Digital Audio Series
Key Change is the COC’s new podcast, co-hosted by classical singer and culture critic Robyn Grant-Moran, a member of the COC’s Circle of Artists, alongside stage director, dramaturg and COC Academy graduate Julie McIsaac. Our bi-weekly episodes explore the operagoing experience from a variety of perspectives, offering a fresh take on today's opera issues with special guests from the opera field and beyond.
EPISODE 9: In Conversation with Michael Greyeyes
Transcending the boundaries of artistic disciplines, actor/director/dancer/choreographer Michael Greyeyes provides fascinating insights into his multi-disciplinary career on stage and screen, how he has pursued his creative passions and the joy of collaboration. Join Michael in conversation with Key Change co-hosts Robyn Grant-Moran and Julie McIsaac.
MICHAEL GREYEYES
Michael Greyeyes (Nêhiyaw) is an actor and director, from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 Territory. Selected directing credits include: Bearing, A Soldier’s Tale, from thine eyes, Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin / Gállábártnit (Signal), Almighty Voice and his Wife (Native Earth Performing Arts), The River (Nakai Theatre), Seven Seconds (imagineNATIVE). In 2010, he founded Signal Theatre to create trans-disciplinary work exploring the boundaries of contemporary Indigenous performance.
LINKS:
About Signal Theatre
“Rutherford Falls brings Indigenous writers together for new NBC sitcom” via CBC
“Wild Indian Star Michael Greyeyes Is ‘Still Haunted’ by His Character’s ‘Inherent Violence’ (Video) via The Wrap
About Ross Manson
About Kate Alton
About Kim Collier
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch (Trailer)
COC’s MindBodyMusic panel discussion
FEATURED MUSIC:
Key Change theme music: R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. Herbert von Karajan, conductor, with the Philharmonia Orchestra; Warner Classics, 1956
“Sanctus” from Bach’s Mass in B Minor. John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, with the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. SDG, 2015.
The Sailors’ Dance from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. William Christie, conductor, with Les Arts Florissants. Erato, 2006.
Final scene from Puccini’s La Bohème. Nicolai Ghiaurov, Luciano Pavarotti, Ronaldo Panerai. Herbert von Karajan, conductor, with the Berlin Philharmoniker. Decca, 1973.
Overture from Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Herbert von Karajan, conductor, with the Wiener Philharmoniker. Deutsche Grammaphon, 1988.
“Che farò senza Euridice” from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. Franco Fagioli. Laurence Equilbey, conductor, with the Insula Orchestra. Archiv, 2015.
MEET OUR CO-HOSTS
ROBYN GRANT-MORAN
Robyn Grant-Moran (Métis) is a classical singer, writer, and a jack of many trades who, in 2018 met the requirements to call herself a Bachelor of the Fine Arts at York University. That same year, Robyn participated in the Performance Criticism Training Program with Generator Toronto where she learned that theatre criticism can be used to push for more inclusive spaces and champion voices less heard and often misunderstood; so of course she fell in love. Since then, she’s been published in Alt.Theatre and Intermission Magazine, won the Nathan Cohen Award for Outstanding Emerging Critic, and joined the Canadian Opera Company’s Circle of Artists, to name a few. Robyn currently resides in Tkaronto (Toronto), weathering the pandemic with her wee rat dog in a box in the sky.
JULIE McISAAC
Canadian stage director Julie McIsaac was named the COC’s first Director/Dramaturg-in-Residence in 2019 and is now Lead Curator of Opera Everywhere, the company's reimagined 20/21 season. A versatile opera and theatre artist, her projects work towards reshaping and revitalizing the stories told on stage. During her residency with the COC, she served as Assistant Director on Joel Ivany's production of Hansel and Gretel (COC) and she is the Dramaturg and Director of the upcoming COC commission Fantasma, composed by COC Composer-in-Residence Ian Cusson with libretto by Colleen Murphy. Julie earned her Master’s degree in Theatre from the University of York (UK) and is also a graduate of Carleton University (Music) and the Canadian College of Performing Arts (Theatre Performance and Playwriting). www.juliemcisaac.com
