Volume 9 Issue 4 - December 2003

30
TOURS
Opera Courses
and
Oper~ Tours·
with
Iain Scott
-~ • Feb. 2004: - PEARL FISHERS in San Diego
.
with Bayrakdarian, Schade, and Braun!
'
• May-June 2004 - GREAT OPERA HOUSES
• Aug. 2004 - VERONA: OPERA MOST GRAND
COURSES
'
• GREAT OPERA COMPOSERS (
• MORE INSIGHTS INTO GREAT ARIAS
• WINDOWS ON "DIE WALKURE" weekend
• WAGNER - BEFORE "THE RING"
NJJ1~,,!c%Apprecia .tion
: ;~_ff~l :·'· ·.
•;Ii~:: ... ~:21fiii ".:1; .. !
12.Great Co11certos
I
Join Rick Phillips, ·
host of CBC Radio's
Sound Advice, for an
informative and
entertaining course
expl9ring twelve
magnificent concertos,
from Bach to Bartok
Classes begin Wednesday, January 21, 2004,
7:30-9:30 p.m., at the Royal Conservatory of
Music, 273 Bloor Street West
Engaging, educational, enlightening!
For more information or to enroll call
the RCM (416) 408-2825
The highlights of December
and January are two
unusual double bills. In
December the COC Ensemble
willipresen~ J.S.
Bach's "Coffee Cantata"
with Henry Purc~ll 's
"Dido and Aeneas". In
January Opera Ontario
pairs Francis Poulenc's
"La Voix humaine" with
Jules Massenet's "Le Portrait
de Manon". Except
for "Cav" and "Pag" and
parts of Puccini's "II Trittico",
one-act operas tend
to be neglected by prof essional
companies. It's a
pleasure to see such creative
programming.
Henry Purcell's "Dido
and Aeneas", written in
1689 for Josiah Priest's
School for Young Ladies
at Chelsea, was the first
great opera in English and
by Christopher Haile
Robert Longo as.the Soldier (Bummerli),
and Shannon Mercer as Nadina in Toronto
Operetta Theatre's The Chocolate Soldier
is among the finest of the 17th cen- designed and directed by Cocteau.
tury. Contrasting with the tragic tone In both play and opera, the sole charof
Purcell is the light-heartedness of acter known as Elle is continually
the "Coffee Cantata", DWV 211 by on the telephone trying with increas­
J. S. Bach. Opera was certainly not ing despt>ration to get through to her
unknown to Bach. Indeed, his Lu- lover, who has clear,ly lost interest
theran employers called him to task in her. The work is built on the
more than once for making his sa- irony that a means of communicacred
works too operatic. His secu- tion has become a symbol of Elle's ·
lar Cantatas, bearing the label "dram- isolation. This gripping tour de force
ma per musica", were -.yritten for for soprano will be sung by Lyne
others. -In particular, Bach and mem- Fortin, who wowed audiences in
bers of the Leipzig Collegium Mu- "Les Pecheurs des perles" last year.
sicum used to practise and play at Diana Leblanc, who has played the
Zimmermann's Coffee House ... Per- role of Elle herself in Cocteau 1 s play,
haps that's why he chose to set his will direct.
friend Picander.' s 1727 satire about While "Le Portrait de Manon" is
a father and his coffee-obsessed notamonodramalike"Voix",itdoes
daughter to mu~ic.
focus on a single male character. It
· The double bill will be directed is Massenet's coda to his great opby
Dmitri Bertman, who had great era "Manon" of 1884, where we
success with it at his Helikon Opera me~t a middle-aged Des Grieux, livin
Moscow in 1997. The four per- ing alone with 'his memories of the
formances- December 1, 3, 5 and great love of his life. Des Grieux
7-are already sold out. To be put tries to prevent the marriage of his
on a waiting list, contact the COC at nephew and Aurore, a girl of low
416-363-8231. birth, who reminds him of Manon,
but his contemplation of Manon's
The other intriguing double bill portrait changes his attitude. Theodore
Baerg sings Des Grieux, Lau­
is Opera Ontario's pairing of Poulenc's
"La Voix humaine" with Massenet's
rarely staged "Le Portrait de. the nephew. The Opera Ontario
ra Whalen Aurore and Louise.Guyot
Manon". Both works had their premieres
at the Opera Comique, the January 24, 2004. It then moves to
production opens in Kitchener on
Massenet in 1894 and the Poulenc Hamilton for performances on January
31, February 5 and 7. For
in 1959. "La Voix humaine", Poulenc's
setting of Jean Cocteau's play tickets pnone 1-800-575-1381 or else
of the same name, was a great success
at its premiere in a production
visit the Opera Ontario website at ,
www.operaontario.com.
DECEMBER 1 2003 - FEBRUARY 7 2004