Canadian Opera Company Celebrates New Leadership, New Audiences, and New Digital Programming

The Canadian Opera Company's 2020/2021 season welcomed a new era of leadership, united audiences around the world through a broad range of digital experiences, and saw significant investments in the future of Canadian opera, as reported today at the COC's Annual General Meeting by COC Board Chair Jonathan Morgan and COC General Director Perryn Leech.

The meeting was hosted from the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, with a limited number of speakers in-person and other participants joining virtually through video call. In a COC Annual General Meeting first, the meeting was concluded with a special pre-recorded preview of an upcoming performance from the COC Ensemble Studio.

"After our previous season taught us all to think and adapt quickly, in the face of unprecedented circumstance, our focus in 20/21 shifted to the long-term realities of COVID-19, while continuing to find new ways to connect audiences with the art form we all love so much," says COC Board Chair Jonathan Morgan.

"Conscientious decision-making with an eye to the wider fiscal picture not only enabled us to successfully weather a full season without live opera, it has also placed us in an excellent position on the road to industry recovery ahead. We cannot overstate our gratitude to the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries for its continued support of the arts throughout this time. In particular, we must thank the Department of Canadian Heritage for its significant investment to the future of Canadian opera through the Digital Infrastructure Enhancements Project. High-tech recording and broadcast technology installed this past summer is already enabling the creation of exciting new programs, accessible from coast to coast to coast and beyond."

"We were also glad to officially welcome Perryn Leech as the COC's new General Director in 2021," continues Morgan. "After an international search comprising over 100 candidates from Canada and beyond, the COC Succession Committee was most impressed with Perryn's community-building initiatives, willingness to explore and experiment with new directions and ideas, and genuine desire to see more people love and experience opera. We're already seeing a surge of fresh engagement with the company from all new audiences, and I'm looking forward to what comes next under his inspired leadership."

"I am so proud to join and be a part of this incredible company," says COC General Director Perryn Leech. "From the moment I started, the COC and its community of passionate supporters have been overwhelming in their enthusiasm and their support. The company is an incredible core of brilliant singers, musicians, technicians and administrators - in the capable hands of this team, no idea is too small or too unattainable. It has been uplifting to collaborate on the ambitious fall season of free digital programming that's being shared right now. The pandemic forced us all to rethink how we do what we do and I'm personally very excited about the new ideas we're now moving forward with as a result."

"Digital programming in 20/21 provided an unparalleled opportunity to connect with new audiences and we'll be looking to continue building on this and deepening our community connections in 2021/2022," continues Leech. "We cannot expect people to join us for a show without first introducing ourselves as neighbours and fellow community members, as creative partners, and as fellow artists in the many diverse neighborhoods that make up this wonderful city. We're working on bringing opera out of the opera house, performed and shared in a way that invites interaction, creative collaboration and, most of all, the curiosity to explore further."

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