JONES-ROWE OPERA TOURS
Company Limited.
jonesroweopera@btopenworld.com
MEMORIES OF THE TORONTO RING
FIRST CYCLE
Computer generated graphic of front elevation
Computer generated graphic of interior
We were pleased to offer good stalls
seats for the first cycle, featuring the opening night of the new house for Das Rheingold
(Tuesday 12th September at 7.00pm) and continuing with Die Walküre (Wednesday
13th at 7.00pm), Siegfried (Friday 15th at 2.00pm) and
Götterdämmerung (Sunday 17th at 2.00pm).
Susan Bullock
Das Rheingold, directed by Michael
Levine, featured Judith Nemeth as Fricka with Richard Paul
Fink as Alberich. Die Walküre, directed by Atom Egoyan, had Adrianne Pieczonka as
Sieglinde, Clifton Forbis as Siegmund, and Pavlo Hunka as Hunding. Christian Franz played
the hero in Francois Girard’s Siegfried, with Susan Bullock as Brünnhilde. In Tim Albery’s
Götterdämmerung, the team was joined by John Fanning as Gunther.
Richard Bradshaw conducted the chorus and orchestra of the Canadian Opera Company.
(See reviews of Götterdämmerung futher down the page Feb 2006)
All performances were in German with simultaneous surtitles.
Lobby of the Le Royal Meridien King Edward
Guest bedrooms.
Accommodation was reserved at
Toronto’s celebrated Le Royal
Meridien King Edward
Hotel. The hotel is one of the great traditions of Canada.
The hotel is of five-star quality and all bedrooms are luxuriously furnished
with en suite bathrooms. We offered deluxe rooms
with a choice of either twin beds or King size bed.
All guests were
met by limousine at the airport, and upon arrival at the hotel were meet at a champagne reception.
Breakfast was be served in the hotel
each day or in the client's room.
Clients had at their disposal a private suite where there was a reception room available throughout the tour, with complimentary canapés and drinks, for the sole use of Jones-Rowe guests. This provided a peaceful haven to meet other opera-goers both before and after the opera. It was also the base for meeting celebrities associated with the opera.
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Features of the tour included:
*personal greeting and limousine from
airport to hotel
*champagne reception
*gala dinner with guest from the opera
company
*fully escorted throughout the tour,
including walking to the opera house
*excursion to Niagara Falls, with
optional helicopter ride over the falls
*dedicated lounge for tour members,
providing complimentary canapés and drinks
*assistance with choosing other excursions during the week
*advice about restaurants in the area
ITINERARY
September 2006
Monday 11th: Guests arrive at Toronto International Airport, to be met personally by a member of Jones-Rowe Tours, and taken by limousine to the hotel. Evening champagne reception.
Tuesday 12th: Free day, with performance of Das Rheingold at 7.00pm. Guests will be escorted to the new opera house, about 10 minutes walk from the hotel.
Wednesday 13th: Escorted walk to performance of Die Walküre. (Time to be announced)
Thursday 14th: All day tour to Niagara Falls in luxury coach; guided tour of the lakeside area, including a visit to a local winery; lunch at Niagara; walking tour behind the falls; optional helicopter ride over the falls. Evening free.
Friday 15th: Free morning. Escorted walk to opera house for Siegfried at 2.00pm.
Saturday 16th: Free day, with optional escorted visit to Royal Canadian Museum. Gala dinner in the evening with a guest from the Ring team.
Sunday 17th: Free morning. Escorted walk to opera house for Götterdämmrerung at 2.00pm.
Monday 18th: Check out of hotel after breakfast. Limousine service to Airport.
Itinerary subject to change: additional events will be added as they become available.
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Reviews of Götterdämmerung (Feb 2006)
"Vibrating with a sense of impending doom. . . . It really is hard to imagine a better assemblage of voices for this most demanding of operas."
John Terauds, Toronto Star
". . . [A] story fairly fraught with high drama -- a drama underscored as much by strong direction from Tim Albery as by Wagner's sumptuous score, served up by the COC Orchestra under Bradshaw's baton."
John Coulbourn, Toronto Sun
"Christian Franz sang with the incisive attack and steely projection of a classic Heldentenor. . . . Richard Bradshaw and the COC Orchestra gave a richer, more beautiful performance of this work than it would have been possible to imagine even a few years ago. The pace and precision of their work was truly impressive."
Robert Everett-Green, Globe and Mail
" It's not every day that you get to see a pantheon of gods wiped out and humankind redeemed by love, all accompanied by some of the most ravishing music ever composed. But that's what the Canadian Opera Company delivers."
Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
"[A] triumph. Visionary director Tim Albery, working with brilliant stage designer Michael Levine, has mounted a magnificent and more to the point, thrilling staging of Wagner's final Ring opera."
Paula Citron, Classical 96
Jeremy Rowe and Ian Jones
(right hand side) at the Longborough Opera festival