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No Such Thing as Summer Vacation in Opera!
By Jennifer PugsleyPosted in Ensemble StudioFrom the multitude of vocal recitals presented through the Free Concert Series to, most recently, the blow-the-roof-off-the-opera-house performance of The Barber of Seville, members of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio have dazzled and delighted us this year with their exceptional skill and artistry. With the conclusion of the COC’s 2014/2015 season, it’s now time for the rest of the world to get a taste of the hotbed of talent that Toronto has been home to for the last nine months.
Tenor Andrew Haji travels to Athens, Greece this week to take part in a thrilling tribute to Greek-Canadian soprano Teresa Stratas on May 28. The Greek National Opera pays tribute to the legendary singer, featuring performances by Andrew and two internationally acclaimed Greek sopranos, Alexia Voulgaridou and Myrtò Papatanasiu. Andrew’s participation in the concert marks the first joint performance between Greek National Opera and the Canadian Opera Company. After a bit of a break, Andrew’s off to the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project for July and August, coming back to Toronto just in time to start La Traviata rehearsals at the COC.Bass-baritone Gordon Bintner also joins the Young Singers Project, an international benchmark and model for the supporting and nurturing of young vocalists. The curriculum goes beyond musical education and repertoire expansion, to include staged rehearsals, language coaching and Lied interpretation, with master classes led by Salzburg Festival artists that are open to the public. Before meeting up with Andrew in Austria, however, Gordon travels to Dresden, Germany to sing Bill in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place with Ensemble Modern on June 3 and stops in Montreal to sing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the McGill Chamber Orchestra on June 9.
Coming off an acclaimed run as Berta in the COC’s The Barber of Seville, soprano Aviva Fortunata is getting ready to sing a different tune and take on not one, but two of the opera world’s most admired vocal competitions. She’s the sole Canadian at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. The biennial event takes place from June 14 to 21, when 20 of the finest classical singers at the start of their careers come to the capital of Wales, hoping to win this prestigious singing competition. How does one follow up being chosen to compete in Cardiff Singer of the World? By being one of two Canadians invited to sing at famed world opera competition Operalia, which is being hosted for the first time by the Royal Opera House in London. Founded by Plácido Domingo, Operalia is committed to the discovery and honouring of the best new young singers of today and takes place this year from July 13 to 19. Viva Aviva!
Joining the Ensemble Studio gang gathering on the other side of the pond is baritone Iain MacNeil. He’ll be joining the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy program from June 15 to July 21 in pastoral Sulmona. In addition to individualized, one-on-one voice lessons, coaching sessions, movement classes and dramatic training, and master classes with an internationally renowned faculty of opera training professionals, Iain will be singing Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. Then it’s home to Canada where rumours have it that a motorcycling trip to St. John’s, NL is in the works as well as a possible recital in Brockville, Ont., come mid-August.
For fans wanting to check in on the Ensemble Studio artists over the summer, but are interested in staying closer to home, then Quebec is serving up some heavy operatic action right now!
The Montreal International Musical Competition for Voice runs from May 25 to June 5, and brings together 24 young classical singers from around the world. Only 12 candidates advance to the semi-finals with six vocalists chosen to go on to the finals as well as take part in a special concert on June 3 with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by the COC’s own Musical Director Johannes Debus. Among the 24 competitors this year is soprano Karine Boucher.Karine follows up the vocal competition with a performance of Bruckner’s Mass No. 3 with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin on July 4 as part of the Festival de Lanaudière in Joliette, Quebec. Then it’s home to Quebec City for some family-based hiking and camping and to learn her wide-ranging repertoire for next season at the COC, which includes La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen and Siegfried.
While in Montreal, Karine may cross paths with Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure, who heads to Montreal at the beginning of June for a recital with pianist Francis Perron for the Café Arts Vocal and to receive the Choquette-Symcox Award from Jeunesses Musicales Canada. Then it’s a trip south of the border to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. As part of Marlboro’s annual seven-week season, Jean-Philippe will be immersed in advanced artistic development and intensive, collaborative exploration of chamber music.
