Wings of Desire is the title for Opera Atelier’s 36th season, newly announced for 2021/22.
The season gets a preview this summer, with the return of OA’s filmed production of Handel’s The Resurrection, streaming July 29 to August 21, 2021. Viewers can receive a link by completing this form; there are also details for the pre-show conversation with Co-Artistic Director Marshall Pynkoski and Lauren Wi, July 28, 7pmET. Single tickets are on sale now.
OA’s 36th season proper kicks off on October 28, 2021, 7pm ET, with Angel. The “multidisciplinary storytelling event” is the result of Edwin Huizinga’s new commission for Opera Atelier, based on the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Angel also features works by Rameau, Locke, and Boyce, as well as Max Richter’s Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. The production is available to stream through November 12, and tickets go on sale October 1.
Design sketches by Gerard Gauci for Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of Angel.
This November, Opera Atelier heads back to its home-away-from-home, the Royal Opera of Versailles, to remount their production of Grétry’s Richard Coeur-de-Lion. While in Versailles, OA Co-Artistic Directors Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse-Zingg will be invested as Officers of the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.
OA will head back once again to Versailles in the spring of 2022, for a new production of another soon-to-be-announced Grétry opera. Details to come in January 2022.
Richard Coeur-de-Lion at Versailles (2019). Photo by Agathe Poupeney.
Following on her “exceptional first year” as Artist in Residence, OA has extended the appointment for Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman for another two years. Her post will include teaching masterclasses, lending her voice to OA’s online presence, and shaping the company’s popular Making of an Opera program.
Additionally, Brueggergosman has also been appointed Artist Advisor to the Board, joining the Board in discussions about the creative process, and OA’s plans for equity, diversity, and inclusion in its output.
For full details of Opera Ateliers’ 2021/22 season, visit their website.
Jenna is the editor and co-creator of Schmopera. She also writes for The Globe and Mail and Opera Canada. She’s a pianist and vocal coach, and working with singers is how she fell in love with opera.
