I suck.

How is it possible that a whole week went by without any note-making on the operas I saw last weekend? What could I possibly remember after all that time? *Le sigh* as the kids say. Oh, and Shannon. ;)

Sunday October 28th @ 3pm
Elgin Theatre
Opera Atelier's
"Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" by Monteverdi

I'm happy to report that Vanessa put up with me for the entire afternoon, including two car trips and a stop at Timothy's, as well as the opera! I'm also proud to mention that I've seen all three Opera Atelier Monteverdi productions over the last few years (this one, "Orfeo" last year, and "L'incoronazione di Poppea" five years ago starring my soprano-crush Meredith Hall). Actually I've seen 9 out of 15 Toronto productions on that list. I love Opera Atelier. Co-artistic director Marshall Pynkoski's introduction provided context and enthusiasm for the afternoon, and The Toronto Consort played so magnificently throughout. There were 12 billed singers (unbelievable!), most of whom were fantastic, and my three stand-outs were:
- my bass-baritone crush Olivier Laquerre as Ulysses (so hot... ahem... such a good singer... that I'm tagging both his websites, 1 and 2)
- my mezzo-soprano crush Stephanie (needs a website!) Novacek as Penelope (though mezzos Laura Pudwell and Vicki St. Pierre totally gave her a run for her money)
- and WOW! As Telemachus, Cory Knight! My diction bud from York! SO COOL! It was a thrilling privilege to watch Cory's debut with Opera Atelier, and he sang and moved and acted so well that I'm sure I'll see him in many more in the future. OA tends to create a 'family' of singers and he will be so lucky to be part of that. Yay Cory!

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Saturday October 27th @ 4:30
the real Opera House
the Canadian Opera Company's
"Le Nozze di Figaro" by Mozart

Hands down favourite part was Figaro (Robert Gleadow) giving Cherubino (Sandra Piques Eddy) a noogie. On stage, during a scene... I guess it was directed that way, but still, it looked so funny and out-of-place! Eddy was such a great Cherubino; not too boyish or too girly, and a beautiful voice! Actually everyone sang so well, I thought, including the Marcellina (Meghan Latham) and Susanna (a preggers Isabel Bayrakdarian, whom I do not usually like all that much; maybe the baby bump makes her more likeable) during "Via resti servita" which made me miss my singing buddy Jen Carter a whole lot! Russell Braun pretty much blew everyone else away, but that was to be expected. Celebrity sighting at the opera was Liesl Schade, mother of Michael Schade, who knows me and said hi to me... yay! And after the opera Shannon and I had a fantastic dinner at Il Fornello where we met rising star Robert Gleadow, who was pretty much as yummy as our dinner. He was all "might I have the honour and pleasure of dining with you beautiful ladies?" and we were all "umm thanks but not tonight (because we are about to chow down like pigs, but tell us where you're staying and we'll be happy to drop by after we've gorged ourselves on garlic, goat cheese and gorgonzola)." ;)