Heppner, Sellars & Viola: Tristan in Toronto

Posted on January 26, 2013 by barczablog

It’s really good. That’s all you need to know.  The Canadian Opera Company’s imported production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (originally presented in Paris in 2005), directed by Peter Sellars with video by Bill Viola is quite simply unforgettable.   And while Sellars & Viola deserve attention—and I shall address their work in a moment—for me the chief story revolves around Ben Heppner.

Tenor Ben Heppner, seen here performing in 2005. (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press)

Start with the fact that Heppner –a Canadian who was with the COC early in his career—has never sung a major Wagner role in Toronto even though Heppner was among the best Tristans in the world if not the best.  And if that weren’t enough to make the occasion special, Heppner had vocal troubles awhile ago.  One could be excused for wondering: what was Heppner going to sound like?  Yes this was a dress rehearsal, a time when singers are excused for giving less than 100%.

Heppner threw me a curve with the best live Tristan I have ever heard, both vocally & dramatically, a performance of spectacular singing, heart-breaking vulnerability & rock-solid conviction.  While I heard in the COC announcement earlier this week that Heppner’s coming back next season to sing the role of Peter Grimes, tonight I realize that this is truly cause for celebration.  Heppner’s voice sounded wonderful, and I never realized what a great actor he could be.

Let’s talk about Sellars, Viola and the COC production.

Thumbnail: Video still by Bill Viola, from the Opéra national de Paris production of Tristan und Isolde. Photo: Kira Perov © 2005

Modern opera productions can be a scary prospect, particularly if you’re a fundamentalist: one who demands that the work be staged as written.  Sellars & Viola offer something wonderfully original that’s not a violation of the text, because for almost the entire work, they are complementing rather than challenging or over-writing the work as written.  Extreme cases of radical interpretations sometimes rebel against the text, refusing to stage the work as written: but there’s no cause for alarm with Sellars & Viola.

Viola’s video functions as a kind of gloss, a commentary upon the singing & acting downstage from the video screen.  We get a very simple presentation of the action from the principals, accompanied by the extra layer supplied by the video.  Viola’s images seem to supply the deep structure, the symbolic under-pinnings of the action being presented.  And so, for example, while Tristan and Isolde engage in an intense conversation in the last part of the first act (but before any potions have been consumed), and suddenly we hear the chorus, prompting Tristan to say “wo sind wir” (or “where are we?”), the visual, which had shown two faces partly immersed in water, suddenly emerge from the water.  It’s visceral to watch, and an indirect way of expressing what’s happening, but it’s one of several instances where we’re living with the tension between a body above or below the surface of water.  Viola’s images are always striking and sometimes stunningly beautiful, but never upstaging the performers.

If you’re already a lover of this opera, as I am, then this production is a treat.  Viola’s images are often very open and abstract, gently suggesting symbols without precise assignment of meanings.  So for example at one point we are watching an ocean with waves during the first scene.  It might be a medieval ocean: until partway through Isolde’s narrative we see a modern looking boat with lights on the surface of those waves.  Is this problematic? I like it, because this is my 21st century sea, not some feeble Hollywood image of the past.  But when music is this powerful, I don’t want something overly specific.  Some parts of the video worked better than others for me.

Sellars has some interesting ideas.  I can’t help thinking that maybe there’s a cinematic influence at work.  Often characters get insanely close to one another, at least by operatic standards.  When King Marke laments to Tristan, or Tristan addresses Melot near the end of Act II they stand at a very intimate distance.  A camera close-up is suggested by this intense configuration even though i was sitting some distance away.

Another effect that leads me to use the word “cinematic” even if it’s likely not the root cause is Sellars deployment of the various diegetic performances (heard within the sound-world of the characters) inside the opera house.  These include the sailor’s song at the opening, the shepherd’s tune in Act III, the horns in Act II.  As well, Sellars has a prominent diegetic effect at the end of Act I, where the brass for King Marke’s arrival is all assembled inside the theatre, making the end of the act quite hair-raising.  I was staring through tears for the last 3 minutes of the act, completely unprepared for the freshness of the interpretation,complete with house-lights up.

Johannes Debus deserves credit for a brave reading of Wagner’s score.  The COC Orchestra sounded flawless throughout, particularly in all the climactic passages, sterling in all the famous music, big & powerful when they had to be.  The famous Prelude was given a taut & urgent reading. The tempi were fast for the most part, which as far as I understand is authentic; slower tempi are a 20th century affectation that hopefully is no longer considered ideal.

For a dress-rehearsal there was a great deal of good singing, from Melanie Diener as Isolde, Alan Held’s Kurwenal, the youthful Brangäne of Daveda Karanas and particularly the King Marke of Franz-Josef Selig, who was vocally & dramatically as powerful as Heppner in a smaller role.  If you have the opportunity you must see this.

The COC production of Tristan und Isolde opens Jan 29th, running until Feb 23rd at the Four Seasons Centre.

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YPT Mourns the Loss of Founder, Susan Douglas Rubes

Posted on January 25, 2013 by barczablog

 “Press releases and announcements” are presented verbatim without comment.

YPT Mourns the Loss of Founder, Susan Douglas Rubes

It is with great sadness – but also gratitude for her life – that Young People’s Theatre acknowledges the passing of the theatre’s founder, Susan Douglas Rubes. Mrs. Rubes passed away in Toronto on January 23rd at the age of 87. A much-beloved leader, producer and artist, Mrs. Rubes will be greatly missed by her YPT family and remembered as a pioneer in Theatre for Young Audiences.

“We are so grateful for the life and work of Susan Rubes,” said Allen MacInnis, YPT Artistic Director. ” I feel truly blessed to have had her advice and presence since I was appointed to this incredible job. YPT thrives today because it has the indomitable spirit of Susan in its DNA.”

