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Browsing: Art Song

Newswire | Toronto City Opera Announces 2026 Macina Voice Competition Finalists

By Newswire on 2 February 2026 Art Song, Music Competition, Newswire, Opera, Toronto, Vocal

Toronto, ON – Toronto City Opera (TCO) is thrilled to announce the eight finalists selected for the third annual Macina Voice Competition. The highly anticipated event, set for February 21, 2026, will feature some of Canada’s most promising young opera singers as they compete in front of a live audience for cash prizes and future performance opportunities. This year’s competition saw a record-breaking 150 video submissions from talented vocalists across the country. After careful deliberation, the TCO artistic staff has chosen the following finalists to perform in the live competition: ● Camila Montefusco – Mezzo-Soprano ● George Theodorakopoulos – Baritone…

Gustav Mahler (1907). Photo: Moritz Nähr

A Peculiar Love Song: Mahler’s “Liebst du um Schönheit”

By Emma Yee on 2 February 2026 Art Song, Classical Music, Vocal

According to his wife Alma, Gustav Mahler’s song, “Liebst du um Schönheit,” was “the only love song he ever wrote.” Shortly after Gustav and Alma’s wedding in March 1902, he wrote the piece and hid it in a score of Die Walküre, presenting it with the dedication “ein Privatissimum an Dich” (“a private treat for you”). A mention in the second verse to not love for youth was allegedly a justification for their relationship’s 19-year age gap. He originally wrote the piece with piano accompaniment as part of his Rückert Lieder, but when he premiered the rest of the set…

Gabrielle Turgeon at the OSM Competition 2025 finals. Photo: Gabriel Fournier

Report | OSM Competition 2025: Lyrical Generosity at Maison symphonic

By Adrian Rodriguez on 17 November 2025 Art Song, Interviews, Montreal, Music Competition, Opera, Vocal

It was a packed house on Nov. 15 at Maison symphonique for the finals of the OSM Competition 2025, and one could feel the sense of occasion in the air. On the international day of philanthropy, Montrealers were invited to a free concert with their own symphony orchestra on stage, under the baton of Jacques Lacombe. The gesture suited the evening perfectly. It was both a showcase of the rising generation of Canadian singers and a reminder that the OSM Competition is also a gift to the public. This 86th edition dedicated to voice unfolded over several days, from the…

CD Review | Nuits blanches Olivier Bergeron, Olivier Godin

By Justin Bernard on 14 November 2025 Art Song, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Vocal

Bergeron, Godin — Nuits blanches Olivier Bergeron, baritone; Olivier Godin, piano Leaf Music, 2025 Olivier Bergeron was recently heard at the Festival d’opéra de Québec in a production of Carmen, where he played a supporting role, Moralès. The young baritone is now back in the spotlight with his first album, Nuits blanches, released by Leaf Music. And what better way to make your recording debut than with French mélodies. This repertoire is clearly well-suited to his voice and highlights his greatest qualities as a performer. Accompanied by the distinguished pianist Olivier Godin, a connoisseur of French music, Bergeron immediately demonstrates…

CD Review | Andrew Staniland Calamus, Leibel, Regehr, Chafe

By John Gilks on 11 November 2025 Art Song, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Contemporary, Vocal

Staniland: Calamus Jane Leibel, soprano; Vernon Regehr, cello; Robert Chafe, narrator Leaf Music Andrew Staniland’s Calamus is a setting of four poems from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. They are scored for cello and soprano with an actor reading each poem prior to the music. The work is completed by four variations for cello. Each song lasts about six to eight minutes and so, with the readings and the variations, the recording comes in at around 39 minutes. Calamus 6 sets “Not Heaving from my Ribb’d Breast Only.” This is the busiest and most dissonant of the four settings. It…

Renée Fleming with Royal Conservatory Orchestra. Photo: The Royal Conservatory/Koerner Hall; Lisa Sakulensky

Review | Renée Fleming Enchants at Toronto’s Koerner Hall

By Denise Lai on 4 November 2025 Art Song, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Opera, Orchestral, Toronto, Vocal

On Nov. 1, a night when downtown Toronto was all abuzz about the final decisive game of the World Series, Koerner Hall was filled with equally excited fans for a glittering evening with Renée Fleming, one of the most-renowned sopranos of our times. The multi-award-winning superstar is known not only for her diva roles in opera, but also for her performances in Broadway, jazz and indie rock. She was the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala. She has performed not only in the world’s most famous opera houses, but…

Karoline Podolak at Women's Musical Club of Toronto

Review | Karoline Podolak: coloratura fireworks, and Polish song for WMCT

By John Gilks on 10 October 2025 Art Song, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Region, Toronto, Vocal

Soprano Karoline Podolak and pianist Rachael Kerr gave a recital on Oct. 9th at University of Toronto’s Walter Hall for the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. The program appeared to be chosen to give us a combination of well known and not so well known Slavic songs and pieces that showed off Podolak’s impressive coloratura. It was straight into the deep end with “Ah! Où va la jeune indoue” from Délibes’ Lakmé which opens with a crazy unaccompanied vocalise and continues with a plethora of coloratura imitating the notes of a bell; hence its soubriquet “The Bell Song.” It was…

Rumbold Vocal Prize: Edmonton Opera Highlights Tomorrow’s Stars

By Viktor Lazarov on 3 October 2025 Art Song, Classical Music, Music Competition, Opera, Vocal, West

What does it take to win a national competition as a classical singer? First, you must pass a pre-screening round among 140 other applicants of all voice types who are then narrowed down by half. Then, after live auditions held across five Canadian cities, you must be selected as one of four finalists (typically two male and two female voices). Finally, after a week of vocal coaching, rehearsing, and a gala performance in Edmonton, you may have the chance to earn the top prize that will launch your international career. Created in 2022, the Rumbold Vocal Prize aims to support…

Michael McMahon, piano. Photo: TamPhotography

Michael McMahon: The Singer’s Pianist

By Emma Yee on 3 September 2025 Art Song, Interviews, Piano, Romantic

By Emma Yee; interview by Wah Keung Chan Not many pianists, no matter how accomplished, can say they learned lieder from Elly Ameling; taught alongside famed language and diction pedagogue Nico Castel; and accompanied Maureen Forrester, Gerald Finley, Richard Margison, and Catherine Robbin. Or have been passed the torch by the founders of McGill University’s famous opera and song interpretation programs. But as Michael McMahon says, he’s “worked really hard, not because [I have] to, but because [I love] it so much.” The pianist and professor who, on April 17, 2025, was awarded the Order of Canada. McMahon grew up…

Brenna McFarland and cast in Opera 5's Elegies. Photo: Emily Ding Photography

Review | A Very New York Elegies at Toronto Opera Festival

By John Gilks on 16 June 2025 Art Song, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Opera, Toronto, Vocal

Elegies: A Song Cycle, by William Finn, is a series of songs in a musical theatre idiom dealing with bereavement and mourning. It’s a 2003 piece and firmly rooted in the trauma of the AIDS epidemic and 9/11. It’s very New York. Opera 5’s production (seen June 15) at Factory Theatre is fully staged (by Jessica Derventzis) and performed by artists from Opera 5’s Portfolio Artist Internship Program who mostly hail from McGill University. The extensive musical theatre training they have received is very evident in both their command of the required vocal style and their easy and energetic movement…