~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Opera· three works can nm in repertory. From the outside Toronto will not have the by Christopher Haile kind of land.mark that Sydney Opera On September 15 Diamond and Sch- House is. Rather, the suitably Canadi- ' ~tt Architects Incof!?Orated unveiled an goal is.that the house should fit in rts final plans for the Four Seasons Cen- with the street. But as Diamond said, tre for the Performing Arts, the future "It's easy to design a building that home of the Canadian Opera Com- makes you gasp but doesn't work". pany and the National Ballet. "We Meanwhile, in the COC's present want to build a Munich", said COC home, Peter Grimes starring Robert General Director Richard Bradshaw, Brubaker, Alan Opie and Frederique referring to Munich's State Opera Vezina continues to October 10 and House as the team's model. The audi- Tosca with Eszter Silmegi, Badri torium will adopt the traditional horse- Maisuradze and Alain Fondary runs to shoe shape of the great European hous- . October 11. Sales for 2003-04 season es. There will be 2CXXJ seats and four arealready30% aheadofthesametime balconies versus the more than 3CXXJ last year. seats and one enormous balcony of the October will see the debut of a riew ungainly Hulnmingbird Centre. The professional opera company in town- · result will be a far more intimate house Royal Opera Canada. Formed in with no seat farther than 120 feet from March of this year, it incorporates the the stage. Computer modelling has allowed the designers to "sit'? in every former Opera Mississ~uga and will perform in two venues, the Living Art$ seat to ensure that there is not a bad Centre in Mississauga and the Toronto seat in the house. Computer simulation Centre for the Arts in North York. also showed how important multiple balcony fronts and a sculptural ceiling are Dedicated to traditional stagings of the world'smostpopularoperas, theROC in reflecting sound within the auditorium. season begins with Bizet's Cannen, runnirig October 2-11 at the LAC and October 14'25 at the TCA. It stars French To counter the most obvious problem with the site-external noise from mezzo-soprano Sylvie Brunet as Carmen with Franco Asparte as Don Jose. the streetcars~ subway-the hall will sit on rubber pads. There will be three Flavia Trevisan directs and ROC General and Artistic Director Dwight stages, main; back and side, so that Ben- Careers In Focus Enc Cost: Saturday an October18/ For Young Professi Invaluable opport coaches, pianists *Member Participants $ 200 *Non-Member$ 235 .(participants must register in actva *Observers$ 20 per 3-hour se 28 Call: 416.362 .. 1422 Email: ircpa@sympa' Web: www.sumarts.c
tett conducts. For more information visit the ROC website at www.royaloperacanada. com orphone 1-866-322-0456. In October Toronto's baroque opera company, Opera Atelier brings us the Canadian premiere of Gluck' s Iphigenie en Tauride (1779), the work most acclaimed in the composer's Opera Atelier's Edward Tracz & Jemmette lifetime. Iphigenia, saved by Zingf? in Cluck's lphigenie en Tauride. Diana from sacrifice at her father's Opera in Concert kicks off its 30th hands, has been whisked away to safe- anniversary season Oct 26 with an inty in Tauris. There she and her brother . niguing doµble bill' of Canadian one-act Orestes, plagued by the Furies for his operas more talked aoout than peract of manicide, cross paths, ignorant formed. First is Harry Somers' first' of each other's identity. opera The Fool (1951) followed by John lphigenie en Taunde is regarded as Beckwith's Niglzt Blooming Cereus Gluck's most complete success in his (1958) (libretto by James Reaney). Feaattempt to reform the opera seria of tured artists include Benoit Boutet, his day. The simplified plot, the use of Lynne McMurtry, .and Teri Dunn. music to support the text and the inte- Visit www .operainconcert.com or gration of dance with opera are all hall- phone 416-366-7723. marks of Gluck's reforms. Krisztina Szabo assm;nes the title role with Daniel Belcher as Orestes and Olivier Laquerre as Thoas. Am;lrew Parrott. conducts the Tafelmusik .Baroque Orchestra and Marshall Pynkoski directs. Performances take place at the Elgin Theatre on October 24, 25, 28, 30 and Novem-· ber 1 and 2. For those venturing farther afield, Opera Ontario presents Rossini's The Barber of Seville featuring Aaron St. Clarr Nicholson as Figaro, Shannon Mercer as Rosina, Benjamin Butterfield as Almaviva and Joseph Rouleau its Basilio. As usual three performances will take place in Hamilton (October 4, 9, 11) with a fourth in Kitchener (October 17). Phone l-S00-:575-1381. The f0,011 N. . !1:gI ht· · B. by Harry Somers · ~·· . c· . . . .. ·····•.1oom1ng ··. ereus by John Beckwith · · ~ .:Y{;;iled at their p~emiers in the late 1950s Jhese two ground-breaking works have attained mythic stature in the annals of Canada's. operatic history. ROYAL,QP£RA 'CANADA MADAMA BUTTERFLY COMPETITION April /May 2004 Madama Butterfly Centenary Performances in Toronto and Italy ROC in collaboration with the Lucca (Italy) Centenary ·Celebration of Madama Butterfly, will be holding a competition to select 2 casts to sing performances of Madama Butterfly with ROC in Ontario and Italy January - March 2005. The artists will ~e selected by a jury consisting of Artistic Directors from Europe and ROC. · For administration reasons, telephone requests cannot be answered. Please write, fax or email to receive an application form. Royal Opera Canada, 5040 Yonge Street, Toronto M2N 6R8 E-mail info@royaloperacanada.com Fax: 416-482-7044 TOURS . Opera Courses and Opera Tours with lain Scott. • Feb. 2004 - PEARL FISI IERS in San Diego l/Jith Bayrakda1'ia11, Schade, and Bra 1111 ! • May-J une 2004 - GREAT O PERA HOUSES • Aug. 2004 - VERO NA: OPERA MOST GRAND COURSES • U N DERSTANDIN G OPERATIC VOICES • GREAT OPERA COMPOSERS • MORE INSIGHTS INTO GREAT ARIAS • WINDOWS.q N "DIE WALKURE" weekrnd • WAGNER - BEFORE "THE RING" October 1 - November 7 2003
