Parlando: The COC Blog

On November 29, 10 young singers will participate in the COC Ensemble Studio Competition, competing for cash prizes and a position in the prestigious Ensemble Studio training program for emerging artists. Each day we will introduce you to one of our finalists. Today's finalist? Baritone Clarence Frazer.

Mississauga baritone Clarence Frazer is pursuing a career in opera because he can’t imagine his life without music. He’s following advice given to him by Canadian choral conductor and teacher Jean Ashworth Bartle: "You should never pursue a career in music unless it’s something you cannot live without.”

With that in mind, Clarence chose to study opera at the University of Western Ontario because he knew that “studying the classical art form, no matter which style I [eventually] chose to sing, was the right way to go.” He adds, “What is so compelling to me about opera is the fact that we get to take a piece of art which was composed hundreds of years ago, present it to a modern audience, and show how relevant the music and stories still are in today's world.”

If he weren’t an opera singer, he would still be involved in music. One day, he shares, he “would like to take some training in conducting.”

After studying at Western, Clarence joined the Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artists Program, where he will play Count Gil (Il segreto di Susanna), Ramiro (L’heure espangol) and Dottore Grenvil (La Traviata) in 2013.

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For Episode 6, the “All-Blogger Edition”, we welcome back John Gilks and Leslie Barcza, and for the first time, Lydia Perovic. Hosting once again is the COC’s Adult Programs Manager, Gianmarco Segato.

To mark the passing of composer Hans Werner Henze, we discuss the current state and future of contemporary opera in Europe, the U.K. and North America. Then, what's with all the booing? We look at David Alden’s new staging of Un ballo in maschera at the Met. Lydia plugs her new opera-based novel and we chat with Nina Draganic, Director of Programming for the COC's Free Concert Series who highlights some special upcoming November and December concerts. Finally, we re-visit Catherine Clément’s seminal book, Opera: the undoing of women, inspired by a recent article about Australian Opera’s Salome/Lucia/Butterfly season and our own spring duo of Lucia di Lamermoor and Salome.

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