Born Zuzka Zenta in Vienna, Austria, Mrs. Rubes moved with her family to Czechoslovakia when she was very young,  then on to Paris in 1939, eventually immigrating to New York in 1940. After graduating from George Washington High School, she began a remarkable career spanning radio, television, theatre and film. Mrs. Rubes earned the first Donaldson Award for Best Debut on Broadway for her performance in the 1945 revival of He Who Gets Slapped by Leonid Andreyev. She appeared in seven films and hundreds of television shows, including 10 years on the soap opera The Guiding Light. She continued to receive fan letters from time to time right up to last autumn.

In 1950, during the filming of Forbidden Journey in Montreal, Susan met the love of her life, renowned actor and singer Jan Rubes. The couple married the same year, had three sons and moved from New York to Toronto in 1959. They were together until Jan’s death in 2009.

In 1963, Susan began producing plays at the Royal Ontario Museum and in 1966 she founded Young People’s Theatre with the goal of establishing a permanent theatre for children in Toronto.

From the very beginning, Mrs. Rubes was determined Young People’s Theatre would be dedicated to professional productions of the highest quality – classic and contemporary – from Canada and around the world, created for children and the people who care about them. She worked hard to develop quality new Canadian plays to stand alongside the best from around the world and was often quoted as saying “Only the best is good enough for children.”

After several years of performing in a variety of venues in Toronto (as well as school touring), Susan and Jan found the run-down former TTC power plant in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood that was to become the permanent home for YPT. They worked tirelessly with their friends and supporters to convince a skeptical Toronto City Council that a large building housing a children’s theatre company was good idea and YPT has thrived in its landmark location on Front Street since 1977.

Mrs. Rubes remained artistic director of Young People’s Theatre until 1980 when she moved to CBC where she was the head of Radio Drama from 1982–86. From 1987–89, she was president of the Family Channel and also served on the board of the St. Lawrence Centre and the Ontario Arts Council. She was named Woman of the Year of the Toronto B’nai Brith in 1979.

Mrs. Rubes was awarded the Order of Canada (our nation’s highest civilian honour) in 1975, recognizing “a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation” for her services to children’s theatre in Canada.

Now in its 47th year, Young People’s Theatre is Toronto’s oldest not-for-profit theatre and continues to experience tremendous growth, proudly carrying on the legacy of Susan Douglas Rubes. A memorial book will be available at YPT from 9am to 5pm, Monday, Jan. 28th to Saturday, Feb. 2nd for anyone wishing to express condolences to the family.

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Ten Questions for Christopher Enns

Posted on January 25, 2013 by barczablog
Christopher Enns (left) with baritone Russell Braun in a February 2012 concert (Photo: Karen Reeves)

Christopher Enns (left) with baritone Russell Braun in a February 2012 concert (Photo: Karen Reeves).  Notice the “infamous Enns profile”.

Born in Manitoba, tenor Christopher Enns is in his final season with the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio.

He made his COC debut as an American/Glass Maker/Strolling Player in Death in Venice.   Enns was one of the strengths of the Ensemble Studio’s mainstage performance of The Magic Flute in February 2011.  On that occasion I said that he was “a convincingly handsome prince” and that “the sound was often very powerful, and never unconvincing.”

Enns holds a bachelor of vocal performance from the University of Manitoba, and a diploma in operatic performance from the University of Toronto.  Enns has also performed with the Winnipeg Symphony, Saskatoon Opera, and the Aldeburgh Connection.

On February 6th Enns will be undertaking Tito in the Ensemble Production of La Clemenza di Tito (sharing the role with Owen McCausland).  I asked him ten question: five about himself, and five about preparing the role.

1) Which of your parents do you resemble (what’s your nationality / ethnic background)?

I am a dead ringer for my father at my age. Both of my parents are from a German Mennonite background with dark hair and dark eyes, so a case could probably be made for either one. But since I have inherited the infamous Enns profile my father wins, dare I say it, by a fairly large nose.

2) What is the best thing / worst thing about being an opera singer?

I think there’s something amazing just in being able to answer that question. You spend so long training to be a singer, so long being a student that the ability to call yourself an official opera singer still seems to be a bit of a novelty to me…. even after a few years. But that’s not an answer to the question.

My favorite part of being a musician is the collaborative aspect to the art form. How great the whole can be if the sum of its parts commit to the process. The play and experimentation that goes on in the rehearsal room between director, conductor and your colleagues can be absolutely incredible. Add to that an orchestra, a chorus, and another hundred people working behind the scenes and you have opera. The work of so many hands going into a few short hours. The fact that I get to be a small part of that story is a real blessing.

And as it often is, the hardest thing I’ve found with being in this business is the reverse. Those moments where collaboration is hard to find, where the play is out of the work for whatever reason. Sometimes projects become more about ego than the story. Those are the times when opera seems very selfish and lonely.

But by and large this has not been the case. I have met some of the best people in the world through working in opera, and every job, every contract brings a few new faces to add to the group. That in itself has made a life in opera an incredibly rich thing to live.

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?

Hmm… well this is not going to be a very classical answer. As much as I love living in the world of opera, I don’t listen to much of it in my free time. I actually don’t listen to a tonne of music at all, but when I do it’s often of the country/folk ilk. I grew up on a farm and have many fond memories of hours spent on the tractor belting out the latest Garth Brooks or Kenney Chesney hit.

Mainly my iPod is filled with books on tape and podcasts. Podcasts have become my new favourite thing (Yes, I realize that I’m about 5 years late to that party). I have become that wonderfully endearing (read: annoying) person who constantly interrupts conversions with anecdotes beginning with: So, I was listening to this podcast… The topics range from hardcore history podcasts (I just finished a 7-part, 12 hour-long series on the fall of the Roman Republic – good research for Tito), to my daily basketball updates. And sometimes, when the schedule gets busy, the only way that I know it’s Monday is because there’s a new This American Life podcast waiting for me when I get home.

