NATIONAL Newsletter CAPITAL OPERA SOCIETY • SOCI• ÉTÉ D'OPÉRBulletinA DE LA CAPITALE NATIONALE Winter 2008 Hiver P.O. Box 8347, Main Terminal, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3H8 • C.P. 8347, Succursale principale, Ottawa (Ontario) K1G 3H8 The Best Show Ever by Ute Davis he eighth Brian Law Competition by Jean Desmarais and Frédéric Lacroix, re- Recital was truly a splendid minding us that Ottawa is currently blessed Tevening! This event is maturing with major talent in this field, as well as in in very satisfactory fashion, further evi- vocal artistry. dence that opera is alive and well in While the judges conferred in cam- Ottawa. Seventeen entrants had been era, we were treated to a mini concert by bari- pared down to six, by three local ju- tone Joshua Hopkins, the 2003 Brian Law rors, for the final judging on 24 No- Prize Winner, accompanied by Jean vember at the Cleary Ave. First Uni- Desmarais. Shrugging off a head cold, Mr. tarian Congregation. The church was Hopkins showed us how a talented past win- almost full and the audience warmly re- ner is progressing and maturing into a major ceived the finalists who were judged player in the highly competitive world of sing- at this stage by Roxolana Roslak ing in opera. At that point the usual congratu- (Toronto), Christiane Riel (Montréal) Yannick-Muriel Noah latory message from Brian Law was read by and Patrick Raftery (Toronto). M.C. Rob Clipperton. Then, the prize win- We, the audience of assembled “amateur judges”, ners were announced: were treated to a superb evening of high calibre perfor- 1st Yannick-Muriel NOAH ($3000) mance, making it truly difficult to select winners. Such were 2nd Sharleen JOYNT ($1500) the vocal presentation standards that I felt bad for those 3rd Maghan STEWART ($500 donated by Pat Adamo) who would be disappointed. Baritone Jonathan Estabrooks, The other competitors were each given $200 to cover ex- soprano Sharleen Joynt, soprano Muriel-Yannick Noah, penses partly through an anonymous donation of $300 from mezzo-soprano Jillian Yemen, soprano Maghan Stewart and one of our members. After the presentations we all adjourned mezzo-soprano Kathleen Promane serially showed their for- for refreshment and to congratulate all the contestants on such midable talents. They were most effectively accompanied a great competition. (continued on page 6) Jonathon Sharlene Kathleen Maghan Yannick-Muriel Jillian Estabrooks Joynt Promane Stewart Noah Yemen Winter 2008 NEWSLETTER • BULLETIN Hiver 2008 President's Message Board of Directors 2007-2008 OH! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL EVENING! President Murray Kitts It all started back in April, 2006 when the Unitarian Con- Past President Bobbi Cain gregation was reserved for the 2007 Competition. Actually Vice President Ute Davis it started before that when the Board decided to change the Secretary Jean Saldhana date from January to November. The first notices were Membership Jean Saldhana sent out to all music schools in Canada in March with a Treasurer Gordon Metcalfe second notice in late August. Also, the prize winner for Publicity Renate Chartrand 2003, Joshua Hopkins, was asked if he would be available Ute Davis to give the mini-recital at the 2007 event. Fortunately an Events Peggy Pflug engagement in Quebec City was to bring Joshua from his Pat Adamo home in Houston just about the right time. Due to the in- Newsletter DaveWilliams crease in the scholarship prizes and because of special ef- forts to publicize the competition, we received a record num- ber of seventeen entries, one of them entirely by email from Website: www.ncos.ca Germany. Early in October the preliminary jury went through all the entries and picked the maximum number allowed – All Opera Lovers six – as finalists. As it happened only one of the finalists was in Ottawa so constant emails were necessary. Accompan- It is time to RENEW your ists had to be found for some of them; each of the final ju- membership or rors had to be provided with copies of each contestant’s join NCOS for 2008! music. Somehow everything came together. The six ac- complished young singers presented an extraordinarily var- The membership year runs from January to December. ied program. Apart from their obvious talent all six of them Please fill in the enclosed form and join us for another impressed me with their professionalism and their willing- year of musical activities! ness to help one another. Joshua Hopkins entertained with Membership has its privileges but it also has its a program of his own choosing. What an outstanding per- responsibilities such as financial support of the NCOS former he has become. and the