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Globe and Mail
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
In town and in the country, two events raise funds to support the arts
Bruce Bailey's Canadian Fête Champêtre, June 7, Ontario Countryside Arts patron Bruce Bailey opened the gates to his county pile outside of Toronto on the afternoon of June 7 for the third edition of his Canadian Fête Champêtre, a daytime gathering that raises funds for the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. This year additional institutions including the Canadian Opera Company, Calgary's Glenbow Museum, the Israel Museum and the Pelee Island Bird Observatory were also on the receiving end of some of the money raised, which totalled $1.5-million. Rogers Communications Inc. was the presenting sponsor, with additional support from the Schulich Foundation, Hatch and David and Carol Appel. Per the invitation, which listed author Margaret Atwood as guest of honour, the theme was A Masked Ball or Un ballo in maschera (after Verdi's 1859 opera). Guests followed suit, with variations on Venetian masks made of feathers and flowers and even a theatrical papier-mâché bird. Performances and speeches were given in Bailey's hayloft, which was filled for the occasion with gilt ballroom chairs fixed toward members of the Canadian Opera Company orchestra (Bailey is a devoted patron). God Save the King was sung in addition to Canada's national anthem and later they performed alongside the always-impressive soprano Ambur Braid. Also taking to the planked stage of the hayloft were dancers from the National Ballet School. A cocktail lunch overseen once again by chef Cory Vitiello followed, with guests taking to various green corners and out buildings on the property for a casual afternoon. Lovely to see was an exhibition of works curated by and from the collection of Bailey, which were displayed on the first floor of his home. A monumental work sprawling the length of the drawing room by American artist Kerry James Marshall, who Bailey has long patronized, was a standout. OCAD University Gala, May 28, Toronto The previous week, OCAD University held its inaugural gala. The school, which has trained and fostered generations of artists since its founding in 1876, opened its site on McCaul Street for the occasion. Amy Burstyn Fritz, founder of tabletop brand Misette, and Jeff Hull, president of real estate development firm Hullmark, co-chaired the event, which was cozy by gala standards, with just a couple of hundred in attendance and a handful of key sponsors (including Christian Vermast of Sotheby's International Realty, host of yours truly). This was an intentional move, said the co-chairs during their remarks. They wanted to start small and hoped to grow the gathering in years to come. This year, the nearly $400,000 raised will establish student bursaries at the school to minimize the financial barriers that come with an art and design university education. Ana Serrano, president and vice-chancellor of the university, and Jaime Watt, chancellor, both spoke between courses to the important work being done at the school and the vital need for bursaries of this nature. It was a perfect segue to the live auction, where donated works by artists including Stanzie Tooth and Steve Driscoll, both OCAD U alum, were sold for the cause.
Toronto Star
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Margaret Atwood guest of honour at masked ball that raised $1.5 million
On June 7 philanthropist Bruce Bailey held the third edition of his Canadian fête champêtre at his farm outside Toronto, raising $1.5 million. The gala celebrated fundraising for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Canadian Opera Company; Pelee Island Bird Observatory; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and Calgary's Glenbow Museum. Margaret Atwood was guest of honour at the party, whose theme was 'un ballo in maschera' (a masked ball), and many of the 500 guests rose to the occasion by wearing elaborate masks and costumes. Performers included a Montreal circus group, opera soprano Ambur Braid and dancers from Canada's National Ballet School.
