Joel Ivany, Artistic Director of Against The Grain Theatre, on #UncleJohn

Uncle John is on his way to TO. 
by Joel Ivany, Artistic Director, Against the Grain Theatre

He wreaked utter havoc in the picturesque landscape of the Rocky Mountains, and now he's taking his game to the big city.  

It's been quite an experience taking this libretto, arrangement and production of #UncleJohn from a workshop setting at The Banff Centre to AtG's home setting for its première in Toronto. In Banff, we were able to play, practice and hone our technique with some of North America's best voice, acting and music instructors. Exploration and dramaturgy made our unique product even better, and being supported by The Banff Centre and the Canadian Opera Company ensured a high quality production. I believe wholeheartedly that had we not been able to workshop this piece in Banff, we wouldn't be able to achieve what we will do in Toronto.

First-Person: Director Joel Ivany on Carmen (Vancouver Opera)

Michel St. Aubin's costume design

Conquering Carmen (x 2)
by Joel Ivany

Carmen is a stage director's dream. This piece has it all. Rich characters, a juicy story and tunes that seep into our minds and hearts.  

This is the first production of Carmen that I've had the pleasure to direct and I'm also excited to be making my debut with one of Canada’s great opera companies, Vancouver Opera.

First-Person: Director Joel Ivany takes us inside Against The Grain's Pélleas et Mélisande

The Human Machine of Inside/Outside Opera
by Joel Ivany
@joelivany

To do this piece the way we are doing it, well… it couldn’t be done with just any cast.
We are fortunate to have an incredibly strong cast, comprising some of Canada’s leading singers.
Our cast members have worked with The Canadian Opera Company, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, De Nederlandse Opera and the Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg (among others).

Why are they working with our little group? What’s the catch?

I’ve wanted to work with Étienne Dupuis ever since I heard about him. He was singing with Miriam Khalil in La Bohème at Edmonton Opera. I then had the chance to see him on stage and hear him when he sang Escamillo at Pacific Opera Victoria. He’s an incredibly generous, fun and kind person. He also has a high baritone voice, which is required for the role of Pelléas. We asked Étienne if he was interested in the role, and he replied honestly that he didn’t know the role, but was looking for the opportunity to learn it. We are so fortunate that he said yes. Rehearsals have shown that he’s fluid and has a booming sound to match with the most stunning high notes. The role of Pelléas is written in the treble clef (a clef traditionally attributed to tenors, not baritones and basses, who sing in the bass clef).

Sunday Feature: Joel Ivany on working with Peter Sellars and Hercules

(centre) Lucy Crowe as Iole and Richard Croft as Hyllus in the Canadian Opera Company/Lyric Opera of Chicago (LOC) co-production of Hercules, 2011, LOC. Photo: Dan Rest

Sold on Sellars
by Joel Ivany
@joelivany

Stage director Joel Ivany is the founder and artistic director of Against the Grain Theatre (AtG). He was a recent finalist and prizewinner in the European Opera-Directing Prize for his concept of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with designers Camellia Koo and Jason Hand. Recent directing credits include a new production of Verdi's Macbeth at Minnesota Opera, staging Handel’s beloved oratorio Messiah with AtG, Così fan tutte for The Banff Centre, a new production of Les contes d'Hoffmann for Edmonton Opera, revival director of Le nozze di Figaro at the Norwegian National Opera, knotty together (a new work composed by Njo Kong Kie and performed in Dublin, Ireland) and the world premiere of Gavin Bryars’ Marilyn Forever, based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, in Victoria, BC. He has also served as associate director for Thaddeus Strassberger's acclaimed production of Nabucco at both Washington National Opera and Minnesota Opera. Mr. Ivany holds a music degree from the University of Western Ontario and an artist diploma in opera directing from the University of Toronto. Upcoming projects include directing the world premiere of East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon for the Canadian Children’s Opera Company, creating and directing Uncle John, AtG’s modern interpretation of Don Giovanni, for The Banff Centre and directing Carmen for Vancouver Opera.  

There were two directors that everyone kept talking about, and I knew that I had to work with them.  

Robert Carsen and Peter Sellars.  

As a young student just out of the University of Toronto’s Opera School, how was I going to make that happen?  They didn’t have websites and didn’t have email addresses or phone numbers (that I had). Regardless, I focused on my goal and set forth, striving to meet it along with several others. Within a few years, I had the opportunity to work with Robert Carsen in Oslo, Norway (of all places) and since, have had several occasions and in a few different countries. 

After seeing Peter Sellars’ productions of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas, I knew that he was someone different.  I thought it was a huge coup when the Canadian Opera Company announced that they were bringing his production of Tristan und Isolde to Toronto.  I was fortunate enough to see it last season in Toronto and was excited to learn that he was coming back with his production of Hercules, a COC co-production with the Lyric Opera Chicago. As the schedule permitted, I was overjoyed that I could work on this fabulous show with an outstanding cast and that Peter Sellars was going to be in Toronto for the entire period of production.

Sunday Feature: Joel Ivany on the the new opera Marilyn Forever

That Rare Thing
Approaching a new Canadian opera
by Joel Ivany

I have never enjoyed researching an opera as much as I have for this project.