Brian Law Scholarship. Even this newsletter costs Members of the NCOS can take pride that their money to produce and mail. Those of you lucky enough contributions and their participation in our fund-raising events to have profitable investments might wish to donate stocks has attracted finalists of such a high standard. As one of the to the Brian Law Scholarship. Pay no capital gains and jurors wrote to me: “I enjoyed ... hearing such a great group get a receipt for the full amount of your donation. Do it of young singers. They really did you proud and are a great now before the government changes its mind! reflection on your group.” Our future Scholarship winners will need all the help we can give them. February 10, 2008 Tchaikovsky's THE MAID OF ORLEANS March 2, 2008 Opera Alla Pasta - Rimsky-Korsakov's LE COQ D’OR Sunday Afternoon The DVD showings begin at 2:00 p.m. at St. Anthony’s Soccer Club. Follow- at the Opera ing each showing, at about 5 P.M., there will be a delicious Italian buffet with salads, pasta, main meat dish with vegetables, dessert and coffee, all for only $15.00. Reservations are required at least three days before the presentation. Contact Murray Kitts at 613-830-9827 or email [email protected]. 2 Winter 2008 NEWSLETTER • BULLETIN Hiver 2008 Opera Lyra's Don Giovanni by Murray Kitts attended the final dress rehearsal and the final night that ”Nothing succeeds like excess”. So, we have these of Don Giovanni and shared in the enthusiastic re- women with us throughout the opera with their fans, their com- Iaction of the audience. With this in mind, I wish I ments, their moving back and forth. Only by a deliberate could write a completely positive review of Opera Lyra’s effort was I able to keep from being distracted by them al- Don Giovanni, but I can’t. Led by the outstanding Aaron most constantly. In the ballroom scene ending Act 1 what St. Clair Nicholson as the lecherous Don, the singing and was the purpose of having women who were dressed like the acting of the cast as a whole was of a very high quality. inmates of a high-class bordello at the party? Their appear- This opera is very difficult to stage and the use of the ance for the final scene to grope the Don made some sense, scrim curtain to facilitate the many scene changes proved but not being present at a wedding party designed to impress most effective. Having a large open playing area for the the peasantry. The on-stage orchestra for the ballroom scene cast allowed for a good deal of purposeful movement both should have been used for the final scene instead of the ludi- for individuals and for chorus and extras. The statue in the crous group of nuns playing violins from which woodwind cemetery and at the supper were handled extremely well, music was coming. Valerian Ruminski possessing the power to be a convinc- The use of the women to surround Giovanni and force ing Commendatore and the “man of stone” as Leporello him into the abyss was quite effective. If only the director puts it. The orchestra, chorus and musical direction were all fine. had refrained from their overuse during the opera. Mozart’s masterpiece doesn’t need all of this. Certainly the singers didn’t need to have the audi- “Some of the stage direction, however, ence distracted from their efforts. Maria Knapik as Donna stuck me as being either wrong or Anna has finally been given a major role in an Opera Lyra inappropriate.” production and has shown why she is invited to sing in New York so frequently. Both Wendy Nielsen as Donna Elvira Some of the stage direction, however, struck me and Mark Thomsen as Don Ottavio were excellent in their as being either wrong or inappropriate. Before the fa- demanding roles. Michèle Bogdanowicz was a lovable, beau- mous duet “Là ci darem la mano” begins, the Don invites tifully sung Zerlina and Matt Boehler’s authentic portrayal of Zerlina to go to his little villa nearby. And during the duet he repeatedly sings “Come, let us leave” until finally Zerlina “...the singing and acting of the cast as weakens and joins him in singing “Andiam – let us go” a whole was of a very high quality.” And what do they do? – they lie down on the ground where they are interrupted by Donna Elvira. It just doesn’t make sense. the country bumpkin Masetto did not disguise his fine voice. For all the importance of the role of the Don, he Not to take anything away from his acting ability, I would has only two fairly short solos in the whole opera. In Act certainly prefer to hear Taras Kulish as Leporello than as 1 he has the so-called Champagne Aria, to show off his Don Giovanni. Aaron St. Clair Nicholson has a wonderful technical brilliance and in Act 2 the serenade.