Puccini is the star of Madama Butterfly so it’s appropriate that, at nearly every turn in their current production of the ultra-famous opera, the Canadian Opera Company does right by the music. Backed by the always excellent COC orchestra and chorus, the principal players in the production deliver beautiful performances with nuanced, steady vocals. Skilled […]
Toronto kicked off its 2024/2025 season with a stellar month of opera performance this October. Beginning with Verdi’s lush and complex Nabucco and topped with a bold new production of Charles Gounod’s Faust, the Canadian Opera Company is currently having their best rep season in years. Led by a sublime Mary Elizabeth Williams who […]
Medea (Canadian Opera Company) Set to a broody and demanding score by Luigi Cherubini with Carlo Zangarini’s Italian libretto translation, the COC’s ambitious new co-pro mines Euripides’ iconic tragedy for every ounce of its delicious melodrama and winningly rejects pressure to impose important modern meaning upon the disturbing tale. A twist ending that sees the […]
Beethoven only wrote one opera, refusing to return to the medium after the self-described torturous process of getting Fidelio to the stage. Upon finally seeing the much-anticipated production at the Canadian Opera Company (their first since 2009), it’s not difficult to see the fault lines where creative conflict surely stepped in. The opera’s premise […]
The Canadian Opera Company’s fall season presents a well-balanced duo of contrasting classics to signal that, even without the world renowned artistic director we recently lost to Paris, the COC is back on its feet. First up, The Flying Dutchman is a quick hit of Wagnerian sorrow coming in at only 2 hours and […]
The Canadian Opera Company designed a playful Winter Season…
All right I’ll be honest. Did every time I describe the show I was seeing tonight, did I use the phrase, “Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!” Yes, I did. For one, it is the one of the most iconic parts of the show so easily quotable and it is impossible to sing it without smiling. Go ahead […]