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PROGRAM FALL 2016

NORMA ARIODANTE

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CONTENTS

WHAT’S PLAYING:NORMA

THE DRAMA BEHIND BELLINI’S NORMA GET TO KNOW ELZA VAN DEN HEEVER

WHAT’S PLAYING:ARIODANTE

FROM ARTASERSE TO ARIODANTE

BIOGRAPHIES: NORMA

BIOGRAPHIES: ARIODANTE

THE BMO EFFECT

BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND

BACKING A WINNING TEAM

MATTHEW AUCOIN: Doing What Comes Naturally CENTRE STAGE:An Experience You Won’t Forget

MEET THE GUILDS

AN OPEN LETTER FROM JOHANNES DEBUS

REMEMBERING LOUIS RIEL

CREATING A BETTER DONOR EXPERIENCE

HONEY, CHEESE, ART!

MANY THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

PATRON INFORMATIONAND POLICIES

COC Program is published three times a year by the Canadian Opera Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written consent is prohibited. Contents copyright Canadian Opera Company. Direct all advertising inquiries to [email protected].

Program edited by Claudine Domingue, Director of Public Relations; Kristin McKinnon, Publicist and Publications Co-ordinator; and, Gianna Wichelow, Senior Manager, Creative and Publications. Layout by Gianna Wichelow. All information is correct at time of printing. Photo credits are on page 61.

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A MESSAGE FROM GENERAL DIRECTORALEXANDER NEEF

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CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 2016/2017 3

At its most fundamental, opera is about compelling, imaginative, inspiring storytelling. When music and voices collaborate in the act of storytelling the result can be an extremely powerful expression of humanity.

This season at the COC we have a remarkable array of stories for you to enjoy—from tales of ancient druids and princesses, to fictional opera divas; from mythic characters in a mythical land to real-life champions of human rights. Their stories may be different, but they are deeply felt and intensely communicated, and they are our stories. In them, we see our own struggles and successes, joys and fears, and we are grateful for the shared experience.

During this 10th anniversary season in our marvelous opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, I am particularly proud that the COC is a home for truly special programming devoted

Recently, the COC has created a strategic plan to focus our efforts on those issues that

are most crucial to our future development. Among other things, this process has yielded a stronger-than-ever commitment to artistic excellence, expressed

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to achieving the greatest heights of artistic excellence, in, once again, an all-COC season.

in our new vision of bringing the transformative experience of opera to you every day of the year. Follow these COC365 buttons (left) throughout the program to get a better idea of how we share with you our creative initiatives and world-class opera 365 days of the year.

4 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 2016/2017

Marco Berti as Pollione and Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma in the COC’s production of Norma, when it was mounted at San Fransisco Opera in 2014. Part of this production, illustrated over the next few pages, was built at the COC’s Scene Shop in Toronto.

NORMABY VINCENZO BELLINI

Opera in two acts w Libretto by Felice Romani, based on a play by Alexandre SoumetFirst performance: Teatro alla Scala, Milan on December 26, 1831

NEW COC PRODUCTIONCo-production with San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona). Last performed by the COC in 2006October 6, 15, 18, 21, 23, 26, 28, November 5, 2016Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™

OrovesoDimitry Ivashchenko

PollioneRussell Thomas

FlavioCharles Sy†***

NormaSondra Radvanovsky*(Oct. 6, 15, 18, 21)Elza van den Heever(Oct. 23, 26, 28, Nov. 5)

AdalgisaIsabel Leonard**

ClotildeAviva Fortunata^

ConductorStephen Lord

DirectorKevin NewburyD

Assistant DirectorMarilyn Gronsdal

Set DesignerDavid KorinsD

Costume DesignerJessica JahnD

Major artist support made possible by Jack Whiteside* Sondra Radvanovsky’s performance is generously sponsored by The Tauba and Solomon Spiro Family

Foundation

** Isabel Leonard’s performance is generously sponsored by Sue Mortimer*** Charles Sy’s performance is generously sponsored by Peter and Hélène Hunt **** Sandra Horst and the COC Chorus are generously underwritten by Tim and Frances Price

THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM (in order of vocal appearance)


Lighting DesignerDuane Schuler

Chorus MasterSandra Horst^****

Stage ManagerJenifer Kowal

SURTITLES™ ProducerGunta Dreifelds

D COC Debut † Current member of the COC Ensemble Studio ^ Graduate of COC Ensemble StudioProgram information is correct at time of printing. All casting is subject to change.

