LA REINE-GARÇON Begins In January At the Four Seasons Centre
Running for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on January 31, February 2, 5, 7, 9, 13, and 15, 2025.
By: A.A. Cristi Dec. 05, 2024
The first-ever co-commission between the Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal, La Reine-garçon is a stunning new Canadian-led opera from acclaimed composer Julien Bilodeau and award-winning librettist Michel Marc Bouchard that dives into the life of one of history's most fascinating royals.
The reign of Sweden's Queen Christina was fraught, as the nonconformist young monarch was forced her to navigate a course between faith and knowledge, love and duty. La Reine-garçon runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on January 31, February 2, 5, 7, 9, 13, and 15, 2025.
Queen Christina of Sweden (known in the opera as Christine) lived a remarkably unconventional life. Despite her status as female royalty in the 1600s, her father insisted she be given a prince's education and upbringing, sparking in Christina a yearning desire for knowledge and personal truth that eventually led to her abdication of the throne.
Her story captured the imagination of Canadian playwright and librettist Michel Marc Bouchard whose extensive body of work has earned him the titles of Officer of the Order of Canada and Knight of the Order of Quebec. After writing the play Christine, la reine-garçon, Bouchard teamed up with Canadian composer Julien Bilodeau, to fully explore the complexity of Christina's life and legacy in opera. Bilodeau is an accomplished and celebrated composer whose first opera, Another Brick in the Wall, was a genre-pushing collaboration with Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. Together, in La Reine-garçon, Bouchard and Bilodeau have produced a powerful ode to female empowerment and the importance of honouring one's truth.
“Christine had to renounce her people, her faith, her father, and everything she was to become what she wanted to be,” says Bouchard. “It's a conflict that remains a reality for so many.”
“La Reine-garçon reminds us that, hard-won as it still can be, a woman's free will is precious,” adds Bilodeau.
La Reine-garçon features artists and creators from all across the country, placing the very best Canadian talent squarely in the spotlight of the COC's mainstage. Sharing the role of the rebellious queen are sopranos Kirsten MacKinnon and Kirsten LeBlanc alongside baritone Philippe Sly as Christine's cousin, and eventual successor, Karl Gustav. Tenor Isaiah Bell will recreate the role of the overconfident Swedish statesman Johan Oxenstierna, following his “delightful” (Opera Canada) first performances in the role in world premiere at Opéra de Montréal; this is a return to the COC for Bell who last appeared at the company as Antinuous in the world premiere of Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright and Daniel MacIvor.
In a COC debut, bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch sings the role of Johan's father and Chancellor of the realm, Axel Oxenstierna; Ensemble Studio mezzo-soprano Queen Hezumuryango takes on the role of Ebba Sparre, beloved lady-in-waiting to Queen Christine; tenor and Ensemble Studio graduate Owen McCausland sings the part of the famed French philosopher and scientist René Descartes, who Christine enlists to enlighten her understanding of the world; and soprano Aline Kutan and bass Alain Coulombe round out the cast as Christine's mother, Marie Éléonor, and assistant to René Descartes, respectively.
Director Angela Konrad has set the opera's storyline amidst the sparse and darkened landscape of a Scandinavian winter in the 17th century. Working with set designer Anick La Bissonnière, lighting designer Éric Champoux, and projections designer Alexandre Desjardins, Konrad's vision transports audiences from snowy forests to heavily wood-paneled courts, acutely devoid of the warmth and vitality the Swedish queen desires. Costume Designer Sébastien Dionne has incorporated a wealth of furs and rich textiles into characters' wardrobe, including a heavy cape for the queen that suffocates her with its weight, not unlike the social pressures thrust upon her.
In composing the opera, Bilodeau says he was inspired by various elements in the libretto that include “the fierce and stifled tension that inhabits Christine… the delicate, furtive, luminous fluidity of the Northern Lights” and “the almost animalistic cry of the kulning (ancestral Scandinavian women's chant).” Guiding the renowned COC Orchestra through this varied and textured score is COC Music Director Johannes Debus, with Price Family Chorus Master Sandra Horst leading the COC's award-winning COC Chorus.
La Reine-garçon is sung in French and presented by the COC with English SURTITLES.
La Reine-garçon is a co-commission and co-production of the Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal.
Regularly priced tickets for La Reine-garçon start at $45 for adults, with $28 tickets available for guests between the ages of 16 and 29 through the COC’s Opera Under 30 program. Tickets can be purchased online at coc.ca or by calling the Four Seasons Centre Box Office at 416-363-8231. For more information on booking student groups, standing room, and rush tickets, as well as other specially priced tickets available to young people under the age of 15, please visit coc.ca.
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