Tapestry Opera’s Fall 2020 season hopes to “push the boundary of the genre,” according to a press release on Oct. 13th. Tapestry’s program, a blend of live and live-streamed, offers local and international audiences access to free performances with the goal of breaking down barriers to opera in mind.
After 74 successful and safe live performances in the GTA this summer, Tapestry’s upcoming offerings include Improvisation as Life with jazz pianist Robi Botos and Love Songs–A Saxophony. For the latter, Xin Wang and Wallace Halladay will perform Ana Sokolovic’s haunting score.
“This fall we’re filled with energy and ambition as we livestream two concerts with dynamic, cinematic storytelling…plus we’re launching our own sketch opera series which was created in Canada’s first Opera Writers’ Room,” said Tapestry’s Executive Director Jamie Martino in the release. “We’re approaching the coming months with resilience, vigour and an unflagging appetite for creativity.”
Baritone Korin Thomas-Smith in Tapestry Opera’s Sketch Opera Singers. Photo: Cameron Davis
Tapestry will also be presenting Sketch Opera Singers (SOS)–a series of absurd, tragic and comedic operatic shorts in the spirit of Baroness von Sketch. Episode One, available on Nov. 7th, was created in August in Tapestry’s socially-distanced Opera Writers’ Room by directors Michael Mori and Debi Wong, librettists Kanika Ambrose and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and composers Ivan Barbotin and Rene Orth.
Performing in SOS are soprano Teiya Kasahara, mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, tenor Keith Klassen and baritone Korin Thomas-Smith. For more information on the entire season, see here.
