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Lev Bratishenko

MUSIC

I’m A Queen! Queen! Queen!

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Cendrillon, Opera de Montréal

by Lev Bratishenko
01.06.2010

I asked for it, I understand. I spent two seasons nipping at Opera de Montreal for its turgid sets and now it seems somebody must have been listening. Somebody powerful, with deep pockets and an insatiable hunger for the colour pink.

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MUSIC

Tasty Exotic Fruit

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Simon Boccanegra, Place des Arts

by Lev Bratishenko
16.03.2010

In opera as in the grocery store there are the strange fruit (ugli, figli, migli). Usually they will sit in your fruit bowl and look comfortably exotic. Sometimes visiting children will play with them. And occasionally they will get eaten, almost always with surprising pleasure. Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra is such a fruit, and Opera de [...]

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MUSIC

Poor Wet Cat Redux

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Nelligan, Monument National

by Lev Bratishenko
08.03.2010

André Gagnon’s opera Nelligan premiered in 1990 at the Grand Theatre de Québec with a pop cast. On Saturday, the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal reprised it, twenty years on, at the Monument National. A more ambitious production than anything the Opéra de Montréal has dared at Place des Arts, it is full of [...]

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THEATRE

Charming, Disarming Company

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Geometry In Venice, Segal Centre

by Lev Bratishenko
05.02.2010

My quarrelsome companion and I argued during the intermission of Michael Mackenzie’s Geometry in Venice. She claimed I was only interested in comparing the play with Henry James’ novella, on which it is based, and that this was ‘boring’. I claimed she was drunk. Of course, I was completely correct.

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MUSIC

Shoot Him Again!

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Tosca, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

by Lev Bratishenko
02.02.2010

Tosca! The name has teeth for good reason. Puccini’s opera averages a death every 37 minutes. It includes 19th century Italian politics, the homicidal lusting of a Roman police chief, a jealous girlfriend, and a superfluity of hypocrites. This is distilled opera of few peers in the repertoire, and is often a final examination for [...]

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FESTIVALS

Feeding Those Baroque Wolves

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Montreal Bach Festival

by Lev Bratishenko
28.11.2009

Bach is big. Musically, yeah? He’s gigantic that way. We don’t know exactly how big Bach the dude was, but the Montreal Bach Festival is definitely much smaller. Of course, it’s still something to be reckoned with (it is important to be clear when dealing with Germanic temperaments.)

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MUSIC

Boy Prince And Birdbrain Get Lost

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The Magic Flute, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

by Lev Bratishenko
11.11.2009

You can’t have opera without ridiculous plot devices, and the older the opera the worse they get. But modern audiences are used to comprehensible plots and characters that aren’t allegories, so we turn our attention to the singing or fall asleep (Mister Parterre W38). Opéra de Montréal presents The Magic Flute, and the singing is [...]

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MUSIC

Killer Clowns & The Funny Dead

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Pagliacci, Gianni Schicchi, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

by Lev Bratishenko
30.09.2009

The opening night of an opera season is an anxious bit of business. Chandeliers can fall, stage directors can quit, and it takes a few concerts to forget such things (well, not the stage directors.) So we sit in the darkened hall and cross our fingers, for their sakes.

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MUSIC

A Talent Worth Kidnapping

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LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, PLACE DES ARTS

by Lev Bratishenko
27.05.2009

For the next two weeks Montréal sits atop international opera like Humpty Dumpty on his wall. Opera de Montréal’s Lucia di Lammermoor is the best show of the season, a triumph whose success will bring attention to the company. Unfortunately, the production does not match the strength of the cast, and I doubt I’m the [...]

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