Opera Untamed

On the coldest night this February, Ambur Braid donned a white maillot and emerged barefoot onto the stage of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and lit the place on fire. Not actually, of course, but the temperature in the room noticeably rose.

Starring in the titular role of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) production of Atom Egoyan’s latest revival of Richard Strauss’s Salome, Ambur Braid sizzled. It was opening night and the anticipation in the theatre was palpable.

Braid was back home for the first time since her critically praised turn as Sabina in Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian, in 2018. That was the kind of high-profile operatic event that placed her firmly in the position of Canadian opera darling. Braid has always had a unique way of electrifying her moments on stage, like an operatic rock star of sorts. Her Salome did not disappoint. Braid mesmerized as the disturbed, scarred, tragic teenager, offering a deeply nuanced and complex Salome who staggered, seduced and writhed, from wide-eyed innocence to depraved petulance, who truly was, as the delirious text suggests, impossible not to look at. As one reviewer declared the following day, “Salome was written for Ambur Braid and I will die on this hill.”

For Braid, coming back to the COC home stage and to this role was a full-circle moment. “The Atom Egoyan production was the last thing I saw when I left the COC Ensemble (the company’s young artist training program) in 2013. A friend and I were watching the performance and he said, ‘You should be the one up there.’”

By the time that opportunity knocked, Braid was fully familiar with the tragic Judean princess, having inhabited her shadowy world for Barrie Kosky’s interpretation at Oper Frankfurt in 2020, where Braid is an ensemble member. In fact, it was there, in Frankfurt, when Alexander Neef—the German-born former general director of the COC, who now helms the operatic crown jewel Opera National de Paris, and a close friend and champion of Braid—came to see her performance, that the casting decision for Egoyan’s Salome began. “I am very grateful to Alexander for most of my career opportunities,” says Braid, adding, “Perryn Leech has since taken over at the COC and has been an incredible support.”

Born and raised in British Columbia, Braid moved to Toronto in 2002 to complete her undergrad at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music, followed by her master’s studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She returned to Toronto in 2008 to perform with Opera Atelier before being accepted into the COC Ensemble Studio, an incubator program for emerging artists.

But growing up in the small town of Terrace, in the Coast Mountains of B.C., meant the international opera star was no stranger to snow, mountains and the charms of rural life.
“The fantasy of having a place out in the countryside, but still being near an airport, started a couple of years before the purchase. We, like many, kept our eyes on realtor.ca, but it was more of an escape fantasy than reality. We spent a few summer weekends driving up north, and even east of the city, exploring the different towns to see where we felt the most comfortable. We asked ourselves the following: Where would we be able to drive a short distance to sit in town and have a coffee, where would we feel safe alone, where could we buy local produce, and where would we be in proximity to at least someone that we already knew? Thornbury!” And so the couple’s search began.

When they stumbled upon the rustic cabin a short distance from town, down a long, heavily treed private drive, it was love at first sight.

“We found our place and I was hooked immediately. I knew it was the one when we were midway down the driveway. I leapt out of the car and exclaimed, ‘This is it!’ By chance, it was a short drive from close friends, who are basically family. Then the connective tissue grew, and older relationships strengthened. More friends and acquaintances have since moved up, and it’s become quite the support system and friend group. A big bunch of troublemakers, really,” laughs Braid.

There began a whirlwind schedule of alternating European and Canadian engagements, vocal training in Greece, and endless flights between continents. Until the world came to a halt. The cabin proved a welcome refuge during those first uncertain months of COVID lockdowns.

“It was absolute heaven during those first weeks,” Braid recalls. “Yes, we were confused and worried for friends, but felt so fortunate to have all of that space, fresh air and our own water source. I focused on cooking, gardening and cleaning, and loved it.”

The property also offered the space to create and perform in an unexpected and inspiring way. With the help of a handful of trusted colleagues, Braid organized an intimate concert experience for her friends and neighbours.

“When all was shut down in the performance sector, we produced a few outdoor concerts on our lawn, called Opera in the Wild. World-class singers and pianists were brought to the Blue Mountains and our friends and incredible neighbours were immediately supportive of the venture. It was a crazy time!” says Braid.

And it was magical. The audience eagerly arranged themselves in folding chairs and blankets across the yard, the gleaming grand piano was wheeled to the edge of the open doorway of the workshop-cum-studio, and Braid, resplendent in silk caftans and jewels, sang signature arias and duets, in the sunlight. It was healing for all.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Oscar Wilde’s grisly reimagining of the biblical Salome (the scandalous play written in 1896, the radical German poet Hedwig Lachmann’s translation of which is the basis of Strauss’s libretto), it’s a story that fascinates, shocks and repulses in equal measure. It’s replete with all the thematic underpinnings of a good old cautionary tale about the spoiling of a young girl too beautiful, too desired, too reckless and misguided, the author of her own demise, and her ill-fated quest to seduce and possess a man—and not just a random bearded handsome in flowing robes, but in this case John the Baptist. But that’s not really what it’s about.

“Like any woman, she’s misunderstood,” offers Braid. “Oscar Wilde had an Old Testament view of women and believed that all women set out to ruin men. Salome is the object of everyone’s affection, but also the root of all their blame. She’s blamed for her actions, despite the world around her leading her to act in that very way because there is just no other escape.”

“Wie schön ist die Prinzessin Salome heute Nacht (How beautiful the princess Salome is tonight),” is the opening line of the text, and even today, or perhaps especially today, it emerges from Strauss’s cacophonous overture not as a compliment, but a forewarning. To stare at Salome is like staring into a solar eclipse, yet no one seems able to resist the urge. “Why do you look at her like that?” This question, repeated throughout, makes every player squirm.

“I think that any woman can relate to Salome,” says Braid. “Especially teenage girls who are still, if not more than ever, hypersexualized under the male gaze. They make men so uncomfortable and it’s the men who can’t control themselves, not the girls. They’re girls. Salome, the opera, can be an intensely gratifying mirror on society as a woman.”