ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE – REVIEW OF 2023 OPERA ATELIER PRODUCTION

 Reviewed James Karas 

Opera Atelier, a prime example of civilization in Toronto, has produced Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice for its fall season. There are three versions of Gluck’s opera, the Vienna version of 1762 in Italian, the Paris version of 1774 in French and the Berlioz version of 1859 to a French libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline. Marshall Pynkoski, the Co-Artistic Director of Opera Atelier, has produced all three versions and for this year he has chosen to reprise the Paris version that he directed in 2007 with Colin Ainsworth in the lead role.

Tenor Answorth, still looking boyish, sings Orpheus again this year with soprano Mireille Asselin as Eurydice and soprano Anna-Julia David as Amour. The French version changed the vocal range of Orpheus from castrato to countertenor and now is frequently sung by tenors. Pynkoski has made a major infusion of ballet into the production which fits perfectly with Opera Atelier’s style of providing plenty of ballet dances thanks to Co-Artistic Director and Choreographer Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg.

It is a beautiful production starting with Ainsworth’s supple lyrical voice and wonderful delivery. The opera has few vocal flourishes for the tenor but he does have to maneuver through deep grief at the death of his wife on the day of their marriage to having to convince the Furies to let him into Hades and then try to endure the temptation to look at Eurydice  on their way out of the depths of Hades to the earth. Alas, he succumbs to her pleas and looks at disastrous results: she dies. Her death does have a positive aspect for us because Gluck composed the beautiful “J’ai perdu mon Euridice” aria that has the distinction of being the first big operatic hit.   

Colin Ainsworth as Orpheus, Mireille Asselin as Eurydice. 

Photo by Bruce Zinger

Asselin has a lovely and delicious soprano voice and we feel her distress as she expresses doubts about Orpheus still loving her when he refuses to even look at her. Excellent work. David does a fine job in the relatively small role of Amour.  

Zingg as expected choreographs gorgeous ballet sequences for the Atelier Ballet. The choruses are handled by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and the Tafelmusik Chamber Chοir. The inimitable Tafelmusik Orchestra, another mark of civilization in Toronto, is conducted by David Fallis.

Gerard Gauci, Opera Atelier’s Resident Set Designer, designs the set with emphasis on colour, beauty and simplicity. The fires of hell are indicated at the back of the set although there are no dramatic efforts to provide idyllic dales or overdo the terrors of Hades but what we do get is effective.

There was great emphasis on a hazy or foggy Hades. There may have been a hitch, I suppose, and someone kept his finger on the haze making machine for far too long. Some of the dancers were hard to see as were the surtitles above the stage. Much of the theatre was enveloped in haze but I think it was a simple glitch in an otherwise wonderful production.

The Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra conducted by David Fallis did superior work.
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Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Willibald Gluck opened on October 26 and will run until November 1, 2023, at the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario, M5B 1M4. www.operaatelier.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor -Culture of The Greek Press

LA BOHÈME - REVIEW OF 2023 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

Puccini’s La Bohème  is one of the most reliable crowd pleasers and the Canadian Opera Company has wisely revived John Caird’s 2013 production again after repeating it in 2019. It is a sound production and was enthusiastically received by the audience. Rightly so.

Any production of La Boheme needs to fulfill certain prerequisites for the audience. We want a lovely, lovable, seamstress named Mimi who just happens to have a beautiful soprano voice and can sing with such passion to make us cry. Egyptian soprano Amina Edris fulfills those requirements quite nicely. She does not have a big voice but she is never not heard and her tenderness from “Mi chiamano Mimi”  to “Addio, senza rancor” (Goodbye without resentment) she delights and moves us.

All her love and passion need a suitable partner and that is the poet Rodolfo who is smitten by her at first sight. They search for her key and he touches her hand and erotic electricity is transmitted as he sings “Che gelida manina” (What a frozen little hand.) Samoan tenor Pene Pati launches into his two-word  (says he) autobiography very quietly and then soars to his high notes. He is a poor poet and dreamer with the soul of a millionaire. Now he sees the beautiful eyes of the seamstress and the rest is operatic eros.   

Pene Pati as Rodolfo and Amina Edris as Mimì in the 
Canadian Opera Company’s production of La Bohème, 2023, 
Photo: Michael Cooper

But she coughs and that’s no ordinary cold. Their love cannot last because Rodolfo cannot afford the medical bills and there is no health insurance on the South Bank of the Seine. But he pretends that the separation is a result of his jealousy and believes that Mimi can find someone who can pay the medical bills. Pati does a good job vocally and he is convincing in his acting. There is not a dry eye in the house during the final scene.

