Today I attended a Voicebox: Opera in Concert Opera Salon, highlighting Romanticism & Bel Canto.

I want to see any concert or presentation that offers us a new way to offer opera and to find an audience. We’ve seen arias in bars & restaurants, this was something a little different. And I thought it works really well.

We heard solos from six artists, accompanied by Narmina Afandiyeva at the piano, organized around a unifying theme.

Although Henry Ingram is mentioned on that poster I shared above, he was in Puerto Rico, dodging our snow & chill (smart guy!), which meant that Guillermo Silva-Marin was our host all by himself, even arranging the delicious treats they offered to us as you see in the picture below. He was also our Master of Ceremonies, introducing the artists, telling anecdotes about artists of Opera in Concert and speaking about the history of bel canto & romanticism.

This was my first time seeing the space, an intimate venue on Queen St East near Carlaw Ave. On this occasion I think there was seating for perhaps fifty people (although I didn’t count).

I think it has been used as a rehearsal space, but it was more than adequate for our purposes.

Here’s a list of the artists and what they sang:

Alexander Cappellazzo: “When other lips” from The Bohemian Girl and “Una furtiva lagrima” from L’elisir d’amore

Diana Rockwell: “Adieu notre petite table from Manon and “Ah non credea mirarti” from La Sonnambula

Holly Chaplin: “Regnava nel silenzio” from Lucia di Lammermoor and “Caro nome” from Rigoletto

Justin Welsh: “Cruda funesta smania from Lucia di Lammermoor and “Ah per sempre io ti perdei” from I Puritani

Cassandra Amorim: “Eccomi… O quante volte” from “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” and “Casta Diva” from Norma

Evan Korbut: “Pierrot’s Tanzlied” from Die tote Stadt and Bertrand’s aria from Robert le Diable

And to end, both before intermission and again at the end of the concert we heard “Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata, sung by the entire company.

I think it’s a really good concept. I find the chance to hear an operatic voice up close a powerful experience that I highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t tried it. This isn’t to be confused with hearing opera in a big place like the Four Seasons Centre, where you’re sharing sound with roughly 2000 people, admittedly a superb acoustic considering that we get sets & orchestra. But when Holly or Diana or Cassandra hit their high notes or tossed off their coloratura, it was a fabulous intimate sound. Evan softly crooned the high note in the Korngold as though we were in a cabaret, a lovely effect. Justin gave us big notes, Alexander swooped up high to end his aria. I hope the experience helps persuade more people to investigate operas.

And we had great things to eat and the chance to drink wine (which i didn’t do, given that I live in Scarborough and had to drive home). The fact that the venue is east is something I really love, given that so many of our Toronto performance venues are west of Yonge St.

Voicebox – Opera in Concert return two weeks from today with Bellini’s La Sonnambula at Trinity-St Paul’s Centre, February 14th at 3 pm.