Opera on the Avalon / Vélemények

"Use of contemporary dance and large pieces of visual arts add to the already-electrifying show. Creators Yvette Nolan and Dean Burry worked with Mi’kmaq artists, including Newfoundland and Labrador’s own Jerry Evans, Meagan Musseau and Jordan Bennett to create an informed show that aims to inform instead of sensationalizing a truly sensational story, in many senses of the word — astonishing, shocking, stirring, interesting, important, significant and historic. “Do not tell the world only about our death,” Shanawdithit says in the show. “Tell them about our life.” The creation of this opera aims to – and succeeds – in doing just that."

"There’s an ebb and flow to the music. Burry doesn’t try to hurry things along. There’s room for numbers, like the Shanawdithit aria mentioned above, where incomplete phrases–verbal and musical–resolve into the final question. There’s a scene near the end where Simms offers to care for Shanawdithit after Cormack has gone broke and must leave St. John’s. Here, the music briefly quotes the hymn tune ”The Day of Resurrection” in a broken orchestration to disturbing effect. It’s all quite accomplished and, while there are no vocal pyrotechnics, it serves the story and offers the singers real opportunities for expressive singing." "Two singers and the relationship between them are central: Marion Newman in the title role and Clarence Frazer as Cormack. Both are first class. Newman uses her rich mezzo to convey Shanawdithit’s confusion and vulnerability while making every word clear. Frazer is equally articulate in conveying the feelings of a man trapped between two worlds. Ultimately, he is irrevocably rooted in the settler world."

"Polegato [was] especially persuasive, musically and dramatically. Soprano Lara Ciekiewicz was outstanding as May, the love interest of one of the soldiers. The chorus of 32 voices was solid, well balanced, and thoroughly musical. Its members moved around the stage with considerable grace. In fact, everyone executed director Glynis Leyshon’s movements deftly. Conductor Judith Yan held things together well and the orchestral playing was very good. It was a small orchestra with only 12 string players, but Estacio doubtless took the small forces into account when he orchestrated the score, so it wasn’t much of a problem." "The standing ovation the production received was deserved, as was the roaring applause occasioned by Estacio’s appearance with the cast. But there was one final joy to the production. After the applause had been duly acknowledged, the cast and production people began singing the “Ode to Newfoundland,” a beautiful provincial anthem."

"Inquiries confirm that all Newfoundlanders know the story of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel but it was still a surprise to hear a new work so cheerfully martial that it sounds as if it could have predate the Great War. While Ours showed corpses and damaged survivors, and it even had an explosion of anti-imperial anger, these complications were overwhelmed by anthems to spilled blood beat out in march time. “Wretched … but after today forgotten no more!” Nevertheless, the commission is a remarkable accomplishment for a regional company that produces one opera and one musical each year. Estacio has written an accessible, unpretentious score. If a line is to be noted, there will be a trumpet fanfare; and if there is a transition or a supernatural intrusion, there is also a harp glissando. Estacio reliably supports the singer instead of offering musical comment—except in one wry moment when a priest quits the church. It’s reminiscent of the frankest of silent film scores, or Mosfilm circa 1936. Chafe’s libretto can be beautiful, as when he writes “there is no long list of the living,” and he isn't afraid of a joke."