Q&A with curator Alexandra Kim



The COC’s spring production of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena features sumptuous costumes designed by Ingeborg Bernerth.

Recently we gave a sneak peek of these royal garments to Alexandra Kim, a curator for the City of Toronto and a former curator for the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Kensington Palace in London, England. She is also the co-author of The Dress Detective: The Practical Guide to Object-based Research in Fashion, a guide that demonstrates how the close analysis of fashion objects can enhance and enrich interdisciplinary research.

In this Q&A, Alexandra sheds light on the political and personal dimensions of royal dress in the 16th century.

THE SOPRANOS

SONDRA RADVANOVSKY and KERI ALKEMA are rivals in Anna Bolena but the best of friends in real life. Here the sopranos interview each other before sharing the stage for the first time. 

Toronto-based composer and vocalist Jeremy Dutcher was trained in classical music – but “tenor” is just one of the descriptions he applies to himself. His debut album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (Our Maliseet Songs) was released this month to widespread acclaim and pairs the ancestral voices of his Wolastoq (Maliseet) First Nation heritage with the modern sounds of the folk, rock, and electronic genres. In fusing old and new, Dutcher has taken traditional Wolastoq melodies that haven’t been heard in hundreds of years and found a way to bring them to a brand new audience.

On April 10, he’s bringing his distinctive sound to the Free Concert Series and, just ahead of his performance, Dutcher spoke to the COC about his career - and about giving voice to a "dying" language on his album.