An Ambitious World Premiere At Vancouver Opera

Frédérique Vézina infuses the title role with an intriguing restlessness and confidently follows its varied emotional contours. She has the stamina needed for the sudden upswell of dramatic soprano writing in Lillian’s climactic act-two confession. Aaron St. Clair Nicholson’s mellifluous baritone blends bluster, tenderness, and devotion in his moving portrayal of Scotty, the link between the two stories. Among the other principals, tenor Colin Ainsworth stands out in his memorable cameo as the young Norwegian Kristian who is fired by Lillian’s adventurous example.

The most memorable performance comes from the venerable Judith Forst as the spirited but pained Irene. Hers is a tour de force of dramatic singing, finding nuance in the most offbeat phrase. As her son, Roger Honeywell is given far less musical characterization and is mostly a reactive character, but he invests the stirring quartet of disclosure in the final act with throbbing emotional honesty.

To read more from Crosscut, click here.

Risky Business

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

"...Lillian Alling is an exciting, brave production deserving a wide audience and international exposure; as with Nixon in China, this is a modern opera which connects us with people we know, who have lived extraordinary lives. Both its story and its world premiere production make history, and this is one opera not to be missed."

To read more from Coastline Journal, click here.

The World Premiere Of John Estacio And John Murrell’s Lillian Alling

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Some of the evening's most exciting singing came from baritone Aaron St.Clair Nicholson as the infatuated suitor, Scotty. Blessed with such a handsome voice, Nicholson was outstanding in every way, conveying the impulsion of a man in pursuit of a cause in his solo aria (in the Stanley Park scene) As one, Lillian Alling, as one.

To read more from Review Vancouver, click here.

The Reviews Are In. Lillian Alling Is A Triumph!

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

"There is something inherently optimistic about this music”… "Engaging, accessible, touching and well crafted" – Elissa Poole, Globe and Mail

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"An enchanting show"… "a visual delight”… "The conspicuous success of Lillian Alling — beyond its intrinsic musical and theatrical worth — is to demonstrate that contemporary opera is alive and thriving at Vancouver Opera." – David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun

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“[Frédérique Vézina has] a voice as rich and warm as the smell of freshly cut cedar”... “[Judith] Forst is... a fiery standout”...

“Vancouver Opera and the Banff Centre (VO’s co-producer on the project) have spared no expense on the production design, which looks consistently handsome.” – Janet Smith, The Georgia Straight

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HURRY! ONLY 3 MORE PERFORMANCES!

Experience the thrill and beauty of this WORLD PREMIERE opera. There are good seats available for all remaining shows.

Call the VO Ticket Centre at 604.683.0222 or click here to purchase tickets online.

Vancouver Opera's Lillian Alling A Conspicuous Success

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Composer Estacio has crafted a solid, sturdy score of unusual tightness: there isn’t a false step in nearly three hours of music. In the first act, the “road opera” conceit tracing Lillian’s cross-continent trek gives a rich complement of charming segments such as a New York street scene (complete with references to '20s pop idioms), a lovely aria for tenor Colin Ainsworth (a male equivalent of Carlisle Floyd’s “Ain’t it A Pretty Night” perhaps?), and a nice “meet cute” for Lillian and her would-be suitor, Scotty MacDonald, sung with easy assurance by baritone Aaron St. Clair Nicholson.

To read more from Vancouver Sun's David Gordon Duke, click here.

Vancouver Opera's Lillian Alling Takes The Art Form To Rugged New Realms

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

With a voice as rich and warm as the smell of freshly cut cedar, soprano soprano Frédérique Véniza successfully makes the journey from wide-eyed new immigrant to strong woman on a mission. She really hits her stride in Act 2, with some deeply shaded, anguished solos.

Forst is also a fiery standout as Irene, the old woman who recounts Alling’s story as her son Jimmy (Roger Honeywell) drives her from her beloved cabin in the Interior into Vancouver to a rest home—“a cage in the city”, as she laments. Elsewhere, tenor Colin Ainsworth has a charming solo as a farm boy longing to leave his small town; Aaron St. Clair Nicholson is a charismatic Scotty, the telegraph man who falls for Lillian later in the opera; and tenor Honeywell brings humour and warmth to Jimmy.

For more from the Georgia Straight, click here.

Reimagined Journey Of An Enigmatic Woman Makes For Engaging Opera

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

There is something inherently optimistic about this music, especially in the confident reach of Estacio’s vocal writing: big intervals anchored on triads, an old-fashioned, romantic rhetoric, echoes that range from Tchaikovsky to Bernstein, and mellifluous lines that flatter the singers.

In return, the singers flatter Lillian Alling. Soprano Frédérique Vézina was superb in the title role, projecting both strength and mystique in her singing (though somewhat more coquettish in gesture than the character suggests).

Mezzo-soprano Judith Forst was, as ever, emotionally arresting, her performance one long, gradual deepening of Irene’s character.

Click here to read more from the Globe & Mail.

Video: Vancouver Opera Presents Lillian Alling

A preview of Vancouver Opera's presentation of Lilian Alling,

Click here to see the Vancouver Sun video in full size.