Toronto Star
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
This Tchaikovsky opera of gale-force emotionality gets an exceptional cast and conductor in its Canadian Opera Company revival
There are many, many reasons to see the Canadian Opera Company's latest revival of 'Eugene Onegin,' which opened Friday at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
CBC
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Ambur Braid got her dream opera role — and singing it still makes her cry
Ambur Braid always wanted to be a singer, but it wasn't until she saw Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck as an undergraduate student that she knew she wanted to pursue opera as her career. Now, the Canadian soprano has come full circle with a leading role in the Canadian Opera Company's new production of Wozzeck. "It's so visceral. This show hits you," Braid say in an interview with Q 's Tom Power. "At the end, there is this incredible moment that's so simple. And it's heartbreaking. And it just destroyed me. And I said, I need to be a part of this." Even after countless rehearsals, Braid is still struck by the power of Wozzeck. Partially inspired by World War One, the opera tells the story of soldiers and citizens living in a militaristic small town in the early 20th century. "I just cry every time. It's so beautiful when it resolves." WATCH | The Canadian Opera Company's trailer for Wozzeck: Braid says its themes are timeless — both narratively and musically. "I mean, it's society now," she explains. "It's the wealthy taking advantage of the poor. It's poverty. It's jealousy. It's love. It's murder…. But humans are humans, and this is the beauty about art, right? We're reflecting it all." Wozzeck is a groundbreaking piece of work because it was one of the first atonal operas. This means that the music isn't in one particular key — and it often sounds off-kilter and strange. That atonality allows the audience to hear the world from the perspective of the character Wozzeck. "It's very hard to memorize the correct notes, because nothing is expected," Braid tells Power. "It has this oral landscape of what Wozzeck hears. So think of yourself as being totally drunk … and you hear music in a different way. And it's this very trippy experience." Wozzeck is a demanding show. It's both extremely technical, and intensely emotional. But Braid is more than ready: she has dedicated her whole life to performing at this level. "You can liken it to being in a monastery at times, because you do have to be so cautious about everything you do, so aware of what's happening with your body and your health," she says. "And then, then you have the constant learning. The work that is never done…. I mean, my life is planned out until 2028, 29 now. And that is a wild thing to think about. Every week off it's, 'When can my coach come? When are we doing this?' And you live for the work."
Chicago Tribune
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Seven Veils' review: The operatics are everywhere in this backstage melodrama
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan scored a fair-sized sensation with his 1996 Canadian Opera Company production of the Richard Strauss opera 'Salome' — the one about the stepdaughter of the depraved King Herod, her Dance of the Seven Veils, Salome's lust for John the Baptist and the circumstances forcing Salome to settle for a kiss on the lips of her beloved's beheaded head instead. Psychosexually forward, Egoyan's staging went on to Houston Grand Opera and Vancouver Opera, which co-produced the 'Salome' production with the Canadian company. Egoyan then revisited 'Salome' in 2023. But he had more thoughts about the material he wanted to realize for a new medium. Re-using the physical production, dominated by Derek McLane's strikingly angular scenic design, Egoyan had an idea for a movie about a director, new to opera, restaging her late mentor and semi-secret lover's triumph while a big pot of backstage operatics simmers away. 'Seven Veils,' starring Amanda Seyfried, is the result. The themes are deadly serious: In the fictional narrative cooked up by Egoyan, staging this 'Salome' finds Seyfried's fraught character confronting the memory of her abuser-father and her childhood sexual trauma while exploring how life can illuminate and amplify art. At the same time, Egoyan's impulses lean toward a kind of wry melodrama, and a slew of narrative developments and hidden agendas. From what we see of the Egoyan stage production of 'Salome' in 'Seven Veils,' it looks like a winner; the movie, unfortunately, is a mixed bag, though still fairly absorbing. 'Small but meaningful': That's how Jeanine, Seyfried's character, describes the tweaks she has in mind for the 'Salome' restaging she has been hired to direct. Her late mentor, who encouraged Jeanine's ideas while exploiting her sexually, represents a legendary figure, especially to his widow (Lanette Ware), now the opera company's general manager. She's likely aware of the affair her husband had with Jeanine. Meantime, there are present-day affairs underway in this busy operatic troupe, and also a considerable number of underminers. At one point, Jeanine sits for an interview with a podcaster and it takes roughly eight seconds of screen time for him to establish his bona fides as a world-class weasel. Jeanine also is dealing with an uncertain marriage (they're in a tentative open-it-up phase) and a mother living with Alzheimer's, whose caregiver is involved with Jeanine's semi-quasi-separated husband. It's a lot. Seyfried, who has worked with writer-director Egoyan before on the super-ripe erotic drama 'Chloe' (2009), finesses some zig-zaggy tonal swerves confidently and well. The writing, however, wobbles. And in that regard the screenplay's inventions are wholly unlike Egoyan's own staging of 'Salome,' as judged by what we see of it in the cinematic riff 'Seven Veils.' Running time: 1:47
