COC Announces Their May Productions and Events
By: Gabrielle Sierra Apr. 19, 2010
Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The company enjoys an international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation.
OPERA
The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner8 Performances: April 24, 28, May 11, 14, 17, 20 at 7:30 p.m., May 2 at 2 p.m., and
May 8 at 4:30 p.m.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)A revival of Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman opens the COC's spring season. The Flying Dutchman is a story of the search for redemption through love, a theme Richard Wagner was to revisit many times, and is set to some of his most gloriously romantic music. COC's Music Director Johannes Debus leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus. Making his COC debut singing the role of the Dutchman is Russian bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin, and Senta, the young woman bewitched by a portrait of the mythical sailor, is sung by soprano Julie Makerov. Bass Mats Almgren sings Daland, a sea captain who gives the Dutchman his daughter's hand in marriage, and Eric is sung by returning tenor Robert Künzli. Renowned American director Christopher Alden, no stranger to the world's great opera houses, returns to the COC to restage this production he first directed in 1996 and remounted in 2000.
145 Queen St. W., Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.Maria Stuarda by Gaetano Donizetti
8 Performances: May 1 at 4:30 p.m., May 4, 10, 13, 22, 26, 28 at 7:30 p.m., and May 30 at 2 p.m.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)Continuing the spring season is a COC premiere and Canada's first fully-staged production of Gaetano Donizetti's Tudor drama Maria Stuarda. Based on Friedrich von Schiller's play, Donizetti draws from the political rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I and orchestrates a musically riveting confrontation between the royal cousins. Singing the title role is Italian soprano Serena Farnocchia, and Bulgarian soprano Alexandrina Pendatchanska makes her company debut as Elisabetta. Tenor Eric Cutler makes his COC debut as Roberto, the Earl of Leicester and bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi is Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury. Conductor AnTony Walker, music director of Pittsburgh Opera and Artistic Director of Washington Concert Opera, makes his COC debut leading the COC Orchestra and Chorus. Stephen Lawless returns to the COC to bring Donizetti's compelling tragedy to life.
8 Performances: May 9 at 2 p.m., May 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, 27 at 7:30 p.m., and May 29 at 4:30 p.m.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)
The Canadian Opera Company closes its 2009/10 Diamond Anniversary season with a new production of Mozart's early masterpiece Idomeneo. Idomeneo bursts to life with some of the most heartfelt, passionate music Mozart ever wrote for the human voice. Leading tenor Paul Groves is Idomeneo, and former COC Ensemble Studio members Krisztina Szabó and Isabel Bayrakdarian perform Idamante and Ilia respectively. Another Ensemble graduate tenor, Michael Colvin returns to the COC as Arbace and Tamara Wilson sings the role of the fiery Greek princess Elettra. Returning to lead the COC Orchestra and Chorus is Mozart expert, conductor Harry Bicket. French director François de Carpentries makes his COC debut with this production.
Single tickets are $62 - $292 (specially priced $20 tickets are available for young people under the age of 30.) Tickets are available online at coc.ca, or by calling COC Ticket Services at 416-363-8231, or in person at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Box Office, located at 145 Queen St. W., Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus MozartSpecial Ensemble Studio Performance
May 19, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)Experience the exciting young singers of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio performing the lead roles in one of Mozart's most heartfelt and passionate operas, Idomeneo. This special mainstage performance on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. celebrates the Ensemble Studio's 30th anniversary of its creation and stars the Ensemble members with the full COC Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of renowned conductor Harry Bicket. For casting, please visit the COC website at coc.ca. Tickets are accessibly priced at $20 or $50 per person.
