Toronto - An All-Canadian Opening Night Barber of Seville

by Joseph So, La Scena Musicale

It was announced at the Canadian Opera Company press conference this morning that Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian will sing Rosina on opening night of Rossini's The Barber of Seville in on Thursday, January 21st in Toronto.   She will be joined by Irish-Canadian tenor Michael Colvin, who will assume the role of Count Almaviva.  Together with the regularly scheduled Figaro of baritone Russell Braun,  this will be one of those rare occasions when the three principal roles are taken by fast-rising young Canadian singers. Rumour has it that the first-cast Rosina and Almaviva have been a little under the weather - not an unusual occurance, given the particularly harsh winter Toronto has been experiencing. Bayrakdarian is no stranger to stepping in at the last minute. Last summer, while understudying the role of Pamina at the Music Academy of the West (general director :Marlyn Horne), Bayrakdarian replaced the original soprano for both scheduled performances. Bayrakdarian, who at age 22 won the 1997 Metropolitan Opera Auditions, will also sing her originally scheduled performances on January 24 and February 2nd. Michael Colvin is a member of the COC Ensemble Studio. He   received rave reviews in the world premiere of "Zurich 1916" in the Banff Arts Festival last summer, as well as in the COC Giasone last November. He will be singing the January 24th performance as well.  Their being chosen to sing major roles on opening night demonstrates the faith Artistic Director Richard Bradshaw has on home-grown talent.  Performances are very close to selling out, so if you want to catch these wonderful young voices, don't  wait!

Background: For an article about Isabel Bayrakdarian, the engineer turned opera singer, click here.