Profile: Baritone Phillip Addis, Barber of Seville (Edmonton)

Catching up with Phillip Addis
Figaro in Edmonton Opera's Barber of Seville
by Sable Chan
@MissSable
(reprinted from The Choir Girl)

Metallic shelving units line the perimeter of the Jubilee Auditorium rehearsal hall. They are laden with props. A quick glance around the room reveals a barber’s chair in one corner. There is a side cart decorated with razors, combs, and a tall glass jar ready to disinfect any used combs. The stage manager helps me to clear a spot on the wooden prop vanity to interview Edmonton Opera’s leading man, Phillip Addis, playing Figaro in the Barber of Seville. Addis relaxes back in his seat with a sense of calm. He is no stranger to Principal roles having sung the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande with the Opéra Comique in Paris and Il Conte Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with Pacific Opera Victoria earlier this year; however, this is Addis’ Figaro debut.

In a Word...Sable Chan, chorister in Tales of Hoffmann at Edmonton Opera

Chorus Lines

Sable Chan sings, acts, blogs...everywhere

(behind-the-scenes photos provided by Ms Chan)

CHARPO:  Tell our readers a bit about your life. We know you're singing in Tales of Hoffmann but we also know there is more...

CHAN: I'm an avid choral singer within the Edmonton choral community. I've sung with Schola Cantorum, Cantilon Choirs, and The University of Alberta Madrigal Singers. Currently, I'm a member of Pro Coro Canada. I have also done other ensemble work including the Ordo Collective and the Scona Chamber Singers. My choralcentric activities provide creative inspiration for my choral musings on The Choir Girl Blog. This Tales of Hoffmann production is my first experience singing within the Edmonton Opera Chorus. In the daytime, I'm a Speech Therapist with an interest in voice therapy and voice science. When I'm not being a speechie, chorister, or choir girl blogger, I'm often found writing for Sound + Noise, indulging in the Edmonton arts scene, and monitoring my Twitter feed. (@misssable)

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.  

News: (Edmonton) Edmonton Opera announces brave 2012-13 Season

While preparing to mount it's anime-inspired production of the Mikado, next month, the Edmonton Opera took time out to announce its three-work 2012-13 season. It has a delightful blend of popera (Verdi's Aïda) and delightful works which see the light of day more rarely (Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman with its luscious Barcarole).

The Abominable Showman, October 9, 2011

To be or not to be

Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, Luc Plamondon’s Starmania and the bastardization of opera by “adapted” rock musicals

by Richard Burnett

The very day al-Qaeda terrorists flew two jetliners into NYC’s World Trade Center on 9/11, Luc Plamondon was in Paris watching a one-night-only revival of his famous rock musical Starmania, in which terrorists bomb the 121st floor of the fictional Golden Tower skyscraper in Las Vegas. 

“The cast was terrified,” Plamondon told me a couple of years ago. “And the audience was dead silent at the end of the performance. It was amazing that Starmania had predicted 9/11. What I wrote [in Starmania] had become reality.”

Starmania, of course, is the great 1978 rock opera that lyricist Plamondon co-wrote with famed French songwriter Michel Berger. Or at least it used to be great. 

Feature: Opera across the country

Love From Afar, coming to the COC

(Photo: Annemie Augustijns)

Opera Nation

Canadian opera companies juggle Italian masterpieces with mainstream Broadway fare for their 2011-2012 seasons

By Richard Burnett

The upcoming 2011-2012 opera season across Canada continues to rely on old Italian classics by such tried-and-true composers as Giuseppe Verdi, Rossini, Puccini and Leoncavallo.