Aventa Ensemble, run by Bill Linwood, approached me in early 2010 about a new opera that was being commissioned for their group.  Aventa (based in Victoria BC) is one of the top five leading contemporary, classical music groups in the world.  It was a piece to be written by English composer Gavin Bryars, libretto coming from Canadian Marilyn Bowering, based on the American actress Marilyn Monroe, to be played by Eivør Pálsdóttir, from the Faroe Islands.   

Sign me up.

We were able to workshop two scenes at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2010 and through this process; we were able to find the heartbeat of this piece.  We are dealing with a voice (Marilyn Monroe), an artist who is craving to be loved and to be remembered.    

Three years later, I find myself in Victoria BC.  

Multi-Media, May 24, 2013

My Wagner
Cosmic connections, music/man/myth, nine T&I's, Mahler

We asked friends to write us a small piece on the theme "My Wagner" to celebrate the composer's 200th anniversary this week. Enjoy!

Axel Van Chee (former opera critic for The Charlebois Post)
I remember my first Wagner, I was 22 and it was on the first night upon arriving in Sydney, Australia. After checking into the hostel, I went immediately to the iconic opera house to see what was on offer, it was Tannhäuser. The only seats available were the expensive front rows where you can observe the beads of sweat dripping our of the pores of the singers, I told the kind lady that I would just get a standing room ticket. She looked at me and replied in a concerned tone, "you do know that this is a Wagner right? I really don't think you want to stand though it." I told her that I was just a student backpacker with a tight budget and reaffirmed my decision. She took pity on me and gave me a seat in the box at a price slightly above standing room, then wished me a great time in Australia. 

I remember the opera vividly: it was an avant-garde production, and incidentally, my first avant-garde opera ever. Venus came on stage bathed in neon green lights while wearing a skin tight silver lame dress, complete with spiked high heels and a whip. The chorus pranced about her in S&M costumes and tormented each other. There were giant mirrors and lots and lots of lasers. Throughout the opera, men in post-modern, gothic crow/bat costumes were suspended above and about the sets, perched in precarious positions, and observed the going ons on the stage. They occasionally expended their wings to reconfigure into grotesque and unfathomable shapes. 

Sunday Feature: Joel Ivany's Notes (Les Dialogues des Carmelites and Figaro’s Wedding)

Dialogues des Carmélites at COC (photo: Michael Cooper)

Here’s a stream of consciousness from my directing life...

...let’s see if you can follow along.

by Joel Ivany

@joelivany

Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Figaro’s Wedding. Two very different shows.  Two very different stages and scopes. One is a proven production that is performed the world over and is currently being prepared for the mainstage at the Canadian Opera Company. The other has music that is known by everyone, but we’re adding new words and staging it in a space that is used for weddings and events.  

My role for Dialogues is assisting a Canadian opera director who has multiple gigs all over the world…at the same time. The other is my labour of love. A company that I started with some other vagabonds a couple of years ago and has (somewhat miraculously) seen growth and acclaim after each show that we produce. For Figaro, I’m the librettist and stage director.

Unifying these shows…faith.

Sunday Feature: Joel Ivany on Les Contes D'Hoffmann at Edmonton Opera

Listening to the Gut
by Joel Ivany
(photos were submitted by Mr. Ivany as images which inspired his production)

Les Contes D’Hoffmann, is a wonderful piece written in the Opéra-Comique structure, meaning speaking between the singing.  It’s easy to confuse it to mean comedy, when unfortunately; there is nothing funny that happens during this story.

I was asked, how do you satisfy those who find this work leaning more towards operetta and also those who find this piece leaning more towards opera.  I must say that I try not to compartmentalize a work in any way.  The first thing I look at is the story.  Is it a good story?  Yes or no and why?  Why did I like it or why didn’t I?  What is my gut telling me to do?  It’s always a fairly secure litmus test of where the journey begins.  

The Sunday Read: Joel Ivany on Turn of The Screw

Killing Curiousity

Staging Britten's brilliantly dark piece

by Joel Ivany

It is a curious story.

Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera, The Turn of the Screw, opened in 1954 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Against the Grain Theatre will be producing the eerie tale from May 24-27 at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse, on U of T campus.

It’s quite an exciting theatrical piece to be preparing.  Described primarily as a ghost story, it can also be interpreted, though rarely is, as a love story.

Sunday Read: First-Person - Joel Ivany on The 7 Deadly Sins

Holier Than Thou

Going beyond Weill

by Joel Ivany, Artistic Director and Founder - Against the Grain Theatre

On Friday March 16 and Saturday March 17, Against the Grain Theatre will be presenting a concert entitled The Seven Deadly Sins (And Holier Fare). As the title suggests, the program features Kurt Weill’s ballet chanté Die Sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins), but it also includes Benjamin Britten’s Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac and two contemporary two-piano pieces. 

To give you a taste of what we’ve been delving into to prepare for this production, allow me to introduce you to “the sins,” AtG style:

First Person: Joel Ivany on Against The Grain Theatre's La Bohème

Lindsay Sutherland Boal and Justin Welsh

(Photo: Gene Wu)

Dreams Greater than One

A collective observes all the rules of opera by breaking them

by Joel Ivany

Against the Grain Theatre is a collective of renegade artists looking to present raw, bare-bones art in the city of Toronto. Last season we presented a production of La Bohème, and it took the scene by storm as a surprise hit. The opera is a timeless work of art; not only does it have incredibly moving music, but the story of young artists struggling through their art and love will move any heart.