MODERN TRAVEL STARTS AT YOUR FRONT DOOR

Sure, it’s fun to romanticize about

The Golden Age of Flying – the unrestrained glamour, the over-the-top excitement, gourmet meals, neverending cocktails, feather pillows, and of course ample leg room for all.

But what about the most difficult part of the journey, that of getting to the airport safely and on time. We face the same struggles today –confusion, inadequate parking, uncertainty, apprehension, and expense.

We invite you to relax and enjoy door-to-door passenger service between Simcoe County and Pearson International Airport. We’ll get you there safely, on time, and without the anxiety of navigating highway traffic or the hassle of parking.

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.”

Salome is a psychologically and emotionally demanding one-act, 100-minute opera, for most of which the princess is on stage. In Egoyan’s starkly contemporary production, this also means she is barefoot in the aforementioned swimsuit, save for a single costume change into a thin white nightgown for the gruesome, necrophilic finale in which the deviant Salome lustily cradles the blood-dripping severed head of Jochanaan (John the Baptist) moments before her imminent death at the hands of her stepfather. Braid delivers this performance with fiery aplomb. Her rich, buttery soprano undulates effortlessly through Strauss’s complex score, animalistic and primal one minute to gloriously sonorous the next. It’s like taking a boat ride on treacherous waters; terrifying and thrilling, a rush of nausea and relief when it’s over but somehow you know you’d do it again. In other words, like watching a calamity unfold, it’s impossible not to stare.

Which is why, for Braid, the cabin is a cherished sanctuary. A place where she can embrace the simplicity and routine of rural life, off the stage.

“It is truly a place of rest and rejuvenation. It’s just unabashedly us, with dirty hair and rubber boots on all the time,” Braid says.

“I spend the mornings learning roles—right now I have three on the go.” And the rest of the time, it’s, “Sleep, sauna, eat, repeat!”

ABOVE CLOCKWISE: Ambur Braid as Salome: from infatuated teenager to deranged executioner. On stage with Michael KupferRadecky, and Karita Matilla.

PREVIOUS PAGE: For Braid, her home just outside Thornbury is a place to create, become inspired, and recharge.