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I find this question difficult to answer, because there’s not a lot that I don’t wish I could do. I often wish that I had a more practical skill – like being able to build a house, or having the capacity to heal people – something that has very clear real world benefits. This is what my noble side thinks…

But really I’d love to be able to play a sport really well.  Any sport.  It could be completely random; although, I do have a better bedrock of knowledge for hockey or basketball than, say, for cricket. I am surprisingly uncoordinated, and have never managed to be anything more than that guy on the field with ‘a lot of heart’. But alas, until they make opera singing an Olympic sport I am content to sit on my couch and pretend that if I ever gave it chance I could probably pole vault… probably…

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

Nothing terribly exciting I’m afraid. I have wonderful friends whom I see far too rarely, so whenever there’s a bit of a break in my schedule a lot of time is set aside to catch up with them. I’m an avid baker, desperately trying to reach the bar set by my mother and grandmother. This summer, for the first time since moving to Toronto, I took a dip in the world of gardening. I would call it semi-successful. The plants grew quite well and created a beautiful oasis on my deck… they did not however create much produce. So… I guess there’s always next year.

But generally when I’m not working, I try to take really deliberate rest. Once a year, if I have a longer break I like to get back to the farm in Manitoba and remember what it’s like to work hard in a completely different way.

Five more about appearing in the COC production of La Clemenza di Tito.

1) How does singing the role of Tito challenge you?

I find Mozart challenging in every situation and Tito is no exception. The role demands everything – sweet tender moments, and rousing dramatic coloratura. It really pushes a singer to the edge more than any other Mozart tenor role. It’s a really cool role to work on, but I won’t pretend that there aren’t pages that still give me heart palpitations.

There is also a lot of recitative, and recit just takes a lot of time to become part of me. It seems to need to take a trip around the world before settling somewhere in my brain.

2) What do you love about Tito: both the role & this production of the opera?

Before I started preparing this role in the summer I knew nothing about either the opera or the story of Tito. I assumed that because it was a lesser performed Mozart opera that it would be of lesser quality. But I have really fallen in love with this piece, both the music and the complexity of the relationships.

Tito is an incredible figure – an emperor by name, but a philosopher at heart. I love that he has decided to control his world not with cruelty and violence, but with generosity and clemency. On the surface this may paint him as a saint, but there is considerable potential for manipulation in ‘generosity’ and ‘clemency’. He uses his ‘goodness’ to control the world around him just as well as he could with any other method.

This production has forced me look past the Ghandi-esque facade of Tito, to the clever man behind the curtain who is pulling the strings of an empire. Pulling them by granting favours and mercy to everyone in the name of high ideals, but ever tightening his control on those to whom he grants them.

His friendship with Sesto, in the midst of the falseness of Tito’s world, is the only thing that keeps him afloat. I find the relationship between Sesto and Tito fascinating.  Amongst all of this political intrigue Tito has this one real relationship; one place where he can be open and vulnerable. The juxtaposition of controlling manipulator and desperate friend creates an extremely interesting character to sink your teeth into.

3) Do you have a favourite moment in La Clemenza di Tito?

Since there are so many moments of intense emotion, and vocal virtuosity in this piece, it’s the simple moments I love best. There’s a moment in Act 1, following a very public scene with the chorus and Publio, when he and Sesto are alone together.  It culminates in the singing of Tito’s first aria Del piu sublimo soglio. It’s an incredibly simple moment of closeness and love. The audience gets a glimpse into how intimate this relationship is that they have, and how much they need each other.

These simple moments are woven throughout the piece.  I especially love Annio and Servilia’s music. Annio’s aria Torna di Tito a lato, as well as that exquisite Act 1 duet between the two lovers, Ah perdona al primo affetto

4) How do you relate to Tito (an absolute ruler) as a modern man living in a democracy?

Emperor Titus (aka “Tito”)

In some ways Tito is living in a completely different world to ours and in some ways it’s not much different at all. Rome might have transitioned into an empire, but it still had a strong history as a people driven Republic, and we see that Tito is still often hamstrung by the Senate, as represented by the character of Publio. Just before the opera begins Tito has been forced to send away the woman he wanted to marry due to pressure from the Senate. The world he lives in is still fraught with political gamesmanship.

Although I can’t relate in the least to the life of an emperor of Rome, the struggles we see Tito go through are completely relatable. His struggles with what kind of leader he wants to be, and what kind of man he wants to be, make him far more relatable than the average absolute ruler.

Tito’s greatest frustration is that he can’t seem to find people he can trust; people who are real with him. He finds the world he lives in false and it’s driving him insane. This is not such a foreign problem.

On a purely political level I think there are moments in our modern world when we are caught in the mire of political inaction, when even the most stalwart defenders of democracy might wish for a benevolent leader like Tito.

5) Is there a teacher or an influence you’d care to name that you especially admire?

