Ottawa-raised soprano Miriam Khalil rediscovers obscure Holst opera in film directing debut

Meher Pavri and Andrew Haji star in Savitri, a new contemporary opera film produced by the Toronto-based theatre company, Against The Grain. It's directed by the company's co-founder and associate artistic director, Miriam Khalil, a Juno-winning operatic soprano who grew up in Ottawa.

ATG'S SĀVITRI: A FEAST FOR THE EYES AND EARS

This production marks the directorial debut of Canadian soprano Miriam Khali, with Simran Claire as associate director, and Simon Rivard as conductor along with soprano Meher Pavri as Sāvitri, tenor Andrew Haji as Satyavan, and bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian as Yama.

Edmonton gains the celebrated gifts of soprano Miriam Khalil

Back in 2010, the young Canadian-Lebanese soprano Miriam Khalil made her Edmonton Opera debut singing the role of Musetta in Puccini's much-loved La bohème. She was then fresh out of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, and Bill Rankin, writing in Opera Canada, declared that “she stole the Café Momus Act”.

This Is My Music with Tom Allen

Each week, This Is My Music is hosted by one of Canada's foremost international classical artists. The host selects a program of mainly classical music and presents it in a lively, engaging manner, enriched with personal anecdotes and insights.
Soprano Miriam Khalil presents her favourite recordings.

Mimi to Mimi: Our Leading Ladies in La Bohème

This spring, we welcome two fantastic casts for our production of Puccini's La Bohème who talk about about their approaches to the role, their opera journeys, and what's kept them going in this wonderful (but challenging!) art form.

Miriam Khalil talks COC’s La Bohème and the life of an artist

This Mother’s Day will be accompanied by a family first: I will take my daughter to her first opera at the Canadian Opera Company (COC). The opera is Puccini’s La Bohème, and she will see acclaimed Lebanese-Canadian soprano Miriam Khalil sing the role of Mimì (which she alternates with American soprano Angel Blue).

Soprano Miriam Khalil On Bohème And More (Minnesota Opera)

The economics and programming of opera during the so-called Golden Age of Opera – the mid-19th-century up to the start of the First World War – were very different than they are today. Most opera companies operated on a repertory model; if a new opera did not perform up to expectations, it could be cancelled outright and the following day’s performance substituted with a crowd favorite.

Perf Chat with Minnesota Opera's Nicole Cabell and Miriam Khalil

Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème opened this past weekend at Minnesota Opera, and it runs through May 21. There are two Mimis in this production — Nicole Cabell and Miriam Khalil — and Classical MPR's Julie Amacher recently sat down with them for a Perf Chat in the Maud Moon Weyerhauser Studio.

Indie opera is enticing newcomers, but is it enough to keep the genre relevant?

The founder of an indie opera troupe says people are lining up to attend her free concerts in pubs and bars around Toronto — but not everyone thinks the trend will save Canadian opera.

Gryphon Trio, Miriam Khalil | Osvaldo Golijov: Ayre (selections, arr. Roberto Occhipinti)

Gryphon Trio and Miriam Khalil perform Osvaldo Golijov: Ayre (selections, arr. Roberto Occhipinti)

Notes: A Conversation with Soprano Miriam Khalil

In the leadup to tonight’s opening, we asked AtG Founding Member and Ensemble Studio graduate Miriam Khalil to share her thoughts on the challenging process of creating art that responds to contemporary realities of persecution, oppression, and asylum…

Music To Express Human Condition With Ayre

Against the Grain is one of Toronto’s – if not the country’s – most innovative opera/theatre companies, producing on a shoestring exciting evenings of musical theatre. They’re known for their reworking of Mozart operas to fit contemporary settings, but they’ve also experimented with many other ideas, both here and at their annual residency at the Banff Centre...

A Sopranos Story Part One: Miriam Khalil

Before the move the young girl, with the music moving her, could go to church with her father and sing in the choir. Today, it would not happen. While she prays for friends who are left behind in the brutal war engulfing her birth country, her family, which is Lebanese, is not there. They are in Canada or in Lebanon.

Mozart Ladies

In 2014, they put up #UncleJohn (based on Don Giovanni), featuring soprano Miriam Khalil as Donna Elvira; Khalil has since reprised Elvira in #UncleJohn for two subsequent productions, in at Toronto's The Theatre Centre and at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival...

Music Review: Soprano Miriam Khalil sings lustrous mix of the familiar and the Arabic

Young Lebanese-Canadian lyric soprano Miriam Khalil has started to make a name for herself on Canadian opera and concert stages. The University of Ottawa alumna will be appearing at Chamberfest this summer, as Elvira in #UncleJohn...

This is What O Canada Sounds Like in Arabic

“When you hear something that is being said in your mother tongue, it has more emotional impact, and makes you pay more attention,” Raja Khouri, president of the institute, told Metro News Toronto…