Musically and visually stunning: La Reine-garçon ticks all the boxes in Toronto

With music by Julien Bilodeau to a libretto by Michel Marc Bouchard, La Reine-garçon is a French language opera co-commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal, where it premiered last year. It’s now playing at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto in a remount of the earlier production directed by Angela Konrad.

It is based on the life of Queen Christina of Sweden (reigned 1632-54) who was brought up as a boy, imported the Enlightenment to Sweden, refused to marry, abdicated and converted to Catholicism... which is a lot to pack into a single opera! So Bilodeau and Bouchard tell Christina’s story in terms of her relationship to three people: her confidante Countess Ebbe Sparre and the two rivals for her hand, her cousin, Karl Gustav, and the son of her Councillor, Johan Oxenstierna. We also get a sense of the tension between Christina’s rather Baroque ambitions and the austere land and people she rules. René Descartes also puts in an appearance. 

It works really well, with score and the text well integrated. The music is what one hopes for in a contemporary opera, by turns lyrical and dramatic, unafraid to use dissonance where apposite. It’s deeply textured and brilliantly integrates the otherworldly Swedish folk vocalism kulning to evoke the North. It's emptiness and beauty. There’s also just enough humour.

Visually it’s stunning and Konrad's stagecraft is clever. Much use is made of projections, often in place of physical scenery, allowing for slick transitions and some gorgeous visual effects. Two particularly come to mind: in Act 1, on the entry of Descartes, an archway transforms into massive shelves of books; at the beginning of Act 2 there is a truly spectacular invocation of the Northern Lights. 

The score also provides a distinct musical signature for each character. These are effectively employed by the all-Canadian cast to reinforce their characters. Christine was acted exuberantly and sung with power and drama by Kirsten MacKinnon. Isaiah Bell was most athletic physically and vocally as Johan, the more approachable of the two suitors, while Philippe Sly brooded darkly as the bloodstained Karl Gustav. Owen McCausland, making a welcome return to Toronto, was just bumptious enough as Descartes and got strong support from his assistant, veteran bass Alain Coulombe, in the funniest trepanning scene since Death of Stalin.

There was a dignified cameo from Daniel Okulitch as the frustrated Councillor Axel Oxenstierna and a brilliant, weird, absurdly high soprano role for Aline Kutan as the alienated dowager queen who, in a way, encapsulates the “old Sweden” that Christine is trying to reject. Queen Hezumuryango put in an excellent performance, the best I’ve seen from her, as the ambiguous confidante. Anne-Marie Beaudette’s kulning was a thing of wonder and added much to the atmosphere of the piece.

The COC Chorus was on fine form with the men especially evoking the loneliness and danger of the Northern forest as they clustered in groups in the snow. Johannes Debus conducted the orchestra in a very fine performance of this densely (sometimes too densely?) orchestrated score. There was some fine playing from the winds, both lyrical and dramatic, and the percussion got a good workout.

This is everything a new opera should be: a meaty and relatable story, visually stunning and music that is accessible to any openminded person without descending into movie soundtrack banality. If this were a co-pro of the Met and Royal Opera, I would confidently predict global success. As it is, we’ll see…