Maureen Forrester, Canadian opera legend, gets vocal tribute at Roy Thomson Hall

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 Oct. 19 and 20 at Roy Thomson Hall, which will feature the music of John Abram, Howard Shore, and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth).

Heppner, who is hosting the event, performed with Forrester in 1983 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, 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 mezzo soprano 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!” exclaims Schade. “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 at back home in Canada.

“There were no airs put on,” says Heppner, “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, passed away 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.’ ”

Correction – October 18, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) was on the program. In fact, Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) is on the program.

Tickets for Thursday or Friday’s shows are $41 to $154 at tso.ca

Forrester’s favourites

Maureen Forrester is largely known for her oratorio, orchestral and lieder work. She is renowned for her work in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) and his Das Lied von der Erde (The Song Of The Earth), as well as art songs by Brahms, Schumann, and Strauss.

However, the singer, notable for her fierce dedication to Canadian music, also performed and premiered a number of homegrown compositions, including Trois Poèmes de St-Jean de la Croix by Gabriel Charpentier, “Adieu Robert Schumann” by R. Murray Schafer, Three Sonnets of Shakespeare by Jean Coulthard, and selections from Six Folk Songs of Eastern Canada by Keith Bissell, among others. Harry Somers’ Five Songs for Dark Voice was commissioned specifically for Forrester by the Stratford Festival, where she premiered it in August 1956.

Forrester’s performances on the opera stage were varied. She sang a diverse range of roles, including Brangane in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, the Witch in Norman Campbell’s version of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Madame Flora in Menotti’s The Medium, Herodias in Strauss’s Salome, the Marquise in Donizetti’s La fille du régiment, Madame de la Haltière in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and The Countess in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. She also performed in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in the 1980s.