Brian Dickie

Family weekend

Having been away for the last two weeks I am looking forward to a family weekend.  So I will not be at Richard Jones's new production of Rodelinda that opens at the Coliseum this evening.  But I will be there on Tuesday.  I suspect that it will continue the run of exceptionally interesting productions that has been the pattern for English National Opera this season.  With Christian Curnyn at the helm and a wonderful cast I am looking forward to three and a half hours of pleasure.

My operatic activity of today has been confined to breakfast with Matthew Epstein.  Well that is always fun and this morning was no exception.  Having been away I have not kept my eye on the ball - I missed the announcement of the appointment of Robert Rattray to succeed Sarah Billinghurst at the Met.  It is always nice to have old friends and colleagues in high places!

I may now take a day off tomorrow.  Saturday is always a slow blog day anyway..........

Jinxed!

Well I am finally back in London - but what a saga!  The second flight due to depart from O'Hare at 6 had to be cancelled......or rather the plane was faulty and had to be replaced by another on.  So we left at 9pm instead. 

And when we arrived at Heathrow more than 2 and a half hours late there was no gate available and there was a fire alert which put us on hold, as seen above, for a further 15 minutes.  So it was a 24 hour journey!  Now time for a nap.

I am all in one piece after a really great ten days in Canada and the USA.  Now back to the excitements of London!

Stuck!

An "unresolved smoke detector malfunction" has led to my flight to London being cancelled, so I am spending all day in the comfortable American Airlines Admirals Club instead of in a moderately comfortable economy extra seat on an ancient 767.  I will now arrive in London Heathrow at 7:45 tomorrow morning.......

     © Dan Rest

Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard and Alessandro Corbelli in Lyric Opera's Il barbiere di Siviglia

But the upside is that I can do my blog about the immensely enjoyable Barber at Lyric yesterday evening. 

Over my thirteen years living in Chicago I have been immensely privileged to have seen pretty well all the Lyric's productions over those years. And I have additionally been coming regularly to Chicago for nearly 40 years.  Nevertheless the pleasure of this really snazzy performance of a warhorse like Barbiere was huge.

I was delighted to find that it was designed by Scott Pask - the gifted young designer who was responsible for the COT Orfeo in 2000 and Così fan tutte in 2002.  So that was a great start. 

And then the cast - the wonderful Isabel Leonard, COT's Zerlina in 2008, was a delectable Rosina, Alek Schrader, one of those winners in the Met competition in 2007 when I was on the final jury was the Almaviva, and the glorious rich and ripe Alessandro Corbelli, our Dandini at Glyndebourne for the 50th anniversary season in 1984, was the definitive Bartolo of our day.  And the Barber himself was the charming bouncy and still youthful Nathan Gunn, a generous friend to us at COT together with his wife Julie.

So I had a significant personal interest in all this - and what a treat it was also to see so many old friends and colleagues at Lyric yesterday evening.  I think I am going to have to make my visits to Toronto and Chicago in February an annual event!

Pretty chilly Chicago

Park Grill, Chicago 12 noon February 25 2014

I went to an old favourite for lunch - the Park Grill.  It is really cold here today and even the skaters were put off by the temperature.  And the Park Grill was hardly its usual bustling self this Tuesday lunchtime.  But the burger was good and the fries to die for!  And it was great to have a good old gossip about Chicago music life with Jerry Fuller.....

And the Chicago skyline looking north up Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park this bright frigid afternoon was as gorgeous as ever.  And after lunch I returned north to Lakeview where I lived for the last ten years of my time here in Chicago, and had a little wander along the side of Belmont Harbor.  I think that they may have difficulty taking the plunge here (below) on March 2.  It is going to get colder before it melts....

A full day.......

Today was a quick run around my old friends and colleagues in Chicago, as well as hearing  a handful of the excellent young artists at the Lyric Opera's Ryan Center. 

Lunch was with Gerard McBurney, star creator of Beyond the Score.  We went to the restaurant in the CSO's Symphony Center.  This is a new one - Rhapsody has been replaced by Tesori.  So it is American with an Italian accent this time.  And just as convenient if you are going to or coming from a concert at Orchestra Hall.

On coming in through the stage door of Lyric for the afternoon auditions I encountered three members of the cast of La clemenza di Tito about to go on stage for a piano run through. They urged me to pop in to the rehearsal when I was done with the auditions.....and so I did. 

I was there for ten minutes before their break (it always happens like that!) but saw enough to see that this is going to be a wonderful show.  There are three COT alums in the cast - Amanda Majeski, Cecelia Hall and Christian van Horn - as well as the peerless Joyce DiDonato as Sesto and, and in the title role Matthew Polenzani, fresh from his wonderful run in Manon in London. The Servilia is rising star from the Ryan Center Emily Birsan.  Andrew Davis, indefatigable as he is, conducts.  This is very much his thing.

The remainder of the day was a catch up over drinks with my dear colleague from COT days, Colleen Flanigan.  She is now a pillar of the Auditorium management team.  And then to beloved Kiki's Bistro for supper with another staunch supporter of our work at COT who has become like a family member.  It was great to see her.

I have a quieter day today - lunch with Jerry Fuller, and then the performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia at Lyric this evening.  Once again there is a great cast and the new production has been one of the hits of the Lyric's current season.  

And so back to London on the day flight tomorrow - much the most comfortable way to go.

