The last gala committee meeting for Opera Atelier 2013 Versailles Gala has just finished and I am on my way home: 15 days to go before the big event. I am thinking of all the great work done so far, the support both individuals and companies are showing, the gorgeous setting and entertainment laid out for the evening, and the pressing question of what to wear. Because… I am going to the Ball!
Funnily enough it was a gala I missed that brought me in contact with Opera Atelier in the first place. Exactly a year ago I was attending … Read more
We’re just back from a spectacular tour of The Magic Flute to the US. The Magic Flute enjoyed an enormous success and became more of a delight with every performance.
While on tour, I read The Missing Ink by Philip Hensher, and it was particularly appropriate, given the amount of letter writing I do when I’m away from home. Hensher’s very amusing book deals with “the lost art of handwriting” and among other things dwells on what a pleasure it is to receive correspondence that is written by hand. I couldn’t agree more! Over the years, I … Read more
This year’s Versailles Gala is going to rock! With a dynamic committee led by Diane Kazarian of PwC, a killer team of staff, and an army of volunteers, Opera Atelier is going host the most luxurious gala event yet on May 29th at the Ritz-Carlton.
Have you been to the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto? You should go. It’s absolutely stunning. Opera Atelier will take over the entire second floor, and after being welcomed upstairs, guests will see the magnificent views of Roy Thomson Hall from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the Grand Foyer.
“Bass-baritone Olivier Laquerre (another veteran of many OA productions) seemed both vocally and dramatically at home in the role of Papageno. And when he was joined bysoprano Carla Huhtanen as Papagena, feathers flew in a lively and well-paced duet.”
- Colin Eatock, Eatock Daily
Just take a look at this photo of Olivier LaQuerre and Carla Huhtanen. For me it says everything about the astonishing delicacy and grace of these two singers, but at the moment I’m focusing on Olivier, our adorable Papageno. At 6’7” you would think Olivier would frighten the children in the audience by his sheer size, … Read more
