Pacific Opera Victoria Announces 2020-21 Season

Pacific Opera Victoria has announced the biggest, boldest season in its 40-year history, including main stage company premières of Wagner's Die Walküre and Britten's Death in Venice and a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. All performances take place at the Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton Street, Victoria, BC.

Die Walküre

Wagner

October 15, 18, 21, 24, 2020

Death in Venice

Britten

February 11, 13, 19, 21, 2021

Don Giovanni

Mozart

April 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 2021

The second opera in Richard Wagner's epic Ring Cycle, Die Walküre is hard-core opera -- dramatic, and stunning. Drawn from the world of myth, it is the saga of Gods trapped into self-destruction, and of Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie who stands up to her father, the god Wotan, and chooses the power of love over the rule of law. Canadian soprano Jennifer Maines (Brünnhilde), returned to Canada three years ago at the peak of an illustrious career in opera houses in Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Austria. American bass-baritone Philip Horst (Wotan) is riding a Wagner wave, having most recently performed with Lyric Opera of Chicago in Die Walküre and Siegfried and with Metropolitan Opera in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. Canadian director Glynis Leyshon, a Pacific Opera favourite, and former Shaw Festival designer Pam Johnson reunite for a production of Die Walküre that will surpass in scope anything Pacific Opera has produced in its 40-year history.

Benjamin Britten's final opera, Death in Venice, is a haunting meditation on art, beauty, and mortality, blending opera, dance, and a strikingly diverse musical palette. A revered middle-aged writer, finding himself devoid of inspiration, travels to Venice to recapture his creativity. As cholera threatens the city, he falls into the thrall of a beautiful boy and loses himself in an abyss of loneliness and desire. Internationally acclaimed film and theatre director Atom Egoyan returns to Victoria to direct. The cast includes British tenor Colin Judson (Aschenbach), who makes frequent featured role appearances with the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, and Covent Garden, British baritone Jonathan McGovern (The Artist), and Canadian countertenor David Trudgen (Voice of Apollo).

Pacific Opera's 2020-21 season ends with a psychological masterpiece. Don Giovanni is 230-year-old proof that #MeToo is nothing new and that opera can be both dazzling and relevant to our time. The libertine with a catalogue of conquests has been around forever, and women have long been speaking up and demanding justice. An arresting mix of comedy, melodrama, and tragedy, Don Giovanni has quite rightly been called the opera of all operas. Maria Lamont returns to Victoria to direct. American baritone Lucia Lucas makes a Canadian debut in the title role, joined by Canadian soprano Aviva Fortunata as Donna Anna and Canadian tenor Josh Lovell as Don Ottavio.

POV Artistic Director Timothy Vernon conducts the Victoria Symphony for all main stage productions. POV Associate Conductor and Chorus Master Giuseppe Pietraroia directs the POV Chorus.

Pacific Opera's 2020-21 season will also feature a co-presentation with the Early Music Society of the Islands. Los Elementos, a flamenco-infused baroque opera by the 18th-century Spanish master Antonio de Literes, will be performed by Le Tendre Amour, an acclaimed Barcelona-based early music ensemble. Los Elementos will be performed at Victoria's McPherson Playhouse, 3 Centennial Square, on November 7 and 8, 2020.

For more information about, and subscriptions to, Pacific Opera Victoria's 2020-21 season, visit pacificopera.ca. Additional cast and production team appointments will be posted as they are confirmed.

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