EUGENE ONEGIN – REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company is wrapping up its current season with a production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. This production was directed by Robert Carsen for the Metropolitan Opera and premiered at Lincoln Centre in 1997. In 2013 the Met replaced it with a production by Deborah Warner but the Canadian Opera Company (COC) borrowed all scenery and costumes from of the 1997 Met production  for its staging of Eugene Onegin in 2018 which it has revived for the current season. More about Carsen’s production below.

The COC production is well equipped vocally. Our attention is focused on lovely Tatyana (soprano Lauren Fagan), the impressionable young girl who falls hopelessly in love with the playboy Eugene Onegin (bass-baritone Andril Kymach). Tatyana dominates the opera vocally and emotionally as she does the audience. The famous Letter Scene covers a breadth of hope, fear, passion and doubt as Tatyana tries to write a letter to Onegin. Fagan captures and expresses Tatyana’s emotional turmoil beautifully.

Kymach as Onegin is arrogant, unsympathetic and even obnoxious especially in the treatment of his friend Lensky (tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson), His treatment of Tatyana is abominable, his action against his friend repulsive and even though singing is good, we do not like him. LeRoy Johnson sings his Farewell to Olga gorgeously.

Mezzo-soprano Megan Marino does superb work as Tatyana’s sister Olga. She is engaged to Lensky and flirts with Onegin at the ball precipitating the duel. But she is excellent vocally and we forgive her because of her youth.

Bass Dimitry Ivashchenko deserves kudos for his role as Prince Gremin, a retired general who marries Tatyana on the rebound no doubt. He is a dignified gentleman who sings in moving sonority about being married to a younger woman. Ivashchenko gives a show-stopping performance.

The set and costume designs are by Michael  Levine. More about the sets in a minute but the costumes are what the Russian upper crust aspired to and what the Metropolitan Opera could afford. A lot.

Lauren Fagan as Tatyana in the Letter Scene : Photo: Michael Cooper

A few words about Carsen’s production are a propos. Carsen has opted for a minimalist production which may have its attractions but also some detractions. The opening scene takes place in the garden of the Larin estate somewhere in Russia. The libretto calls for a house with a terrace on one side, with a flower bed and shady tree nearby. There is thick foliage and a village and a church visible in the distance. In the Carsen production we have the stage floor covered with orange leaves. There are several leafless tree trunks and we see the estate owner Madame Larina (Krisztina Szabo), Tatyana’s mother, doing something with the help of Filipyevna (Emily Treigle).  

The director and set designer are not bound by what the librettist imagined but an almost bare stage may be taking it a bit far.

The leaves are partially swept away and we are transported to Tatyana’s bedroom for the Letter Scene. It is supposed to be furnished but all we get is a bed and a table on a bare stage with a view of the sky and the moon. Is that taking minimalism a bit too far?

There is a ball scene where people dance. The waltz is meant for that. The stage is cleared but only a small part of the stage is used for dancing. The square where the dancers are squeezed is so small that the dancers are given very little space in which to dance. I thought some of them had no idea how to waltz but it may have been that there was not enough space for them to move.

The revival director is Peter McLintock and the lighting designer is Christine Binder.

Speranza Scapucci conducted the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in its marvelous performance of Tchaikovsky’s plush score in production that raises a few eyebrows in its choice of sets but that is otherwise splendid.    
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Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is being performed six times until May 24, 2025, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture f The Greek Press

WOZZECK - REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas 

In 1925 Alban Berg’s first opera Wozzeck received its first performance in Berlin. It gave a solid kick in the butt to the operatic tradition of the previous several centuries. Monteverdi, Mozert, Verdi and Puccini felt the kick but they survived and are still thriving. But Wozzeck made its mark. It is an opera about the wretched of the earth, the abused and downtrodden who live in poverty and hopelessness. It is composed in atonal music and you can forget nice melodies and arias but you do get powerful music that, combined with William Kentridge’s directing and art, will give you something stunning.

Wozzeck is a soldier around 1820 according to the libretto but director William Kentridge sets the production in the 20^th century, perhaps around World War I. In the opening scene according to the libretto the soldier Wozzeck is shaving his Captain but Kentridge does away with that and we have Wozzeck wheeling in a movie projector and showing some fast clips. The Captain abusively tells him to slow down the gnarly film. We get a snapshot of the life of the pathetic Wozzeck.

