If you haven’t noticed, this is the season for early opera lovers in Canada. We are seeing it everywhere, including The Toronto Consort’s upcoming in-concert presentation of Francesco Cavalli’s Giasone (1649) on April 4th, and the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Handel’s Hercules (1744) on April 5th.
Cavalli’s Giasone has become something of a pop hit nowadays; but if you had mentioned Cavalli 20 years ago, most opera lovers would give you a blank stare. For the Toronto Consort, Giasone offers a unique opportunity to discover anew one of the 17th century’s most popular operas.
I caught up with Artistic Director David Fallis to talk about what people can expect from their closing event for the 2013/14 season.
“Not many have heard Cavalli’s opera, but the Toronto Consort likes to do things which are a little bit off the beaten path,” Fallis jests, “especially when we believe that they deserve to be heard.”
The Toronto Consort has enjoyed great success with their on-going series of early opera in concert masterworks. But for Fallis, Cavalli represents a need for audiences to hear something new. “There are a number of people in the music loving world who find that contemporary music is somewhat challenging. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested in new work. So if you can find something new in their comfort zone… they get a kind of freshness that is important in music”.
However, he points out that it is not enough to present something new for its own sake – it must be “worthwhile and quality work.”
In terms of what people can expect next Friday, the plot is loosely inspired by the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece. It centres on the mythical tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who try to get his throne back after his evil uncle Pelias has usurped it. With the help of Medea, they seek to slay a forever-awake dragon that guards the ram’s golden fleece. But as in any good opera, the story focuses heavily on the sorted and entwining love affairs between the characters; especially Medea and Giasone.
One unique aspect about the work is that it represents an early example of tragic comedia. Fallis quips. “…this telling of the story is extremely irreverent and comic, but at the same time it also includes darker tones, similar to those found in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” What many people don’t know was that “Cavalli was the inheritor of Mondeverdi’s mantle and even studied with him at one point.”
One of the interesting things about Giasone was that the part of Giasone was written for an alto-castrato. Fallis thought the role would be great for the Consorts own mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell, and Michelle DeBoer as Medea – Giasone’s main squeeze.
Fallis describes the instrumental writing as “very sparse, as these operas are still very much about telling a story, and so they leave a lot to just the voice and simple accompaniment with instruments like the theorbo and harpsichord.” The period orchestra will also include strings, recorders (added by Fallis), baroque harp, organ, and viola da gamba.
The concert will be held at Trinity St. Paul’s Jeanne Lamon Hall, which Fallis mentioned has greatly improved since its new renovation. “We used to do a lot of elegant sophisticated madrigals in the space, but now you can do it without having to the push the sound at all. It’s just perfect.”
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Giasone will be presented: April 4th and 5th at 8:00 PM, and April 6th at 3:30 PM, at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall. For tickets and information, visit www.torontoconsort.org or call the box office at (416) 964-6337.
Guillaume Bernardi, Associate Professor in Drama Studies at Glendon College, York University, will give a free pre-concert talk in the gym one hour prior to each concert.
For an excerpt of the opera, take a look at this clip from the world premiere recording on DVD featuring Christophe Dumaux in the role of Giasone.
Michael Vincent
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