Mireille Lebel in Theater Erfurt's Orfeo ed Euridice. Photo: Moritz Weisskopf

Vancouver Opera announces alternate 20/21 season plans

by Robert Jordan | Sep 21, 2020 | Featured, News

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 General Manager. VO “will be announcing in September how audiences can access [their] 20-21 season programming.”

On Oct. 24th, VO premieres its digital production of Poulenc’s 45-minute, one-character opera La voix humaine which will remain available on demand to subscribers and ticket buyers for the remainder of the season. Rachel Peake directs, with Vancouver-born mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel as The Woman. VO Principal Coach Kinza Tyrrell will accompany on piano.

Lebel can also be heard on Vancouver Opera Offstage, an ongoing series of bi-weekly podcast interviews, hosted by VO Artistic Director Leslie Dala. A veritable who’s-who of the opera scene in Vancouver and beyond, future guests will include tenor and Assistant Professor of Voice at UBC, Patrick Raftery.

Back in the realm of staged opera, an online production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night
Visitors will be unveiled on Dec. 12th, with Andreas Dala, Leslie Dala’s son, cast as Amahl. Leslie, music director for the production, also will accompany the performance with VO répétiteur Tina Chang in a reduction for two pianos.

Spring 2021 will see the Peter Brook/Marius Constant collaboration, La Tragédie de Carmen, as “a showcase for our Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program participants,” says Wright, adding “If circumstances change with the pandemic, we will mount this production for a small live audience.”

You can find season previews like this one from all across Canada in our upcoming Fall 2020 issue. To receive more exclusive content, help support our writers and Canadian artists by clicking here to subscribe.