News
Edmonton Opera announces their 2020/21 season
Edmonton Opera announced their 2020/21 season today and here are the exciting details! EO kicks off their 2020/21 season when La Bohème comes to the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on Oct. 24, 27 & 30, 2020 in a revival of their 2010 production. The cast...
Hansel and Gretel: COC’s new Toronto-based staging
Canadian Opera Company is gearing up for their staging of Hansel and Gretel, a classic German opera that will be given a modern-day Toronto twist. The COC’s production, the fourth in their 2019-2020 season, is set in a present-day Toronto apartment complex brought to...
Best Opera of the Decade: Opera Canada’s Definitive List
As this long decade comes to a close, we at Opera Canada look back at the best operas of the decade. Cataloging 10 years worth of opera from across the world is no small task. So we reached out to our contributors, and asked them to reflect on their favourite opera of...
Drag, opera, and how their marriage shatters convention
“My voice teacher was verbally abusing me,” explains Emily Bilton, drag artist and opera alum. "I ended up failing my third-year recital by 2 percent. I had to get a 65 and I got a 63. And the only explanation they could give me was that my tone wasn’t what they...
Midori Marsh awarded first prize at COC’s Ensemble Studio Competition
At long last, the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio Competition has drawn to a close, and with it Canada's top young opera singer has been found: Midori Marsh, the super soprano from Cleveland, Ohio took home both the First Prize ($5000) and the Audience Choice...
The Heart’s Obsession sheds light on an obscure corner of Canadian opera history
The Heart’s Obsession: An Intimate Biography of Newfoundland Songstress Georgina Stirling. By Tonia Evans Cianciulli with Calvin D. Evans; 342 pp. ISBN: sc 978-1-77117-759-7, $24.95. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Flanker Press (2019) www.flankerpress.com When we think...
Benjamin Butterfield, The Rubies 2019—Success in Authenticity
In a profession known for its impermanence, a near 30-year career in opera is a cause for celebration. Since his professional debut in 1991 at Pacific Opera Victoria, tenor Benjamin Butterfield has enjoyed an enviable career both at home and abroad, in a wide-ranging...
UofT Early Music Program: Blowing the dust off history
Tucked away in the halls of the University of Toronto, past a dizzying variety of architectural pinpoints that make up its network of colleges, lies UofT Music School’s Early Music program. Charged with exposing students to pre-classical repertoire, the program is the...
Liz Upchurch, The Rubies 2019—Giving Voice to the New
English pianist, coach, and mentor Liz Upchurch has much to celebrate this season. 2019 marks her 20th year as Head of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio—a position that has confirmed her place as a central figure and mentor among Canada’s opera artists. It’s...
Glynis Leyshon on Il trittico—Tackling Puccini’s Trio
“Given in bits.” Such were the words acclaimed composer Giacomo Puccini used to describe productions of Il trittico, his anthology opera. “Brutally torn to pieces,” was his less diplomatic approximation. Indeed, Il trittico, one of Puccini’s final compositions, has...
John Estacio, The Rubies 2019 — Singing for the West
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...
From Pocketbook to Playbill: Paris Opera and Alexander Neef
Following weeks of rumours, Alexander Neef, the current General Director of the Canadian Opera Company was formally announced as the new Director of the Opéra National de Paris in late July. He starts in autumn 2021, succeeding current director Stéphane Lissner, who...