The state of elbows today: up, down, behind?
A quick one for Canada Day, before I let you return to your four-day weekend.
Loyal readers will remember that I occasionally whinge about the state of the History Museums of Toronto. I sat down and gathered my thoughts on the topic for The Hub last week, and the piece can be found here. Not sure why the ROM was in the header photo, photo editors move in mysterious ways, but granted, it’s the most dramatic-looking building in TO and will invite clicks. I snuck in some lezzering content and the reference to one of my favourite movies, Master and Commander, which led me to look up the final scene with the Boccherini duo again, which then led me to this:
Dan Snow, of the wildly popular history podcast History Hit, did a How Accurate Is it segment on it and turns out - very. (Snow also happens to be a British nephew of the up-and-coming Canadian historian by the name of Margaret MacMillan.)
Toronto Summer Music Festival
Absolute highlight this year is the concert performance of one of my favourite operas of all times and a long-time operatic obsession, L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Poppea’s Coronation) by Claudio Monteverdi. It’s the one in which Nero (usually sung by a mezzo) abandons his current wife, Octavia (alto), so he could marry the ambitious sexpot Poppea (soprano), herself tied to Otho (mezzo, or counter-tenor), while the entreaties from his philosopher-counsellor Seneca (bass) go unheeded. In the concise words of David McVicar, “the shits get away with it” and the lust, not the good, triumphs. All this in the most lavish baroque duets and solos imaginable. Now, the one off note is that Nero in this Cappella Mediterranea casting at the TSMF will be sung by a counter-tenor (a dude with a tinny treble) rather than a mezzo (a full-bodiedly voiced female) but whatchagonnado.
While the opera is rarely performed in Toronto - I think I’ve seen it put on ONCE, by Opera Atelier, in my almost twenty years in Toronto - it’s a frequent repertoire item in European houses, and there have been numerous video recordings and live streams. My fav probably still is the Aix-en-Provence festival recording with von Otter and Delunsch in title roles, Marc Minkowski conducting, Klaus Michael Gruber regisseur. Bel Air Classiques used to sell the DVD and Blu Ray but they seem to be out of stock; I mean it is a 2008 title. I used to listen to this DVD, alongside the McVicar/Glyndebourne Cesare with Sarah Connolly, as a musical equivalent of emotional eating. The Cappella Mediterranea Poppea is on July 10th at Koerner Hall, and there are still tickets left. If you are under 35 or over 65, discounts are considerable.
My further TSMF highlights: Schmaltz and Pepper (classical music in a klezmer Yiddish key, July 16) and Schubert and Schumann (July 18).
Interestingly, there will be another Poppea in July, after years and years of dearth. The SOLT (Summer Opera Lyric Theatre) will be performing its own version to a piano reduction score with the still unnamed cast July 25-Aug 2 at the Alumnae Theatre on Berkeley and Adelaide. I emailed them to check who’s in it and was told to expect the full cast list in early July. Sometimes these less formal, smaller productions showcase talent that you wouldn’t otherwise come across, NB.
Elora Festival
…looks really good this year. The trouble is that it’s impossible to attend without a car drive and a hotel stay. You could I suppose get a train to Guelph and then track down a bus that can take you to Elora, but they are not frequent. I could easily stay there two weeks and talk to people and write about as there is something to see every other day.
July 11: Mozart’s Mass in C minor is another one from my personal classical music canon, a piece I can always hear one more time, recorded or live. This one at Gambrel Barn in Elora, has the bonus of Karina Gauvin in the soprano part. The audience will hear “Et Incarnatus Est” in the Gauvin rendition.
July 13: - Elinor Frey, Bach Cello Suites
- Baroque Music by Candle Light (a detailed program would help, Elora)
July 16: Chanticleer (a San Francisco-based all-male a capella choir in a program ranging from Orlando di Lasso to contemporary)
July 19: - Rachel Fenlon’s Winterreise (I did not catch this in Toronto when she performed)
- The Elora Singers with Junges Vokalensemble Hannover
July 23: alarmingly titled ‘Wrapped in Love’ promises to be an immersive concert by the Elora Singers in a small barn where the audience members mingle and interact with the singers. Someone needs to review this for me. Are you in Elora, dear reader?
July 24: ‘Music in the Woods’ is an Elora Singers concert which doubles as a gentle walk in the woods. Sandy Hill Regional Wood, where you will be transported to by a bus. Several performances between 8 a.m. and 9.30 a.m., so expect the early morning bird song playing a part.
July 24 in the evening: Gesualdo Six on their North American tour make a stop in Elora. This concert is in Fergus, actually.
July 26: Handel’s Te Deum and various arias from operas and oratorios (again, a detailed program would be welcome).
July 27: Square dancing with The Barrel Boys.
Full list of concerts here. I don’t see any passes options and the website doesn’t have a calendar etc. The usual.