Review: Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)

Hundeling and Gazheli (photo credit: Yves Renaud)

In Dutch
Opéra de Montréal did itself no favours with its new production
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

You know within the first 20 minutes from the beginning of a performance of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer if many of the key elements of a successful production are in place. So, tonight, at Place des Arts, with Opéra de Montréal's import from COC in Toronto...

Overture, robust, clear as a bell, lyrical and lovely...check. Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson (profiled tomorrow by Richard Burnett at CharPo-Canada), helmed a solid Orchestre Métropolitain through an evening that showed assurance for both a conductor and orchestra whose histories don't suggest huge familiarity with the stubborn German. Wilson, especially, surprised for some of the musical moments later in the evening which were even bold and revelatory.

Next on our list, set and lighting...check. And what a wondrously disturbing set Allen Moyer offered - all skewed lines and closed spaces which, to some extent, allowed the voices to tame the hideous accoustics of the hall.

Review: La Traviata

Alfredo (Roberto Di Biasio) shames Violetta (Myrtò Papatanasiu) (photo credit: Yves Renaud)

VERDI’S FALLEN WOMAN IS  A THEATRICAL TREAT
joel fishbane

Grand and glorious, La Traviata arrived at Place des Arts this week with five different sets, an immense cast, a full orchestra and one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most famous scores. Opéra de Montréal has aimed to make a splash with the opening production of their new season and they’ve succeeded admirably, creating a great pageant of song and spectacle that brought the first nighters to their feet almost before the final curtain fell.

Most people of any wisdom don’t go to the opera for the story, which is a good thing when sitting through La Traviata - the less said about the “plot” the better. Suffice it to say there’s the requisite lovers (Myrtò Papatanasiu and Robert de Biasio), a father who drives them apart (Luca Grassi) and a little tuberculosis to threaten things just as the lovers are getting reunited. It’s a silly plot which provides ample room for sweeping arias, gorgeous recitives and chorale numbers that leave you breathless, all of which Opéra de Montréal are more than happy to provide.

Review: The Consul

Étienne Dupuis (Jean Sorel), Caroline Bleau (Magda Sorel) (Photo Credit:Yves Renaud)

Bugs clears the aria

Menotti’s opera itself is a drag

by Richard Burnett

The box office at the Monument National reported this night’s presentation of Gian Carlo Menotti’s somber opera The Consul was sold out. But there were many empty seats by the end of the night – not because of the efforts of the pretty good cast, opera singers studying with L’Opera de Montreal’s Atelier Lyrique (who presented the three-act, three-hour opera with the McGill Chamber Orchestra) but rather because Menotti’s opera itself is a drag. 

The Consul tells the story of fictional political dissident John Sorel (played by baritone Etienne Dupuis), on the run from the secret police in a totalitarian state, and the tragic end of  his family, notably his wife Magda Sorel (played by soprano Caroline Bleau) who (surprise, surprise) commits suicide.