anyone in TO have a subscription to the opera?

<--- waits to hear what Audiophilia has to say

Over the past ten years, the late, great Richard Bradshaw built the Canadian Opera into a world class outfit. Orchestra, chorus and (new) house are top notch now. You may not like particular productions (even the Met, La Scala and Covent Graden have dogs), but the consistency is very good. I've seen quite a few productions and Wagner, Verdi, Berg, etc have been very well served. That said, the Robert Lepage production Bartok/Bluebeard's Castle was the finest theatrical evening I have spent. An unbelievably brilliant production with performances to match. It was even invited to the Edinburgh Festival. Enjoy. The 'flexi-paks' are a good deal. Ballet can also produce world class evenings. The symphony, not so much.

Is this just an excuse to wear Black Tie more often?

For sound, a third to half way back in the stall is always best. YMMV You may like the 'action' of the front rows. Let me know which ones you get. I'll be reviewing some of the operas this year. Grab a glass of wine in the interval. Flute, Nixon (YouTube Arrival of Spirit of 76. Wow!), and Ariadne look best, IMO. Cheers, a

I find that people in Toronto don't know when to clap. Meaning, they clap too much and over the music, which can be slightly annoying.

Nixon in China? Wow, lucky! Whose production is it? That's also one of my favorite scenes (at 3:00), and one of the most effective uses of classic Minimalist idioms ever: I also like how he makes Mao extra creepy by having a little chorus echo his words in another scene. It all sounds very fresh today still --- I can't even imagine how people received it when it first came out. --Andre

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Houston GO. Portland and Minnesota had a hand, too. That's the form for the past 30 years due to the expense, share or rent productions. Even the Met's doing an ENO production this year.

GQ, have a good listen first. Would not want to steer you wrong. Adams' music is an acquired taste. I didn't like it (know it!) for years, but have loved his stuff for some time now. YouTube Batter My heart from Doctor Atomic, another great Adams opera.

Good luck.

What you should do is fly to NY for Lepage/Met new Ring. OMG! Check out how he gets Brunnhilde flying at the start of the short promo vise. Fucking amazing! It's always problematic. Lepage's set is amazing.

Like I said, his Bluebeard's Castle with the COC was stunning.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metupl...f/TheRing.html

We have world-class opera. I'd say half way back is your best call.

Of this I'm not a fran, as it's a bit derivative of his earlier work. His best recent work is Dharma at Big Sur, which you can hear in two recordings, one with JA conducting the BBCSO, and Tracy Silverman, the person for whom the piece was made, playing the 6-string electric violin, and the other a blockbuster live recording with the LA Phil, JA conducting again, and Leila Josefowicz playing the violin that was just released on iTunes (and hopefully soon in 44.1 kHz FLAC on DG's online store). They are both different and worth owning, with Silverman being a bit freer, but Josefowicz being far more overtly virtuosic. She played the piece through a Marshall amp, and has an altogether different sound than Silverman: fatter and grungier, which makes for an interesting contrast with her virtuosity.

What the LA Phil recording only hints at however is the amazing orchestration JA brings to bear in all of his pieces. In recording, you hear an almost homogenized sound that barely gives you a clue to what he's doing. In real life, it's like the opening of Mahler 1, updated for 21st-century sounds and technology --- the shimmering textures and soundscapes that he makes were utterly fascinating at the actual concert. I couldn't believe how many percussion instruments he had in the back, all just for producing his shimmer.

GQGeek, another nice excerpt from Nixon is his Chairman Dances, which is a foxtrot from a remarkable scene in the opera. There are at least 4 recordings of it, but I'm familiar with just two of them: the standard recommendation is Edo de Waart's on Nonesuch with San Francisco, but I also like the multichannel SACD from CCn'C: http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/5, which is far more driven and hard-hitting than the de Waart, and sounds great as well.

--Andre