When I look back at the path that has lead me here, it is abundantly clear that I have been immensely lucky to have had the people who have guided me. There are too many people to mention, and it’s difficult to choose, but I would like to give a special nod to my teachers throughout the years: Mel Braun, my first teacher back in Manitoba who opened me up to this world and taught me to sing with my body; Bob MacLaren who has, I am sure, sung the entire lyric tenor repertoire for me in our lessons together, and also taught me to sing with my heart; and my current teacher, Patrick Raftery, who has been my balance, and whose faith in me I will always be thankful for.

~~~~~

Christopher Enns sings Tito in the COC Ensemble Studio Production of La Clemenza di Tito February 6th at the Four Seasons Centre.  Tickets are available online at coc.ca, by calling 416-363-8231

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Christopher Enns (centre ) with soprano Ileana Montalbetti (left) and soprano Ambur Braid (right) in the October 2012 concert, “Madcap Moments: Highlights from Die Fledermaus”, through the COC’s Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Photo: Karen Reeves

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COC 2013/2014 Season announcement

Posted on January 23, 2013 by barczablog

 “Press releases and announcements” are presented verbatim without comment.

For immediate release: January 23, 2013

 COC’S 2013/2014 SEASON FEATURES THREE COMPANY PREMIERES, THREE NEW PRODUCTIONS AND MORE OPERA STARS THAN EVER BEFORE

   Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company unveiled its 2013/2014 season today at a press conference at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.  The company’s 64th season stars the world’s best singers, conductors, directors and designers in a performance year with seven operas, including three COC premieres and three new COC productions.  The COC presents Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème with a new production featuring some of Canada’s brightest stars; COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his Benjamin Britten debut when he conducts Peter Grimes with a production starring acclaimed Canadian tenor Ben Heppner in the iconic title role; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte with a new COC production by renowned film and theatre director Atom Egoyan with Debus conducting; Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera starring great Canadian diva Adrianne Pieczonka in a role debut; George Frideric Handel’s Hercules with a COC premiere and new COC production by world-renowned director Peter Sellars with a star-studded cast; Gaetano Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux with a COC premiere starring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in a role debut; and Jules Massenet’s Don Quichotte with a COC premiere featuring Debus in another conducting debut and the world’s pre-eminent bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role.

The 13/14 season ranks among the most exciting yet for the COC with more Canadian and international stars on the mainstage than ever before.  Making their COC debuts in the upcoming season are singers Phillip Addis, Sir Thomas Allen, Paul Appleby, Layla Claire, Lucy Crowe, Grazia Doronzio, Joyce El-Khoury, Giuseppe Filianoti, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Ekaterina Gubanova, Teodor Ilincăi, Eric Owens and Roland Wood; conductors Carlo Rizzi and Corrado Rovaris; and directors Linda Brovsky, Sergio Morabito and Jossi Wieler.  Returning artists include singers Russell Braun, Alice Coote, Richard Croft, Tracy Dahl, David Daniels, Alan Held, Ben Heppner, Quinn Kelsey, David Lomelí, Allyson McHardy, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Adrianne Pieczonka, Dimitri Pittas and Sondra Radvanovsky; conductors Harry Bicket and Stephen Lord; and directors Neil Armfield, John Caird, Atom Egoyan, Stephen Lawless and Peter Sellars.  All performances take place in the company’s home, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, and feature the renowned COC Orchestra and Chorus.

“More than ever, you can see how the COC has become a destination for artists of exceptional talent and renown.  The artists we invite to work with us, and the opera companies that choose to collaborate on productions with us, are among the best in the world,” says Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef.  “Looking beyond the extraordinary calibre of the artists coming to the COC next year, audiences can expect a season that invites them to engage with opera in a way that’s only possible by being part of a live theatrical experience. In the end, it is the electric exchange between artists and the audience that makes the art come alive.”

The COC’s 13/14 season opens with one of opera’s favourite and most poignant love stories, Puccini’s La Bohème.  This masterpiece of youthful flirtation, passionate love and heartbreaking tragedy was last performed by the COC in 2009 and returns in a new company production directed by Canadian-born Tony Award-winning director John Caird (Don Carlos, 2007).  One of the leading conductors of his generation, Italian Carlo Rizzi, leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus.  The sets and costumes that capture the romance of France’s Belle Époque are created by Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated designer David Farley.  Making their COC debuts in the role of the fragile seamstress Mimì are two recent graduates of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, already acclaimed for their renditions of this starring role: Italian soprano Grazia Doronzio and Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury (Oct. 9, 19, 27, 30).  The role of the poet Rodolfo, Mimì’s lover, is sung by two rising young tenors, Mexican David Lomelí (Rigoletto, 2011) and Romanian Teodor Ilincăi (Oct. 9, 19, 27, 30).  Also appearing as the flirtatious singer Musetta, El-Khoury shares the role with COC Ensemble Studio graduate soprano Simone Osborne (Gianni Schicchi, 2012; Rigoletto, 2011; The Magic Flute, 2011) (Oct. 9, 19, 27, 30).  In the role of the painter Marcello, Musetta’s lover, are two standout Canadian baritones: Joshua Hopkins (Carmen, 2005) and, in a company debut, Phillip Addis (Oct. 9, 19, 27, 30).  The role of the philosopher Colline is shared by two celebrated bass-baritones: American Christian Van Horn (Tosca, 2012) and Canadian Tom Corbeil (Death in Venice, 2010) (Oct. 9, 19, 27, 30).  Addis also takes on the role of the musician Schaunard.  This production of La Bohème is a COC co-production with Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera.  La Bohème is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™ and runs for 12 performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on October 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 30, 2013.

