The Vast Variety of Toronto The Toronto opera scene is quite large and extremely varied; from Canadian Opera Company through multiple medium sized companies to an ever-changing array of smaller companies. One might expect this to lead to an equally varied set of...
In Opera Canada‘s latest Q&A series, our arts writers across the country weigh in on how the Canadian opera industry is handling the prolonged pandemic environment. Next up: John Gilks. What are your feelings on the types of programming being offered, mostly in...
As Canada's artists ready themselves for far-reaching cancellations in the 2020-21 opera season, Opera Canada is checking in. What is the ripple effect of an opera-free season? How many Canadians will call themselves professional artists in a year's time? How bad has...
Opera Canada's Summer 2020 issue has been sent to press and will be available within the next 2 weeks. The issue is dedicated in large part to conversations with Canadian opera artists and company administrators, and how they are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic....
On Tuesday, May 5 at 8pm EDT, Against the Grain Theatre partners with the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and CBC Arts to present their AtG La Bohème via CBC Arts on Facebook. The award-winning production has been a Toronto favourite since its 2011 premiere, and...
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...
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...
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...
“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...
Against the Grain Theatre’s La bohème feels like a cult movie that everyone’s heard of but no one has actually really seen. Like Game of Thrones or Hamilton, a shared cultural osmosis sparks déjà vu as Rodolfo mourns Mimì’s lifeless form, or as Schaunard boasts of...
In 1801, Goethe wrote to Felix Mendelssohn that “where nothing new is actually produced, an art cannot make itself vividly felt.” Innovation and impact are ideas Canadian composer Claude Vivier took to heart. Born in 1948 to unknown parents,Vivier studied at the...
The first thing to know about the 2019-2020 Canadian Opera Company season is this: Parsifal is coming to Toronto, but not quite yet. The lauded Metropolitan Opera/Opéra National de Lyon/COC co-production, which premiered in Lyon in 2012 and New York in 2013, has been...