Rodolfo’s three friends deserve praise. The painter Marcello (South Korean baritone Joo Won Kang) is a real mensch who is in love with the flighty Musetta. The philosopher Colline (Congolese bass Blaise Malaba) and the musician Schaunard (Canadian baritone Justin Welsh) make up a fine ensemble of friends and singers. They are the lighter side of the opera with their tomfoolery and enjoyment of life under financially dire circumstances. They are also the support group of the two lovers. Well sung, well played, well done.

A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s 
production of La Bohème, 2023, photo: Michael Cooper

The singer Musetta (Canadian soprano Charlotte Siegel) is a flirt and superficial seeker of fun. Her aria “Quando me’n vo” (When I walk all alone in the street) expresses her pride in men staring at her. The aria is also known as Musetta’s Waltz expressing her flirtatiousness, energy and love of fun. Unfortunately Siegel fell short of expressing those qualities in her portrayal of Musetta. Her voice, her vivacity and her movements fell short of what Musetta expresses and stand for.

The set by David Farley featured hanging panels with some furniture for the first act. The same panels in a different position and additional furniture made the scene in the café Momus of the second act, not opulent but adequate. The third act near the gates of Paris on a snowy February morning is again adequate but don’t look for too many snowflakes. The set is unimportant. What happens between Rodolfo and Mimi and between Marcello and Musetta and among the friends is what we are focusing on.

Katherine M. Carter is the revival director as she was in 2019 and the production works very well on all levels.

Jordan de Souza conducts conducts the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in a marvelous performance of Puccini’s wonderful score. 
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La Bohème  by Giacomo Puccini with libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica opened on October 6 and will be performed eight times on various dates until October 28, 2023, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario.  www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of the Greek Press

FIDELIO - REVIEW OF 2023 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas           

After a 14-year hiatus, the Canadian Opera Company brings back Fidelio, in a redoubtable production from San Francisco Opera directed by Matthew Ozawa and conducted by Johannes Debus. It has the vocal strength of the main singers and the powerful set and production designs of Alexander Nichols in a production that deserves to be seen and enjoyed.

Fidelio, as everyone knows, starts as a comic opera, albeit set in a jail, where the jail employee Jaquino (Josh Lovell) pursues Marzellina (Anna-Sophie Neher) with proposals of marriage. She is the daughter of the Chief Jailer Rocco (Dimitry Ivashchenko) and she rejects Jaquino because she is in love with Fidelio. The concern with love, marriage and money takes a sudden and uncomic turn when we learn that Fidelio is in fact Leonore (Miina-Liisa Varela), the wife of Florestan (Clay Hilley) a political prisoner and the victim of Don Pizzaro (Johannes Martin Kranzle), the evil Governor of the prison who wants to get rid of Florestan permanently.

We are rooting for Leonore to free Florestan and the prisoners to serve us with a glorious Ode to Freedom  that we hear in act one and again in a blaze of splendour at the end of the opera.  The COC Chorus gives a stunningly rousing performance.

A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s 

production of Fidelio, 2023, photo: Michael Cooper

Lovell, Neher and Ivanchenko carry us through the domestic part of the opera with aplomb as we await the more serious business that Leonore is engaged in and the dark side of the opera represented by Don Pizarro. Miina-Liisa Varela has a lovely voice and in the uniform of a modern jail guard with a bullet-proof vest she is able to pretend that she is a man with our approval.

Tenor Clay Hilley as Florestan, kept in the dark dungeon and almost starved, begins his great aria “Gott! Welch Dunkel hier” (“O God! How dark it is!”) softly and rises to its vocal height. A gorgeous rendition. He then sings a beautiful melody where he imagines seeing Leonore (whose image is in fact projected behind him) leading him to heaven. We witness the great joy of the opera when the two finally recognize each other. Sheer magic.

Clay Hilley as Florestan and Miina-Liisa Värelä 
of Fidelio, 2023, photo: Michael Cooper
as Leonore in the Canadian Opera Company’s production 

Ozawa and Nichols have set the opera in a modern American prison. The huge set, placed on a revolving stage resembles an oversized prison with its bars and gates. This is a fitting place for torture and murder in the hands of the suave baritone Kranzle. But all will be solved by Minister Don Fernando (sung by bass Sava Vemic) who arrives just in time to the joy of all. The costumes by Jessica Jahn, as I indicated, resemble those of American police officers or prison guards with guns and bullet-proof vests. 

The COC Orchestra under the baton of Johannes Debus delivers Beethoven’s lyrical and heroic music splendidly and round off a marvelous production.

A superb night at the opera.
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Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven in a production from the San Francisco Opera opened on September 29 and will be performed seven times until October 20, 2023, on various dates at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of The Greek Press