Light Opera of Montreal LOOM
3350 rue Jeanne Mance #319 H2X 3P7 Montreal, QC, Canada

5 years ago at this time, we were in first dress rehearsal for The Tender Land. I made them stay late to finish this mountainous piece we had to climb and get through it with the musicians, choreography (thank god my mother made me take square dance lessons in 6th and 7th grade). It's slowed way down and goes to hell in a handbasket at the end. but we got better and better. Dedicated to my square dance partner Mary France! We miss you on this earth! Just found this little movie in my archives. enjoy

Continuing with Sondheim's Birthday Week. Doing a production in Quebec, it's imperative it's somewhat bilingual. We decided Lucy was from Paris, where Sweeney Todd met her and married her. It helped later on when the beggar/Lucy was always commenting on what was going on in the pie shop with the smell of burning human flesh etc. I just changed two lines in Poor Thing: He had this wife, you see, pretty little thing, fell in love in Paris and put on her finger a ring. I also had the Beatle and Lucy/Johanna sing parts to give it more variety as this piece is all exposition. Love the chorus. Shannon did a great job!

Happy 91st Stephen Sondheim. So honoured to have directed and performed Sweeney Todd, his masterpiece, well that and Sunday in the Park and Company and...well he's a genius, a little self-indulgent as i had to cut an hour out of Sweeney but a genius. My fave is the quartet featured here from Sweeney Todd

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Found this rehearsal set at the end of something else i had digitalized. We start with Sondheim (Follies, Sweeney Todd fame) You'll notice (Giancarlo) the vamp and it's rhythm is the beginning of Sweeny Todd's Johanna Quartet. University/Conservatory rehearsals in the 80's. I know we all miss rehearsing music, so here you are. There is also one of my songs from the Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt musical, which is a pale copy of The Fantasticks which ran for 28 years or so. TheTape is a little bad, did it with my little tape recorder so i could rehease on my own with the tape. Enjoy https://youtu.be/7EqCDImRIw8

Found this gem of Dawn Upshaw singing Debussy. Bought it on itunes immediately. What a great combination: Dawn & Debussy. Impressionistic to the point of dreaming i'm in a Monet while i spend a cold afternoon in Vancouver just listening and dancing on the water in the moonlight (well that's what it sounds like to me) https://youtu.be/m5nnYj-7YiU

It's about to start. Opera Theatre of St. Louis, my university home! New composers and writers, how exciting

Always wanted to do Carousel, in my opinion the most operatic of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Used to do the Sololquy at piano bar in Fire Island and was my main work piece senior year of voice at Webster Conservatory. It's a challenge to breathe, sing and workout, but you know you're doing it right, like laying on the floor when you sing, you can't cheat and must get a full breath and release all the air before the next breath. Also, since you're tensing other muscles through exercise, you less likely to tense your neck flexers or vocal chords. Just for fun and wanting to sing in these covid times, plus the stretching room has great acoustics!

NEW Dawn Upshaw modern piece! https://youtu.be/FmxRlINV_ik

Pedro (The Tender Land, Trouble in Tahiti, Sweeney Todd) and I translated and wrote English lyrics for this Peruvian piece, composed by Pedro's cousin and sung in Peru. We started with the original, Pedro's ideas, and then had to make it ryhme in limerick-type format, with percussive words and strategic pauses for anticipation. It was nice to be paid! I can't wait for Pedro to sing this also and do a release! LOOM still working. Happy Birthday, Pedro! https://fb.watch/2HdIkz4G7-/

I fell in love with MENOTTI in NYC when i co-directed City Singers with Helen (my first choir i managed). I fell in love with this piece from Amahl! I thought you would enjoy how music stays with you!

It's Giving Tuesday. Please donate to our future productions at: http://lightoperaofmontreal.org

It's virtually this Saturday! Check out the link below! Opera McGill and Menotti! Oh what fun!

Opera McGill will present online, Menotti's Old Maid and the Thief, Saturday November 21. It's a sweet little piece, and i had the joy of hearing my fave diva, Dawn Upshaw, sing "What a Curse" in LA at a UCLA concert in 2003, AND I met her and talked voice with her (she had just come off a long-needed rest period for her voice). What a nice lady and we talked and talked about music, voice, life of a vocalist. Her voice is so easy, it's like she's sighing or yawning, the ultimate! https://youtu.be/NsmRRJc1kR8

What could be more ghoulish for Halloween than meat pies made from human flesh & bone? Presenting our re-hash (get it? hash?) of our production last year of SWEENEY TODD! https://youtu.be/HB46oI2Vxnw

Opera will be alive and well in St. Louis, just not in the great theatre where i performed, but outdoors on the grand lawn as well as a virtual program which includes La Boheme and Pirates of Penzance. The exciting outdoor performances range from Stewart Walker and Michael Korie's "Harvy Milk" (you know how i love modern opera) to Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi". How i wish to be back in Ole St. Louie this summer!

Remembering the last Broadway show I was able to see live, and I believe it was the last one Graeme and Marcel were able to see. Ah! Live performances. What I loved about this show besides the giant divas Patti Lupone & Christine Ebersole, is that the show utilizes the talents of older women, that their voices still are strong and brilliant! As the cosmetic giants Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden (from Ontario!), music by the new generation of composers, Scott Frank...el who also did the musical of Grey Gardens, this fantasy of the two makeup queens actually meeting speaks of how they built multimillion dollar companies in the age where women had no place in business, only to have it taken away by the modern corporate world...what was it all for? I thought you would enjoy how it was made, the cast album production, just a glimpse into making a musical piece with an orchestra. Oh! to sing with an orchestra again. In Vancouver i will again search for a composer to create a modern one-act opera for LOOM. We go on in these difficult times, as these women trudged through a man's world to find their own success. https://youtu.be/nI_J9BvrFEk

Tender Land's wonderful flutist and fellow midwesterner/fabulous guitarist will be on the radio this Wednesday, check it out below.

Well, that's one way to do it. I can't wait to check it out, although i was hoping to see it in person! Yeah, OPERA!