Opera and Music Theatre Workshops

Get in on the excitement and meet award-winning innovators from Germany and Latvia to gain new skills and polish existing ones. Director Franziska Kronfoth and dramaturg Evarts Melnalksnis are coming to Toronto to present their exhilarating opera film Baņuta for one night - reserve your tickets here. The Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto is hosting two workshops offered by Franziska and Evarts between November 18 and 20, co-presented by Arraymusic. 

Workshop 1: Opera as film – dramaturgy and practice

Two days, three hours per day, free for University of Toronto students, $150 per participant or sliding scale based on need. Limited to 12 participants.

For singers, students, dramaturgs, directors, librettists and opera creators of all kinds to explore contemporary opera practice across Europe and to make their own miniature films, bringing opera and film together. Participants are invited to bring their own instruments if they play one. 

November 18 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm in the Perf, Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse, 79 St. George Street.
November 20 from 10am to 1pm at Arraymusic, 155 Walnut Avenue.

To register for this workshop, visit OperaWorkshopDramaturgy.eventbrite.ca.

CANCELLED: Workshop 2: Acting for opera on and off camera

Three hours, free for University of Toronto students, $75 per participant or sliding scale based on need.

A chance for singers to refresh their approach to a text with the guidance of a director and dramaturg who are steeped in European tradition and leaders in innovation. Singers can explore their relationship to the camera in a supportive and inspiring environment. Participants are invited to bring their own instruments if they play one. 

Limited to 10 participants who comewith an aria, duet, or ensemble from Bizet‘s Carmen, Verdi’s La Traviata or Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

November 20 from 2:00 to 5:00pm at Arraymusic, 155 Walnut Avenue.

To register for this workshop, visit OperaWorkshopActing.eventbrite.ca.

Workshop Leaders and Artists:

Franziska Kronfoth, born in Berlin, is considered a leader in contemporary music theatre in Germany. She is an opera director who merges music and drama with art, philosophy, film und performance which meet in a wild, colorful and opulent theatre experience. She is a co-founder of the music theatre collective “Hauen und Stechen” which has been working in in opera houses as well as in caves, cars, clubs and museums. (The name ‘Hauen and Stechen’, which literally means ‘beating and stabbing,’ is a popular term for fierce competition.) Among her projects are versions of Carmen, Tristan and Isolde, Salome, Lulu, Saint Matthews Passion, as well as various experimental creations. Recently, she directed a movie of the Latvian opera Baņuta. Franziska puts the danger and the fun back in opera and has just been nominated for the prestigious German theatre award ‘Der Faust’ for her opera co-direction of The Condemnation of Lucullus. hauen-und-stechen.com/bios/

Evarts Melnalksnis from Riga, Latvia is deeply engaged in music theatre dramaturgy and is an innovator and idea generator in music theatre and performance art, including an outstanding event in the elephant stables of the Riga circus. He focuses on post-dramatic theatre strategies, contemporary music theatre, interdisciplinary and international cooperation. He studied at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre, and was awarded a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship as well as the "Musiktheater heute" scholarship for young music theatre professionals (2016 - 2018). He is the founder of the Latvian theatre troupe KVADRIFRONS and dramaturg of its several performances, including "The Spring" which received the national theatre prize (2019). His special skill is taking apart a classic work (like ‘Baņuta’ or ‘Spring Awakening’) and finding its current urgency. He is the initiator and dramaturg of the Latvian opera film Baņuta. 

Franziska and Evarts are eager to find out all they can about our Toronto music theatre community and they look forward to meeting you.  

Please write banuta.rubess@utoronto.ca if you are a professional interested in these workshops but cannot afford the full fee. 

Supported by the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto; the Latvian National Federation in Canada; Daugavas Vanagi (Latvian Relief Society of Canada); and the Latvian National Opera Fund.