Yesterday (Sunday) was the day of our big photo shoot for Opera Atelier’s 2012-2013 season. It was a challenge coming up with an image that could incorporate elements of two such disparate pieces of repertoire – Weber’s Der Freischütz and Mozart’s The Magic Flute – but we’ve come up with a wonderfully successful solution. I don’t want to give too much away because the image really does speak for itself in the most magical, almost surreal way – and we’ll share it with you as soon as possible! It involved many of our favourite singers and dancers who so frequently act as models for OA promotional photos, and a couple of gorgeous new additions.

A big thank-you to OA resident photographer Bruce Zinger for once again taking on a day-long project, and to designer Gerard Gauci for art-directing a very challenging shoot. We feel so privileged to work with such talented and generous artists. Special thanks to our wonderful Interim General Manager Patricia Barretto, Production Manager Evelyn Campbell and Special Events & Corporate Development Coordinator Deanna Boychuck for giving up a day of their weekend to help ensure the success of the shoot.

I also want to share details with you about our special Valentine’s Day deal:

We’re hard at work on our steamy production of Armide (on stage April 14-21) and we want to extend to you a special limited-time offer to come see what all the buzz is about. The mystical, moving love affair of a Muslim warrior princess and a Christian knight plays out against a backdrop of obsession, jealousy and magic in this supreme operatic masterpiece of the 17th century.

Our 2-for-1 ticket offer makes a perfect Valentine’s Day gift: culture, true love and the promise of a special night on the town! Go to ticketmaster.ca or call 1.855.622.2787(ARTS) and quote LOVE by Feb 15. Offer subject to availability and available in sections B and C only.

Click here to read the press release.

Click here for more information on the production!

We’ve just posted a video of “the making” of our Don Giovanni poster. The photo shoot (with Bruce Zinger) was one of the most hilarious we’ve ever had and the process really has to be seen to be believed. You can see the video on Opera Atelier’s website. Please share it with all of your friends – I think it’s the best advertising we could possibly have.

The focus and energy that the Artists of Atelier Ballet brought to the Dance Workshop exceeded all of our expectations. We now have to put this beautiful repertoire to one side in order to focus on something equally thrilling but utterly dissimilar: our brand new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The sets and costumes are being built as I write this and our award-winning design team of Gerard Gauci and Martha Mann have created a production I have always dreamed of. I had great fun yesterday recording several versions of a Don Giovanni radio commercial with mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell. Laura is one of the funniest people I have ever known, and suffice to say that she has outdone herself in these one-minute ads. Be sure to listen for them on Classical 96.3!

Our summer workshop includes singing and dancing and all workshop participants must embrace both disciplines. By this I mean all of our singers will be dancing and all of our dancers will sing. The program will include sung and danced excerpts from Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Hercules, and Semele. The public performance will take place in the beautiful ballroom on the third floor of St. Lawrence Hall at 157 King Street East on Friday, August 12 at noon. I hope that many of OA’s friends will be able to join us for this charming presentation.

There was a gasp in the audience followed by applause when the conductor Fayçal Karoui announced that Thou Swell would be replaced with Balanchine’s Apollo – possibly his greatest ballet, set to Stravinsky’s glorious score. To add to the excitement, it had been decided that a young corps de ballet member would dance the title role along with three of the company’s most accomplished female dancers. I’ve no doubt you’ve already guessed that when the curtain came up, we saw the young man who had so impressed us in Diamonds earlier that day – a rising star named Chase Finlay.

It was one of the most moving performances of Apollo I’ve ever seen. Having so young a dancer in the title role underlined the choreographer’s intention – that of seeing a young god realizing his divinity while he is taught to harness his powers. I could go on at length about the remarkable combination of rawness and sophistication that Chase Finlay brought to the role, but I am afraid I would run out of superlatives. The audience’s response and the critics’ reviews speak for themselves. This remarkable, modest young dancer has all the makings of a truly exceptional artist. It was a privilege to be there.