Performance time is approximately three hours.

ACT I 85 minutes INTERMISSION 25 minutes ACT II 70 minutes

NOTES Bellini’s Norma is a story about the rituals of sacrifice, both public and private, that inform the entire opera; from the Druid community’s collective sacrifice during wartime to Norma’s threatened sacrifice of her own children and, ultimately, her own life. While little is known about actual Druid religious rituals, mythology suggests that human and animal sacrifice were central to the Druid ethos. In researching ancient Druid and Gaulish mythology, my design team and I were drawn to these images of sacrifice—like the Ritual of Oak and Mistletoe involving the slaughter of two white bulls, as described by Pliny the Elder in the first century BCE. We were also inspired by images of “sacred forests” and legends that envisaged trees as the physical manifestation of the gods. As the opera illustrates, burning effigies seem to have been central to Druid rituals, often taking the form of a wooden or wicker man or other such sculptural representations of human beings or animals.

The foreboding door to the outside world, the totem bullheads on the wall, and Norma’s children’s miniature elements of war all reflect this world of sacrifice and conflict. Our space is both a temple and a war factory, as the Druids work to build a war machine to unleash upon the occupying Romans. In our production, the entire chorus is preparing the war effort: their distinct clothes, hair, and tattoos all augment the feeling of a unified community pursuing a common cause. Although we have set the production in a mythic, Game of Thrones-inspired milieu, Norma feels very contemporary to me. Norma’s children are already being indoctrinated into a world of war, with its requisite betrayals and sacrifices. Norma’s moments with her children are deeply moving to me, especially in the hands of the gifted singing actresses Sondra Radvanovsky and Elza van den Heever. Her rumination about whether or not to kill her own children envisions both a Medea-like act of revenge and an act of protection from the violent world she knows awaits them (as in Toni Morrison’s classic novel Beloved). In our production, Norma breaks the cycles of violence as she turns the war machine into an effigy and the instrument of her ultimate sacrifice.

Kevin Newbury, director


Druidic mythology, and the idea of the “sacred forest,” informed the set design of this production.

SYNOPSISACT IGaul, 50 BCE, during the Roman occupation Near a forest at night, the priest Oroveso leads the Druids in a prayer for revenge against the conquering Romans. After they have left, the Roman proconsul Pollione admits to his friend Flavio that he no longer loves the high priestess Norma, Oroveso’s daughter, with whom he has secretly had two children. He has fallen in love with a young novice priestess, Adalgisa, who returns his love. The Druids assemble and Norma prays to the moon goddess for peace. She tells her people that as soon as the moment for their uprising against the conquerors arrives, she herself will lead the revolt. At the same time, she realizes that she could never harm Pollione. When the grove is deserted, Adalgisa appears and asks for strength to resist Pollione, who finds her crying and urges her to flee with him to Rome.

Norma tells her confidant Clotilde that Pollione has been recalled to Rome. She is afraid that he will desert her and their children. Adalgisa confesses to Norma that she has a lover. Recalling the beginning of her own love affair, Norma is about to release Adalgisa from her vows and asks for the name of her lover. As Pollione appears, Adalgisa answers truthfully. Norma’s kindness turns to fury. She tells Adalgisa about her own betrayal by the Roman soldier. Pollione confesses his love for Adalgisa and asks

her again to come away with him, but she refuses and vows she would rather die than steal him from Norma.

INTERMISSION

ACT II Norma tries to bring herself to kill her children in their sleep to protect them from an uncertain future with their father. She changes her mind and summons Adalgisa, advising her to marry Pollione and take the children to Rome. Adalgisa refuses—she will go to Pollione, but only to persuade him to return to Norma and the women reaffirm their friendship. Oroveso announces that a new commander will replace Pollione and tells the Druids that they must be patient to ensure the success of the eventual revolt.

Norma is stunned to hear that Adalgisa’s pleas have not persuaded Pollione, and in a rage she urges her people to attack the conquerors. Oroveso demands a sacrificial victim and Pollione is brought in. Alone with him, Norma promises him his freedom if he will leave Adalgisa and return to her. When he refuses, Norma threatens to kill him and their children. She calls the Druids back and tells them that a guilty priestess must die, referring to herself. Moved by her nobility, Pollione asks to share her fate. Norma begs Oroveso to watch over her children and prepares to die with her lover.



Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma, a conflicted leader of her people

BandaFLUTETristan Durie*

OBOELief Mossbaugh*

CLARINETJames Ormston*

BASSOONLisa Chisholm*

HORNRoslyn Black*Michele Gagnon*

TRUMPETBrendan Cassin*Andrew Dubelsten* Michelle Wylie*

BASS TROMBONEDavid Pell*

PERCUSSIONChung Ling Lo*

MUSIC LIBRARIANWayne Vogan

ASSISTANT MUSIC LIBRARIANOndrej Golias

STAGE LIBRARIANPaul Langley

PERSONNEL MANAGERIan Cowie

*extra musician

VIOLIN IMarie Bérard, ConcertmasterThe Concertmaster’s chair has

been endowed in perpetuity by Joey and Toby Tanenbaum

Aaron Schwebel, Associate Concertmaster

Jamie Kruspe, Assistant Concertmaster

Anne ArmstrongSandra BaronBethany BergmanNancy KershawDominique LaplanteYakov Lerner Jayne MaddisonNeria MayerElizabeth Johnston

VIOLIN IIPaul Zevenhuizen, PrincipalCsaba Koczó, Assistant PrincipalJames AylesworthChristine Chesebrough*Hiroko Kagawa* Renée London*Aya MiyagawaAlexei Pankratov*Louise TardifMarianne Urke (leave of absence)Joanna Zabrowarna

VIOLAKeith Hamm, PrincipalJoshua Greenlaw, Assistant

Principal (leave of absence)Sheila Jaffé, Acting Assistant

PrincipalCatherine GrayRory McLeod*

Nicholaos Papadakis*Angela Rudden*Beverley SpottonYosef Tamir

CELLOBryan Epperson, PrincipalAlastair Eng, Associate PrincipalPaul Widner, Assistant PrincipalMaurizio BaccanteOlga LaktionovaElaine Thompson

BASSAlan Molitz, Principal (leave of

absence)Jonathan Yeoh, Acting Principal*Robert Speer, Assistant PrincipalTom HazlittPaul LangleyRobert Wolanski* FLUTEDouglas Stewart, PrincipalShelley Brown (leave of absence)Maria Pelletier*

PICCOLOMaria Pelletier*

OBOEMark Rogers, PrincipalLesley Young

CLARINETJames T. Shields, Principal (leave

of absence)Afendi Yusuf, Acting Principal*Colleen Cook

MUSIC STAFFBen Malensek (Head Coach)Rachel AndristStéphane Mayer (Ensemble Studio Intern Coach)

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Derek Bate

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERSKristin McCollumKate Porter

ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNERDavida TkachSiobhan Sleeth

UNDERSTUDIESNorma Aviva FortunataClotilde Lindsay BarrettFlavio Aaron Sheppard

SOPRANOSLindsay Barrett Christina Bell Stacie Carmona Katy Clark Margaret Evans Laura Klassen Alexandra Lennox-Pomeroy Ingrid Martin Kathleen (Katie) Murphy Jennifer Robinson Teresa van der HoevenIlana Zarankin

BASSOONEric Hall, PrincipalElizabeth Gowen (leave of

absence)William Cannaway*

HORNMikhailo Babiak, PrincipalJanet AndersonBardhyl GjevoriGary Pattison

TRUMPETRobert Weymouth, Acting

PrincipalMichael Fedyshyn*

TROMBONECharles Benaroya, PrincipalIan Cowie

BASS TROMBONEHerbert Poole

CIMBASSOScott Irvine, Principal

TIMPANIMichael Perry, Principal

PERCUSSIONTrevor Tureski, Principal

HARPSarah Davidson, Principal

MEZZO-SOPRANOSMarianne Bindig Susan Black Wendy Hatala Foley Erica Iris Huang Lilian Kilianski Kathryn Knapp Erin Lawson Anne McWatt Karen Olinyk Megan Quick Vilma Indra Vitols Cindy Won

TENORSVanya Abrahams Tonatiuh Abrego Stephen Bell Taras Chmil Sam Chung Stephen Erickson William Ford John Kriter Jason Lamont James Leatch Stephen McClare Eric Olsen

