John trained as a mathematician before working all over the world in management consulting.
He’s now settled in downtown Toronto as an e-health strategy consultant. His operatric interests
are eclectic but lean to the very early and very modern. He is also passionate about art song.
His writings can be found in Opera Canada magazine and in his blog. He is owned by a small, grey cat called Jane.
The young Handel's homage to Counter Reformation Rome, La resurrezione, is effectively brought to life by Opera Atelier with glittering sets and fine, stylish singing.
The National Arts Centre Orchestra and Joshua Hopkins bring Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood’s Songs for Murdered Sisters to Roy Thomson Hall, intriguingly partnered with two works from the high Romantic.
The COC revival of its 2016 production of Le nozze di Figaro is still rooted in Claus Guth’s gloomy Scandinavia but it’s lightened up to become much sexier and funnier.
Leaving unresolved loose ends aside and viewed from a child’s perspective, Joel Ivany’s new Hänsel und Gretel at the Canadian Opera Company it’s a fun night at the opera.
Director Robert Wilson and conductor Carlo Rizzi combine effectively to create a visually striking and musically memorable Turandot that emphasizes the hieratic and the mythical with a notable absence of unnecessary histrionics.
Against the Grain's production of Vivier's Kopernikus is an immersive and thought provoking realisation of the composer's late Opera – rituel de mort. It's music theatre of a rare intensity, brilliantly executed.
Robert Carsen's Eugene Onegin was binned by the Met but works wonderfully in its revival by the Canadian Opera Company COC with high class singing and acting from a young, engaging cast.
Opera Atelier's return to the earliest part of the repertoire with Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria showcases their strengths in a relatively restrained production anchored by a strong ensemble cast.
Christopher Alden’s production of Verdi’s Rigoletto returned to Toronto tighter, more focussed and with fewer dramatic incongruities. Add to this that every aspect of the music making was top notch and it made for a fine evening at the theatre.
