Stage Door News
Stage Door News
L’ISOLA DISABITATA (The Deserted Island) by Franz Josef Haydn receives its Toronto premiere at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on Sunday, February 5, 2017at 2:30 pm. “Haydn’s orchestral, instrumental and choral works are familiar to audiences the world over and eagerly anticipated in the concert hall” said VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert’s General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin. “His substantial number of operas are far more rarely heard and we take great pride in presenting one of the very best as part of our current season”. Tim Ashley, Guardian classical and opera critic in London called it “a gem, essentially a clever Enlightenment parable about the relationship between humanity's natural instincts and society”.
THE DESERTED ISLAND is unique to Haydn’s operatic output in several ways. At the time of its premiere in 1779 at the Eszterháza palace, he had not written a serious opera in 18 years and this azione teatrale is further distinguished by recitative accompanied entirely by the orchestra and a libretto by Metastasio. The work is very much a chamber opera; there are four soloists, full orchestra, no chorus and only two acts.
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert is delighted to welcome conductor and music director Kevin Mallon and his Aradia Ensemble back to the VOICBOX: Opera in Concert stage. Artistic Director and conductor of Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings, Kevin Mallon has been responsible for many recordings, seral of which have been prize winners at the international level and he is increasingly in demand by orchestras across Canada and the United States. He will lead a cast of stellar young Canadian singers including the debut of soprano Valérie Bélanger as Sylvia and mezzo-soprano Marjorie Maltais as Costanza. Tenor Asitha Tennekoon sings the role of Gernando, Costanza’s long lost husband, and the renowned baritone Alexander Dobson will be heard as Enrico. Patrons of OIC will remember Dobson for his intense performance of Dr. George Nelson in the World Premiere of Wilson’s KAMOURASKA.
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert is supported by the Jackman Foundation, J. P. Bickell Foundation and Nancy’s Very Own Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. Media partners include Classical 96.3 FM and EPOCH Times. Single tickets are available from the St. Lawrence Centre’s Jane Mallett Theatre Box Office, 27 Front St. East, by phone – 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754 – or online at www.stlc.com. The theatre is wheelchair accessible and close to public transit and municipal parking. All performances are on Sunday afternoons at the St. Lawrence Centre at 2:30pm.
2017-01-05
Toronto: Voicebox: Opera in Concert presents Haydn's "L'isola disabitata" February 5