BARITONES/BASSESGrant Allert James Baldwin Jesse Clark Michael Downie Olivier Laquerre Jason Nedecky Michael Sproule Jan Vaculik Marcus Wilson Dylan Wright Gene Wu Michael York

CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY ORCHESTRA

CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY CHORUS


THE DRAMA BEHIND BELLINI’S NORMABY GIANMARCO SEGATO

Bel canto is one of those slippery musical terms that ultimately obscures more than it illuminates. Its literal translation from the Italian is “beautiful singing” and like most labels used to describe historical artistic movements, was invented long after the fact as a convenient way to refer to Italian opera of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Confusion arises since bel canto is even more commonly used to refer to a specific singing style characterized by beautiful, long, legato melodies and dazzling vocal fireworks known as coloratura. While not entirely inaccurate, these definitions are limiting and too often present bel canto opera as an undifferentiated body of works which privilege pretty singing over meaningful drama. This latter, pejorative view lacks the benefit of a more nuanced, contextual understanding of a composer like Vincenzo Bellini, who in his quintessential bel canto opera Norma (1831), was directly inspired by the dramatic possibilities contained within the poetic texts he set to music.

From the very start, critics recognized in the role of Norma a supreme challenge for the attrice cantante (“singing actress”). Bellini composed the role for Giuditta Pasta, famed not only for her extraordinary, if flawed, voice but also for the physicality of her performances that made her the leading singing actress of her time. Ever since, this Mount Everest of soprano roles has found its most successful interpreters in singers who could meet both its fierce technical demands as well as its myriad, contrasting emotional peaks and valleys. In the latter 20th century, the golden standard Norma has without a

doubt been Maria Callas, universally lauded for coming closest to meeting Bellini’s demands for dramatic declamation and technical virtuosity. It is into this grand tradition stretching back to Pasta that the COC’s two Normas, Canadian-American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and South African Elza van den Heever, must slot themselves, bringing their own unique qualities to this iconic role without succumbing to the daunting, heavy weight of expectation that hangs about it.

Sondra Radvanovsky (the COC’s rapturously received Aida in 2010 and Elizabeth I in 2014’s Roberto Devereux) acknowledges that her “journey with this role really has progressed quickly. Bel canto was rather new to me when I sang my first Norma [2011 in Oviedo, Spain]. I had only sung [one other bel canto role, Donizetti’s] Lucrezia Borgia before I undertook Norma for the first time, so I hadn’t had much experience with the style of music.” The role is very text heavy and many of the words are “archaic ones at that, so I spent much time translating the Italian word by word.” With this, Radvanovsky draws attention to an aspect of Bellini’s compositional methods which can be lost on listeners today, distracted as we might be by his gorgeous melodies. Bellini was profoundly inspired by the poetry of Felice Romani’s text, so much so that the score’s overall pattern of recitativo (the sung, “spoken” text) versus arias (the more expressive, reflective musical passages) was directly determined by the type of verse already laid out in the libretto. Bellini was so attached to Romani’s elegant verse that he would only accept commissions to write an opera

on the condition that his favourite poet was the librettist.[1] Composers from later in the Romantic Italian tradition, such as Verdi, primarily looked to dramatic situations for inspiration, while an earlier Romantic like Bellini was concerned foremost with the quality of the verse itself. Of his earlier 1827 success, Il Pirata, Bellini said, “Just look at [it] and you will see how it is the poetry, not the situation, that inspired my genius.”[2]

Pioneering 19th-century Italian opera scholar Friedrich Lippmann has noted that contemporary reviewers of Il Pirata used the term “filosofico” (“philosophical”) to indicate Bellini had applied a new, more psychological approach to opera and to the treatment of human emotion.

Armed with a heightened awareness of the importance Bellini placed on text, we can perhaps put to rest the dismissive view (nowadays, much less prevalent) that bel canto opera offers nothing more than an excuse for the type of vocal display much-loved by “canary fanciers.” To be sure, Norma’s technical demands are a huge part of the bel canto challenge, as Radvanovsky acknowledges: “There are so many nuances to singing it that are difficult, especially for a larger voice… You start the evening with [Norma’s opening aria] “Casta Diva” and the very declamatory recitativo before it… literally starting with a BANG!” This aspect of Bellini’s vocal writing was labeled canto declamato (“declamatory singing”) and has been described by musicologist Mary Ann Smart as a “melodic style in which singing approximates speech; recitative becomes more prominent, more melodically vivid, more


Did you know that Norma was the first full-scale opera ever performed in Toronto?

