20 — Friday. March 12, 1999 ~ North Shore News

Jumping out of

Mezzo-soprane
dispenses with
trouser roles for
La Traviata

B La Traviata produced by
Vancouver Opera March 13,
16, 18 and 20 at Queen
Elizabeth Theatre.

Layne Christensen

News Reporter
layne@nusnews.com

LYNN Valley-raised
mezzo-soprano Marie
Anne Kowan has made
her mark in what the
opera industry calls
“trouser roles.”
These are the roles of juve-
nile men, whose pre-pubescent
voices are ideally suited for the
mezzo- soprano vocal range.
She’s played Stephano in
Romeo and Julivtte with the
Edmonton Opera and Hansel
in the Vancouver Opera touring
ensemble’s staging of Hansel
and Gretel \ast year.
She'll be wearing the pants
tor her next two roles, Siebel in
Faust with the Manitoba Opera
and Frederic in Toronto's
Opera in Concert staging of
Mimnon.
“This week and next, howev-
es, the gutsy singer will be play-
ing the very girlie role of Flora
in the Vancouver Opera pro-
duction of Guiseppe Verdi's
tragic masterpiece La Traviata .
Ie’s a fun part te play, says
Kowan, who is based in
Toronto but stays with family
in North Van when performing
on the West Coast.
“Pm a little bir wild, a real
party girl,” she says of the cour- MARIE Anne Kowan in rehearsal discussion
tesan who has her way with the — with La Traviata director David Gately.
rich and powerful of 19th cen-
tury Paris. Flora is friend to
Violetta, Verdi’s unlucky-in-
love heroine whose affair with the wealthy Argyle grad who played clarinet in the
and well-born Alfredo sparks a family feud school orchestra before switching to vocal
and leads to tragic consequence. studies at Vancouver Academy of Music and,
“I probably spend at least half my time later U of T. “This time f get to wear a
(on stage) as a boy,” figures Kowan, an dress.”

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