EVENTS The Opera Exchange
In collaboration with the Munk Centre for International Studies, the Jackman Humanities Institute and the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company presents The Opera Exchange: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Opera. Staging Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer for Our Times provides an in-depth and fascinating look at Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, with a lecture featuring an astonishing array of academic specialists followed by panel discussions with members of the COC's creative team.The Opera Exchange
Staging Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer for Our Times
Saturday, May 1, 2010
9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
$25 per participant
($15 for U of T Faculty and $5 for students)
Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, the Faculty of Music
80 Queen's Park (at Museum subway station)
Order online at coc.ca or call COC Ticket Services at 416-306-2377Fate Bites
The Canadian Opera Company and the award-winning Vertical Restaurant & Bar present an evening that combines the cultural and culinary arts with Fate Bites: Idomeneo, on
Saturday, May 15, 2010. For only $75 a ticket, the evening includes a delicious Greek inspired prix-fixe meal created by Chef Tawfik Shehata and a ticket to Mozart's masterpiece Idomeneo. During dinner, a member of the COC's Volunteer Speakers Bureau discusses Idomeneo's themes and storyline, and guests can participate in a Q&A with a member of the COC's creative team. After dinner, head over to the Four Seasons Centre to watch the evening performance of Idomeneo. Tickets are only $75 which include a 3-course prix-fixe meal (includes taxes and gratuity, but excludes alcoholic beverages) and a ticket to the opera and can be purchased online at coc.ca, by calling 416-363-8231 or in person at the Four Seasons Centre Box Office (145 Queen St. W.).Fate Bites: Idomeneo
Vertical Restaurant & Bar (100 King St. W.)
Date: Saturday, May 15, 2010
Dinner: 5 p.m. Performance: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $75
For more information please visit coc.ca or call 416-363-8231
FREE CONCERT SERIES IN THE
Richard Bradshaw AMPHITHEATREMay 4 to May 27, 2010
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)The Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre is a unique opportunity to experience diverse artistic programming in what has become one of Toronto's most exciting cultural hubs. Six inspiring series offer concerts, dance performances, and engaging presentations that feature both up-and-coming young artists and established international stars. All performances are free to the public.
Date
Series
Artist
May 4, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.
Vocal Series
Spring Schubertiade
The young artists of the COC Ensemble Studio present an afternoon of German song delving into the formidable song output of the legendary Viennese master of the Lied, Franz Schubert.
May 5, 2010
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Hailed as "Reina Latina," (680 News) Canada's emerging Latin music queen, Venezuelan-born vocalist Eliana Cuevas, shares the stage with her own band, as well as strings of the COC Orchestra, in a series of exciting new arrangements of her songs, featuring highlights from her most recent CD, Vidas.May 6, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.
Piano Virtuoso Series
Explorations
Pianist Ben Cruchley performs a program of precision, power and passion, featuring selections from The Art of the Fugue, Brahms' Variations on an Original Theme in D Major, and works by Scriabin culminating with the powerful Sonata No. 5.May 11, 2010
12 - 1 p.m. Piano Virtuoso Series*Revised Program: Iberia III
Virtuoso pianist and GGS alumnus Li Wang performs the third book of Albéniz' Iberia suite, taking us from El Albaicín, the famous Gypsy quarter of Granada, to Lavapiés, the lively working-class quarter of Madrid known for its dancehalls and noisy street life. Rounding off the program will be Chopin's Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante.May 13, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.
Vocal Series
Highlights from Idomeneo
The young artists of the COC Ensemble Studio perform highlights from one of Mozart's greatest masterpieces, Idomeneo, the story of the ill-fated King of Crete, who, in a tragic twist of fate is forced to choose between paternal love and the future of his kingdom.
COC FREE CONCERT SERIES IN THE Richard Bradshaw AMPHITHEATREMay 18, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.Vocal SeriesItalian Arias and Art Songs
Internationally acclaimed Italian soprano Serena Farnocchia (singing the title role in the COC's Maria Stuarda) performs a program of arias and art songs from her native Italy. May 20, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.
Chamber Music Series
One World
The Continuum Ensemble performs a thought-provoking program that reflects on how we relate to each other and live in the world featuring British composer Geoff Hannah's Where I live is shite/where I live is posh, James Rolfe's Simon & Garfunkel & the Prophets of Rage, Community-Normed (Jackhammer Lullaby) by Aaron Gervais, and Summertime for Sex in Woolly Sweaters by Canadian William Peltier.May 25, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.Vocal SeriesLes Adieux
The graduating artists of the COC Ensemble Studio perform a special "farewell" concert of their favourite arias and ensembles.May 27, 2010
12 - 1 p.m.
Piano Virtuoso Series
Iberia IV
Canadian pianist and GGS alumnus Stéphan Sylvestre present the fourth and final book of Albéniz's Iberia suite, taking us from the famed Mediterranean seaport of Málaga in southwestern Spain, through Jerez, the Andalusian town renowned for its sherry wine, to Eritaña, named for a tavern on the outskirts of Seville notable for its flamenco music.
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