A single performance was presented by the touring Artists’ Association Italian Opera Company on July 8, 1853 at the Royal Lyceum, a building that is no longer standing but was located on the south side of King Street, between York and Bay Streets. The company and the production arrived by stage coach and steamboat.

It was reviewed by the Anglo-American magazine where it was noted that “the theatre is so small that Devries’ voice was a little too loud, and the prompter was perhaps too audible, but these are minor imperfections. The orchestra was very fair, but rather loud… We shall not attempt to criticize, that an entire opera has been performed in Toronto is a great fact.”


Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma with members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus

emotionally intense.”[3] Bellini made these declaimed passages even more prominent by thinning out their orchestration, ensuring words could be heard and understood clearly.

Elza van den Heever (the COC’s stunning Leonora in 2012’s Il Trovatore) speaks to the equal vocal and dramatic demands of Norma, emphasizing the “endless amounts of dramatic singing… but [much that is] also very delicate and subtle. The sheer endurance required to sing from the beginning all the way to the end is incredible! The most delicate passages come toward the end of the opera when you have already sung so much and your body and voice is just spent! So, it really is like climbing a mountain… I have always regarded it as such. But also, just as rewarding. It’s like reaching the top of a mountain and being able to observe the most exquisite view imaginable!” Radvanovsky also flags the role’s abrupt juxtapositions of canto declamato versus more lyric passages: after the dramatic recitativo that introduces “Casta diva,” “you then have to whittle the voice down to almost a whisper as you sing the aria, the prayer to the gods. So the vocal aspects in just the first 20 minutes alone are immense… this is what the whole evening is about, the duality of the character of Norma which is represented in

More About BelliniVincenzo Bellini had a short and brilliant life. Born in Catania, Sicily in 1801, he grew up in a musical household and entered the Conservatory in Naples at 18. His first two operas were performed in Naples, but it was the premiere of his third opera, Il Pirata, at La Scala in Milan in 1827 that made him a star. Unlike many other opera composers of his time, Bellini never held an official position, maintaining a freelance career and getting paid very handsomely for it. For the rest of his life he lived mainly in Milan, also travelling to London and Paris. He enjoyed his success and the admiration of other composers such as Verdi, upon whom he had a distinct influence. He was known to be charming and sensitive, occasionally vain and self-centered, and conducted a complicated love life, often with married women. He was plagued in later years by what is thought to be amoebic dysentery. A bad attack while he was in France was mistakenly thought to be cholera and so Bellini died in isolation in 1835. At his funeral in Paris, it is reported that composers Cherubini and Rossini were two of the holders of the corners of Bellini’s shroud. He was buried in Paris but in 1876 his remains were removed and taken back to his home town of Catania.

her vocal writing.” As Bellini scholar Herbert Weinstock has argued, “every trill, every chromatic run and every ornamentation in Norma's arias make perfect dramatic sense. [These] vocal embellishments… were never mere vehicles for technical virtuosity, as later singers sometimes made them appear… the runs, shakes, scales and trills were intended to be dramatically expressive—of fury, madness, ecstasy, or rapture.”[4]

Bellini clearly intended his beautiful melodies to communicate profound depth of emotion and character. Van den Heever concurs, noting Norma’s enduring appeal is based as much on its drama as its music: “She is so complex and her relationships with everyone around her are so twisted. She is actually very real; her emotions run hot and cold very easily (like some of us!); her music is wild, exciting, tender and sweet all in one. It’s wonderful to play such a woman!”

Gianmarco Segato is the COC’s Adult Programs Manager.

NOTES1. Simon Maguire, “Norma and the importance of poetry” Welsh National Opera Guide, 19852. David R B Kimbell, “Vincenzo Bellini and Felice Romani,” Welsh National Opera Guide, 19853. Mary Ann Smart, “Bellini’s Fall from Grace,” Opera (March 2002)4. Herbert Weinstock. Vincenzo Bellini: His Life and His Operas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971

JOIN US FOR OPERA INSIGHTS

GREAT BEL CANTO DIVAS I HAVE KNOWNSaturday, October 29: 1:30 – 3 p.m.

