Opening on June 23 for a four-night run, this was the third production of Rusalka in UBC Opera’s almost six-decade history.The first—a lot more significant in retrospect than it ever seemed at the time—was just over 45 years ago in March, 1977, when it was staged by...
Shadow Catch premiered in December 2011, at Vancouver’s Firehall Arts Centre as part of the Vancouver Pro Musica’s Further East/Further West series. It was a fitting location for the work’s debut since the FAC is mere blocks from the much-historied Downtown East...
If the Monty Python crew described Le nozze di Figaro as “silly—very silly,” I could hardly disagree. It’s a situation-comedy romp if ever there was one, with the situations no more profound than your basic TV sitcom. But Lorenzo da Ponte’s ingeniously tangled plot,...
The Queen Elizabeth Theatre was packed on December 4 for Vancouver Opera’s first live staging since COVID-19 hit in early 2020. It was the first of only two performances of the company premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s 1762 Orfeo ed Euridice. An interesting...
Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors was the first opera written specifically for American television, premiering on NBC on Christmas Eve, 1951. It became a Christmas Eve tradition until the mid-60s when, in a dispute, Menotti forbade its production and...
City Opera Vancouver City Opera Vancouver, the city’s main producer of new opera, presented PopUp Opera in August, an idea borrowed from Pacific Opera Victoria and Memphis Opera: free outdoor mini-concerts, “intended to make a joyful noise in a wretched time,” says...
Vancouver Opera has postponed original plans for its 60th anniversary season to 21/22 but plans to present an alternative 20/21 season online. “We are exploring digital subscription packages and single ticket options for these productions,”says Tom Wright, VO’s...
Vancouver Opera’s production of Giacomo Rossini’s La Cenerentola (seen May 1st) hardly put a foot wrong. Perfect casting, insightful yet genuinely funny direction by Rachel Peake, witty acting and above all, brilliant singing throughout added up to nearly three hours...
Every opera I have ever seen staged by the director/designer team of Renaud Doucet and André Barbe has been visually memorable and Vancouver Opera’s new La Bohème (seen Feb. 16th) is no exception. Interestingly, their production (originally for Scottish Opera and...