Voice of Canadian opera gets vocal tribute
Performers set to salute Maureen Forrester in TSO’s commemoration of singer
Ask Canadian cultural figures about Maureen Forrester and the response is uniform: the opera singer was blessed with a gorgeous voice and a warm personality, and she did a lot for her home country.
“She kept a close connection to Canada always,” tenor Michael Schade notes.
Now, the tributes move beyond the simple spoken testimonial. Schade will be joined by fellow Canadian artists, mezzo-soprano Susan Platts and tenor Ben Heppner, in a Toronto Symphony Orchestra tribute to Forrester on Thursday and Friday at Roy Thomson Hall, which will feature the music of John Abram, Howard Shore and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection).
Heppner, who is hosting the event, performed with Forrester in1983 in a Canadian Opera Company production of Strauss’s Elektra.
“What I remember is her laugh,” Heppner says. “It was like it was in surround sound, it was everywhere, just big and joyful! That’s maybe a description I might have for her voice: it seemed to come from everywhere.”
Forrester was a natural contralto, a low singing voice for a woman. Born in Montreal in 1930, she made her recital debut in 1953 with accompanist John Newmark, with whom she would go on to work extensively. In 1954, she made her TSO debut with Handel’s Messiah, with Europe and New York soon to follow.
At the height of her fame, Forrester was giving 120 performances a year. From 1983 to 1988 she was chair of the Canada Council, and was eventually awarded almost 30 honorary doctorates. In 1995, she became a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.
Though she could sing mezzosoprano roles, Forrester’s vocal prowess made itself best known in works by Mahler, his Symphony No. 2 in particular. It is one of the works that will be performed by the TSO, with Platts as soloist.
The British-born Canadian singer says Forrester had a certain quality that was especially suited to the Austrian composer’s work.
“She had a warmth,” Platts says, “and I believe she had the right personality as an interpreter. You just felt when she sang, she put her heart and her emotions on her sleeve to get the music out to the audience.”
The youngest of four children, Forrester came from a working-class background and was known for being down-to-earth and approachable. This quality, aside from making her popular with audiences, may also explain her strong support of homegrown talent.
“She did a lot for others . . . my goodness, how much she did for all of us!” Schade exclaims.
“I am a personal recipient of all those grants and if it hadn’t been for them, my path would’ve been a lot harder. She was a glorious singer that travelled all over the world and sang beautiful concerts and recitals and operas,” he said, but she kept an eye on cultivating new talent back home in Canada.
“There were no airs put on,” Heppner says, “it was just all about the music. You never felt that this was high art — it was just music, something that was meaningful to her, and therefore meaningful to everybody.”
Forrester, who in her final years suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, died in 2010. Platts has a special memory of the last time she saw the singer.
“We sat and watched a recording of her performing Mahler, and she sang along,” Platts recalls, “and I remember sitting beside her thinking, ‘She’s lost so much mentally, but at the end of the day, the music is still there, and she lives in this music.’” Tickets for Thursday or Friday’s shows are $41 to $154 at tso.ca.