Join Norma conductor and witty raconteur Stephen Lord in a fascinating, multi-media journey covering his work with some of the world’s greatest bel canto divas, from the legendary Joan Sutherland to the COC’s own Norma, Sondra Radvanovsky.

OPERA CHORUS SING ALONGTuesday, November 1: 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Warm up those pipes as you join COC Chorus Master Sandra Horst along with members of the COC Chorus and learn to sing popular opera chorus favourites!

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Opera Insights features big conversations and interactive events that take participants inside the operas of the Canadian Opera Company’s 2016/2017 season.

RESERVE YOUR PLACE AT THESE FREE EVENTS AT

coc.ca/OperaInsights

Tattoos, Tents, and Champagne!

GET TO KNOWELZA VAN DEN HEEVER


Audiences first saw Elza on the Four Seasons Centre stage as Leonore in 2012’s Il Trovatore.


Sarah Connolly as Ariodante, Patricia Petibon as Ginevra and Luca Tittoto as the King in a scene from Ariodante. All photographs of this COC co-production are from the Festival d’Aix en Provence performances in 2014.

ARIODANTEBY GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

AriodanteAlice Coote

GinevraJane Archibald

DalindaAmbur Braid^***

PolinessoVarduhi AbrahamyanD

LurcanioOwen McCausland^

King of ScotlandJohannes WeisserD

OdoardoAaron Sheppard†****

* Johannes Debus is generously underwritten by George and Kathy Dembroski

** ULTZ is generously sponsored by Robert Sherrin

*** Ambur Braid’s performance is generously sponsored by Peter M. Deeb

**** Aaron Sheppard’s performance is generously sponsored by Margaret Harriett Cameron and the late Gary Smith

***** Sandra Horst and the COC Chorus are generously underwritten by Tim and Frances Price

ConductorJohannes Debus*

DirectorRichard Jones

Associate DirectorBenjamin Davis

Assistant DirectorAllison Grant

Set and Costume DesignerULTZD**

Lighting DesignerMimi Jordan Sherin

ChoreographerLucy BurgeD

Puppetry Director and DesignFinn CaldwellD

Puppetry DesignNick BarnesD

Chorus MasterSandra Horst^*****

Stage ManagerStephanie Marrs


Opera seria in three acts w Anonymous libretto based on a work by Antonio Salvi, adapted from Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso w First performance: Covent Garden, London on January 8, 1735Edited for the Hallische Händel Ausgabe by Fritz Lehmann. Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, Canadian agent and U.S. agent for Baerenreiter-Verlag, publisher and copyright owner.

COC PREMIERECo-production with Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence, Dutch National Opera, and Lyric Opera of ChicagoOctober 16, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, November 4, 2016 Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™

THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM (in order of vocal appearance)


Sarah Connolly as Ariodante, Patricia Petibon as Ginevra and Luca Tittoto as the King in a scene from Ariodante. All photographs of this COC co-production are from the Festival d’Aix en Provence performances in 2014.

D COC Debut † Current member of the COC Ensemble Studio ^ Graduate of COC Ensemble StudioProgram information is correct at time of printing. All casting is subject to change.

Performance time is approximately four hours.

ACT I 65 minutes INTERMISSION 20 minutes ACT II 75 minutes INTERMISSION 25 minutes ACT II 55 minutes


Patricia Petibon as Ginevra

NOTES

Ariodante stands out as one of Handel’s more melancholy works. It’s full of psychologically rich and interesting characters, with Ariodante and Ginevra at the centre of it all. Inspired by the original Edinburgh setting of the opera, we set this production on a remote Scottish island, but it could just as easily be a village in the Canadian Maritimes. It’s a close-knit, male-dominated community with a strong moral centre rooted in Calvinism. Their industry is based on fishing and wool, which is reflected in the costume designs which have islanders dress in Aran-style jumpers and kilts. It’s a physical, working community, so while the production is set in the late-1960s or early-‘70s, there is a sense of timelessness in the costumes and the dress is similar for men and women. Only Ginevra stands apart, with her more feminine clothes.

The islanders are essentially good people. Though they may have weaknesses, they have a strong moral compass. There is only one character that is really, actively bad amongst them: Polinesso. In our production, he takes the form of a charlatan preacher from a city on the mainland. He’s charismatic and interested in young women who have virginal and “ecstatic” qualities, such as Ginevra. But he has a very cruel, misogynistic streak, reminiscent of certain passages in the Old Testament. The King of the island is in a psychological slump after the death of his wife and takes comfort in Polinesso’s teachings, but is oblivious to the evil infiltrating his community.

