Young Singers Are the Real Gems in the COC's Diamond Season

Soprano Yannick-Muriel Noah

This year is the Canadian Opera Company's 60th, and they've decided to mark the occasion by programming one of the blandest, most conservative seasons in recent memory. The idea, I suppose, is that this season looks back over the last sixty years. We'll see the big hits of the repertoire - the same shows that are hits in Milan, London, Tokyo, or New York...and the same shows that were hits from 1889-1949 just as much as they were from 1949 to now.

What's worse is that the COC has, at least in my 10 years as a subscriber, consistently disappointed with traditional productions of traditional repertoire. They excel at edgy, fun, more contemporary shows. The most exciting moments of the last decade at the COC have been Oedipus Rex, Bluebeard/Erwartung, the S&M Traviata, and the Handmaid's Tale. Yes, this coming season does offer a token new production - a work cobbled together from bits of Stravinsky, which I'm sure will be lovely - but it also offers Idomeneo, the Flying Dutchman, Maria Stuarda, Otello, Carmen and Madama Butterfly. Hardly a season of excitement.


Despite these misgivings, though, I went to Madama Butterfly last night and was delighted. I'd seen a COC production once before, but would not say that I'm very familiar with the show.

First, the bad news. If there were one problem in this production, it would be the movement. The actors were called upon to bow here and shuffle there, as one might expect in an opera set in Japan. Unfortunately, director Brian Macdonald's nod to his setting was just that, and we were left neither with Japanese gesture, nor an absence or abstraction thereof. There were ok moments - this didn't mar the whole show - but there were also moments more suited perhaps to a lighthearted Mikado than to Butterfly.

The sets and costumes were simple and muted, and though tasteful, did not provide very much visual interest. I'm not sure that the austerity of Susan Benson's design is optimal for a score and libretto so lush and full of japonisme. The director in his note argues otherwise, and speaks in favour of the lack of "decoration" in the décor; he did not want to distract us from the play. I am not sure that I agree with his choice, but it is true that the understated and straightforward look of the production did not distract.

What did distract were the voices of the wonderful cast. Tenor Bryan Hymel was both very attractive and in wonderful voice last night in the role of Pinkerton. His singing was round and lush and wonderfully suited to the richness of Puccini's orchestra.

The absolute star of the evening, though, was Soprano and COC Ensemble Studio graduate Yannick-Muriel Noah in the title role. When she arrived on stage for her bows the audience audibly sizzled, and leapt into a standing ovation that was the most energetic I've perhaps ever seen. She has a voice that is both delicate and powerful as needed, taking over the hall for the climax of Un Bel Di, or blending wonderfully in quieter moments with the less robust instrument of Anita Krause as Suzuki . Brava, Ms Noah!

Was this the perfect Butterfly? No. But if you are looking to hear some wonderful young voices sing well known repertoire, this show will not disappoint. Between Cio Cio San's tragedy and Ms Noah's singing, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

It's not really news that opera companies - especially big, mainstream opera companies - pander to the blue-rinse set to sell subscriptions. We see this unfortunate economic situation in action in the programming choices at the COC (when was the last time we had a season without Verdi and/or Puccini?), while even Opera Atelier continues to programme Mozart works that arguably fall outside their mandate in order to pack the house.

As a young opera-goer, I suppose I'm thankful that this has given me the opportunity to see many classics over and over again. Carmen twice in...what?...three seasons? And though it's frustrating to see this kind of artistic conservatism (or is it timidity?) on the part of our arts institutions year after year, I still enjoy seeing exciting new singers breathing life into the repertoire that we already know so well. Congratulations, Bryan Hymel and Yannick-Muriel Noah - performers like you are what will make this Diamond Season shine!