October 2- November 5 2010: Aida Today the new season of the Canadian Opera Company was unveiled by Alexander Neef, who claimed COC is the third-largest opera in North America, after the Met and Lyric Opera Chicago. Sondra Radvanovsky shares the role of Aida with Michele Capalbo. Isabel Bayrakdarian sings Euridice.
September 15- October 1 2010: Death in Venice
January 29- February 25 2011: The Magic Flute
February 5-26 2011: Nixon in China
April 23- May 25 2011: La Cenerentola
April 30- May 29 2011: Adriane auf Naxos
May 8-28 2011: Orfeo ed Euridice
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
9 responses to “Canadian Opera Company’s 2010-2011 Season”
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Wow! COC is lucky to have Sondara R for Aida; wish SFO had booked her first. It would have made the early Aida’s something to see in 2010.
The other opera that caught my eye is Ariadne – cast looks good.
Toronto is rather far away. However it should be beautiful in early October – Fall in the Midwest can take your breath away!
COC has programmed an interesting mix of operas – and NO Butterfly 😀LikeLike
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A little more adventurous a season than SFO, but not by much.
Jill Grove as Amneris? I just don’t see it. I found her Erda in SFO’s “Rheingold” to be wobbly and heavy. She did garner good reviews for her turn in “La Forza del Destino,” but I didn’t see it.
Too bad we can’t have Sondra Radvonovsky singing Aida here. I get the sense she’s trying out the role “out of town” before bringing it to the Met or Covent Garden (or maybe to San Francisco is the future). She’s sorta doing the same thing with Tosca in Denver.
COC can have and keep “Death in Venice,” which must rank as one of the most torpid operas ever penned. I walked out of SFO’s production bored to the point of tears.
Lawrence Brownlee should be predictably fabulous in “Cenerentola.” When will SFO engage him? I heard him with Stephanie Blythe in Stern Grove a few years back, and he was wonderful. (of course, so was she). Every bit the equal of Juan Diego Florez in my book with a little bit more heft.
The “Ariadne” cast does indeed look strong. I admit I was unimpressed with Adrianne Pieczonka as Tosca this past summer in SF. But she’s garnering good reviews as Amelia in the Met’s “Boccanegra”…LikeLike
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Oh that Ariadne cast looks great! And in May 2011 in Toronto you can also see Orfeo and Cenerentola. Hmmm…
I wasn’t convinced by Adrianne Pieczonka’s Tosca either, but her Ariadne in Munich last summer blew me away. It didn’t hurt that she was singing in a fantastic production (Robert Carsen) in a small house (the Prinzregententheater) and with excellent co-stars (Diana Damrau was Zerbinetta).
I have also seen her Elsa (Houston) and Desdemona (Munich) and also loved those performances. She has a kind of old-fashioned acting style at times. Not sure how well that will play out on the big screen in the Simon Boccanegra, but I am looking forward to it.LikeLike
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This is a pretty exciting season and I find it far more adventurous and interesting than Gockley’s. Let’s hope they have lots of artistic and budget success this next season.
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I’m jealous they have Gluck with Bayrakdarian, though the Aida with Radvanovsky will be great as well.
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I’m with you on Jill Grove, she did not sing Erda well in SF. She was better in Forza.
All I remember of that Death in Venice was the dancing.
I’m also not sold on Brownlee, but perhaps I just need to hear him again.LikeLike
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I am almost tempted to go to Toronto.
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“COC can have and keep “Death in Venice,” which must rank as one of the most torpid operas ever penned”
Or: some of us think it’s a beautifully written opera that unfolds like a dream, an opera with a great libretto that when done well by a cast of excellent singer/actors and dancers –as SFO’s most definitely was not, it was the weakest of the 5 productions of it I’ve seen– can be quite a moving experience. ENO’s production by Deborah Warner with Ian Bostridge was incredible.
You can keep all that ghastly bel canto stuff, all that horrible rum-ti-tum music and all that singing. After the 5th florid aria that lasts 5 minutes but has about 10 words in it, I want to tear my hair out.
Oh well, to each his/her own, opera companies should provide a variety of things for different tastes.LikeLike
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“Death in Venice,” which must rank as one of the most torpid operas ever penned.
I’ll drink to that! I think it is temporally not very long but I remember sitting there watching it at Chicago Opera Theater going “numi fucking pieta, when will this end?”LikeLike
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