Digital Audio Series
Key Change is the COC’s new podcast, co-hosted by classical singer and culture critic Robyn Grant-Moran, a member of the COC’s Circle of Artists, alongside stage director, dramaturg and COC Academy graduate Julie McIsaac. Our bi-weekly episodes explore the operagoing experience from a variety of perspectives, offering a fresh take on today's opera issues with special guests from the opera field and beyond.
EPISODE 1: Welcome to the Opera House
In our first episode, co-hosts Robyn Grant-Moran and Julie McIsaac chat with four special guests from both inside and outside the opera world about their first experiences with the art form - the good, the bad and the ugly. You'll hear from acclaimed soprano Angel Blue, who saw her first opera at the age of four; Canadian visual artist Shary Boyle, who draws some amazing comparisons between opera and thrash metal bands; the COC's own Music Director, Johannes Debus; and soprano Midori Marsh, a new member of the COC’s Ensemble Studio training program for Canada’s rising opera stars.
Subscribe to Key Change, wherever you get your podcasts:
LINKS:
Watch HiHo Kids: "Kids Meet an Opera Singer" with soprano Angel Blue.
Learn more about Shary Boyle's work including information about her upcoming solo show, Outside the palace of Me.
FEATURED MUSIC:
Key Change theme: R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier; Herbert von Karajan, conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra; Warner Classics, 1956
Puccini's Turandot; Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, conductor with the Orchestra del Teatro Dell'Opera di Roma; Warner Classics, 1965
Puccini's Turandot; "In questa reggia;" Tamara Wilson, soprano; Carlo Rizzi, conductor with the COC Orchestra; COC, 2019
Verdi's Aida; "O patria mia;" Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano; Constantine Orbelian, conductor with the Philharmonia of Russia; DELOS, 2010
MEET OUR CO-HOSTS
ROBYN GRANT-MORAN
Robyn Grant-Moran (Métis) is a classical singer, writer, and a jack of many trades who, in 2018 met the requirements to call herself a Bachelor of the Fine Arts at York University. That same year, Robyn participated in the Performance Criticism Training Program with Generator Toronto where she learned that theatre criticism can be used to push for more inclusive spaces and champion voices less heard and often misunderstood; so of course she fell in love. Since then, she’s been published in Alt.Theatre and Intermission Magazine, won the Nathan Cohen Award for Outstanding Emerging Critic, and joined the Canadian Opera Company’s Circle of Artists, to name a few. Robyn currently resides in Tkaronto (Toronto), weathering the pandemic with her wee rat dog in a box in the sky.
JULIE McISAAC
Canadian stage director Julie McIsaac was named the COC’s first Director/Dramaturg-in-Residence in 2019 and is now Lead Curator of Opera Everywhere, the company's reimagined 20/21 season. A versatile opera and theatre artist, her projects work towards reshaping and revitalizing the stories told on stage. During her residency with the COC, she served as Assistant Director on Joel Ivany's production of Hansel and Gretel (COC) and she is the Dramaturg and Director of the upcoming COC commission Fantasma, composed by COC Composer-in-Residence Ian Cusson with libretto by Colleen Murphy. Julie earned her Master’s degree in Theatre from the University of York (UK) and is also a graduate of Carleton University (Music) and the Canadian College of Performing Arts (Theatre Performance and Playwriting). www.juliemcisaac.com
