Parlando: The COC Blog

The Ensemble Studio's Mireille Asselin (last seen at the COC sharing the title role of Semele with Ambur Braid in a special Ensemble studio performance) is having a busy summer, including the roles of Phénice/Lucinde in Opera Atelier's production of Armide at the prestigious Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York. In our 2012/2013 season, she'll be singing the role of the scheming maid Adele in Die Fledermaus and the young, virtuous Servilia in La clemenza di Tito.

Mireille reports from Glimmerglass: 

"The theme this summer at Glimmerglass has been diversity. My days have been filled with everything from the grand opera of Verdi, to French Baroque, to musical theatre. And the theme extends beyond singing even – I can now add 'dancer' to my resume after the choreographer for Aida looked at me on the first day of rehearsal and asked: "How are your moves?" We've been challenged to confront our notions of repertoire and where we fit in it as performers (Verdian singers singing Lully, opera singers singing musical theatre) just as the shows push us to evaluate other stereotypes and assumptions. We've been asked to break out of our boxes, as it were, and I am grateful for the world-class artistic team, led by Francesca Zambello, who are guiding us through it. It's been a wonderful process and I look forward to sharing these wonderful shows with audiences over the next month of the festival."

You can read more about Mireille in this article by Joseph So from Opera Canada magazine. They discuss  how she sees her characters:

Vocally, Adele and Servilia fit her voice like a glove. More of a challenge is how to make these characters come alive. Asselin doesn't see Adele as empty-headed: "I'd like to portray her as someone who's smart and talented. In 'Mein Herr Marquis' (listen to the aria here) she manages to manipulate Eisenstein and not blow her cover. I'd like to think of her that way. It makes her more interesting to play." As for Servilia, Asselin says: "She's a good girl, virtuous, the woman on the pedestal, the porcelain doll. But when you think of how calm and elegant she is under pressure, in the aria she sings to Vitellia to convince her to save Sesto, Servilia has so much strength of character. She's got all the elegance and class that Vitellia doesn't have, even though Vitellia is more powerful."

We wish Mireille the best of luck in her Glimmerglass debut, and look forward to hearing her as Adele this fall!

Photo: Mireille Asselin in her costume for Armide.

After only four days together, the Summer Youth Intensive participants are putting the final touches on their original opera entitled Cyber: The Techno Opera. The participants chose to focus their story on the issue of bullying and technology’s impact on bullying over time. The premiere performance will take place on Friday, July 13, at the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre.

Take a look at Jennifer Lin’s latest SYI Video Blog for a peek into Thursday’s rehearsal process, and be sure to check back next week for a recap of Friday’s showcase.