Wednesday, October 15, 2025

ROMÉO ET JULIETTE – REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company has mounted a redoubtable and enjoyable production of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. The production is rented from Malmo Opera and we can blame the Swedes for some of the quirky bits and give credit to the COC for the rest.

Gounod’s opera is of course based on Shakespeare’s  play as adapted for opera by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. It was first performed in Paris in 1867 and is generally received well if not enthusiastically. The last time it was produced by the COC was in 1992 and this production, as I said, was rented from another opera company.

The singing is generally superb. Tenor Stephen Costello delivers a strong and sonorous Romeo. At times he sounded stentorian but that may be in comparison to Kseniia Proshina’s Juliette. Proshina has a beautiful soprano voice and she delivers a highly sympathetic heroine. But she does not have a big voice with its attendant issues in a big opera house. But conductor Yves Abel handled the situation brilliantly. He reduces the volume of the COC Orchestra when Proshina is singing and avoids drowning her. She is capable of some beautiful flourishes at full throttle and with that and Abel’s handling of the orchestra we got splendid performances from Proshina and Costello.

Veteran Toronto bass Robert Pomakov sings Friar Laurence (I use Shakespeare’s names) with apt resonance and becoming humanity. In his first appearance he wears a white lab coat and he appears like anything but a friar. When next time we see him at the Capulet palace instructing Juliette about faking her death, he has found his cassock and perhaps his religious calling. 

A scene from the COC's production of Roméo et Juliette. 
Photo: Michael Cooper

Bass-baritone Gordon Bintner sings the colourful role of Mercutio and he gets Queen Mab’s aria to show his vocal mettle. He does. Tenor Owen McCausland sings the hot-headed Tybalt who is killed by Romeo after he, Tybalt, kills Mercutio.   

There are about half a dozen other characters that do a fine job. The role of Stephano sung by Alex Hetherington is worthy of mention. Alex is a soprano and Stephano is a pants role and I could not immediately tell that Alex is a woman. Stephano gets a very good aria of his own and he sings superbly in the role.

The set by Emma Ryott goes for dark tones, not to say a gloomy atmosphere. It is not always clear what she is after but the story line and the singing keep us too busy  to worry about the sets and the lighting designed by Charlie Morgan Jones. The program notes tell us that the production sets the opera in New York on New Year’s Eve 1889. The Capulets are having a big circus-theme garden party that many Montagues crash. That explains some of the ridiculous costumes designed by Ryott and having the upstanding Count Capulet (Mark Stone) stripped of most of his clothes.  

And speaking of quirky, Lane (or was it the Malmo Opera director?) has Juliette die standing up. I noticed the quirks in passing and they had little effect on my enjoyment of the performances.

Conductor Yves Abel deserves great praise for his lively treatment of the score and especially his sensitivity and adroitness in keeping the balance between pit and stage at all times. The COC Orchestra deserves kudos and the Chorus earned extra praise for their wonderful performance.

A production not to be missed, quirks and all.
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Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod opened on September 27 and continues on various dates until October 18, 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, of The Greek Press, Toronto

ORFEO ED EURIDICE - REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company shied away from Gluck’s masterpiece Orfeo ed Euridice  until 2011 but when it first produced it, the COC hit paydirt. The source was Robert Carsen’s dark and gloomy vision of the opera that proved emotionally captivating and intense. It was a co-production with four other opera companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago and it proved stunningly successful. Fourteen years later, the COC has mounted an equally successful revival of the production with Revival Director Christophe Gayral.

When the performance begins, we see an expanse of dark earth covering the stage of the Four Seasons Centre. The sky at the back is gloomy and darkness is the dominant feature. There is a mound of earth beside an open grave and we hear the somber, funereal singing of the chorus. They are supposed to be shepherds and nymphs but they are all dressed in black and we can’t really see them in the darkness.

They are mourning the death of Euridice (soprano Anna-Sophie Neher), the beautiful, young wife of Orfeo. Euridice’s corpse is lowered into the tomb. Some dirt is shoveled in it. The grief-stricken Orfeo (Iestyn Davies) appears, the chorus leaves and it his turn to express his deeply-felt anguish. He asks for the intercession of the gods and eventually resolves to seek her in the underworld. Countertenor Iestyn Davies expresses his tumultuous emotions with heart-rending poignancy and sonority.    

Lights are placed around the grave by members of the chorus and the funeral gains tragic dimensions and somber beauty.

Amore (Catherine St-Arnaud), the god of love, takes pity on Orfeo and agrees to send him to Hades to recover Euridice but subject to some strict conditions. St-Arnaud does not have a big voice and for a moment was almost overwhelmed by the orchestra but balance was restored and she gave a marvelous performance.

Iestyn Davies and Anna-Sophie Neher in Orfeo ed Euridice. 
Photo: Michael Cooper

In the second act, Orfeo has reached the underworld where we see the stage covered with beings covered by sheets that resemble burial shrouds. They are the Furies, the guardians of Hades who do not allow living beings to enter. Orfeo convinces them with the depth of his sorrow to permit him to pass to Elysium, (think of it as the nice part of hell) to claim his Euridice.

The chorus has become a chorus of heroes and Orfeo meets Euridice but he cannot look at her until they come back to earth. Elysium is a place of beauty but Carsen will not allow the gloomy atmosphere to change. The rest of the journey is unbearable as Euridice fears that Orfeo no longer loves her and they reach the breaking point when she is not sure that she wants to return to earth, He can no longer endure her doubts and looks at her. She dies. 

We have reached the climax of pain and grief and there is nothing left for Orfeo but to commit suicide. He sings the extraordinary aria “Che faro senza Euridice” (What will I do without Euridice.) But love conquers all and the god of love intercedes again and Orfeo and Euridice are united, the lights shine, the nymphs and shepherds still dressed funereally celebrate and they all live happily ever after.

Iestyn Davies occupies the niche of a countertenor voice that has relatively few singers. He has a big, beautifully calibrated voice that can express the anguish, the resolution and the temporary joy of Orfeo to perfection. The COC Chorus is superb in its rendition of its several representations of singing that it delivers.     

The myth of Orpheus and Euridice has proven to be a prime inspiration and challenge for composers. There are almost a hundred operas based on the myth and what composer could resist the challenge of writing music that would sway the guardians of the underworld?
There are many ways of producing Orfeo ed Euridice and Carsen has chosen his own way, emphasizing the dark and solemn aspects. He designed the gloomy lighting with Peter Van Praet, and Tobias Hoheisel designed the sets and costumes. The rest was up to the singers and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Chorus to deliver the extraordinary beauty and emotional power of a great opera.
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Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck opened on October 9 and will be performed seven times on various dates until October 25, 2025, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. West, TorontoOntariowww.coc.ca 

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