Parlando: The COC Blog

By Jon Kaplan, Senior Theatre Writer at NOW magazine

If you think of a tortured operatic love triangle, you’ll most likely come up with a scenario where the soprano (occasionally a mezzo) is caught between the tenor and the baritone; sometimes the latter changes to a mezzo. Tosca, Aida and Carmen come to mind.

Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito offers viewers a different sort of love triangle, in which the young Roman patrician Sesto – a male role but sung by a mezzo-soprano – has pledged his loyalty both to Vitellia, daughter of the former Roman emperor, and to the current emperor, Tito.

That latter connection is based in deep friendship, but it’s more than personal. In dedicating himself to Tito, Sesto gives his loyalty to the Roman Empire and all it represents.

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by Suzanne Vanstone, Senior Communications Manager, Editorial at the Canadian Opera Company

Opera is already an art form that encompasses so much – music, poetry, dance, drama, storytelling. They all serve to complement each other and allow an audience to become fully immersed in the theatrical experience. So it is perfectly natural for opera to seek and absorb other aspects for enrichment. Video is one of these.

We have certainly experienced video effects in previous productions the COC has presented. From Atom Egoyan’s Salome (which we are remounting this spring) to our recent production of Love from Afar, video and video projections are no strangers to our opera audience. But they are often employed for short periods of time, or as a “still” projection, to enhance a certain set or scene. In Peter Sellars’ production of Tristan und Isolde, the video that renowned video artist Bill Viola has created, is integral to this production and runs for the entire length of the five-hour opera. The exquisite marriage of video, music and drama is seamless. The video becomes one with the stage and Viola’s use of primal elements of fire and water emotionally illustrate the lovers’ journey in a wholly spiritual and sensory way.

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