Canadian Opera Company

Last updated

Canadian Opera Company
Four Seasons Centre from above.jpg
The Four Seasons Centre, home of the Canadian Opera Company.
Canadian Opera Company
Location145 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 43°39′02″N79°23′09″W / 43.65056°N 79.38583°W / 43.65056; -79.38583
Type Opera house
Genre(s) Opera
Seating typeReserved seating
Capacity Variable, approx. 2000–2300
OpenedJune 14, 2006 (2006-06-14)
Website
www.coc.ca

The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which was purpose-built for opera and ballet and is shared with the National Ballet of Canada. For forty years until April 2006, the COC had performed at the O'Keefe Centre (now known as Meridian Hall).

Contents

History

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario Four Seasons Centre, Toronto, Ontario (21217682644).jpg
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario

Nicholas Goldschmidt and Herman Geiger-Torel founded the organization in 1950 as the Royal Conservatory Opera Company. Geiger-Torel became the COC's artistic director in 1956 and its general director in 1960. The company was renamed the Canadian Opera Association in 1960, and the Canadian Opera Company in 1977. Geiger-Torel retired from the general directorship in 1976. Lotfi Mansouri was the COC's general director from 1976 to 1988. In 1983, the COC introduced surtitles (supertitles) to their productions, the first company to use them in an opera house. Productions included Joan Sutherland's first performance of Donizetti's Anna Bolena . [1]

Brian Dickie served as the COC's general director from 1988 to 1993. Dickie named Richard Bradshaw the COC's chief conductor and head of music in 1989. Elaine Calder was the COC's general director from 1994 to 1997. In 1998, Bradshaw was named general director. [2] During his tenure, Bradshaw secured funding for the COC's new permanent home, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. [3] Previously, the COC had been performing at the O'Keefe Centre (renamed to the Hummingbird Centre and then the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts).

In 2006, the COC opened its new opera house with an all-new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . Michael Levine was the designer, and there were four directors: Michael Levine ( Das Rheingold ), Atom Egoyan ( Die Walküre ), François Girard ( Siegfried ), and Tim Albery ( Götterdämmerung ).

In 2006, Bradshaw's contract as general director was renewed for another 10 years. Bradshaw died of a sudden heart attack on August 15, 2007. [3] In June 2008, Alexander Neef was named the COC's general director; he formally assumed the position in October 2008. [4] In October 2008, Johannes Debus made his debut with the COC as a conductor in a production of Prokofiev's War and Peace , where he earned critical acclaim. [5] In January 2009, the COC announced Debus's appointment as music director. [6] Sandra Horst, who runs the University of Toronto's Opera Division, [7] has long served as the company's chorus master. [8]

The 2019/2020 COC theatre season was cut short due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, on which the COC ceased all productions after March 2020 due to restrictions on large indoor gatherings. The COC hoped to restart the shortened 2020/2021 theatre season by January 2021, however on October 6, 2020, company management announced that the entire 2020/2021 COC theatre season was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. [9]

Neef became director general of the Paris Opera in September 2020 [10] and was replaced by Briton Perryn Leech in March 2021. [11]

Recent productions

2008/2009 season

2009/2010 season

2010/2011 season

2011/2012 season

2012/2013 season

2013/2014 season

2014/2015 season

2015/2016 season

2016/2017 season

2017/2018 season

2018/2019 season

2019/2020 season

2020/2021 season (cancelled)

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Opera Company cancelled all live in-person performances for the 2020/2021 season. [9]

2021/2022 season

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the COC cancelled several planned performances for the 2021/2022 season, but managed to produce 10 digital productions and two in-person productions in the spring of 2022.

2022/2023 season

2023/2024 season

2024/2025 season

Notable members

Related Research Articles

The German Fach system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, according to the range, weight, and color of their voices. It is used worldwide, but primarily in Europe, especially in German-speaking countries and by repertory opera houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrizia Ciofi</span> Italian opera singer

Patrizia Ciofi is an Italian operatic coloratura soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hariclea Darclée</span> Romanian opera singer (1860–1939)

Hariclea Darclée was a celebrated Romanian operatic spinto soprano of Greek descent who had a three-decade-long career.

