A DICKENS OF A CHRISTMAS at Harbourfront

TICKETS ON SALE NOV. 6 FOR

Toronto 's New Favourite Family Holiday Show

Toronto, ON – Today The Canadian Children's Opera Company (CCOC)announced that A Dickens of a Christmas, will return to Harbourfront Theatre Centre for a limited engagement this November. Already an instant classic, this operatic adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by librettist Michael Patrick Albano and composer Errol Gay received accolades from audiences and critics alike after its world premiere in December 2005. Canadian baritone Mark Pedrotti recreates the role of Scrooge and tenor Ryan Harper returns as Bob Cratchit. The opera will be performed at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre, Queen's Quay West November 30 to December 3 for seven shows only.

The ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Present are portrayed by semi-choruses from the CCOC's Principal Chorus, and the Youth Division (SATB) provides "Greek Chorus" introductions to the three dreams that persuade the miserly Scrooge to mend his ways. The opera will feature over 200 choristers aged five to nineteen from all five divisions of the CCOC.

"After the response the show received last year, there was absolutely no question about remounting it." says Ann Cooper Gay, Artistic Director. "Michael's libretto maintains much of the language of the timeless original while Errol's score evokes the late nineteenth-century 'present', the early nineteenth-century 'past' and the early twentieth-century 'future', by quoting stylistically (and, occasionally, literally) from famous opera composers of these three eras".

A Dickens of a Christmas is directed by Michael Patrick Albano, Resident Stage Director of the University of Toronto Opera School. Sets and costumes are designed by Patrick Kroboth, formerly a violist with the Canadian Opera Touring Company and now resident in San Francisco. Lighting design is by Ren ée Brode and accompaniment will be provided by a seven-member CCOC Chamber Ensemble.

The Canadian Children's Opera Chorus was founded in 1968 and is the only permanent children's opera chorus in North America that regularly develops, commissions, and produces new operas for performance by children. The Principal Chorus performs regularly with the Canadian Opera Company, as well as collaborating with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, Mirvish Productions, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, and Soundstreams Canada and they have toured in Canada and Europe. The CCOC has also recorded four albums, and has been broadcast on CBC Radio 2, most recently on "Two New Hours". Currently, the CCOC has five Divisions providing appropriate training and performance experience for young people from age five to young adult, and averages over 30 performances each season. The CCOC is committed to fostering in children a lifelong enjoyment of the arts by introducing them to the magic of live opera, both as performers and as members of its audiences.

Ticket Information:

Tickets go on sale November 6, 2006. Tickets are $35 each and $15 for students (with student I.D.) and seniors, and are available by calling 416-973-4000 or visiting the Harbourfront Centre Theatre Box Office at Queen's Quay West. Group tickets go on sale October 30 and are available by calling 416-973-4000. The production is 75-minutes with no intermission.

School performances will be held November 30 and December 1 at 1:00 p.m. Public evening performances are December 1 to 3 at 7:30 p.m. and public matinees are December 2 and 3 at 2:00 p.m.

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