It should be noted that this is not an ordinary production. William Kentridge is a brilliant artist who has become involved in theatre and opera productions of distinction, not to say genius. The current staging of Wozzeck is a co-production with The Salzburg Festival, The Metropolitan Opera and Opera Australia. It premiered at The Salzburg Festival in 2017.

The distinctive feature of this, as of all Kentridge productions, is the set. It is designed by Sabine Theunissen with generous use of video projections, especially of Kentridge’s line drawings. There are scenes that must be from World War I but one is never quite sure what is happening with the complex and changeable set.

Scene from Wozzeck. Photo: Michael Cooper

The set is a complicated and almost incomprehensible mixture of paintings, drawings and physical objects that surround the poor soldier and the people in his life. You can only pay so much attention to it impressive as it is, or you may miss parts of the opera.

Baritone Michael Kupfer-Radecky plays the pathetic Wozzeck  He must deliver a man who is buffeted by misfortunes,  like King Lear, without having any social position to fight back. Superb singing and acting by Kupfer-Radecky. Wozzeck is abused and ridiculed by his Captain (excellent work by tenor Michael Shade), used by the quack Doctor (bass Anthony Robin Schneider) and gets the coup de grace of humiliation by his common law wife and mother of his child, Marie (soprano Ambur Braid in a moving and stunning performance). Marie reads the Bible looking for solace from the guilt precipitated by her infidelity. Does that provide us with a twinge of sympathy for Marie? The strutting and macho Drum Major (a fine-voiced, strutting and macho tenor Matthew Cairns) is too strong of a sexual attraction for her to resist, Bible or no Bible.

As if that were not enough or because of it, Wozzeck has some strange visions that lead us to believe that he is unhinged. His neighbor Margret (mezzo soprano Krisztina Szabo) and his friend Andres (tenor Owen McCausland) are perhaps the sane people in his life but he is a pitiful creature without the standing of a tragic hero. We pity him for his simplicity and his suffering,

Kentridge’s direction, like his art, is brilliant as he combines the atonal music of Berg with the plot delineated by  the superb acting and singing into ninety minutes of astonishing opera. The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra under the baton Johannes Debus plays Berg’s music magnificently for a memorable night at the opera.
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Wozzeck by Alban Berg is being performed a total of seven  times until May 16., 2025, at the Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. West Toronto. www.coc.ca/

James karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO - REVIEW OF 2025 BROADCAST LIVE FROM THE MET

 Reviewed by James Karas

New York’s Met Opera has broadcast the 2014 production of The Marriage of Figaro to movie theatres around the world. Directed by Richard Eyre, this is an outstanding and I dare say extraordinary production of one of the best operas ever composed. Is that enough superlatives? Stay tuned.

Eyre is a consummate man of the theatre and he directs this Figaro as if it were a play at a major theatre. I have seen the production before and this time I paid more attention not just to the singers but to the person that she or he was singing to or was with. In the theatre the reaction or facial expression of the listener is of the utmost importance. It is equally importance in an opera but when you are watching and listening to the tenor or the soprano trying to reach for the stratosphere vocally, your attention to the person being addressed may waiver.

Let’s start with Eyre’s theatricality during the overture, before the plot begins to unravel. Eyre starts the action during the breathless opening music and gives us a better understanding of the plot that follows. A young, pretty and scantily dressed woman runs onto the stage and hurriedly tries to put some clothes on. We then see a young man (Count Almaviva as it turns out) putting on his robe. He is self-satisfied and happy. He just had sex with one of his servants and when he tries to seduce Suzanna, Figaro’s intended wife, we know what type of man he is. The scene is a marvelous preview of the plot. Credit is due to revival stage director Jonathon Loy. 

Olga Kulchynska as Susanna, Sun-Ly Pierce as Cherubino, and 
Federica Lombardi as Countess Almaviva. 
Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera

Then, there is the scene of the Countess and Suzanna listening to the testosterone-driven  Cherubino expressing his massive sexual urges to the two ladies. We know his hormonal urges but if we watch the facial expressions of the Countess and Suzanna, we see that they are infected by his enthusiasm, or more bluntly they too are aroused.

