Edmonton Opera’s Artistic Director, Joel Ivany, founder of Toronto’s innovative opera company Against the Grain (AtG), has brought one of his successful experiments in melding old opera with modern production options and narrative flexibility to his prairie audience,...
Edmonton Opera opened its three-show season on October 22 with a compelling production of Puccini’s Tosca. It will be the only traditional take on a canonic work in Artistic Director Joel Ivany’s first crack at designing an Edmonton Opera season. Productions of Cosi...
Edmonton, AB—NUOVA Opera and Music Theatre Festival’s second opera was Monteverdi’s last opera, The Coronation of Poppea, first performed in 1643. The festival’s founder, Kim Mattice Wanat, directed the production. She made every effort to bring a period flavour to...
Edmonton’s Nuova Opera and Music Theatre Festival is back in full force, offering early-career singers and developing repetiteurs professional mentoring, and more importantly, in the singers’ case, opportunities to perform for live audiences. This summer Kim Mattice...
Calgary Opera’s second production in its 2022 COVID-comeback season drew a large, largely unmasked crowd to the Jubilee Auditorium for its opening Apr. 2. This La traviata was a reprise of a concept staged in Edmonton in the fall of 2018, including the same adaptable...
There was a shorter gap than usual between Edmonton Opera productions in this truncated season. Only two months ago, the company staged a solid three-night run of La bohème. On March 19, it opened a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, with sundry newcomers to...
The Opera Canada Awards—‘The Rubies’ makes a return to ‘live’ on November 15, 2021. Click here for more details to secure your ticket to this wonderful celebration of Canadian opera talent. Long before anyone talked about finding a work/life balance, Canadian baritone...
Bob McPhee, who died of cancer on Mar. 13th in Calgary at age 65, was a builder of institutions, but in making big things happen in Alberta over his 25-year career as an arts leader, his eye was always on how his work could empower others, and bring benefits to his...
Edmonton Opera, like many companies, has tried to stay in touch with its supporters during the pandemic by offering various virtual performances, but it has also drawn a smattering of its audience to its Jubilee Auditorium venue for some live concerts. Well, at least...
In Alberta, Edmonton Opera and Calgary Opera are working with the same set of unknowns as the rest of the country, but the two companies have publicly projected quite different future scenarios. Edmonton Opera has announced plans to begin a postponed 2020-21 season,...
This feature on Canadian Indie Opera appeared in the Spring 2020 issue of Opera Canada, Vol. 60 #3 Every business enterprise, large or small, faces similar challenges. Where is the market for what they’re selling? How do they generate cash flow to keep the company...
Edmonton composer John Estacio’s immigrant Portuguese family lived on a farm north of Toronto. When John was a child his family’s budget precluded music lessons at first, but at age eleven they purchased him an accordion. In junior high a teacher he’d known since...