Based in Toronto, Ali Kashani caught the opera bug as a young teen and has progressively and obsessively grown his love of the art form through recordings, magazines and participation in on-line groups. He proudly tries to insert opera into the lives of all he touches. He has been reading parterre.com for over a decade and began contributing reviews in 2015.
Ali has given opera talks and moderated discussion panels for the Canadian Opera Company and used to be regular panelist on the now-defunct CBC Opera Quiz with Stuart Hamilton. Though he has musical training, his goal of taking vocal lessons is still, regrettably, on the to-do list.
Ali Kashani
“The sets and costumes do the trick without causing any concern of reckless spending.”
When the Canadian Opera Company announced a new (to the COC, anyway) production of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena staring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role, I admit that I wasn’t as excited as I had been by the announcement of her previous COC roles—Aida, Elisabetta (in Robert Devereux) and Norma. Read more »
Robert Carsen has given Peter Gelb two of the greatest successes of his tenure. Yet despite being one of the most in-demand opera directors in the world (does any other director have as many productions on the world’s opera stages?), his route to the Met has been as a runner-up. Read more »
O18, the second edition of Opera Philadelphia’s annual season-opening festival, launches on September 20 – on the eve of World Alzheimer’s Day – with the world premiere of Sky on Swings. An unflinching yet uplifting exploration of Alzheimer’s disease from the creative team behind O17’s I Have No Stories to Tell You, the new chamber opera finds fleeting beauty in memory loss. Starring mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson, who imbues her performances with “infinitely touching and vivid expressiveness” (Opera News), and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, “one of America’s finest artists and singers” (New York Times), Sky on Swings is perhaps the only opera to be headlined by two mature female vocalists. (Photo: Dominic M. Mercier) Read more »
“Follow the money.”
More than 80 years after its Dresden premiere, Arabella – the last collaboration by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal – has finally made its way to the Canadian Opera Company, opening the 2017-18 season. Read more »
By virtue of its subject matter and the auspicious occasion of its commissioning, Louis Riel was destined to be iconic.
In her debut solo album, Jamie Barton surrounds Gustav Mahler’s staples of the song repertoire, Rückert Lieder, with the less familiar Gypsy Songs of Antonin Dvorák and select songs by Jean Sibelius.
The Canadian Opera Company scored a coup when they secured Christine Goerke for the revival of their Ring productions over the last three seasons
Revive is a manifesto of sorts, declaring Elina Garanca’s intentions for the new direction in her career.
Joyce DiDonato’s atest album, In War & Peace: Harmony through music, is more specific than it sounds.
Cher Public