Intern coach and pianist Jennifer Szeto is doing her fair share of traveling this summer, dividing her time between Montreal and Calgary, and a few other places in between. When Karine faces the judges at the Montreal International Musical Competition it will be with Jennifer playing by her side. Then it’s off to the Brott Music Festival in Hamilton, Ont., the largest non-profit orchestral music festival in Canada, where Jennifer will coach and play rehearsals for The Barber of Seville being performed in July. That’s all that she can share… for now.What are recent Ensemble Studio graduates up to this summer? Well, we’ve heard:
- • Soprano Mireille Asselin (2011 – 2013) is returning to Boston Early Music’s biannual festival in June to sing Minerva in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria as well as La Musica/Euridice in Orfeo.
- • Soprano Ambur Braid (2010 – 2013) is singing Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Portugal. Opening night is May 29!
- • Mezzo-soprano Charlotte Burrage (2013 – 2015) is flying to Saskatoon to sing Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, before going to Amsterdam for the Belvedere Competition. Then she’ll be seeing Ensemble Studio pal Jennifer Szeto at the Brott Music Festival to sing Rosina in The Barber of Seville.
- • Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb (2010 – 2013) made her official debut with the Glyndebourne Opera Festival on May 23 as Mercedes in David McVicar's production of Bizet’s Carmen. Once Carmen wraps on July 11, the bright lights of the Big Apple beckon. Rihab is joining the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in August.
- • Soprano Claire de Sévigné (2012 – 2014) is giving Karine Boucher some friendly competition at the Montreal International Musical Competition before joining Ensemble Studio boys Andrew Haji and Gordon Bintner at the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project. This is all before Claire makes the move to Switzerland for the foreseeable future to join the Opernhaus Zürich studio in September.
- • Tenor Christopher Enns (2010 – 2013) is going to be pedal-powering his way across Ontario this summer, bringing opera to cities across the province, courtesy of the innovative and eco-friendly Bicycle Opera Project.
- • Baritone Clarence Frazer (2013 – 2015) is going West-ish. He heads to the Banff Centre this summer to work with Against the Grain Theatre, to sing Sam in their workshop of Crush, a new opera by James Rolfe (composer) and Anna Chatterton (librettist). Crush is based on the timeless story of Don Juan, but with a female Don, aptly named Donna. It’s all part of the Banff Centre’s Open Space: Opera in the 21st Century program, a collaboration between AtG, the Banff Centre, and the Canadian Opera Company.
- • Tenor Owen McCausland (2012 – 2015) is singing opposite Claire de Sévigné and Karine Boucher at the Montreal International Musical Competition for Voice before heading out west to sing Alfredo in the University of British Columbia Opera Ensemble production of La Traviata. After a stint in Vancouver, the production travels to the Westben Festival in Ontario and in the Czech Republic.
- • Soprano Jacqueline Woodley (2010 – 2012) is currently singing the role of Dahlia in the world premiere of M’dea Undone, a co-production of Tapestry New Opera (Toronto) and Scottish Opera. She’s joined by fellow Ensemble Studio grad mezzo-soprano Lauren Segal (2005 – 2007), who’s singing the title role of M’dea. Show closes on May 29 at Toronto’s Brickworks.
Safe travels to all and see you in September!
Photo Credits (top-down): The COC Ensemble Studio. Photo: Chris Hutcheson; Andrew Haji. Photo: Chris Hutcheson; Gordon Bintner. Photo: Chris Hutcheson; Aviva Fortunata. Photo: Chris Hutcheson; Iain MacNeil. Photo: Karen Reeves; Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure. Photo: Chris Hutcheson; Karine Boucher. Photo: Chris Hutcheson; Jennifer Szeto. Photo: Karen Reeves.
- • Soprano Mireille Asselin (2011 – 2013) is returning to Boston Early Music’s biannual festival in June to sing Minerva in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria as well as La Musica/Euridice in Orfeo.