It is worthwhile paying attention to such details as you listen to and watch the opera. I hasten to add that the luxury of seeing details like that are almost certainly not available in a huge theatre like Lincoln Centre and perhaps from many seats in  smaller venues. The live transmission and judicious handling of the camera shots makes it all possible. And it is a bonus to see the production in a movie theatre. Who can afford to go and see it in New York anyway?

Another virtue of the production is the revolving stage by Set Designer Rob Howell. It is monumental in size and resembles a medieval cathedral but you see different rooms such as the Countess’s bedroom, Figaro and Suzanna’s room and the garden. The big advantage of the revolving set is the seamless continuity between scenes. No curtain. No furniture, nothing needs to stop or delay the continuity of the plot. Howell designs the costumes for 1930’s Seville where the wealthy men wear handsome three-piece suits, the women are adorned with elegant gowns and the lower orders are attired modestly.

The Met provides some young, talented and attractive singers for most of the roles. Staring with the central role of Suzanna, we have Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska with a lovely voice and lively acting in the biggest role in the opera. Bass-baritone Michael Samuel as Figaro is the schemer-in-chief and the deliverer of some of the best melodies such as ”Se vuol ballare”  “Non piu andrai farfallone amoriso” and much more.

Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins is the suave, jealous, philandering Count Almaviva. All his sins are absolved near the end of the opera when he sings the two words “Contessa, Perdono.” With resplendent sonority and emotion, he seeks benediction from his wife which she readily grants.

The noble countess is sung by soprano Federica Lombardi who sings the gorgeous “Dove sono” and “Porgi amor” in a ravishing voice that expresses loss, longing and resolution. Mezzo-soprano Sun Ly-Pierce as the young, pursuer of sex is on the opposite side of the scale as his body and voice tremble when his being is under the influence of Eros which happens to be all the time.

Conductor Joana Mallwitz in her debut at the Met set a brisk pace and gave a wonderful performance. Yes, she is a woman conductor and I hope this is the last time I feel the necessity of mentioning the gender of the conductor.
This is an exemplary production and a display of what is being done to bring first class opera around the world.
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The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) by W A. Mozart was shown Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera at select Cineplex theatres across Canada on April 26, 2025. It will be shown again at select theatres on May 10, 2025. For more information including dates for reprises go to: www.cineplex.com/events

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

LA REINE-GARÇON – REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal have very commendably commissioned an opera composed by Julien Bilodeau to a libretto by Michel Marc Bouchard. Both are Quebecois and the opera premiered in Montreal last year.

Opera companies commission work and that creates some excitement with the hope that a new opera will join the standard repertoire. Unfortunately, many of them are never seen again and a few may be produced again but nothing comes close to gaining a regular spot like the operas of Verdi and Puccini. One can only hope that La Reine-garçon will be seen many times in the future. 

La Reine-garçon has a delicious score that is melodic, finely-textured, diverse and simply gorgeous. The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus gives a splendid accounting of the music.

The singing is first rate starting with Canadian soprano Kirsten MacKinnon as Christine. She has mastered the manly gait as we assume it was how the boy-queen walked and she sings with uncommon splendor. We feel her uncertainties about love and passion but we also see her succumb to lesbian attraction. MacKinnon handles Christine’s high notes with ease and the beauty of her voice is unfailing.

Canadian bass-baritone Philippe Sly is wise and solid as Count Karl Gustav as is bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch as Axel Oxenstierna. Tenor Isaiah Bell sings the clownish, narcissistic Johan Oxenstierna. Perhaps one too many Click, Clacks but a fine performance. Canadian Owen McCausland is the wise Descartes who delivers his wisdom in a beautiful tenor voice and gives an anatomy lesson on the brain.

Christine is pursued and propositioned by men but the only sexual contact (a passionate kiss) is with Countess Ebba Sparre (Queen Hezumuryango). And what are all those stags on stage? Do they represent Christine’s sexual dreams?

Kirsten MacKinnon as Christine in COC production.

Photo: Michael Cooper

There is an offstage singer listed in the program as Chant Kulning (Anne-Marie Beaudette) who emits a falsetto scream in the opening scene and afterwards. I could not figure what it was and guessed it might be a wolf’s cry because we were out in the snow. She returned for further screams and whatever she was supposed to be escaped me except that it was annoying.

La Reine-garçon or the boy-queen refers to Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) and had she lived in the twenty-first century she would have qualified for one or more letters of LGBTQ+. Her father raised her as if she were a boy and her gait and mannerisms were male. But he died when she was age seven and she did not gain the throne until her teens. At age 24 she abdicated, converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome where she lived until 1689.

