinery.”And along with all thattonnage, they arrived burdenedwith a weight of trepidation:“Wondering how theFrench public would receive aCanadian production of suchan important piece of theirmusical heritage.”It was a trepidation shared by pessimists among Opera Atelier’shome town supporters, who swore we could hear French criticssharpening their quills clear across the Atlantic. But we needn’t haveworried. Pynkowski recalls the overwhelming audience response onopening night “with sustained, rhythmic applause that went on for solong that our curtain calls fell apart entirely …” And Zingg reflects onthe impacts of the tour: “Armide went from Versailles to Glimmerglasswithin the space of one miraculous spring and summer,and theseexperiences changed our lives.”Strengths: Stage Door editor (and opera columnist for The WholeNoteat the time) Christopher Hoile had not joined the worry worts. He hadseen the show in its pre-tour run at the Elgin Theatre, and had alreadywritten perceptively about the inherent strength of the company.“Director Marshall Pynkoski has softened the former rigidity of thestylized gestural language of the period to allow for a greater senseof emotional impulse …. a perfect example of how an allegoricalrepresentation of an internal struggle can be absolutely riveting. Aswell, Armide is a perfect vehicle for OA since it tells its story as muchthrough dance as through song. Music frequently passes back andforth between the singers and the dancers who often share the stagein beautifully integrated passages choreographed for the full corps ofsixteen by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg.”Turning points: A flurry of further invitations followed: Perséein 2014; Armide again in 2015; Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Médeéin 2017, followed in 2018 by his Acteon, paired with Jean-PhilippeRameau’s Pygmalion… but it was a 2019 invitation to Pynkowski andZingg, rather than to the company, that laid the groundwork for apotential sea-change in the Atelier-Versailles relationship.As Zingg explains: “In 2019, Château de Versailles Spectacles,entering a new phase since the theatre’s 2010 restoration, made thedecision to create their own opera productions, and Marshall and Iwere invited to stage and choreograph the theatre’s premiere productionof Grétry’s Richard Coeur-de-Lion, including some of ourfavourite Artists of Atelier Ballet.”At the close of the opera’s premiere, which took place on ArmisticeDay, Zingg and Pynkoski were invested as Officers of the Order of Artsand Letters by the government of France.“It was one of the most thrilling and proudest moments of ourlives,” Zingg says.Since that memorable experience, they have had the privilege ofstaging Grétry’s La Caravane du Caire in the Royal Opera and, in 2022,Charpentier’s greatest masterpiece, David and Jonathan in the RoyalChapel – the first time in its history it has benn used for a fully stagedperformance.And now it comes to Toronto, on April , 10, 12 and 13, the openingproduction of Opera Atelier’s 40th Anniversary season, after which itgoes back home – to Versailles that is – in May.10 | April & May 2025 thewholenote.com

Opera Atelier’s David & Jonathan, Versaille Chapelle RoyaleVERSAILLES TO TORONTO A COMPARISONAGATHE POUPENEYExperiencethe Powerof OperaWN: We’ve been looking at the photos you sent of David andJonathan at the Versailles Chapelle Royale, and are trying to pictureit at Koerner.OA: Believe it or not, the staging of the Royal Chapel productionis identical to the production we will present in Toronto. The venuescouldn’t be more different architecturally, but the footprint of theperformance area is almost identical, except that in Toronto we actuallyhave greater depth than what we had in Versailles, which gives us theluxury of twelve dancers as opposed to the eight we had at Versailles.You two directing and choreographing both shows is a big plus interms of continuity.There are other things too. In Versailles we always include Artistsof Atelier Ballet in addition to our French dancers; Dominic Who isthe fight director for Toronto and Versailles; both set designs (AntoineFontaine for Versailles and Gerard Gauci for Koerner) feature majorarchitectural elements to help define the performing area; and ourstaging and choreography remain virtually unchanged.How does an Opera Atelier idea of what constitutes “period performance”align with that of a company embedded in the historical?For us, these two worlds do not collide so much as merge seamlessly.Our French artists are perhaps more accustomed to the structureand formality of French Baroque repertoire and work beautifullywithin that structure; and that’s something that OA tends to “pushagainst,” creating a different sort of dramatic tension. So it is a greatpleasure to work within the ethos of both companies: it stretches ouraesthetic in a variety of directions.So what is the biggest aesthetic stretch?The costuming, for sure. The Versailles production features thecostumes of the most famous living couturier in France, ChristianLacroix, sumptuous and valuable beyond imagination. Our Torontoproduction is costumed by one of Canada’s finest young costumedesigners, Michael Gianfrancesco, who, interestingly enough, hastaken a more tailored, strict approach to the line of the costuming anda very different colour palette.But even there, Koerner and the Royal Chapel are extremely neutralin terms of colour, so create a background in which the actors and theircostumes become the major focus. And both venues are superb acoustically.So, as always, it’s a two-way street in terms of learning. OurCanadian performers will learn a great deal from the musical finesse ofour French guest stars. Our French designers in turn have grown enormouslyin terms of physicality and energy in their staging.David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.comcoc.cathewholenote.com April & May 2025 | 11