Opera Atelier’s Pelléas et Mélisande is a very mixed bag

Posted on April 16, 2026 by operaramblings

Opera Atelier opened a production of Debussy’s symbolist opera Pelléas et Mélisande at Koerner Hall on Wednesday evening with direction by Marshall Pynkoski and choreography by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg. Let’s start by making it clear that this is not an attempt to present the opera as it was seen or heard when it premiered in 1902 or even to try and reproduce that aesthetic with more modern technology which, I think, is what’s usually meant by “Historically Informed Performance” (HIP). The extent to which any recent Opera Atelier production is HIP is a discussion perhaps left for another day.

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Elegant, straightforward Tristan

Posted on April 15, 2026 by operaramblings

Marco Arturo Marelli’s production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde first appeared at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1995. It was revived in 2024 and recorded for video. It’s an elegant, straightforward production. There’s no “concept” but equally there’s not much attempt at “realism” either. Sets are monumental and abstract. Costuming is opera house medieval. On the few occasions props are needed they are what they are; a cup, swords etc. Atmosphere is mostly down to the lighting and the focus is on the singing and acting.

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4.4.2

Posted on April 14, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of Californian composer Mark Abel’s CD 4.4.2 featuring Canadian mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh is now available at La Scena Musicale.

Ein Traumspiel

Posted on April 13, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of the recent CD release of Aribert Reimanns’s first opera Ein Traumspiel is now on-line at La Scene Musicale. The disk also includes his rather unusual Denn Bleiben ist nirgends.

Sankofa: The Soldier’s Tale Retold

Posted on April 12, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of the recording of Art of Time Ensemble’s adaptation of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale is now on-line at La Scena Musicale. Sankofa is a very moving reframing of the story to relate the experiences of a young man from the Caribbean trying to join the Canadian Army in WW1.

Canuck Cantatas

Posted on April 11, 2026 by operaramblings

Canuck Cantatas is the first live show from Against the Grain Theatre since, I think, 2023. It’s good to see what was once a staple of the Toronto indy scene in action again. This show is three short monodramas. Each features a soprano singer who is also either composer or librettist and all are based around the story of one, Canadian, character. The accompanying ensemble consisted of piano (Spencer Kryzanowski), string trio (Julia Mirzoev, Russell Iceberg, Peter Eom) and bass clarinet (Brad Cherwin). Since the show was at the Redwood everybody was miked and amplified with speakers all around the performance space which was an interesting effect.

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I Want to Tell You Everything

Posted on April 10, 2026 by operaramblings

Soundstreams’ penultimate concert of the season at the Jane Mallett Theatre on Thursday evening featured “love songs” from a range of (more or less) contemporary Canadian composers under the overall direction of David Fallis.

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Ee, it’s grim oop north

Posted on April 9, 2026 by operaramblings

Jen Silverman’s The Moors is a sort magic realist comedic parody of the Gothic novel in general and the Brontës in particular. It’s currently playing at The Theatre Centre in a Riot King Art Market production directed by Bryn Kennedy.

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Yiddish Glory again

Posted on April 7, 2026 by operaramblings

Way back in 2018 I wrote about a CD called Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of WW2 (though I don’t think I wrote an actual review of the CD… I should fix that). Since then various participants in that project including UoT’s Professor Anna Shternshis plus the members of Payadora Tango Ensemble and Likht Ensemble among others have unearthed more lost songs from the ghettoes, labour camps, DP camps and so on. I’ve written about some of it and some of it features on Payadora’s Silent Tears CD. Other songs were released on the Yiddish Glory Youtube channel during COVID.

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Pedal to the Metal

Posted on April 6, 2026 by operaramblings

On Saturday night I saw a double bill of works, inspired by memories of Hong Kong, for percussion, electronics and live video at That Art Box black box theatre on Dupont. It’s quite a large, very black space and for this show there were video screens on two adjacent walls wit the audience placed diagonally across from the corner between them. There were speakers all around and a drum and some other props in the middle of the space. The performers for both works were Thomas Li on stage acting and percussing withTim Roth and Fish Yu in the control booth doing live video and sound.

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