James Levesque’s Blog

I have begun my musical preparation for two roles I will be performing with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre (SOLT)this summer. I have been cast as Æneas in Purcell’s Dido and Æneas and Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. I have three and a half weeks till this summer program starts, and I am feeling good about how both of these roles are going.

I have had two coachings so far, both have gone very well, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  I am scheduling time to practice most days, and I have also been spending about an hour and a half daily doing work on these scores. Reading through the text in time, as well as starting to memorize the words and music.  I have also spent a bit of time mapping out what work I have to do each day in order to be ready for the first music rehearsals that start the second week of June. That is where the felt pens and Moleskine come in handy.

Æneas, though a title character in this opera is quite a short role. I really enjoy all of the music that I sing in this opera… and although there is not very much to it, I think the role suits me quite well. In my last coaching I discovered that I have almost the whole role memorized. So over the long weekend I am going to memorize the last recit/duet and then all I have to do is run it regularly, to keep it fresh, while I continue to work on Ford in Falstaff.

Ford offers it’s own set of challenges. This character is quite angry and spends a lot of time running around the stage yelling. I started with Act I, part 2, which is a duet with Falstaff and Ford’s Aria. I know this section quite well now, and just need to run it and memorize it. At my last coaching we worked on Act I, part 1 and Act II. These ensemble scenes are quite tricky, fast and wordy. They go by in a flash, but require a lot of practice and repetition to get them in your body. This next week will find me doing a lot of slow repetition and reading  the text out loud.

I have a feeling this summer workshop is going to be challenging and rewarding. I just wish there were more hours in the day to get all of the work done. I need to be mentally fresh to be able to focus on this complicated, late Verdi opera.

Monday night was spent at the launch of Reif Larsen’s Debut novel The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. In Canada this book has been published  by Hamish Hamilton Canada, a new division of Penguin Canada.  This event was part of Pages’ This Is Not a Reading Series – and the concept was a lot of fun! The event features Cartographical  Lectures by the Author and special guests.

- Daniel Vila, Extermination Music Night

- Jonny Dovercourt, The Music Gallery

- Stephen Michalowicz & Jerad Galliger, Torontoist Futurist Project

- Claudia Dey, author of Stunt

The invitation said 7:00pm, so we left with plenty of time to take the subway to Union Station and walk down to Steam Whistle Brewery at 255 Bremner Boulevard. We arrived just before 7:00pm.  The venue opened at 7:00pm, but the actual event was set to start at 8:00. When we walked through the doors there was a large table piled high with copies of the book for sale.  We had picked up a copy of the proof this book at the launch of Hamish Hamilton. Read the rest of this entry »

The flowers here in Toronto have really started to bloom. The tulips and daffodils are looking great.

In a couple of weeks we will be able to start planting on our balcony. I love having fresh mint for mojitos and herbs for cooking!

Happy spring!

We went for a walk down Queen east this afternoon. Leslieville area. After some beer and snacks at The Roy, we hit Ed’s Real Scoop. This is a great ice cream and gelato shop on the north side Queen just east of Logan. They have a great selection of hard ice cream and gelato.

I tested 3 or 4 flavours (green apple, coconut, bacio…) before I choose a medium cup with half coconut half bacio (hazelnut & chocolate). This sweet treat hit the spot on a nice warm afternoon.

Tonight we (Adele, Stephen, Brett and I) went for a dinner of tapas at Julie’s Cuban Restaurant. You can find this little spot north of Queen street on Dovercourt (202 Dovercourt Road to be precise!) When we arrived for our 7:00pm reservation the place was packed. Thankfully there our table was ready in a back room.

Four of us shared 6 items from the Aperitivos/Tapas section of the menu (Tortilla chips con guacamole – tortilla chips with guacamole; Camarones fritos – deep fried shrimp lightly coated in coconut served with a spicy salsa; Calamari – served with two dipping sauces and lemon; Yuca con Mojo – potato-like, white root vegetable served with a garlic & onion mojo; Tostones Rellenos ‘green’ plantain cups stuffed with picadillo). Everything we had was quite tasty, and was washed down with a frozen margarita and Mojito Cubano. We ended our meal sharing the two desserts that were on offer, a key lime pie and a layered creamy banana parfait, and a cafe con leche.

The food was great as was the company. I hope to find more off the beaten track restaurants, this summer in Toronto. Visiting this “snack bar” also makes me think I should visit Cuba sometime soon.

This was not a bad place to spend a Friday night.

Sunday morning before the Creation concert we went for a walk through some of the countryside near Eganville. It was beautiful.

Trees outside of Eganville...

Valderie. Valderah ha ha ha ha ha

The Road Less Traveled...

A Pond in the woods

Really loving this first season. Only one episode left.

End of Season One

We have now finished the First Season of Torchwood. This is an original BBC series by Russell T. Davies, he is the man who revived Doctor Who, and this is a spin-off from the new DW.

Torchwood has not disappointed!  I am excited to start Season 2.