Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Opera by Request (OBR) will be commemorating its ten-year anniversary with a semi-staged performance of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier on June 9th and 10th at 6:30pm at Church of the Redeemer (162 Bloor St W). Since its inception, OBR has produced more than 200 performances of 90 different operas featuring hundreds of singers. We celebrate this momentous anniversary with an ambitious production of a dream opera. These performances will feature a new, intimate reduction of the score performed by a chamber orchestra, thus signalling the direction OBR endeavours to take in the next ten years.
William Shookhoff (Director) founded Opera By Request in January 2007. The inspiration for this company grew out of his decades of work, and by extension, his knowledge of coaching and conducting singers on operatic repertoire across Canada, USA, and Europe. He understood firsthand what young professional singers were lacking and realized that true knowledge of a role can only come from performing an entire opera with a full cast on stage. From the beginning, Shookhoff has invited singers to propose and co-produce operas, with the intention to build the singer’s repertoire and performance experience. Thus, OBR was established with the mandate of providing emerging artists with meaningful performance experience to help develop their careers while building appropriate repertoire.
Since then, many singers have used the opportunities provided by OBR to significantly advance their careers. Other artists, already established, have tried out a role prior to performing it with a major company for the first time, or have enjoyed singing a dream role in an opera not likely to be presented to them in any other way. Shookhoff, whose own operatic career spans four decades and includes opera companies on both sides of the Atlantic as well as university, festival, and music theatre engagements, sees OBR as a way to give back to the operatic community and to provide opportunities for emerging talent, just as established mentors (including Canadian icons Herman Geiger-Torel, Ernesto Barbini, and Mario Bernardi) provided those opportunities for artists of his generation.
This tenth anniversary production of Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Maestro Shookhoff, is a culmination of the work, mentoring, encouragement, and crucial performance opportunities given to OBR artists. German-born, Calgary-based bass Uwe Dambruch, who has performed throughout Europe and Western Canada, sings Baron Ochs. Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain, recently of Dutch National Opera; Aldeburgh Festival; and Vienna’s Musikverein, sings Marschallin. Barbara King, fresh off her appearance with the Edmonton Opera in Elektra, sings the title role, while Toronto soprano Danielle Dudycha, current doctoral candidate at UofT and former resident artist with the Calgary Opera and Ottawa’s Opera Lyra, sings Sophie. Brahm Goldhamer will deliver a pre-concert talk; the chamber orchestration, created for Victory Hall Opera of Virginia, will receive its second airing in Toronto.
We look forward to welcoming you to this special performance and celebration! Tickets can be purchased online via www.obr10.ca. More information can also be obtained via email (operabyrequest.news@gmail.com), on Facebook (Opera by Request presents Der Rosenkavalier), or by phoning 416-455-2365.
Photo: Angela Denoke (The Marshallin) and Stepanie Houtzeel (Octavian) in Der Rosenkavalier at the Wiener Staatsoper. ©2013 Michael Pöhn.
2017-03-31
Toronto: Opera by Request celebrates its 10th anniversary with "Der Rosenkavalier" June 9-10