Her life has fired up the Western imagination and she has been portrayed in films, plays and fiction. Her sexual proclivities may have gone in several directions but the interest in her lies more in her artistic interests including her patronage of musicians, artists and opera.

If she ditched the throne in exercise of her free will as advised by Descartes, well and good. But if she converted to Catholicism, does it not mean she accepted the control of the church as in what to wear, eat and think? I suppose you can do that in exercise of free will.

There are things to quibble about with the libretto but the fact remains that this is an approachable and enjoyable opera at first hearing. The rich and varied sets by Anick La Bissonniere, the brilliant lighting design by Eric Champoux and the rich projections by Alexandre Desjardin add to a marvelous production.

And top marks to director Angela Konrad for putting the whole thing together from a theatrical point of view.    
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La Reine-garçon by Julien Bilodeau (music) and Michel Marc Bouchard (libretto) continues until February 15,  2025 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. West Toronto, Ont. www.coc.ca

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

FIDELIO - REVIEW OF 2025 LIVE FROM THE MET PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Metropolitan Opera delivered a delectable production of Beethoven’s Fidelio from New York directly to a movie theatre near you and around the world. After seeing dozens of operas for more than a decade I am still pleasantly surprised every time to see a production on a big screen with marvelous acoustics and comfort. There are many advantages to seeing a transmission live from New York, but I will say more about it below.

The current production is a revival of a staging by Jurgen Flimm that was first seen in 2000. At times there is pressure to shelve the old for something new, but when it is good and fills the house, why bother?

The production has a first-rate cast starting with the lead role of Leonore who of course pretends to be Fidelio and disguised as a man works in a jail where her husband is held as a political prisoner. A very pregnant soprano Lise Davidsen brings a superb voice and acting ability to the role. She must hide her sex and her feelings, first, to avoid the love and marriage prospects to Marzelline, the warden Rocco’s daughter. (Don’t worry about the title) and when she sees her husband Florestan at the point of death in the hideous dungeon. Davidsen has the vocal range and beauty to do a superb job in the role.

Bass Rene Pape sang the role of Rocco in the 2000 production and many times since. In the first act it is a comic role with a twist where, as a father he wants to see his daughter marry Fidelio, the nice new worker, and he gives advice about the need for money. Rocco must stand his aground when he is told to kill Florestan, and his role becomes more serious. Pape has a fine bass voice and handles the role with aplomb.

We love his daughter Marzelline who is lively, pretty and in love. Soprano Ying Fang in the role must rebuff Jaquino, who is persistent to the point of becoming annoying in his marriage proposals. She wants to marry Fidelio, and we know where that is going. Fang has a sweet and agile voice that matches her physical quickness to give us a splendid Marzelline. 

Scene from “Fidelio” at the Met. Photo: Karen Almond, Met Opera

We feel sorry for the persistent and rebuffed Jaquino, but Flimm does provide hope for him. Tenor Magnus Dietrich handles the role of the rejected lover well.

We have the baddy Don Pizzaro who is crooked and vengeful and wants to liquidate Florestan. Tomasz Konieczny in a fine suit (it’s a modern dress production) looks like a bank manager but is quickly revealed as corrupt, remorseless and evil Pizarro who will stop at nothing to eliminate his enemy. Cringe.

The imprisoned Florestan (tenor David Butt Philip) for whom Leonore risks everything is the focal point of the opera, but he appears only in the second act (and changes the tenor of the opera completely) and he does have some tough arias to handle. As soon as he comes-to from near death Philip as Florestan, following a tense musical introduction, delivers “Gott! Welch’Dunkel Hier”. The aria demands range, stamina, power and expressiveness that approach heldentenor ability. Philip is not in that company, but he does sing the aria superbly.

The men of the Met Opera Chorus do their usual superb work as the prisoners. In the final scene the women join them when the prisoners are freed and are presumably joined by their families, including their children.

Susann Malkki conducted the Met Opera Orchestra with beautiful clarity. Robert Israel designed the set which shows two-stories of jail cells on the right with Rocco’s living area in the middle and entrances and exits for all on the left side.