Forst In The Wilderness

The renowned mezzo-soprano was a regular at New York's Metropolitan Opera, received the Order of Canada and Order of British Columbia and appeared in dozens of operatic productions worldwide.

At 67, she shows no signs of slowing.

Forst is starring in the Vancouver Opera’s world premiere of Lillian Alling, the opening production for the company’s 51st season.

“It’s a new production, new music, new words – everything,” she said. “It’s very exciting when you start from scratch. There are no footprints ahead of us.”

To read the interview with Judith Forst in 24hrs, click here.

A Journey Of Operatic Proportions

The production itself promises to be just as grand. Featuring some of Canada’s top opera talent – including mezzo-soprano Judith Forst, Quebec soprano Frédérique Vézina, and Toronto tenor Roger Honeywell – as well as the 60-piece Vancouver Opera Orchestra and a 40-person chorus, the piece not only travels great distances thematically, it also touches on the myriad musical styles that Ms. Alling would have encountered on her journey.

To read more from the Globe and Mail, click here.

Lillian Alling: Vancouver Opera’s Mystery Woman

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Only bits and pieces about the real Lillian Alling are known: She arrived at New York’s Ellis Island from Eastern Europe; she was reported to be searching for someone; she crossed the continent on foot alone. She was imprisoned for a time in B.C. for vagrancy; some said it was for her own protection. She ultimately disappeared into the north.

For Murrell and Estacio, the unanswered questions were part of the story’s attraction. “We spent a lot of time not just digging for research, but digging into our imaginations, trying to come up with a cohesive storyline that preserved her heroism and her mystery and her determination, but also in some ways solved the mystery,” says Murrell.

To read more from the Globe & Mail, click here.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Vancouver Opera lands the cover of this week's Georgia Straight! Check inside for interviews with Lillian Alling's Frédérique Vézina, librettist John Murrell and director Kelly Robinson.

Pick up your copy today!

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Lillian Alling -- Road Opera Heroine

Handout, Photo courtesy of the Atlin Historical Society

"Something in the one 1928 image of her in the wild Northwest of B.C. just grabbed me," says John Murrell. "She has this look about her that just says 'prepared for adventure,' as though she was bred for this kind of thing."

Click here to read more from The Province.

Lillian's Alling's Epic Trek

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Vancouver Opera has upped the spectacle of the production by layering images—both photographic and video-based—over a jaggedy-stepped set. The projections depict everything from rocky rivers seemingly gushing over the stage to the narrow brick streets of old Brooklyn. The score flows with sweeping, multilayered orchestrations and choral crescendos that almost cinematically evoke the old West. “There’s a lot of emotion to the music and a lot of the landscape,” Frédérique Vézina says.

The result will be a multisensory feast, with 60 orchestra members and 40 chorus singers. Opera companies in this country frequently experiment with smaller-scale chamber operas, but few dare to mount something this ambitious.

To read more from The Georgia Straight, click here.

How Lillian Alling's Wild Terrain Comes To Multimedia Life

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

“We’re trying to capture the sense of the emotional weight, rather than merely a specific place,” Robinson explains of the multilayered landscape images that evoke the journey from Ellis Island through the North Dakota grasslands and into the Pacific wilderness. “It really has a sense of impressionism and, in some cases, even expressionism.…It’s not just a matter of just selecting photography, it’s really about designing an image and layering imagery.” - Director Kelly Robinson

To read more from The Georgia Straight, click here.

Mystery Surrounds The Real Lillian Alling

Handout, Photo courtesy of the Atlin Historical Society

John Murrell’s Lillian Alling is a poetic and theatrical creation suggested by the life of a remarkable woman. But who was the real Lillian?

Mollie Rolston (Mollie Owens back then) is one of the very few left who know something first hand about this shadowy figure. When she was six she met Lillian on her family’s ranch in Evelyn, just outside Smithers.

To read more of Vancouver Sun's David Gordon Duke interview with Mollie Rolston, click here.

Focus On The Composer: Lillian Alling’s John Estacio

From left: Librettist John Murrell, Composer John Estacio

This is very much a road opera, so I could hardly ignore the various cultures and musics and communities Lillian encountered as she travelled across North America."

For example, the Scandinavians in North Dakota. And the Ellis Island scene when she arrives from Russia is a fun cacophony of sound and languages. - John Estacio

Composer John Estacio talks to Vancouver Sun's David Gordon Duke. To read more, click here.

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Vancouver Opera World Premiere Depicts An Immigrant's Cross-Continental Odyssey

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

"I am excited to be presenting a world premier to both open our 2010-2011 season and close our Golden Anniversary celebrations,” says James Wright, with considerable justification.

“I am especially proud of this VO-commissioned work, created by a team with a proven track record of audience-pleasing new operas. Lillian Alling is filled with tuneful arias, big chorus numbers, and lush orchestration, all in the service of a literate and fascinating libretto based on the true-life experiences of a very mysterious woman.”

To read more from Vancouver Sun's David Gordon Duke, click here.