“Vat’s a Wandelprobe?” (with thanks to Lua Hadar’s Blog)
So, as Book Writer and Librettist, I’ve been creating this opera with composer Peter-Anthony Togni for four years and just heard a new word WANDELPROBE. Tuesday is the WANDELPROBE for new Canadian opera “Isis and Osiris, Gods of Egypt” inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology. Exotic, romantic, strange, chilling.
“SO VAT’S A WANDELPROBE, ALREADY? A rehearsal used in opera and musical theatre where actors, the orchestra, and blocking come together for the first time. That’s the first rehearsal with everything. The one you need a lot of patience to get through.”
Maestro Robert Cooper and Opera in Concert General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin will be performing their magic as all elements of this new work come together.We have been in the trenches of rehearsals for days. Very intense. Very exciting. The odd word change to help the singers sing. Some musical adjustments by the composer. The layers of meaning becoming ever richer as the music and the words are enhanced with glorious singing and acting, blocking: the movement of the artists on stage. Guillermo Silva-Marin works with each individual to “flesh out character relationships.”
“It takes a village to make an opera.” In our rehearsals, here is who is there: the stars of the opera: Lucia Cesaroni, Michael Barrett, Michael Nyby, Julie Nesrallah, Stuart Graham, Christopher Wattam, and Leigh-Ann Allen. Conductor and Chorus Director Robert Cooper who sings any missing vocal part, if an artist is not present, or to represent the missing chorus, Guillermo Silva-Marin staging, pianist Narmina Afandiyeva and, on Chorus days, the 29 male and female choristers.
So if you get to see the extraordinary production of ISIS AND OSIRIS, GODS OF EGYPT on April 1 and 3, know that I’m in the audience “verklempt” seeing my words come to life, blossoming with dazzling singing, orchestral music, acting.
Check out www.operainconcert.com