Dean Artists were busy at Festivals this summer!   Conductor Stewart Robertson was in Glimmerglass to conduct Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land and conductor Gary Thor Wedow led Mozart’s rarely heard Zaide at Wolftrap.   Soprano Miriam Khalil returned to the Glyndebourne Festival to cover Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Anita Krause and Allyson McHardy were both featured soloists at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago.

The local festival scene got underway with Luminato in Toronto and the North American Premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s Primadonna starring Colin Ainsworth and Gregory Dahl.  Dean Artists’ voices including Suzie LeBlanc, Leslie Ann Bradley, Lauren Segal, Sinead Sugrue, Kurt Lehmann, Nathalie Paulin, Peter McGillivray, Eric Shaw, and Doug MacNaughton were heard at the Brott Festival in Hamilton, the Elora Festival, Festivoix in Quebec, the Westben Festival, Festival Vancouver and Festival of the Sound.  Counter tenor David Trudgen was acclaimed as Mike Teavee in the World Premiere of The Golden Ticket at Opera Theatre of St. Louis earlier this summer and he repeats the role for Ireland’s Wexford Festival in October.  Joni Henson, Nathalie Paulin, Anita Krause and John Mac Master were in Ottawa and Montreal for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 conducted by Nézet-Séguin, who also helmed Don Giovanni in Montreal with Marianne Fiset, Alain Coulombe, Colin Ainsworth and Stephen Hegedus.  Ms. Fiset and Quebec super-star Marc Hervieux were the draw for a number of late summer parks concerts in Montreal, while Suzie LeBlanc toured Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina with Martin Haselböck and Musica Angelica of Los Angeles.   

Summer is also the time for professional conferences and both Carrol Anne and Henry were on the road.  Carrol Anne renewed acquaintances with a number of decision makers in the opera world in Los Angeles at the Opera America Conference and got to hear and see two of the operas in Wagner’s splendid new Ring Cycle at Los Angeles Opera.  Henry attended the League of American Orchestras Conference in Atlanta, the Orchestras Canada Conference in Winnipeg, graciously hosted by the Winnipeg Symphony, and managed to squeeze in performances of Mahler in Montreal, Chicago and Hamilton, all featuring Dean Artists.

In September Carrol Anne Curry kicked off the fall season’s staff travel with a trip to Ottawa for Turandot produced by Opera Lyra, Ottawa.  Baritone Aaron St. Clair Nicholson stole the scene as Ping, ably assisted by a very small, charming little servant who shadowed his every move.   In October, Carrol Anne heads overseas to see counter tenor David Trudgen in The Golden Ticket, re-mounted at the Wexford Festival in Ireland, followed by La Cenerentola at Glyndebourne with Allyson McHardy in the title role.   She goes on from there to London and Paris for meetings with other producers and returns home in time for the final Nozze di Figaro at Opera Hamilton.  This production features bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus in the title role, with soprano Nathalie Paulin as Susanna, Lucia Cesaroni as Barbarina and Gerald Isaac as both Don Basilio and the notary, Don Curzio. 

Henry Ingram racks up air miles with a trip to Vancouver in October for the World Premiere of John Estacio’s Lillian Alling at Vancouver Opera.  Lillian Alling is directed by Dean Artist Kelly Robinson and stars our soprano Frederique Vezina in the title role.  The cast also features tenor Colin Ainsworth, along with baritones Gregory Dahl and Aaron St Clair Nicholson and bass-baritone Thomas Goerz in important roles.  Later on in the month Henry will be at Carnegie Hall in New York for John Mac Master’s performances of the Glagolitic Mass with Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.   He also expects to meet Dean Artists Peter McGillivray and Thomas Goerz between their rehearsals at The Met.   Conductor Gary Thor Wedow is planning to smuggle Henry into Julliard School rehearsals for the Opera Centre’s fall production between his meetings at the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Opera and everyone else he can work into his schedule.

November finds Carrol Anne on the road again.  This time she travels to Victoria for Rodelinda, with the very busy Nathalie Paulin in the title role and featuring mezzo Megan Latham with baritone Bruce Kelly.  Pacific Opera Victoria’s Artistic Director Timothy Vernon conducts.  En route home she makes a stopover in Vancouver for the Verdi Requiem at Vancouver Symphony where soprano Joni Henson, mezzo-soprano Emilia Boteva and bass Alain Coulombe are featured. 

Dean Artists would like to welcome our new artists: sopranos Betty Waynne Allison, Lara Ciekiewicz, Lucia Cesaroni, Marianne Fiset and Maghan McPhee, tenor Christopher Mayell, baritone Michael Nyby, bass baritone Stephen Hegedus and conductor Ivars Taurins.

And it’s only September!