In the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, the COC presents Peter Grimes, his gripping opera about an alienated fisherman and the seaside village he struggles to inhabit.  Acclaimed Canadian tenor Ben Heppner (Tristan in Tristan und Isolde, 2013) returns to the COC in the title role.  COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his Britten debut when he leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus through Peter Grimes’ evocative score, last heard at the COC in 2003.  Award-winning Australian director Neil Armfield (Ariadne auf Naxos, 2011; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2009; Billy Budd, 2001) directs this co-production from Opera Australia and Houston Grand Opera.  Singing the role of Grimes’ unwavering advocate, Ellen Orford, is recent COC Ensemble Studio graduate soprano Ileana Montalbetti.  Captain Balstrode, one of Grimes’ few friends, is sung by one of the leading singing actors today, Alan Held (Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde, 2013; A Florentine Tragedy/Gianni Schicchi, 2012).  COC Ensemble Studio alumni, tenor Roger Honeywell and baritone Peter Barrett, portray the vengeful Bob Boles and Grimes’ friend, Ned Keene, respectively.  Canadian bass-baritone Tom Corbeil (who also appears in 2013’s La Bohème) is the lawyer Swallow, and critically acclaimed American mezzo-soprano Jill Grove (Aida, 2010) is Auntie.  Peter Grimes is sung in English with English SURTITLES™ and runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on October 5, 8, 11, 17, 20, 23, 26, 2013.

   Renowned Canadian film and stage director Atom Egoyan (directing Salome, 2013) returns to the COC with a new production of Mozart’s sublime musical depiction of the frailties of the human condition, Così fan tutte.  Egoyan’s concept takes its inspiration from the opera’s subtitle, The School for Lovers.  He approaches the production as one where love is examined, dissected and manipulated, exploring the themes of love, temptation and deceit in this wry comedy about two couples gambling with one another’s faith and desire.  Award-winning set and costume designer Debra Hanson makes her opera debut with Così fan tutte and, with Egoyan, creates a production that stylistically progresses through time from the 18th-century to present day.  Led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus with the COC Orchestra and Chorus, this new production features a cast of up-and-coming opera talent in the roles of the young lovers, alongside distinguished veterans.  Cast as the sisters are two Canadians: soprano Layla Claire in her COC debut as Fiordiligi and Ensemble Studio graduate mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta (Annio in La clemenza di Tito, 2013) as Dorabella.  Singing the roles of the sisters’ two suitors are American tenor Paul Appleby in his COC debut as Ferrando and COC Ensemble graduate bass-baritone Robert Gleadow (Steersman in Tristan und Isolde, 2013; Publio in La clemenza di Tito, 2013) as Guglielmo.  World-renowned Canadian soprano Tracy Dahl makes a highly anticipated return to the COC stage after a 19-year-long absence, in the role of the conniving Despina.  Sir Thomas Allen, one of the finest lyric baritones on the world stage, makes his COC debut as the wily Don Alfonso.  COC resident conductor Derek Bate leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus for one performance.  Così fan tutte was last performed on the COC mainstage in 2006 and is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™.  The production runs for 10 performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on January 18, 24, 29, February 1, 6, 7*, 9, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

*ENSEMBLE STUDIO PERFORMANCE COSÌ FAN TUTTE ON FEBRUARY 7, 2014

The young singers of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio perform Mozart’s Così fan tutte on February 7, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. on the mainstage.  This special performance stars the Ensemble members with the full COC Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Così fan tutte’s conductor Johannes Debus and director Atom Egoyan. For casting, please visit the COC website at coc.ca. Tickets are accessibly priced at $25 and $55 per person.

In contrast with Mozart’s tale of young, uncertain love, the COC’s 13/14 winter season continues with Verdi’s more mature and bittersweet story of forbidden passion, Un ballo in maschera.  Requiring singers who can mine vast reserves of musical power and sensitivity, the COC has cast one of the world’s best dramatic sopranos, Canadian Adrianne Pieczonka (Tosca, 2012; Ariadne auf Naxos, 2011), and tenor Dimitri Pittas (Rigoletto, 2011) as the opera’s two lovers embroiled in political intrigue beyond their control.  Pieczonka and Pittas make their role debuts as Amelia and Riccardo.  British baritone Roland Wood is Renato, Amelia’s husband, acclaimed Canadian mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Rodelinda, Tancredi, 2005) is the fortune-teller Ulrica, and rising soprano star Ensemble Studio graduate Simone Osborne is Oscar, the page.  Not unlike the opera’s plot itself, political machinations have played a huge role in Un ballo in maschera’s history.  Originally forced to change the opera’s setting to Boston from Sweden to quell censors’ fears of real-life assassination plots, Verdi and his opera are proof that his theme of “love in a dangerous time” is both a universal truth and historically fluid.  In this same spirit, acclaimed directing duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito have revealed a layer of political and historical relevance to the plot by placing this Berlin Staatsoper production in the American South of the 1960s, with its undertones of Kennedy-era tensions, assassinations and power plays.  Stephen Lord (conducting Lucia di Lammermoor, 2013), one of America’s most distinguished conductors of opera today, returns to lead the COC Orchestra and Chorus.  Un ballo in maschera was last performed at the COC in 2003.  Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™, Un ballo in maschera returns to the COC for eight performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on February 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 16, 20, 22, 2014.

The opera company’s 13/14 spring season offers a trio of COC premieres: Handel’s Hercules, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux and Massenet’s Don Quichotte.

Internationally renowned director Peter Sellars (directing Tristan und Isolde, 2013) returns to the opera company with a new production of Handel’s Hercules.  Sellars propels the incendiary Greek myth of Hercules into the modern day, giving voice to the untold horrors of war and the unspoken complications faced by veterans returning home.  With his frequent collaborators, set designer George Tsypin, costume designer Dunya Ramicova and lighting designer James F. Ingalls, Sellars has created a minimalist production that evokes ancient Greece while still locating the action clearly in the present.  This co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago earned unequivocal praise when it opened in Chicago in 2011. “An opera performance this great is plenty rare. But opera capable of inspiring moral action is for the ages,” said the Los Angeles Times while the Chicago Sun-Times described it as a production that “will follow you home and keep you thinking as well.”  The same star-studded cast from Chicago take to the COC mainstage: American bass-baritone Eric Owens makes his COC debut as Hercules; British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote (Ariadne auf Naxos, 2011) is Hercules’s wife Dejanira; American countertenor David Daniels (Xerxes, 1999) returns to the COC as Hercules’s trusted aide, Lichas; American tenor Richard Croft (Così fan tutte, 1991) returns as Hercules’s son, Hyllus; and British soprano Lucy Crowe makes her COC debut as Iole, the princess whose father died at Hercules’s hand.  Conducting Handel’s glorious music is internationally renowned Baroque specialist and COC favourite Harry Bicket (Orfeo ed Euridice, 2011; Idomeneo, 2009; Rodelinda, 2005).  Hercules is sung in English with English SURTITLES™ and runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 5, 11, 15, 19, 24, 27, 30, 2014.
