Jul 25, 2024

2024 DIGITAL EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM ARTISTS ANNOUNCED

Manitoba Opera is pleased to announce the singers who will be participating in the company’s fifth annual Digital Emerging Artists Program (DEAP). This year, the four-week intensive online professional development program runs from August 1 to 30 and will serve four Emerging Artists and one Independent Learner selected from a pool of applicants from across Canada.  

The Emerging Artists are soprano Lauren Estey (Toronto), mezzo-soprano Taryn Plater (Vancouver), tenor Jeremy Scinocca (Toronto), and bass-baritone James Coole-Stevenson (Toronto). The Independent Learner is Innu soprano Gabrielle Côté-Picard (Montreal).  

The Independent Learner position was introduced in 2022 to provide the opportunity for a BIPOC artist who is in the early stages of their operatic career or who may be considering a career in opera to study with some of Canada’s preeminent voice teachers and benefit from the professional development and peer collaboration that this program offers. 

Returning to the core program faculty are sopranos Tracy Dahl and Monica Huisman, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman (Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations), tenor John Tessier, director Ann Hodges, and filmmaker Stephen Bell. 

Through lessons and masterclasses with the core faculty, and workshops with guest artists and industry professionals, participants will cultivate skills that are necessary for success as multi-platform performers. They will learn valuable skills in project management, communication, recording practices, and post-production, as well as civic engagement which is a growing focus.  

This program has been instrumental in launching the careers of emerging Canadian singers. Keely McPeek (Anisininew soprano, DEAP 2023 Independent Learner) and Nolan Kehler (tenor, DEAP 2021) both made their main stage debuts with Manitoba Opera in leading roles in the world premiere of Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North in the fall of 2023. Keely later went on tour with Vancouver Opera’s production of Flight of the Hummingbird with fellow alumna Olivia Kang (soprano, DEAP 2022). Keely and Nolan recently shared the stage in June, alongside Marion Newman, in a workshop performance of Indians on Vacation at the Banff Centre.  

Program alumni continue to find career success across Canada and internationally. Arieh Sacke (tenor, DEAP 2023) made his Cincinnati Opera role debut in La Traviata during their 2024 Summer Festival, and Sydney Baedke (soprano, 2020) made her Covent Garden debut to critical acclaim as a chorister in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Royal Opera House, 2022). Lizzy Hoyt (mezzo-soprano, DEAP 2020) enjoys a career as a multidisciplinary artist; the 2023 season saw her debut in the title role of Rossini’s La Cenerentola with both Manitoba Opera and Brott Opera. That same year she was honored with the Traditional Singer of the Year Award at the 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards for her album, The Parting Glass. 

DEAP 2024 sees the return of two program alumni in mentorship roles. Nicholas Borg (baritone, DEAP 2020) will lead a panel discussion on civic engagement. Keely McPeek will convene a panel of Indigenous opera and theatre artists to discuss their perspectives as Indigenous creators and performers working within a predominantly settler-driven industry.  

Manitoba Opera’s 2024 Digital Emerging Artists Program is generously supported by RBC Emerging Artists, Azrieli Foundation, and the Jacqueline Demarais Foundation. 

Jul 23, 2024

AGM RECAP: 2023/24 SEASON A SEASON OF FIRSTS

The company announced at its 2023/24 Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at the Centennial Concert Hall Tuesday, July 9, that the year ending May 31, 2024, was a year of firsts artistically, educationally, and with community engagement programs.  

Artistically, Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North, which opened the season in November, was the first Indigenous-led creation on a Canadian opera mainstage, and Carmen, held in April, was the first opera that was both cancelled and returned post-pandemic. The season created space to celebrate Métis culture and welcome Indigenous communities to the Centennial Concert Hall, while also using traditional repertoire to help with audience rebuilding.   

“The 2023/24 season showcased Manitoba Opera’s dedication to artistic innovation, community engagement, and education,” said Larry Desrochers, General Director & CEO. “Through a diverse array of productions, educational initiatives, and community programs, the company reinforced its role as a cultural cornerstone in the region, bringing the transformative power of opera to a wide and varied audience.” 

“We are deeply grateful to the opera community and all our supporters as we continue our recovery and rebuilding journey post-pandemic,” commented Judith Chambers, Chair, Board of Trustees. “The work we undertake to present great art, engage the community, and offer education programs to students, as well as emerging professionals, would not be possible without the generous support of our individual donors, corporate partners, funders, and investments from all three levels of government.”  

With Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North, the company prioritized the inclusion of Indigenous artists and focused on Indigenous leadership throughout the process. Sixty-five percent of the 218 cast and crew identified as Indigenous. However, Li Keur was not just a performance, but a significant cultural event that extended its impact beyond the stage. The production required meaningful engagement with the Métis community which included assembling a 12-member advisory committee, engaging production ambassadors to perform excerpts from the opera at numerous events, and providing community workshops and initiatives that further enriched the audience’s experience. Métis Elders also played a crucial role performing ceremonial duties before performances to honor cultural traditions.   

Notably, the Manitoba Métis Federation listed Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North as the second most impactful achievement in advancing the Red River Métis in 2023, only behind the official recognition of Louis Riel as the first premier of Manitoba. Li Keur served as one important step in the company’s journey toward reconciliation.   

The 2023/24 Season saw the Opera Access program grow by 300%. This program provides free or subsidized tickets to social service organizations that distribute tickets to people who might not attend an opera otherwise. Ninety organizations received 865 tickets for Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North and over 550 tickets were distributed to 24 organizations for Carmen.   

