First-Person: Soprano/Director Robin Eder-Warren on Hansel and Gretel, Opera Mariposa

(photo by Kathryn Nickford)

Entering the enchanted forest
making opera magic with Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel

by Robin Eder-Warren

Robin Eder-Warren is an award-winning soprano and critically acclaimed stage director, as well as the managing director of Opera Mariposa, a Vancouver-based company for emerging artists. She made her operatic direction debut in 2013 with Pergolesi's La serva padrona, which was hailed as “a masterpiece of controlled mayhem” (Review Vancouver). She went on to direct Donizetti's Don Pasquale, which was praised as “well-honed,” “delightful,” and “an excellent harbinger of more well-cast and well-directed operas to come” (Opera Canada magazine). As an award-winning soprano, Robin has sung on stages around the world, from Germany to New York to Disneyworld, and has been described as “a talent beyond words” (Life in the ‘burbs). Select role highlights include Musetta (La bohème), Despina (Così fan tutte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Laurey (Oklahoma!) and Cunegonde (Candide) among many others. As well as directing Hansel and Gretel for Opera Mariposa, she is currently performing as Meg in the Broadway musical Little Women with Fighting Chance Productions.

I have a confession to make: directing a fairy tale is not as simple as it seems.

In a Word... Kate Applin on Metro Youth Opera's Hänsel and Gretel

Into The Woods

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Kate Applin is lauded for her passionate work in Toronto’s operatic community. In 2010, at age 23, Ms Applin founded Metro Youth Opera, offering emerging artists in Toronto their first opportunities to perform complete roles and be compensated. In addition to her role as Artistic Director of MYOpera she has performed with the company as Despina in Così fan tutte (2011), Adina in L’elisir d’amore (2012), and Serpina in La serva padrona (2013). In 2014, she will perform Gretel in Hänsel & Gretel. Ms Applin holds an Honours BMus in Voice Performance and an Opera Diploma from Wilfrid Laurier University, and has trained at programs such as Opera on the Avalon, Opera NUOVA, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop. Some favourite roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites), Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict), and Anne Egerman (A Little Night Music).

CHARPO:  I’m afraid going into this you are dealing with an H&G veteran! I sang Hänsel in a children’s adaptation of the Humperdinck score when I was a child in Germany. There, as you can imagine, the piece is as traditional as bratwurst. But in North America, apart from the annual romp at the Met and a recent production in Montreal, this little masterpiece seems largely overlooked. Why do you think that is?

APPLIN: Well, because of its roots as a fairytale story, I think Hansel & Gretel often gets sidelined as a children-only opera here in North America. However, the themes in the story are as applicable to adults as they are to children. I think that many of our opera houses here in North America aren't willing to push the boundaries of the opera to make it something that is more than just child's play. The opera can be quite safe when presented exclusively for children, so it gets a lot of exposure in school tours and such. It takes bravery to visit the opera's darker side and cater it to a wider audience at the risk of alienating the children too much.

The Abominable Showman, March 19, 2014

Director Hugo Belanger and mezzo-soprano Emma Char (centre, rear) during a rehearsal for Engelbert Humperdinck’s classic 1893 opera Hansel and Gretel

Young hearts, run free

The Atelier lyrique de L’Opéra de Montréal, National Theatre School of Canada, and the National Circus School join forces to create a brand-new cutting-edge production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s classic 1893 opera Hansel and Gretel

by Richard Burnett 

@bugsburnett

(All rehearsal photos by Richard Burnett)

Canadian mezzo-soprano Emma Char was among the very lucky few to be chosen to study in the renowned Atelier Lyrique de L’Opéra de Montréal, a school that has bequeathed the opera world such talented singers at Etienne Dupuis, Marie-Josée Lord, the handsome Phillip Addis, as well as Taras Kulish, who today is executive director of the McGill Chamber Orchestra.

The 29-year-old Atelier Lyrique de L’Opéra de Montréal offers professional internships – combining training and on-stage experience – to young Canadian artists who have completed their studies and intend to pursue a career in the field of opera.

Char is one of 10 young artists chosen for the 2013-2014 season and while she may be young, Char has already experienced some terrifying showbiz moments, like the time she sang the title role in La Cenerentola when she completed her Artist Diploma at Cincinatti’s prestigious College Conservatory of Music. 

“It was one of the first operas I ever did, my scene partner forgot he was supposed to stay onstage with me during my entire aria!” Char recalls today. “He left the stage and I had to improvise my acting right there on the spot. I was freaking out, but I was like, ‘I can do this!’”