Just how good is the Canadian Opera Company’s current Hummingbird production of Il Trovatore? Good enough, that we wouldn’t be all too surprised to find opera buffs donning hard hats and workboots to pitch in down at the corner of Queen and University, just to ensure that this world class company finally has a home that is worthy of it.
Irina Mishura as Azucena (Photo: Michael Cooper)
COC stages masterful 'Il Trovatore'
By JOHN COULBOURN [Toronto Sun, 5 Apr 05]
TORONTO -- Just how good is the Canadian Opera Company's current Hummingbird production of Il Trovatore?
Good enough, that we wouldn't be all too surprised to find opera buffs donning hard hats and workboots to pitch in down at the corner of Queen and University, just to ensure that this world class company finally has a home that is worthy of it.
After a very gloomy kick at the Verdi classic in 1999, the COC comes up aces in this revisiting, thanks to the direction of Stephen Lawless, who manages to focus a lot more passion, if not a lot more light, on librettist Salvatore Cammarano's operatic adaptation of Antonio Garcia Gutierrez's stage play.