Robert Lepage's Landmark Production of THE NIGHTINGALE AND OTHER SHORT FABLES Returns to COC
By: Julie Musbach Mar. 06, 2018
Hailed as a masterpiece at its sold-out 2009 world premiere in Toronto and subsequent 2011 tour to the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, the Canadian Opera Companypresents the revival of Robert Lepage's theatrically transcendent production of Stravinsky's The Nightingale and Other Short Fables. Nine performances take place on April 13, 14, 22, May 1, 2, 10, 12, 13, 19, 2018.
A co-production between the COC, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Dutch National Opera and Opéra de Lyon, in collaboration with Lepage's own Ex Machina, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables bears the unmistakable signature of Canada's theatrical visionary. It's a visual feast that turns the operatic experience on its head, placing the orchestra on stage while singers perform and manipulate puppets in an orchestra pit flooded with water.
COC Music Director Johannes Debus conducts a program featuring the best of Stravinsky's music. The production opens with the short vocal and instrumental pieces of the jazz-tinged Ragtime, Pribaoutki, Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont, Berceuses du chat, Four Russian Peasant Songs, and Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet; followed by the satirical one-act opera-ballet The Fox; and concluding with The Nightingale, a Russian conte lyriquebased on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
Internationally acclaimed Canadian soprano Jane Archibald, the COC's Artist-in-Residence, leads a cast of established and rising stars, and makes her role debut as the Nightingale. Also making role debuts are COC Ensemble Studio graduate tenor Owen McCausland as the Fisherman, who discovers the Nightingale; American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Emperor, whose life is saved by the Nightingale; and Lindsay Ammann as Death, who threatens the Emperor.
The Nightingale and Other Short Fables is an international cultural showcase that draws costume and set inspiration from the Vietnamese water puppetry and bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet theatre) featured in the production. Puppets were designed by Tony and Emmy award-winning American puppet designer Michael Curry, whose work has appeared in The Lion King on Broadway, Cirque du Soleil, the Olympics, and the Super Bowl, among other credits.
All performances of the COC's production of The Nightingale and Other Short Fablesfeature the COC Orchestra and Chorus. The opera is sung in Russian and presented by the COC with English SURTITLES™.
CAST (in order of appearance)
Pribaoutki
Allyson McHardy
Berceuses du chat
Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont
Danika Lorèn
The Fox
Tenor 1
Miles Mykkanen
Tenor 2
Owen McCausland
Baritone 1
Bruno Roy
Baritone 2
Oleg Tsibulko
The Nightingale
The Fisherman
Owen McCausland
The Nightingale
The Cook
Lauren Eberwein
The Chamberlain
Anatoli Sivko
The Bonze
Oleg Tsibulko
The Emperor
Japanese Envoy 1
Miles Mykkanen
Japanese Envoy 2
Samuel Chan
Japanese Envoy 3
Bruno Roy
Death
CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor
Johannes Debus
Director
Revival Director
Marilyn Gronsdal
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Mara Gottler
Lighting Designer
Étienne Boucher
Puppet Designer
Puppet Choreographer
Martin Genest
Revival Choreographer
Caroline Tanguay
TICKET INFORMATION
Single tickets for The Nightingale and Other Short Fables range from $35 - $225 and box seats, when available, are $350. Tickets are now on sale, available online at coc.ca, by calling 416-363-8231, or in person at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Box Office (145 Queen St. W.). For more information on specially priced ticketsavailable to young people under the age of 15, standing room, Opera Under 30presented by TD Bank Group, student groups and rush seating, visit coc.ca.
About the Canadian Opera Company
Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The COC enjoys a loyal audience support-base and one of the highest attendance and subscription rates in North America. Under its leadership team of General Director Alexander Neef and Music Director Johannes Debus, the COC is increasingly capturing the opera world's attention. The COC maintains its international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation by creating new productions within its diverse repertoire, collaborating with leading opera companies and festivals, and attracting the world's foremost Canadian and International Artists. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, hailed internationally as one of the finest in the world. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the Four Seasons Centre opened in 2006. For more information on the Canadian Opera Company, please visit coc.ca.
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