American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky (Aida, 2010), the world’s leading interpreter of the great 19th-century Italian prima donna roles, returns to the COC to take on a new challenge with her role debut as the central character Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.  Making his COC and role debut as Roberto Devereux, whose life hangs in the balance for having betrayed his Queen’s affections by falling in love with the wife of one her courtiers, is celebrated lyric tenor, Italian Giuseppe Filianoti.  Also making role debuts are internationally acclaimed and COC favourite, Canadian baritone Russell Braun (Il Trovatore, 2012; Love from Afar, 2012; Iphigenia in Tauris, 2011) as the Duke of Nottingham and acclaimed Ensemble Studio graduate mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy (Semele, 2012; Madama Butterfly, 2009) as Sara, the Duchess of Nottingham.  Donizetti’s show stopping melodies and sumptuous period costumes bring the intrigue of the Elizabethan court to life within a Shakespearean Globe Theatre-inspired setting in this Dallas Opera production by acclaimed British director Stephen Lawless, who also staged the COC’s hugely popular Maria Stuarda in 2010.  Acclaimed Italian conductor Corrado Rovaris makes his COC debut leading the COC Orchestra and Chorus.  Roberto Devereux is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™ and runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 25, 29, May 3, 10, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

Italian Ferruccio Furlanetto, the world’s pre-eminent bass, makes his COC debut in the title role of Massenet’s intensely moving Don Quichotte, which closes the COC’s 13/14 season.  Massenet’s autumnal outpouring of lush melody, based on Cervantes’ iconic novel about the idealistic dreamer, Don Quixote, also stars Metropolitan Opera star, Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, in her COC debut as Dulcinée.  American baritone Quinn Kelsey, acclaimed for his COC performances as Rigoletto in 2011, returns to makes his role debut as Sancho Panza.  American director Linda Brovsky makes her COC debut with this enchanting production where characters spring out of giant leather-bound storybooks and windmills are fashioned from oversized quills.  COC Music Director Johannes Debus conducts his first Don Quichotte when he leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus through a score that represents Massenet’s tribute to the last days of chivalry, but also his own poignant farewell to a soon-to-be-lost golden age of French Romanticism.  Don Quichotte is sung in French with English SURTITLES™ and runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on May 9, 11, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 2014.

All repertoire, dates, pricing, productions, and casting are subject to change without notice. For more complete casting and creative team information, please see the production pages at coc.ca.

The Canadian Opera Company webcast the announcement of its 13/14 season live on coc.ca on Jan. 23, 2013, at 10 a.m. from the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The webcast is available for streaming.

For more information on the Canadian Opera Company’s 13/14 season, please visit coc.ca.

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Night before…

Posted on January 23, 2013 by barczablog

The child who goes to bed on Christmas Eve awaiting a visit from Santa Claus may have given clues.  Sometimes Santa gets a letter.  Sometimes he gets a visit in the department store.

I’m just like that kid, awaiting the Canadian Opera Company announcement of their 2013-2014 season, to be made tomorrow morning.  I didn’t actually tell Santa (aka Alexander Neef) what I wanted, so I suppose it’s unlikely I’ll get what I want.  But even so, I’m going to put this out there.  Who knows, maybe he’ll see this, maybe he’ll bring me something next year.

There are several ways to please this child.

Singers:

Considering that one of my big wishes is being satisfied in the next few days –Ben Heppner as Tristan—I’m inclined to think that maybe it’s worth dreaming big, to name one’s fantasy aloud. Who knows… maybe?

Tenor:  Adam Klein.  I saw him at the Met, and approached him for an interview, which confirmed for me what i’d already seen, that he’s a terrific singer of intelligence & wit who can sing just about anything.

Baritone:  Tómas Tómasson, who’s singing the Dutchman in Los Angeles in a few weeks, who sang Dr Schön and Telramund on videos I saw in the past few months: a wonderful voice with great stage presence.

Bass-baritone:  Canadian Gerald Finley is the voice I’m perhaps most eager to hear from the Four Seasons Stage,  a man at home in any century or style.

Soprano also has a Canadian angle.  If we’re fortunate Neef will bring back Sondra Radvanovsky and Jane Archibald, two of the most impressive performers to grace Toronto stages.  But while we’re creating a wish-list, let me add Barbara Hannigan (whose work i wrote about recently) .

Mezzo-soprano: Anna Caterina Antonacci is a singer who should have sung at the Met  by now.  Neef has shown a willingness to bring people to Toronto before they get to the Met (Harry Bicket for example), so maybe we’ll see her too?

Directors:

Calixto Bieito in another city would be a risky deal.  Toronto? As I’ve said before in this space, the balance at the COC is unique. We’re a major theatre city who embrace adventurous designs & concepts.  Why not bring in the most adventurous & risky director and simply turn him loose?  They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

I wonder.

Operas:

  • Der Vampyr by Marschner?  It’s an opera that either the COC or Opera Atelier could present, and likely –with even half-decent design—sell successfully.
  • Satyagraha is an opera that plays to the COC’s strengths, namely orchestra & chorus. It doesn’t require stars, although one role—Gandhi—should probably be a good singing actor.   But Glass’s opera, like War & Peace a few years ago, could be a terrific showcase for the company, and I believe it would capture the city’s imagination, just as it did in NYC when the Met presented it.
  • And while we’re talking of showcases and box office, I think it’s time to re-stage one of the Ring operas.  Maybe the whole cycle is too expensive, but putting on one of them? Surely the Tristan experience –and the brisk ticket sales—suggest that we need to keep Wagner in the repertoire every season.  François Girard’s Parsifal is supposedly coming one of these years, but in the meantime, why not revive Rheingold for example (which is maybe the easiest to cast)?

Wednesday morning?  …see what’s under the tree.

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Silver Linings Playbook

Posted on January 21, 2013 by barczablog

The National Hockey League resumed play this weekend after a lengthy lockout.  I’m situated in Toronto, a city where fans cheer loudly while having lost all hope.  The Maple Leafs are widely understood to be the most successful and lucrative franchise in hockey, if not all of sports. Why? Because no matter how bad this team gets –having last won the Stanley Cup in 1967—the team sells every seat.  This is also the city that for a time had the best attendance in baseball: while they were winners in the early 1990s.  When the big free agents (Molitor, Winfield, Carter, White, Morris etc) were gone, so were the fans.  We’ll see if some of that excitement will return when baseball season opens.

