Tidigare produktion recensioner
3Heya, Schmop-Tops! Your friendly neighbourhood Greg is back to start off my season, and let me tell you, it starts on a high note - lots of ‘em! My first offering this season is 1933’s Arabella by Richard Strauss presented by the Canadian Opera Company, in co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Minnesota Opera. Although regularly performed in opera houses across Europe, this marks what may well be the Canadian premiere of the piece.
When it offers nothing but good news - stunning music that seems to make a few early nods to the motifs of Der Rosenkavalier, and the central woman who holds herself with poise and self-respect - it’s hard to articulate why Strauss’ Arabella had me perched squarely on the fence. It’s a strange experience to spend three acts wavering between feeling swept away by stunning singing and lush worlds that seem to ooze romance, and feeling entirely suspicious and even exasperated by the battles picked by Arabella and her in-dire-straits-of-their-own-doing family.
On Wednesday, October 15th I made my way on over the Four Seasons Centre at University and Queen Street West to check out the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini (duh, Greg.) Let me preface this by saying one thing: the music is beautiful, the story is not. I don’t have the emotional, visceral attachment to this piece that other people have. I can’t explain why - well, actually I can, but that’s a completely different piece for another time here at Schmopera.
