The Costumes and Wigs of Semele

Costumes from the COC production of Semele, Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

In a fusion of Chinese theatre and European Baroque, the costumes of the Semele, an upcoming production by the Canadian Opera Company, are sumptuous in their rich colours and luxurious fabrics. In a behind stage press preview, I got to see them up close as well learn more about the making of this opera. After what I've seen, I'm predicting it will be a spectacular run.

Costume from the COC production of Semele, Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

Handel's Semele is a rare opera that was composed in English and audiences at the premiere in 1744 were shocked by the erotic nature of the story. This version presented by the COC has been directed by the famed Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Huan.

Ming Dynasty Temple detail, Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

Not limited by convention, Zhang Huan has brought a 450 year old temple to serve as the stage centrepiece. This is not a recreation, but an actual Ming Dynasty temple that has been painstakingly reconstructed. When Zhang Huan purchased the temple in 2007, he had it moved, piece by piece, to his studio in Shanghai. During that process, he discovered the diary written by the temple's previous owner, Fang Jixin, in which he records his anger and frustration over his wife's infidelity. Fang Jixin murdered his wife's lover and then was sentenced to firing squad. To reflect the duality of reality and theatricality, the wife of Fang Jixin has actually give a part in this production.

Wig from the COC production of Semele, photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

This COC production has all the elements of opera that I love - spectacular costumes, magnificent sets, top notch performers, plus the added drama of the opera itself intertwined with history.

Semele runs for eight performances only at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on May 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 24, and 26, 2012. Tickets are available at the box office and online at the COC website.

Creative Process Journal: Les Jeux de la Poupee (The Doll's Games)

Les jeux de la poupee by Hans Bellmer 1949  

Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) was a German artist, who used self-crafted life sized dolls assembled from a range of materials in photographs which explored erotic themes. He hand-coloured the images and published ten of them in a book in 1934. Bellmer made a second doll in 1935 using the head and hands from the first doll and also incorporating a number of ball and socket joints which allowed the doll to be manipulated into a variety of contortions. The doll had interchangeable limbs and other parts, as well as an extensive wardrobe. He photographed this work in 1935 but it was not published until 1949, in part because his work was considered 'Degenerate' by the Nazis (Wood 316). Bellmer's is associated with the Surrealist movement, and after moving to Paris in 1938, he spent some time in an interment camp in the south of France alongside Max Ernst.

Various authors have suggested two sources of inspiration for Bellmer's work. In 1931, Bellmer attended Max Reinhardt's production of The Tales of Hoffman in which there is a mechanical girl/doll named Olympia who seduces a living man (Freud also mentioned this literary work in his essay The Uncanny). As well, Bellmer's mother apparently sent him a box of childhood toys which included broken dolls (Sulick 14). Whatever the inspiration, Bellmer was not the only artist using dolls or mannequins at the time. Man Ray, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Andre Masson and others all incorporated dolls into their artistic practice around this time.

I find Bellmer's photographs disturbing, but also strangely fascinating. The bizarre range of contortions and dismembered limbs are haunting, but as abstract forms, the images are striking in their virtuosity of composition.

References:

Sulick, Amber Rae. Hans Bellmer's "Les Jeux De La Poupee". Ed. Hans Bellmer and Joint Graduate Program in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, 2008.

Wood, Ghislaine. Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design. London: V&A Publications, 2007.

P.S. The Canadian Opera Company is performing The Tales of Hoffman in their spring production lineup (April 10 - May 14, 2012). I plan on attending. For more information, visit the COC website here.

The Costumes for the Canadian Opera Company's Production of Tosca

Eszter Sümegi as Floria Tosca and Mikhail Agafonov as Mario Cavaradossi in the COC’s production of Tosca, 2008. Photo: Michael Cooper

It's no secret how much I love opera, especially if there are lavish period costumes to drool over and the Canadian Opera Company's upcoming production of Tosca promises to deliver some eye candy.

This opera by Puccini is set in Rome in the early 19th century and is considered one of the best-loved operas of all time. The fiery and passionate heroine, Tosca, tries to protect the man she loves from the chief of police, but finds herself caught in a web of corruption, lust and betrayal and ultimately commits an act of murder.  This COC production will showcase renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka.

Eszter Sümegi as Floria Tosca in the COC’s production of Tosca, 2008. Photo: Michael Cooper

The exquisite sets and costumes for the COC production were designed by Kevin Knight. There are 117 period costumes made for the 9 principals, 40 members of the COC Chorus, 20 members of the children’s chorus and 14 supernumeraries (the extras of the opera world). Each costume for the female cast members took between 12 to 32 metres of fabric. Six different kinds of fabric were used including cotton, silk, wool, leather, suede and linen, all of which would have been available in the 1800s. There were 25 metres of trim on Tosca's cape in Act II. It took 4 garment-makers 12 weeks to stitch costumes. And the most curious fact of all - 6 different kinds of blood were tested before finding one that washed out of the costumes the easiest!

Tosca runs for 14 performances on Jan. 21, 25, 29, 31, Feb. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 21, 23 and 25, 2012 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™. I'm already looking forward to opening night!


Note: Photos were provided courtesy of the Canadian Opera Company and are subject to copyright.

The Gown of your Choice?

Like most of you, I await tonight's fashion parade down the red carpet with much anticipation. It must be a heady day for the Academy Award nominees as they get ready to look their best, especially for the lucky ones wearing custom designed gowns.

David McCaffrey and Wallis Guinta
 Photo by MIV Photography, 2011.

Being a huge fan of formal wear myself (was I born in the wrong century?), I have to say that I think that having a gown designed for me would be the ultimate fantasy.  But for Wallis Giunta, a mezzo-soprano from the Canadian Opera Company, custom designed gowns are just another part of her job. This artist, who has charmed critics with her "creamy voice and charismatic stage presence" was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and will make her NYC recital debut in March in a program titled Spanish Gold: Songs of the Iberian Peninsula. She will be wearing a gown  of "flame coloured raw silk with black ruffles in the back, and an off-the-shoulder bustier top" designed by noted Canadian designer McCaffrey Haute Couture.

This collaboration between artist and designer was forged last October when McCaffrey offered to loan Giunta dresses for her upcoming recitals. Soon thereafter, Giunta sang with indie rock celebrities Broken Social Scene at the Canadian Opera Company's fundraising gala Operanation VII while wearing a voluminous white wedding gown for the event's Cinderella theme. Their next collaboration came in December when Guinta wore a 1940s silhouette gown in green for her recital for the Governor General in Ottawa. In between recitals and the upcoming premiere of the Robert Lepage-directed production of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables, Wallis Giunta will be featured modelling David McCaffrey's gowns in print and online ads.

Who would you wear if you could chose any designer to create a gown for you?