Sunday, April 26, 2009 – Ottawa
The weather in Ottawa isn’t very Spring-like when I arrive late Wednesday night but it’s looking and feeling a lot better by the time I get to the first of the school performances on Thursday morning.
I arrive just minutes before the cast began the performance (first time I’ve ever had a problem with Mapquest directions!) and end up standing directly off Stage Left; I really prefer to see the show from the front so I plopped myself down at the back of the group of students sitting on the floor. It’s the first time I’ve ever watched the show from this angle and, wow!, does it ever look different. The set is very tall, the singers take on a completely different image and when Michael sings about White Pine touching the sky, it really looks as if he could.
The performance is terrific! I haven’t seen it in more than a month and it’s come so far during that time. The cast members are living their various characters, the singing is spot-on and the whole production runs smoothly from start to finish. Best of all, the students are completely entranced. Even the wriggly Kindergarten young’uns are enraptured by everything they see and hear. At the end of the show, there is very enthusiastic applause from students, teachers and parents – everyone loves
Jack Pine!
And so it goes for three additional performances at Ottawa area elementary schools. As with all live performances, there are subtle differences from one performance to another; different venues, different age-groups in the audience, different sizes of audiences, whether it’s morning or afternoon and even changes in the weather will cause things to be slightly different. But, without exception, the quality remained the same: engaging, energetic and excellent!
I especially love watching and listening to the cast members handle the questions from the students at the end of the show. In addition to the usual “How old are you?” and “How did you get to be so good?” questions, there are also the unexpected “Why did you decide to sing about trees?” and the ones that lend themselves to humour such as when the students asked why The Botanist used the banjo instead of his paddle to get himself off-stage at the end of one particular scene. Adam tells him that The Botanist was very resourceful and he used whatever was at hand to move his canoe. Then, without missing a beat, said, “Basically, when you’re up the creek without a paddle, use a banjo.” The students recognize the logic in that and accept the answer immediately. The teachers and parents, however, were coughing and choking trying not to laugh too hard. It was a good moment – relaxed, friendly and happy.
Ami Gladstone (the stage director) is at one of the school shows; he says he is very happy with the shape of the show and already has ideas about “tweaks” for next Fall’s run.
On Sunday, VOIS makes it to the “big time” – the National Arts Centre in the nation’s capital! And they respond by giving two very fine performances for appreciative audiences. It was a special afternoon for many reasons:
- being selected to be part of this very excellent adventure called “BC Scene”
- performing in the National Arts Centre facilities
- having full audiences (much to the happiness of the NAC staff who hadn’t been too confident about how the show would sell)
- and, after three months of touring throughout BC and now in Ottawa, giving the final performances (#62 & 63) of this first tour
The evening saw us attending a terrific concert featuring our own, (we claim proprietary rights on her now!), Veda Hille, as she performed on a double bill with the Canadian folk icon, Penny Lang. It’s a fun concert – great tunes, great audience sing-a-longs and some completely unexpected information about mating habits under the Northern Skies. Veda is her usual wonderful self, winning over an audience that at first seems just a little unsure of what to make of someone who is obviously taking them on a slightly different musical journey from they were expecting; by the end of her set, however, everyone understands that they’re listening to a very unique composer and performer.
We close the evening with a quick visit to a “local” to trade a few stories and put up a toast to a successful and enjoyable time in the world of Jack Pine. There’s a smile on everyone’s face
The cast flies home on Monday afternoon and will be – like the seeds of their tree characters – scattering to the winds for some new adventures: some will be travelling to new and exciting places, some will be taking slow, deep breaths and letting the craziness of the past few months seep away and some will be participating in new activities aimed at developing their singing and performance skills for the future.
At the moment, all are eager to return to VOIS in the Fall and resume their roles in
Jack Pine – they love the music and the libretto, they love the excitement that their show generates with student audiences and they love performing throughout the province.
For me, the last few days have been a complete privilege - to be in Ottawa with the cast as they brought this first segment of JP’s life to a close is a memory that will live on for a very long time.
~ Michael Grice, Education Director
The composer John Adams and the were among the five recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts‘ 2009 Opera Honors, the agency announced on Monday. In a release, the agency said that it had chosen Mr. Adams, the composer of Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic, and the other artists for their “extraordinary contributions to opera in the United States.”
"The unfeasibly popular Twitter #operaplot contest is back, courtesy of the blogger and Tweeter the Omniscient Mussel (follow her as missmussel)."
Of all Strauss’s operas Salome is my favourite. From the first note to the last it is intense, passionate, inspired and has a power which for me, once I got to know the piece, was so profound that it left an indelible mark. I can distinctly remember hearing for the first time the moment when Salome waits for John the Baptist’s head to be brought to her: a solo double bass playing short jabbing notes, high up on the instrument over a quiet, almost inaudible bass drum roll. The effect is tense beyond belief and I can’t think of anybody having written quite like that before. The opera’s virtuosic, sensational orchestration takes your breath away and the arching structure of the work bends inexorably towards Salome’s literally crushing death. It is extraordinary theatre and for me sums up the ‘expressionist’ movement of the day that was exploding all around in every artistic discipline. By expressionism I mean reality that, in the hands of an artist, is twisted to extract the maximum emotional effect. I love it! 
Edel Rodriguez’ designs for their Golden Anniversary 2009-2010 Season have been selected for the influential Communication Arts magazine’s 50th annual illustration competition!
Rodriguez brings a bold, intriguing aesthetic to Vancouver Opera’s Golden Anniversary season, which anticipates VO’s bright future and honours the company’s illustrious past. 
A 50th Anniversary Gala Concert on November 6, 2009, conducted by VO’s esteemed music director, Jonathan Darlington, will launch the season. 
Vancouver Opera congratulates Edel and looks forward to working with him during this milestone year!
Marian Anderson, world renown African-American contralto sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley returns to VO to sing the role of John the Baptist in Richard Strauss’s Salome, following his commanding performances in the title role of Macbeth, in 2006. Possessing one of the largest and most expressive bass voices in opera, Greer Grimsley has established himself as a leading interpreter of the Wagner repertoire, as well as of major roles by Strauss, Verdi, Britten, and Puccini. This calendar year began with performances of Scarpia in Tosca with San Diego Opera, followed by Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde at Teatro Colon, in Buenos Aires. This summer, he appears as Wotan and the Wanderer in the Ring Cycle with Seattle Opera. His appearance with VO is his tenth as John the Baptist during his career. VO caught up with him recently and asked him these questions. 