Happy days in Toronto

The Four Seasons - COC's opera house 3:15 pm February 22 2014

I am now on my way back to Chicago after three happy days in Toronto.  Apart from the two performances already described I had the opportunity to hear most of the members of the Canadian Opera Company’s young artists program, as well as four from Montreal’s – there are some really hot prospects there – and most importantly to celebrate the 40^th birthday yesterday of Alexander Neef, COC’s brilliant, and still very young, General Director.

It is heart warming to see this company doing so consistently well under Alexander’s leadership; and he has beside him the gifted even younger (just) German conductor Johannes Debus.  They were the subject of an excellent piece in Toronto Life which is an enjoyable read and gives a good sense of the energy and quality which characterizes this company.  Alas not everything is free these days but you can buy a copy on line to read on your PC, tablet or phone…….

I am looking forward to two busy days in Chicago before leaving for London on the day flight on Wednesday.

A hugely enjoyable Così

© Michael Cooper

Thomas Allen, Layla Claire and Wallis Giunta in COC's Cosi fan tutte

It was a marvellous musical evening at COC yesterday with a dream cast and wonderful conducting.  A more delightful pair of sisters than Layla Claire's Fiordiligi and Wallis Giunta's Dorabella is scarcely possible to find, two natural red heads, Canadian's both, perfectly matched vocally, and each on the verge of major careers.  And Thomas Allen gave a masterclass in acting, and the delivery of recitativo secco, as can only be done by a man who has been doing this stuff, at and with the best, for 45 years.  That was a constant pleasure......

The boys were the excellent Paul Appleby and Robert Gleadow, and Despina Tracy Dahl, completing a perfect team. COC's music director Johannes Debus is that rare thing, a major Mozartian.  His work with the company is bringing huge distinction to Toronto and he has at his command the orchestra that Richard (Bradshaw) built over his seventeen years with the company.

Having seen goodness how many different productions and hundreds of performances of this opera over the years I greatly enjoyed Atom Egoyan's take.  Apparently it was not universally liked but, be that as it may, it was brilliantly executed - a real class act!

It is a lovely bright day here in Toronto and I have a day of leisure and pleasure about which more later.  I return to Chicago tomorrow - but the planned performance by COT of Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie is off as a result of a fire at the Harris Theater.  The remainder of the run is postponed until March whilst the theatre remains closed for repairs. But I will hear the singers of the Ryan Opera Center on Monday and get to see Lyric's new Barbiere on Tuesday.

Toronto Ballo

The COC Ballo in maschera has an immensely strong trio of principals – the really distinguished Canadian soprano Adrienne Pieczonka, Dimitri Pittas who has flowered into a really valuable tenor for the Italian repertoire, and the increasingly impressive English baritone Roland Wood as Renato.  The Ulrica was an excellent Russian mezzo Elena Manistina.  And with the experienced and accomplished Stephen Lord in the pit we were in for a fine evening.

I was particularly delighted of course to see Roland Wood’s success.  He was in our European Union Opera chorus in Baden-Baden and Paris fifteen years ago at the age of 24.  His Count in the ENO Figaro a year or so ago showed that a tremendous singer had emerged, and his storming performance last night brought the house down.  And it was great to see COT and Ryan Center graduate Evan Boyer impressing as Samuel.

As always the COC chorus made a huge contribution to the musical success of the evening and Richard Bradshaw’s COC orchestra was as distinguished as ever – with the acting principal cello, Alastair Ing stepping in for the great Bryan Epperson, showing in his great solo moment what depth there is in the ranks of this orchestra.

Jossi Wieler’s and Sergio Morabito’s production from the Berlin Staatsoper worked perfectly in the COC’s magnificent opera house and the open minded and discerning COC audience embraced it enthusiastically.

It is great to be back in Toronto.  And I am looking forward to hearing the Ensemble Studio members, as well as some from Montreal, this afternoon. There is a great line up for Così fan tutte this evening, including Thomas Allen as Alfonso……

Collaboration

I was at an unusual event at noon today - a showcase of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio and the Atelier Lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal.  Seven singers, four from Montreal and three from the COC delivered a splendid hour of well chosen arias, duets, and trios to a full house at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in the COC's excellent Four Seasons Opera House.

The idea of the young singers working together and combining on such a programme is as healthy as it gets.  And it was a wonderful opportunity for me to hear seven of Canada's young singers in two first class advanced development and training programmes.  Tomorrow I will hear the rest of the COC people in audition, as well as seeing some of them in the Ballo in maschera production this evening.

I was particularly delighted to see the development of tenor Andrew Haji.  I had selected him for the Neue Stimmen finals last year, but he was unable to accept because of his COC commitments.  But he is still very young, as well as being remarkable, so I am hoping to see him back in 2015.

This was followed by a quick lunch at a very special French bistro - Le Paradis.  Worth not just a detour but a special journey.  Not fancy, just real!

Off to Canada this afternoon!

Up the Chicago River from Michigan Avenue Bridge 1:30 pm February 19 2014

But I spent the morning in downtown Chicago - and a lovely day it is - bright and not too cold.  I had a good lunch with Scott Gilmore and Andrew Eggert, the pillars of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts opera program.  We had many good times together over the years at COT.

But I am now off to the airport for my flight to Toronto.  Another city where I spent so many happy years......