The free noon-hour concerts at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre are back, and unfortunately, so’s the flu, as three of the young singers scheduled to sing today had to cancel.

It ended up being six rather than nine arias, accompanied by Jennifer Szeto at the piano, but even so it was a lovely re-launch of a series that’s a cultural leader in the city:

Soprano Karine Boucher

• Iain MacNeil singing “Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo” (Cosi fan tutte)
• Charlotte Burrage singing “All’affitto è dolce il pianto” (Roberto Devereux)
• Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure singing “Vainement, ma bien-aimée” (Le Roi D’Ys)
• Karine Boucher singing “O mio babbino caro” (Gianni Schicchi)
• Clarence Frazer singing Pierrot’s Tanzlied (Die tote Stadt)
• Andrew Haji singing “Questa o quella” (Rigoletto)

Every year I go to look at the schedule of concerts on the COC website with eager anticipation.  This year’s line-up looks like the best yet.

It’s a wonderful way to promote the opera company, getting a flood of visitors invited into their building.  But opera is the least of it.   The next concert? Thursday is Payadora Tango Ensemble, followed by jazz next Tuesday.   Tuesday October 14^th, we’ll get a preview of dances in Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of Alcina.  Jazz, dance, chamber music (beginning October 21^st).  I’ve already marked Thurs. Feb 5, 2015 on my calendar for a concert hosted by Emanuel Ax, with two brilliant young pianists –Pavel Kolesnikov and Orion Weiss—playing Opera Transcriptions for Piano.

But most centrally, this series is about voice.  Yes we’ll hear members of the Ensemble Studio  but we’ll also have the opportunity to hear great artists such as Jane Archibald and Barbara Hannigan. That their recitals are offered for free boggles the mind.  

We’re lucky.