TEACHING ARTIST AT THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

Last year I was invited by the Canadian Opera Company to be a ‘Teaching Artist’ for the 2022/23 season. Teaching Artists deliver interactive workshops in various settings, and in this season, I partook in two workshops.

The most recent workshop was on March 15 as part of Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw amphitheater, and featured Karine White (Laetitia), Renée Salewski (director), Timothy Cheung (piano) and myself, leading the audience in an interactive workshop inspired by Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1939 opera The Old Maid and the Thief. Navigating through dramaturgy, with the performance of a couple of its most famous arias (I performed “When the air sings of summer”) as well as scenes, this workshop provided an educational exploration of the well-loved radio opera.

📷: Karen E. Reeves

Previously, on January 23, The Canadian Opera Company presented its second Youth Opera Lab (YOL) in conjunction with The Marriage of Figaro dress rehearsal. Karine Whie, Hyejin Kwon and I along with Madeleine Smith, manager of community partnerships and programs at the COC, developed and executed a 90-minute interactive workshop focused on the music and history of The Marriage of Figaro. We also discussed how opera singers prepare for the stage. Musical excerpts were featured - I performed “Se vuol ballare” and “Hai già vinta la causa…”

It was a privilege to be involved in these workshops with the organization, and I look forward to future collaboration.

THE BELLS OF BADDECK

On August 2, 2022, the centennial of Alexander Graham Bell’s death, THE BELLS OF BADDECK opened at Parks Canada’s Alexander Graham Bell National Historical Site, located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People.

Bradley performs the role of J.A.D. McCurdy (August 2, 1886 - June 25, 1961), a notable Canadian who made a name for himself as a pilot, innovator, engineer, and one of the Fathers of Canadian Aviation. With colleagues Casey Baldwin, Glenn Curtiss, and Thomas Selfridge, and Alexander and Mabel Bell at the helm, began the Aerial Experiment Association in 1907. By 1909, he piloted the first controlled flight of an aircraft (The Silver Dart) by a British subject in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. McCurdy also served as the twentieth lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia from 1947-52, and was the recipient of many other honours.

Performances run until August 20, so come to the East Coast and see this incredible show.
https://bellsofbaddeck.com/tickets/

WERE YOU THERE? IN A TIME OF ISOLATION

My wonderful colleagues and I recorded Bob Chilcott's arrangement of Were You There? for Christ Church Deer Park's Good Friday online service. During an unprecedented time such as this, where self-isolation is important, still being able to sing and collaborate with my friends and colleagues sure makes this a little bit easier. This is the first time I have recorded a choral piece with no other singer in the room, so big shoutout to Kai Leung, the video and sound engineer who put this all together. Enjoy!
Singers: Sonya Harper-Nyby (sop), Kelsey Taylor (sop), Julia Barber (alto), Jacques Arsenault (ten), Bradley Christensen (bar), Peter Warren (bass).
Musical direction by Matthew Otto.

NEW ZEALAND SINGER SET FOR LA BOHÈME SHOW

In an interview for the Prince George Citizen on July 4, 2019, Bradley had a few things to say about his love of opera, the arts, and the human voice. One thing he had to say was:

"We don't use microphones, we are not auto-tuned, nothing about the singers is synthesized. This is our raw voice, it's real, it comes out of our bodies and goes into the audience straight from the voice to the ear. That is a simple but unbelievable connection."

For the full interview, read here.

IDOMENEO: OPERA ATELIER

Opera Atelier’s Idomeneo has been a huge success!
Five performances to over 10,000 attendees in the Ed Mirvish Theatre. This has been a musical highlight in the performance calendar to date!

In addition, Bradley has received nothing but positive reviews, including:
"And then there was striking baritone Bradley Christensen as the High Priest and Olivier Lacquerre as Arbace, both lending essential dramatic lower tessitura counterbalance to the opera’s preference for upper register roles. Christensen and Laquerre are excellent singers and actors and I look forward to seeing them in more roles with OA.”
(Stephen Bonfield, Opera Canada, April 10, 2019)

"Finally, the young New Zealand baritone Bradley Christensen showed off his fine voice and imposing stage presence as the High Priest."
(Joseph So, Ludwig-Van Toronto, April 5, 2019)

To find out what Opera Atelier has planned next season, visit https://www.operaatelier.com

OPERA CANADA REVIEW: Southern Ontario Lyric Opera

The new edition of Opera Canada has come out and there is a review of the production Bradley did in March, 2018 with Southern Ontario Lyric Opera. It was a double bill featuring I Pagliacci and Gianni Schicchi. This was Bradley’s first Silvio (Pagliacci) and second Marco (Gianni Schicchi).

"Baritone Bradley Christensen (Silvio) was both vocally rich and a good actor, particularly convincing during the Nedda/Silvio duet which DeCiantis and Christensen sang with the lush musical ebb and flow that Leoncavallo’s score demands."

For the full review, visit operacanada.ca

TEN SINGING STARS: THE NEXT GENERATION

November 6, 2017 was the Ten Singing Stars: The Next Generation concert, supported by the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists. All singers in the concert took part in the IRCPA’s Encounter with Brett Polegato, in which the celebrated Canadian operatic baritone provided advice in a masterclass setting, offering career guidance, and preparing them for the concert.

Bradley was announced as the recipient of the Sondra Radvanovsky Scholarship. In her honour, he performed Eugene Onegin’s Act 1 aria ‘Kogda bï zhizn domashnim krugom’ live on Classical FM96.3.
Photo is courtesy of Joseph So.

For more information, commentaries and reviews of the event, see:

http://operacanada.ca/ircpas-ten-singing-stars-show-great-promise/  

https://operaramblings.wordpress.com/2017/11/07/singing-stars-the-next-generation-2/#more-23286

TORONTO CHILDREN'S CHORUS CAMP WEEK

What a fabulous week this has been! I have had the privilege of working with the Toronto Children's Chorus (TCC) during their annual camp, teaching sight-singing and theory, and what's more, music from my homeland. In 2007, as a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir, I was fortunate enough to perform the gargantuan piece, I te timatanga. This week, at the request of the TCC, I have been teaching and choreographing it for the Chorale Choir. Wow, have they done an incredible job! Make sure you check out their website www.torontochildrenschorus.com to find out when they have their next performance. Congratulations TCC!!