Saturday afternoon of June 11, we took in a performance of Jewels, one of Balanchine’s great masterpieces. We’ve seen it many times, performed by many companies, but this was the first time we saw the New York City Ballet performing this work, which was created for them. The experience surpassed anything we could have hoped for.

Balanchine’s technique, speed, attack, and overall aesthetic seems to be part of the DNA of these dancers and we felt as though we were watching the ballet for the first time. Principal dancer Jenifer Ringer was a standout as always, but she was the first among equals, moving with dizzying speed and precision. The entire company looked so proud and focused: it was a real privilege to watch them.

During the third movement (Diamonds), Jeannette, Jack and I were struck by an astonishing young dancer in the corps de ballet who seemed to draw focus every time he crossed the stage. Speaking to each other after the show, we were amused to discover that during Diamonds, all three of us were giving a great deal of our attention to this tall, blonde, extremely young corps member, whether he was in the front line or the back. As we only attend New York City Ballet once or twice a year, we had no idea who he was. Later the same day when we attended an evening performance by the same company, we saw this extraordinary young man thrown into one of the greatest roles of Balanchine’s repertoire. We truly felt we were watching dance history in the making.

More about this on Monday!

You may have heard that Opera Atelier intends, in the not-too-distant future, to explore some 19^th century repertoire. This will be a huge departure for OA and Tafelmusik, musically, theatrically and visually.

We had already discussed the possibility of using the 19^th century German artist Caspar Friedrich as a take-off point for set designs with OA designer Gerard Gauci. Imagine our excitement when we discovered the Met was hosting a special exhibition entitled “Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19^th Century”. This beautifully conceived exhibition featured a retrospective of paintings by Caspar Friedrich and his contemporaries. The introspective, mystic atmosphere of the exhibit struck exactly the note we had hoped and gave us enormous amounts of material to draw on for OA’s upcoming production (TBA!).

Of course, it’s impossible to step in the Metropolitan Museum of Art without being drawn in multiple directions. It represents one of the most spectacular collections in North America and it never disappoints. In addition to the Caspar Friedrich exhibition, we visited a breathtaking exhibit of pastel portraits from the 18^th century, the new Greek and Roman galleries, and the Met’s permanent collection of 19^th century painting and sculpture. It was a dizzying experience and one which we will undoubtedly draw on in the months ahead as we prepare for upcoming OA seasons.

Check in next week to read more about our experiences at New York City Ballet – the greatest ballet company in the world!

Let me begin by outlining how I will be occupied over the summer now that Clemenza has wrapped up. For me, my summer schedule began officially last Sunday when students from the School of Atelier Ballet performed their Dance Through Time program in the ballroom of St. Lawrence Hall as part of Doors Open. The two performances were a great success. I always find it extremely moving to see young people challenging themselves and making such an enormous effort in a public sphere.

I decided to allow myself the luxury of spending the past week working on our fall 2012 production (TBA!), but as of next Monday I must apply myself to the real task at hand: preparing for our upcoming singer and dancer workshops. In this August’s workshops we will bring our cast together in order to examine the score of Lully’s Armide. We consider workshops for French Baroque repertoire to be absolutely essential, even for artists who have worked with us extensively in the past. The French Baroque represents an aesthetic world all it’s own, and a production could never be prepared in the five-week period which we would allot for a production of Mozart or Handel. OA choreographer Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, music director David Fallis and French coach Charles Di Meilo will all be on hand along with our accompanists as we come to grips with the music, text and dancing of this superb score.

Add to this the fact that Jeannette and I will be teaching for Tafelmusik’s Baroque Summer Institute, in addition to running our own summer school for the School of Atelier Ballet, and you can imagine our plates will be full!

We’ll have a short run out to New York for three days to take in three performances of New York City Ballet (the greatest ballet company in the world!) and to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their special exhibition of Romantic-era paintings featuring Caspar Friedrich and his contemporaries.

And before I forget, I have just had a phone call from costume designer Martha Mann telling me she has just returned from New York City, having found all the material she was searching for, for our fall production of Don Giovanni.