Stage Door News
Stage Door News
From its inception in 1974, VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert has been noted for rarities in performance. This tradition continues on Sunday, November 26 with RODELINDA by George Frideric Handel with Larry Beckwith conducting the orchestra. One of Handel’s most masterful scores, RODELINDA requires both dazzling bravura displays and interpretive insight from its principal artists. VOICEBOX: Opera in Concerts welcomes soprano Christina Raphaëlle Haldane (Rodelinda), and tenor Charles Sy (Grimoaldo) in debut roles and returning artists countertenor David Trudgen (Bertarido) and baritone Alexander Dobson (Garibaldo).
From British Columbia, Ms. Haldane has been engaged by the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and many other European opera centres including the Finnish National Opera where she was heard in the role of Cleopatra in Handel’s GIULIO CESARE. Other Handel roles in her repertoire include the title role in ALCINA and the Queen of Sheba in SOLOMON, which she performed in Krakow. OIC is delighted to introduce Christina to Toronto audiences. No stranger to OIC patrons, countertenor David Trudgen specializes in the operatic works of Handel and has been hailed in the title of ORLANDO and GIULIO CESARE as well as Nerone in AGRIPPINA and Dardano in AMADIGI DE GAULA for Boston Baroque, Chicago Opera Theatre and Michigan Opera Theatre among others.
From Toronto, prize-winning tenor Charles Sy is an alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and is now in New York as a member of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. This thrilling young tenor brings passion and commitment to both his opera and concert performances. Well-known baritone Alexander Dobson appears with Toronto Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Tafelmusik, D.C.’s Opera Lafayette and was most recently heard in Toronto Masque Theatre’s DIDO and AENEAS. Emerging artist Gena van Oosten and Meagan Larios complete the casting for RODELINDA, a production with full orchestra, in a semi-staged version and fully memorized with Larry Beckwith conducting a period orchestra.
Handel’s tale of dynastic intrigue and betrayal in Lombardy premiered at the Haymarket Theatre in February of 1725 and was so popular, he revived it a number of times with great success. The music is vivid from the overture on and among its solo treasures, Burney singled out Dove sei as one of the ‘capital and pleasing airs’ that give the score its strength.
Opera in Concert is supported by the Jackman Foundation, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, Classical 96.3 FM and EPOCH Times. Single tickets are available from the St. Lawrence Centre’s 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 2:30 pm.
Photo: Christina Raphaëlle Haldane.
2017-11-07
Toronto: Voicebox: Opera in Concert presents Handel's "Rodelinda" semi-staged on November 26