The hosts of Live from the Met in HD for the movie theater audiences always remind us that seeing opera on a large screen is nothing compared to going to Lincoln Center or an opera house near you. There is truth in that but there are some advantages to seeing it on the large screen. The camera zeroes in on the orchestra during the overture and you get an excellent view of its orchestration as they focus on the instruments.

In the beginning Marzelline makes it clear that she does not want to marry Jaquino but in the last scene, during the celebration of the freeing of the prisoners, the camera, Live in HD Director Gary Halvorson shows us Jaquino and Marzelline being reconciled. We may not notice that and many other details in the opera house, least of all in the huge Lincoln Centre. In other words, there is much to be said for watching Live from the Met in a movie theatre.

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Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven was shown Live in HD from the Met at select Cineplex theatres across Canada on March 15, 2025. For more information go to: www.cineplex.com/events

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

DAVID AND JONATHAN - REVIEW OF 2025 OPERA ATELIER PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The cover of the program of Opera Atelier’s production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s  David and Jonathan shows a shot of Michelangelo’s statue of David,  surely the ultimate definition of male beauty and virility. David is best known as the slayer of the brute Goliath and as one of the early kings of Israel. The opera has almost nothing to do with the fight with the Philistine  Goliath but that seems to be the reason for the unknown David gaining a position in the royal household and developing a strong friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan.

Marshal Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, the artistic directors of Opera Atelier have done a brilliant job of recreating the opera and providing us with a stunning production. They have included the Artists of the Atelier Ballet and the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir (and of course the Tafelmusik orchestra) to enrich the production. Ms Lajeunesse Zingg’s judicious and splendid choreography introduces almost a ballet performance and the Chamber Choir adds a gorgeous vocal pleasure.

The biblical story from the book of Samuel involves the complex psychological story of King Saul (baritone David Witczak) who takes the unknown David (tenor Colin Ainsworth) into his household for the good reason that he killed Goliath. David develops a deep and everlasting friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan (soprano Mireille Asselin).

Baritone David Witczak as Saul and tenor Colin Ainsworth as David in 

Charpentier's David and Jonathan. Photo by Bruce Zinger

Saul becomes jealous of David’s popularity and in the Prologue to the opera consults the witch Pythonisse (mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel) about his future. She conjures up the ghost of Saul’s predecessor Samuel (bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus) who prophesies that Saul will lose everything.

The Pynkoski-Zingg team waste no time in setting a brisk pace with Saul running frantically around a lively witch and her demons commanding the stage for the duration of her presence.

David goes back to the Philistine ranks. Joabel (tenor Antonin Rondepierre), the leader of their army wants war while Saul and King Achis (baritone Christpher Dunham) of the  Philistines negotiate peace. Joabel finds a way to inflame Saul’s anger, mistrust and jealousy against David and an inevitable explosion occurs. The opera has an astonishing web of emotional entanglements that add to its fascination. Saul loves his son and David but then he hates the latter and is upset with the former. There is emotional stress and psychological uncertainty among the characters.

Artists of Atelier Ballet in production of Charpentier's 

David and Jonathan. Photo by Bruce Zinger

The emotional and political intrigues come to a head when the Israelites and the Philistines go to all-out war. David and Jonathan, the best and most faithful friends in the world, part. Jonathan and Saul are seriously wounded. Jonathan dies in the arms of his friend while Saul falls on his sword. Amid the horror and the slaughter, there is a glimpse of good news. David is proclaimed King of Israel. The Pynkoski-Zingg fertile imagination, their sense of theatre and their inventiveness create a stunning opera. Some directors feel that deep friendship between two men must have a homoerotic element to it. Pynkoski, to his credit, does not fall for that trap.

The production is a continuous visual and vocal delight. There are gorgeous ballet sequences at regular intervals and the Chamber Choir, I repeat,  is an aural splendor. The costumes by Michael Gianfranco are a colorful pleasure to behold. The set by Gerard Gauci in the reconfigured stage of Koerner Hall is an added bonus.

Ainsworth and Asselin are Opera Atelier stars whereas Witczak and Dunham are with the company for the first time. Hegedus, Lebel and Rondepierre have sung various roles with Opera Atelier. Kudos to exceptional performances.

David Fallis conducted the Tafelmusik orchestra impeccably and they and the cast provided a superb evening at the opera.      
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David and Jonathan by Marc-Antoine Charpentier opened on April 9 and will continue until April 13, 2025, at Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performing Arts, 273 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ont.   

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