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Ariane Cossette, sop., Wesley Harrison, ten., Alex Hetherington, mezz., Queen Hezumuryango, mezzo., Karoline Podolak, sop., Korin Thomas Smith, bar., Brian Cho, piano, Mattia Senesi, piano. Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, December 14, 2023.
We are actually in mid-December, and Christmas music is ubiquitous, in venues giant and small. Die-hard voice followers, me included, have been trying ahead to the annual
Vacation Season midday hour live performance given by the COC Ensemble Studio members. I already had a sneak preview final week, within the Vacation Carols night for members of the COC President’s Council. It whetted my urge for food for extra!
I received my fill at Winter Celebrations, a noon-hour live performance given by the Ensemble Studio. This system was just like the PC’s Vacation Carols, however longer, with a bigger viewers. The RBA was jammed to the rafters, Standing Room Solely. The Ensemble Studio singers, minus soprano Charlotte Siegel, have been joined by the 2 pianists, in a tasty program of Vacation chestnuts.
Pianist Brian Cho and Mattia Senesi kicked off the proceedings with a piano 4 arms model of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. I confess I used to be half anticipating dancers to come back out to entertain us — in any case, the RBA has lovely wooden flooring! Wishing pondering…
It was adopted by two choices from “Messiah” — Queen Hezumuryango sang “O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion,” adopted by Wesley Harrison in “Each Valley,” which he additionally sang within the President’s Council live performance, superbly I’d add, with glorious coloratura and lengthy breath-line.
Karoline Podolak and Alex Hetherington adopted up with “Gesu Bambino,” their voices mixing superbly. Baritone Korin Thomas Smith, who wasn’t on the PC Carols night, contributed a gorgeous rendition of that chestnut, “Have Your self a Merry Little Christmas.” Sure, it was a string of simple listening vacation favourites, and the viewers beloved it.
The one piece that was much less acquainted to me was the “Wexford Carol,” a standard Irish sung, right here sung superbly by mezzo Alex Hetherington. I additionally massively loved the attractive, pure timbre of soprano Karoline Podolak in “O Holy Night time.” Additionally very pretty was the rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” by soprano Ariane Cossette. I need to say that to me, it’s a chunk extra related to New 12 months’s Eve than Christmas, however I’m not complaining.
This system ended with all of the singers in “Silent Night time” and “White Christmas.” I used to be simply pondering that there was no viewers singalong. Nicely, not so quick! An enormous shock — mezzo Queen Hezumuryango informed the viewers that it was her sister’s birthday, so everybody joined in for a spherical of “Completely happy Birthday”. We received to train our vocal cords earlier than going out into the chilly air in a great temper.
Deliver on the Messiahs!
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Joseph So is Professor Emeritus at Trent College and Affiliate Editor of Opera Canada.He’s additionally a long-time contributor to La Scena Musicale and Opera (London, UK). His curiosity in music journalism focuses on voice, opera in addition to symphonic and piano repertoires. He seems often as a panel member of the Huge COC Podcast.He has co-edited a ebook, Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Tradition, Efficiency, revealed by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).
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