The 2024/25 Board of Trustees was also announced at the AGM. Members re-elected were Ray Karasevich, Terence Sakohianisaks Douglas, Flavia Ferndez Fabio, Lana Maidment, Judith Chambers, Keith Sinclair, and David Folk. Returning trustees in mid-terms are Sandy Chahal, Nupur Kamari, John Pacak, Charlene Ord, and Grant Suderman. Nominated for the first year of a first two-year term were Paul Bruch-Weins, Luisa Matheson, Andrea McLandress, and Dr. William (Bill) Pope. (See below for bios). Retiring board members who have served four full terms were Daniela Ignat, Maria Mitousis, and Lori Yorke. 

Jun 26, 2024

Magical Elixirs, Medical Quackery & Snake-Oil Salesmen

In Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, the titular tincture is procured by the naïve and lovesick Nemorino from the travelling physician Doctor Dulcamara. Nemorino, down to his last pennies and unlucky in love, approaches the self-styled “Encyclopedic Doctor” who entertains an audience of villagers. Dulcamara hawks medicines and salves to cure liver disease and paralysis, smooth wrinkles, eradicate lice and vermin, increase libido, and so on, haggling prices down from extravagantly unaffordable to taking whatever coin he is offered. Nemorino begs him for the love elixir of Queen Isolde. Although the doctor is unfamiliar with the tale of Tristan and Isolde, he nevertheless leaps at the opportunity to make a quick sale, exchanging the erstwhile magical liqueur – SPOILER ALERT – (actually a bottle of red wine) for the sum total of Nemorino’s wealth – a single zecchin (a Venetian ducat), and cautioning the young man that the elixir will require 24 hours to take its effect (giving the fraudulent doctor time enough to get out of town).  

This kind of medical quackery is a familiar trope, being well-documented in histories and lampooned in works of fiction.  

“The term quack originates from quacksalver, or kwakzalver, a Dutch word for a seller of nostrums, medical cures of dubious and secretive origins . . . they plied their trade on street corners and at country fairs, hawking homemade remedies in loud, attention-grabbing voices—hence the term quack, likening their cries to noisy ducks or geese.” – Drago, E. B, 2020.  

Even the word “charlatan” is directly related to quackery. The word comes from “Cerretani,” the name for people from Cerreto di Spoleto- a small town in what is now Italy that became notorious in the Middle Ages for widespread fraud committed by its inhabitants who would collect alms on behalf of medical and religious foundations which they would keep for themselves. This evolved to medical charlatanism, exploiting the absence of institutional medicine in rural areas and the superstition of a poorly educated populace. There and across Europe, unscrupulous vendors sold cure-alls concocted from all manner of bizarre and potentially dangerous (or even wholly fictitious) components. One such prescription, published by Sr. William Solomon of London in the 17th century calls for: 

Gold, one half ounce.
Powder of a lion’s heart, four ounces.
Filings of a unicorn’s horn, one half ounce.
Ashes of the whole chameleon, one and a half ounces.
Earthworms, a score.
Dried man’s brain, five ounces.
To be mixed together and digested with universal spirits. 

Such practices were not isolated to Europe. A North American audience might draw parallels to the iconic snake-oil salesmen of the old West. The great irony of snake-oil is that it originated as a genuine product – an oil derived from Chinese water snakes, high in omega-3 fatty acids and known as a potent anti-inflammatory.  

In the late 19th century the American Clark Stanley, a cowboy turned patent medicine vendor, learned about snake oil from Chinese railroad workers. He set about to capitalize on its reputation, unconcerned that Chinese water snakes were nowhere to be found in the American West. From 1879 the “Rattlesnake King” touted a miracle salve produced from rattlesnake oil, the secrets of which he claimed to have learned from a Hopi medicine man. He distributed pamphlets and gave public demonstrations to sell his patent-protected panacea which he prescribed:  

“. . . for the cure of all pain and lameness, for rheumatism, neuralgias, sciatica, contracted muscles, toothaches, sprain, swellings, frost bite, bruises, sore throat, bites of animals, insects, and reptiles.” – Bryant, C.W. & Clark, J., 2024. 

It wasn’t until 1916 that this “snake oil” was found to have nothing to do with snakes whatsoever – the recipe consisted of beef fat, red pepper, mineral oil, camphor, and turpentine. For his fraudulent activities spanning over three decades, Stanley was fined $20 (equivalent to about $500 today). The damage had been done, and “snake oil salesman” entered the public lexicon as an umbrella term for any person selling a bogus or ineffective product. 

Works consulted: 

Bryant, C. W. and Clark, J. (2024, February 14). Short Stuff: The Original Snake Oil Salesman. Stuff You Should Know (podcast). https://omny.fm/shows/stuff-you-should-know-1/short-stuff-the-original-snake-oil-salesman 

Drago, Elisabeth Berry (2020, December 15). Quacks, Plagues and Pandemics: What charlatans of the past can teach us about the COVID-19 crisis. Distillations Magazine: Unexpected Stories from Science’s Past. Science History Institute Museum & Library, December 15, 2020. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/quacks-plagues-and-pandemics/ 

Peschel, E. R. & Peschel, R. E. (1987, December). Medicine and Opera: The Quack in History and Donizetti’s Dr. Dulcamara. Medical Problems of Performing Artists Vol. 2, No. 4. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45440260 

Timio, M. (2002, February) “The Cerretani and charlatans: a poor page in the history of medicine and nephrology” (abstract, English). Giornale Italiano di nefrologia : organo ufficiale della Societa italiana de nefrologia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12165947/