There are no fiercer fans than opera lovers. But we’re constantly hearing people complaining about it. Perhaps they’re intimidated by it, or just confused. As the Canadian Opera Company launches its season this month with two productions, the bel canto masterpiece Norma and Handel’s rarely performed Ariodante, it seems like a good opportunity to de-stigmatize opera. So I sat down with soprano Ambur Braid – a rising star who’s sung with both Broken Social Scene and Dragonette at fundraising events – to deconstruct people’s fears about the art form we both know and love. See coc.ca for tickets.
Relax. I’ve seen people in tuxes and gowns (on opening nights, especially) and jeans and Ts. I’d probably avoid open-toed sandals in November, though.
As for price, some tickets go for about what you’d pay for a movie. But top-priced tickets help to cover the costs of a huge orchestra, a director and designers for a massive 2,000-seat house and an international roster of singers.
“Going to the opera is an investment, both for the people paying for tickets and on our part,” explains Braid, who performs the juicy, vengeful role of Dalinda in Ariodante this month. “A lot of time goes into it. Some people think we show up a week before and pop onstage. I’ve had people ask me, ‘So what’s your day job?’ This is more than our day job. It’s our life.
“Opera is far cheaper than going to a sports game or seeing Beyonce,” she adds. “I can’t afford to go to a hockey game, and, c’mon, this is a little bit nicer. Plus, you can watch hockey on TV. Coming into this house, where there’s not a bad seat and it all sounds great, is an incredible experience.”
Braid, who’s as svelte, tall and athletic as they come, is tired of hearing that. And frankly, she’s also pissed off. “We come in all different sizes, just as in real life,” she says. “The dialogue needs to change. It’s boring to talk about weight. And it’s a problem when people are forced to lose weight, because their voices change and they’re no longer the same singer.” She pauses. “I do sleep with opera horns on though,” she deadpans. “I take them off when I come to the opera house, because it’s too stereotypical.”
Certainly some of the plot points and social conventions in operas don’t apply to us today. Sex out of wedlock? Not a big deal. But it’s up to a director to make an opera resonate with modern audiences.
“Most opera deals with extreme scenarios, but we experience some pretty extreme scenarios in our day-to-day lives,” says Braid. “We just happen to be doing it onstage. In the 1700s, people had to deal with everything we’re dealing with today: love, loss, birth, death, marriage troubles, mental illness. And jealousy? Jealousy is a big one.”
There are surtitles to translate the text if the opera’s in another language. “But if we’re doing our jobs and are expressing the music, you shouldn’t even need the surtitles,” says Braid. Some companies also perform in English, like Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre and the English National Opera. Braid played the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute for the ENO last year and has become a big supporter of opera in English.
“Singers used to perform in their mother tongues: an Italian singer would sing in Italian, a French singer in French. You know them so much better when you’re singing in your own language.”
As for arias, or songs, that repeat the same words, Braid sighs. “You should feel something a little different each time. How many times a day do people say, ‘Oh my god’? And each time it has a different inflection.”
“Opera is like TV,” says Braid. “You can’t just watch one episode, hate it and think you’ve seen the whole series. If you hate one movie, you don’t hate all movies.”
Speaking of movies, Braid will often draw inspiration from film characters when performing an opera role.
“When we did Die Fledermaus here, I drew on Gwyneth Paltrow’s character from The Royal Tenenbaums, the girl from Melancholia and Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca. For Ariodante, I’ve latched onto the figure of Alexander Romanov in Rasputin, and for some scenes Julia Roberts in Sleeping With The Enemy.”
Talk about a unique handle on Handel.
Want stage listings? Go here.
glenns@nowtoronto.com | @glennsumi