Thomas Rolf Truhitte is an American heldentenor who has become noted in recent years for his roles in Wagnerian operas. The son of actor Daniel Truhitte, his middle name is a tribute to his father's most famous role as "Rolf" in the movie adaptation of The Sound of Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vytautas Juozapaitis</span> Lithuanian politician

Vytautas Juozapaitis is a Lithuanian singer (baritone), recipient of Lithuanian National Prize, a soloist of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and Kaunas State Musical Theatre, a professor of Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and a docent of Vilnius College of Higher Education, and a television personality. He has performed in many international venues and is considered the most famous contemporary Lithuanian baritone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh Festival Opera</span>

Pittsburgh Festival Opera (PFO), formerly Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, is a professional American opera company based in Pittsburgh's university and museum district. Pittsburgh Festival Opera performs at non-traditional venues around the city.

A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have a range from approximately middle C (C4) to "high D" (D6). There is a tendency to divide lyric sopranos into two groups: light and full.

Lois Jeanette McDonall is a Canadian operatic soprano, especially known for her performances in the operas of Mozart and Donizetti.

A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4). Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Babjak</span> Slovak operatic baritone

Martin Babjak is a Slovak operatic baritone. The winner of several international singing competitions, he has been a principal singer at the Slovak National Theatre since 1989. He has also appeared as a guest artist at opera houses in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, France, Norway, Egypt, Canada, the United States, Japan and the Czech Republic. He has particularly excelled in portraying roles from the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giacomo Puccini, and Giuseppe Verdi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hibla Gerzmava</span> Abkhazian soprano

Hibla Leverasovna Gerzmava is an Abkhazian-Russian operatic soprano who currently resides in Moscow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Dragoni</span> Italian operatic soprano

Maria Dragoni is an Italian operatic soprano active international career in major opera house from 1984 to present.

Christine Weidinger is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career in operas and concerts since the early 1970s. Her career started at the Metropolitan Opera, after which she was active as a resident artist with opera houses in Germany during the late 1970s and 1980s. From the 1970s through the 1990s she worked as a guest artist with many leading opera houses throughout Europe, South America, and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transcriptions by Franz Liszt</span>

This article lists the various treatments given by Franz Liszt to the works of almost 100 other composers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen National Opera</span>

Bergen National Opera in Bergen, Norway, originally called Den Nye Opera is a foundation established in 2005 by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Den Nationale Scene, Grieghallen and the Bergen International Festival. In 2007 Opera Vest became a part of the foundation, which aims to be the regional opera company for Western Norway. The name Bergen Nasjonale Opera was used from 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricardo Bernal</span> Mexican lyric tenor

Ricardo Bernal is a Mexican lyric tenor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aura Twarowska</span> Romanian mezzo-soprano (born 1967)

Aura Twarowska is a Romanian mezzo-soprano. She was soloist of the Romanian Opera in Timișoara (1997–2010) and at the Vienna State Opera (2007–2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacopo Spirei</span> Italian opera stage director (born 1974)

Jacopo Spirei is an Italian opera stage director. He is the winner of the audience prize in Salzburg for best production of the season 2012/2013 at the Salzburger Landestheater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urve Tauts</span> Estonian opera singer (born 1935)

Urve Tauts is an Estonian opera singer (mezzo-soprano).

References

  1. Martin, Sandra (May 29, 1984). "Opera: Joan Sutherland In New Role". The New York Times . Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  2. "Richard Bradshaw of Canadian Opera Company dies at 63". CBC News . August 16, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  3. 1 2 Martin, Sandra (August 17, 2007). "Canadian Opera Company's Richard Bradshaw dead at 63". The Globe and Mail . Toronto. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  4. "COC names German-born Alexander Neef as general director". CBC News. June 25, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  5. Everett-Green, Robert (January 17, 2009). "Score one for the COC". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  6. Noakes, Susan (January 7, 2009). "Frankfurt conductor Johannes Debus named COC music director". CBC News. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  7. "University of Toronto – Faculty of Music – Our People". music.utoronto.ca. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  8. Braun, William R. (July 2009). "The Education of a Chorus: Sandra Horst is chorus master at both Canadian Opera Company and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis". Opera News . Vol. 74, no. 1. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  9. 1 2 "An Important Update on the COC's 2020/2021 Season" (Press release). Canadian Opera Company. October 6, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  10. "Alexander Neef, director of the Paris Opera". Opéra national de Paris . Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  11. "Perryn Leech | Canadian Opera Company". www.coc.ca. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  12. Frenette, Brad. "Canadian Opera Company to open season with 'Aida'". The National Post . Toronto. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  13. Chusid, Harvey; Church, Sarah; Spier, Susan (December 8, 2013). "Cornelis Opthof". The Canadian Encyclopedia .
  14. "In memoriam Cornelis Opthof (1930–2008)". (March 22, 2009) The Free Library.