September 2009 - The Wholenote Magazine

eat by beat: operaA Big Year for OperaBy Christopher HoilePHOTO: MICHAEL COOPERA scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s production of“Madama Butterfly”.The 2009-10 season is a very rich one, with much to please thosewho favour the tried and true and those curious about opera off thebeaten path. Two events are certain to draw international attention toToronto – the COC’s production of The Nightingale and Other ShortFables; and the North American premiere of Prima Donna, by Canadiansinger-songwriter Rufus Wainwright – but Toronto’s expandingnumber of smaller companies also have diverse treasures on offer.What follows is a small selection of some of the season’s highlightsThe season begins on September 26 with the COC’s revival of Puccini’sMadama Butterfly in an extended run to November 3. This willbe the first presentation at the Four Seasons Centre of Susan Benson’sgorgeous, much lauded traditional production directed by BrianMacDonald. If you happen to have any friends who somehow havenot yet visited the FSC, this is the perfect opportunity to invite themalong.The second COC offering is The Nightingale and Other ShortFables from October 17-November 5. For this production, directorRobert Lepage links two short operas by Stravinsky, Le Rossignol(1914) and Renard (1916), with a miscellany of non-operatic pieces--the octet Ragtime (1916), Pribaoutki, a set of four nonsense songs(1914), the four lullabies that comprise the The Cat’s Cradle Songs(1917), Two Poems of Constantin Balmont (1911) and Four RussianPeasant Songs (1917). Lepage will be using the techniques of SoutheastAsian puppetry in his staging, and the COC says the programmeis aimed at an audience of all ages.On October 25, Opera in Concert presents Rossini’s La Donna dellago (1819) based on the narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott. Alisond’Amato is the music director and the presentation will feature VirginiaHatfield, Amanda Jones, Paul Anthony Williamson, GrahamThomson and Gene Wu. At the end of the month, October 31-November7, Opera Atelier presents a revival of Gluck’s Iphigénie enTauride (1779), last seen in 2003. The principals will be entirely newwith Kresimir Spicer as Oreste, Thomas Macleay as Pylade and PeggyKriha Dye as Iphigénie. Andrew Parrott conducts the TafelmusikBaroque Orchestra and Marshall Pynkoski directs.In November, Opera York, which has focused primarily on warhorses,takes a new course by presenting the Canadian premiere ofAnd the Rat Laughed, an Israeli opera from 2005 by Ella Milch-Sheriff sung in Hebrew with English surtitles. The libretto is by NavaSemel based on her novel of the same title. Opera York presents thework in partnership with the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust September 1 - October 7, 2009 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM 17