It’s the last Sunday before Super Sunday, the week when the finalists are determined for the championship of American professional football.  San Francisco eliminated Atlanta in the NFC game.  As I write this Baltimore and New England are slugging it out for the AFC title.

There were several other cities whose teams were involved in the tournament.  Denver, Seattle, Green Bay, Houston….

But Philadelphia?

While they’ve been to the big show (they didn’t win) they’re in a kind of wilderness recently.  The closest they’ve been to a superbowl are divisional battles with the Giants or the Cowboys.

No wonder the film Silver Linings Playbook (or “SLP”: based on a recent novel of the same name by Matthew Quick) is framed around the Philadelphia Eagles, a team who have disappointed their fans often over the years.  It’s not the Toronto of the NFL, because they’ve known the torment of occasional success, the agony of dashed hopes.  In Toronto we laugh at the Leafs, whereas in Philly they still believe enough to rage and roar against cruel fate.

SLP is the latest in a series of comedies pushing the envelope of what we understand by the genre.  When I wrote awhile ago about Young Adult (a dark comedy starring Charlize Theron, written by Diablo Cody, assembled without the usual happy ingredients) I looked at this trend in comedy.  While it can’t be mistaken for reality TV, I think tastes & the boundaries of realism are changing radically, as they must.  Our tolerance for pain in the aftermath of 9-11 and assorted televised atrocities means that comedy works differently.  While I don’t think I am remotely cynical, my capacity for faith and trust have been shaken in various ways, setting me up for a darker sort of punch-line.

Okay, there is one way in which I am cynical, and that’s as an observer of Hollywood industry dynamics.  When I saw the trailer for SLP all I could see was the latest step in the reinvention of Bradley Cooper as a serious actor, the same way so many stars legitimize their work by going outside their usual comfort zone.  It’s a noble idea, when a comedian does drama, or an action hero tries comedy.  I believe in stretching myself, so I must open my mind to this.  Even so I kept wondering how the film might have worked with a different star, perhaps because I was so unconvinced by this portrayal, couldn’t buy it. Sorry.

But what do I know? Cooper has an Academy Award nomination for best actor, so maybe I am an ignoramus.  Remarkably each of the four principals has an Oscar nomination.  The other three?

  • Jennifer Lawrence is wonderfully quirky.  Whenever she’s on the screen you can’t take your eyes off her, a performance totally unlike her work in Hunger Games and already her second Oscar nomination.
  • Jacki Weaver vanishes into the film, a performance so smooth it doesn’t look like she’s acting
  • Robert De Niro is perhaps a bit over-the-top in places, as ostentatiously mad as his son, even if the hint of a generational dimension to their rages gives the story an extra weight.

So I am not saying I don’t like the film; quite the contrary.

For the first hour of SLP I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.  In places it’s very dark.  I enjoyed that sense of dislocation, of not really knowing where it’s going although the film softens considerably in its last half hour.

Now I have to read Matthew Quick’s novel.

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Creative ecology

Posted on January 19, 2013 by barczablog

As I examined the choices for music in a play, I thought of a great scene in a film.  Now I am not talking about the music in that film, oh no.  I am talking about that classic scene in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) where we get a glimpse of something I am calling “creative ecology”.  This is where I’d say “roll the clip” except of course it’s a youtube link, and you’re going to have to click on it yourself.

Why is this relevant?

I received a series of attachments in an email.  The play’s director forwarded a series of PDFs (music) from the choreographer, that i’m to play in the show.  The three compositions are from Die Fledermaus. No we’re not staging an operetta, it’s actually a farce, but the music is being used in various ways for dances, in a play of that era.  And that’s what reminded me of the dynamic described by Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep’s wonderful creation, in the clip).  We’re not like the gormless Andy Sachs (the laughing Ann Hathaway) in her blue sweater, but yes, we are further down the imaginary hierarchy from the Canadian Opera Company, who staged Die Fledermaus this past season.  While people often think of opera as a separate category from theatre, i am reminded of Richard Bradshaw’s stated intention of making COC shows the best theatre in town; with Fledermaus at least, i’d say the COC succeeded admirably.

Ambur Braid as Adele, directed by Christopher Alden, set designed by Allen Moyer, costume designed by Constance Hoffman (Photo: Chris Hutcheson)

Ambur Braid as Adele, directed by Christopher Alden, set designed by Allen Moyer, costume designed by Constance Hoffman (Photo: Chris Hutcheson)

I am mindful that the Canadian Opera Company will be announcing their new season this week.  Nothing had the impact locally this year of their Fledermaus production.  Is it any wonder that this music is echoing in the ears of our choreographer & director, likely enchanted by the COC’s production of an operetta?  Influence is intangible, but I wonder if it works something like what we see in the clip from the film.

And the fact that an operetta of all things was their edgiest show has me wondering… will they announce another operetta for 2013-2014? You’d think so, if they can repeat the formula for their success:

  • Find another good operetta (there are lots of them to choose from)
  • Turn a quirky director like Christopher Alden loose: a stirring prospect
  • …with designers in tow, ready to match the director’s vision
  • Cast Ambur Braid in a leading role again (or someone as exciting: which is the reason the easiest option might simply to hire Braid)

The COC announce their new season on Wednesday.  I am looking forward to hearing the predictions of my bloggy colleagues.  And further down the food-chain, the rest of us reverberate with their past work, while we antipate what’s to come.

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Peter Sellars in conversation with Richard Ouzounian

Posted on January 17, 2013 by barczablog

Peter Sellars. Click the picture to read a review of this production from Paris in 2008.

Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 – Star Talks: Peter Sellars at the Appel Salon

Location: Bram & Bluma Appel Salon in the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, M4W 2G8

Time: 7:00 -8:15 p.m.

FREE tickets can be booked in advance by registering at the Toronto Public Library website.

An exclusive opportunity to listen to renowned director Peter Sellars in conversation with Toronto Star music and theatre critic Richard Ouzounian. Mr. Sellars will be in Toronto to recreate his Opéra national de Paris Production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

For more information visit the Toronto Reference Library Appel Salon website.

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From Troyens to Tristan

Posted on January 16, 2013 by barczablog

