Volume 20 Issue 1 - September 2014

music specialist Michael Hofstetter will conduct. The opera runsfrom January 24 to February 21.Goerke in Walküre: Running in repertory with the Mozartis a return of Atom Egoyan’s production of Wagner’s DieWalküre, first seen on its own in 2004 and last seen as part of thefull Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2006. The cast is full of singersmaking their COC debuts, most notably renowned sopranoChristine Goerke making her role debut as Brünnhilde. Alsoappearing with the COC for the first time are Heidi Melton asSieglinde, Johan Reuter as Wotan, Dmitry Ivaschenko as Hundingand Janina Baechle as Fricka. Clifton Forbis returns in the roleof Siegmund and Johannes Debus conducts. The opera runsfrom January 31 to February 22.Hopkins in Barber: The spring season opens with a newproduction of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, last seen here in2008. This is a co-production with Houston Grand Opera, OpéraNational de Bordeaux and Opera Australia. The stage director isthe Catalonian Joan Font and the production is credited to a groupcalled Els Comediants. If these names seem familiar it is because theywere responsible for the colourful rat-filled production of Rossini’s LaCenerentola seen here in 2011. Again there will be many performersnew to the COC, such as Joshua Hopkins as Figaro, Alek Shrader asAlmaviva and Serena Malfi and Cecelia Hall alternating as Rosina.Rory Macdonald conducts and the production runs April 17 to May 22.Relyea in Lepage revival: Running in repertory with the Rossini isthe third revival of Robert Lepage’s double bill of Bartók’s Bluebeard’sCastle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung. The surreal pairing was firstseen in 1993 and last in 2002. The production marked the first timethe COC was invited to the Edinburgh Festival and later to BAM inNew York. The production, like François Girard’s Oedipus Rex in1997, came from a time when theCOC created Canadian productionsthat the rest of the world demandedto see rather than from simplypartnering with well-knowncompanies and seeing the resultsafter the bigger companies hadstaged them.For this revival, John Relyeaand Ekaterina Gubanova will singBluebeard and Judith in the Bartókwhile Krisztina Szabó will take onthe role of the anonymous Womanin Erwartung. Johannes Debus willconduct and the double bill will runfrom May 6 to 23.Atelier Breaks New Ground:While last season both productionsby Opera Atelier wererevivals, this season both not onlyare new but break new groundfor the company. Running fromOctober 23 to November 1 is OA’sfirst-ever production of a full-lengthHandel opera, in this case his Alcina of 1735. The story, from TorquatoTasso’s baroque epic Gerusalemme Liberata (1581), concerns theCirce-like sorceress Alcina who lives in a magical world composedof the souls of her past lovers. The question is whether the Christianknight Ruggiero can resist her enchantments to set these souls free.The cast is made up of singers familiar from previous OA productions.Meghan Lindsay, who sang Agathe in OA’s Der Freischütz,returns to sing Alcina, Allyson McHardy sings the trousers role ofRuggiero, and Wallis Giunta is Ruggiero’s beloved Bradamante. Theyare joined by Mireille Asselin (Morgana), Krešimir Špicer (Oronte) andOlivier Laquerre (Melisso).OA’s spring production is Hector Berlioz’s 1859 version ofGluck’s Orpheus et Eurydice. Berlioz drew from both of Gluck’searlier French and Italian versions of the opera to recast it in his ownorchestration, scoring the role of Orpheus for a contralto. MireilleA scene from the historic New York ProMusica production of The Play of Daniel in1958 at the Cloisters in New York CityA scene from the 2008 Toronto Operetta Theatreproduction of Earnest, The Importance of BeingLebel will sing Orpheus, OA favourite Peggy Kriha Dye returns asEurydice and Meghan Lindsay will sing Amour. The production issignificant both for Opera Atelier and for Tafelmusik since it willmark their furthest incursion to date into the 19th century. The operaruns April 9 to 18. As usual MarshallPynkoski will be the director forboth productions and JeannetteLajeunnesse Zingg will choreographthe artists of the Atelier Ballet.TOT In Earnest: For additionalfully-staged productionsTorontonians have only toturn to Toronto OperettaTheatre. Its season beginswith the zarzuela La GranVía (1886) by FedericoChueca on November 2.The work is a celebration ofthe old neighbourhoods ofKevin Skeltonplays DanielMadrid that were about to be destroyed by the Haussmannlikecreation of a boulevard in the city. The TOT’s endof-yearshow is a return of Gilbert and Sullivan’s TheMikado running from December 27, 2014, to January 4,2015. The season concludes in April with a revival of theTOT-commissioned operetta Earnest, The Importance ofBeing (2008) by Victor Davies and Eugene Benson, basedon the famous comedy by Oscar Wilde. This will be a rareoccasion where a new Canadian work receives a revivalafter only seven years.Centuries apart: Enriching the season are two fullystagedproductions of music theatre from completelyopposite ends of the time spectrum. The TorontoConsort has performed many operas in concert butfrom May 22 to 24 it will mount a fully-staged production ofThe Play of Daniel, an English version of Ludus Danielis, asung medieval play from the 13th century that tells the biblical story ofDaniel in the lions’ den. Kevin Skelton will sing the role of Daniel withmusical direction by David Fallis and stage direction by Alex Fallis.In contrast to this, Soundstreams will offer the Toronto premiereof The Whisper Opera (2013) by American composer David Langfrom February 26 to March 1. The opera explores the tension betweenour private and online selves by using a libretto made up of searchengineresponses to questions of association. Soprano Tony Arnoldand New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) maketheir Canadian debuts in an opera so quiet that it can be experiencedby just 60 people at a time.Christopher Hoile is a Toronto-based writer on opera andtheatre. He can be contacted at opera@thewholenote.com.34 | September 1, 2014 – October 7, 2014 thewholenote.com