December seemed to be a month obsessively occupied by Hector Berlioz, particularly Les Troyens in versions onstage at the Met, the High Definition transmission, DVDs, plus the score at home.  It’s January, and Berlioz is still echoing through the corridors of my thoughts.

At the end of this month I’m looking forward to the Canadian Opera Company’s main commemoration of the bicentennial of Richard Wagner’s birth in a production of Tristan und Isolde directed by Peter Sellars.

While Wagner had many influences I am particularly mindful of Berlioz’s influence on Wagner simply because my head and my ears are so full of Berlioz.  I am not interested in the question of who is the key influence on Wagner, when the answer is beyond us.  I’m more like a foodie wandering in a city, noticing that there are resemblances between the food on either side of the street, traces of a flavour or a colour.

I will be thinking of this for the next few days, expanding on this.  For today I am moved to toss out a few glib pathways for exploration.  Simplistic? If you say so, but first have a look.

1) idée fixe and leit-motiv

Berlioz doesn’t use themes the way Wagner does.  I wouldn’t dream of saying one is better than the other.  Each has its merits.  When you come to Symphonie Fantastique, which premiered in 1830, we encounter a use of a recurring theme that in its way is simultaneously conservative compared to Wagner, yet in its way, beyond anything Wagner ever attempted.  How? The theme is relatively static as an idea in the first three movements.  In the nightmarish last two movements we get (in IV) a furtive little snippet as the hero is about to be executed, and then (in V) a kind of parody of the theme in the last movement.

2) druggy music

Thomas de Quincey

First off some of you may find this a totally disrespectful category in the first place.  Before even talking about music, however, I want to establish this firmly as an artistic category, arguably an important trope in music & the arts.  Some writers such as Thomas de Quincey and more recently, Aldous Huxley, Hunter Thompson or William Burroughs are famous for their explorations of altered states.  Music has been intimately associated with drug culture(s) since the 20th Century, but that’s not where it began.  Berlioz is one of the first composers to not only use drugs but to depict the subjective experience in their music.  In speaking of Wagner we may not find a powdery trail (evidence of drug use), but the music and its subjective experience is something else again.  

3) powerful endings

This may seem like the most superficial connection, but I would argue that it’s under-estimated.  When you listen to one of Berlioz’s overtures or orchestral compositions, they often have endings of extraordinary power, and for me, looking at them in historical context, these endings dwarf anything that came before.  While some of Beethoven’s endings are remarkable –and as unprecedented in their time as Berlioz’s pieces are in the next era—for me this is when I feel a kind of quantum leap.  The thing that’s different with Wagner is not that his endings are bigger & more powerful than Berlioz’s endings.   They’re not actually.  But with each subsequence work –especially once we’re out of “romantic opera,” after Lohengrin and into “music drama” with the Ring operas begun in the 1850s—we see a greater and greater concentration of the musical materials, making the concluding gestures of acts remarkably symbolic, a kind of epitome of the larger action.

Here’s just one example (Berlioz), but there are a great many to choose from.

4) love music

Before Berlioz & Wagner, as far as I know, you’d sometimes see characters in love onstage.  Their duets would be their love music.  Had anyone yet abstracted love from the situations onstage as pure compositions without words, to show the feelings of lovers: their desire, their ardent actions, their intoxication, and their passion upon parting? Not as far as I can remember, and certainly not with the clarity Berlioz & Wagner would bring to the subject.

Awhile ago I mentioned Wagner’s thank you to Berlioz, acknowledging his respect for Roméo et Juliette.  What if anything connects these two compositions? Hm, we’ll see.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s a partial roadmap for January and some of the things I’ll write about on the path from Troyens to Tristan.

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AS: seeing red with Dr. Alan Ebringer

Posted on January 12, 2013 by barczablog

Discovery is a funny business.  Sometimes explorers set out for the new land, braving dangers & going where no one has gone before.  And sometimes the process is much more serendipitous than that.

And it can be funny.

Dr Alan Ebringer. (Photo by Akil Simmons), Click link for more…(!)

I am thinking of the story I heard about Dr Alan Ebringer, which may be at least partially apocryphal.  In conversation with one of his patients, he suggested –in jest? Or in exasperation? –that the patient should consume only foods that are red: red wine, red meat & tomatoes.

Later –surprise surprise—when he followed up, inexplicably, the patient was in much better condition. I don’t know if this is a true story, but it has the bizarre ring of truth to it.

The patient’s ailment? Ankylosing Spondylitis, or “AS”, an inflammatory condition that is sometimes thought of as a kind of arthritis.  It leads to such symptoms as morning stiffness, excess bone growing in areas such as the neck or tailbone, and can lead to other conditions, some innocuous such as eczema, some more serious such as iritis.

The accidental discovery –through the red items—seems to be that some foods may trigger AS.  What was it about the red items? They had no starch, it turns out.

And so Ebringer is now an exponent of a dietary solution to AS, that may indeed apply to a series of other inflammatory ailments: the no starch diet, aka “NSD”, or low starch diet aka “LSD” perhaps in combination with drugs.

The really funny thing about this?  Pharmaceutical companies can’t make big money off of a dietary choice.  When my doctor asked me to take one of the “biologicals” –drugs that repress the immune system and leave you vulnerable to minor infections—I refused.  The one she suggested sometimes causes leukemia.

Great(!)

So nameless doctor, wherever you’ve gone, I hope you can forgive me if I chose not to turn an elephant gun upon myself. Already –without knowing about Ebringer–i was seeing red.  I retreated to the internet seeking alternatives, and google came to the rescue.

And I found one, thanks to Dr Ebringer, whose fame is all over the internet even if you’ve never heard of him. You can read about the NSD here.

Imagine then the choice, between….

  • a carcinogen, that cost $10,000 a year (paid by my health plan), that requires one to go to an emergency ward if you get the sniffles?
    Or
  • a non-invasive dietary choice that costs nothing

What’s more, it seems really clear to me that the expensive solution fights with my body’s inflammation but does not stop the inflammation at its cause, whereas the dietary choice fixes the inflammation at its root: in the digestive system.  Even if this weren’t so, isn’t it safer to avoid expensive & dangerous drugs? Surely.

Here’s Ebringer talking about AS, as well as another related condition, namely fibromyalgia. 

Finally… i hope no one is offended when i decline potatoes, rice, pasta or bread when offered.  It’s simply because I’m seeing red: just like Dr. Ebringer.  Oh and one last thought, namely THANK YOU DR EBRINGER. 

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