While the opera is titled Ariodante, Ginevra, in this production, is the character at its heart. She’s a young woman singled out and punished by a male-dominated community for her sense of imagination and fantasy, and in the end she makes a very important choice to leave this place of oppression. Her betrothed from a neighbouring island, Ariodante, is sensitive, sincere and noble-hearted, both in happiness and defeat. Lurcanio (Ariodante’s brother), driven by his anger and sense of justice, encourages the King to act violently. Dalinda (the other main female character in the opera) is tortured by her own blinkered desire and Polinesso’s machinations. In the midst of this, Ginevra is always moving forward, while the others are immobilized by their anger, their masochism or their depression.

While we’ve taken inspiration from the 19th-century theatre of Ibsen and Strindberg for the overall style of the production, we’ve added an almost choreographed realism that plays with the formality of 18th-century theatre and heightens the psychological workings of Ariodante.

Benjamin Davis, Associate Director

SYNOPSISACT IGinevra tells Dalinda that she is in love with Ariodante and that they have the blessing of her father, the king. Polinesso enters and expresses his love for Ginevra, who rejects him. Dalinda tells Polinesso that Ariodante is his rival, but she also hints at her own feelings for Polinesso, who decides to use Dalinda to destroy Ariodante.

Ariodante and Ginevra are overjoyed when the king gives the order for their wedding to be celebrated the next day. Polinesso leads Dalinda to believe he loves her. Lurcanio, Ariodante’s brother, confesses to Dalinda that he loves her, but he is rejected. Ariodante and Ginevra celebrate their wedding eve.

INTERMISSION

ACT IILater that night, Polinesso tells Ariodante that he is already Ginevra’s lover and is surprised that Ariodante is marrying her. Ariodante conceals himself and Dalinda, disguised as Ginevra, invites Polinesso into her room. Ariodante is grief-stricken. Lurcanio, who has seen all of this, prevents Ariodante from killing himself, convincing him instead to seek revenge.

News is brought to the king that Ariodante has plunged from a cliff into the sea and is presumed drowned. Ginevra collapses in grief. Lurcanio claims that Ariodante has killed himself because of Ginevra’s infidelity and he is willing to defend his story to anyone who will challenge him.

INTERMISSION

ACT IIIAriodante has survived but is in torment. He meets Dalinda who is trying to escape Polinesso’s assassins. She now understands Polinesso’s trickery and explains all to Ariodante.

Polinesso challenges Lurcanio’s story. They will duel with Polinesso as Ginevra’s champion. She resists this but the king insists despite Ginevra’s protests.

During the duel, Lurcanio fatally injures Polinesso. A new challenger appears who reveals himself to be Ariodante. He promises to explain everything as long as Dalinda is forgiven her innocent part in Polinesso’s deception. Polinesso dies, having confessed everything, Dalinda is forgiven and accepts Lurcanio’s love.

Ginevra is overjoyed at the sight of Ariodante and by her father’s blessing. The two couples celebrate the happy outcome of their troubles.


VIOLIN IMarie Bérard, ConcertmasterThe Concertmaster’s chair has

been endowed in perpetuity by Joey and Toby Tanenbaum

Aaron Schwebel, Associate Concertmaster

Jamie Kruspe, Assistant Concertmaster

Anne ArmstrongSandra BaronBethany BergmanNancy KershawDominique LaplanteYakov Lerner Jayne MaddisonNeria Mayer

VIOLIN IIPaul Zevenhuizen, PrincipalCsaba Koczó, Assistant PrincipalJames AylesworthElizabeth JohnstonAya MiyagawaLouise TardifMarianne UrkeJoanna Zabrowarna

VIOLAKeith Hamm, PrincipalJoshua Greenlaw, Assistant

Principal (leave of absence)Sheila Jaffé, Acting Assistant

PrincipalCatherine GrayBeverley SpottonYosef Tamir

CELLOBryan Epperson, Principal Alastair Eng, Associate PrincipalPaul Widner, Assistant PrincipalMaurizio BaccanteOlga LaktionovaElaine Thompson

BASSAlan Molitz, Principal (leave of

absence)Jonathan Yeoh, Acting Principal*Robert Speer, Assistant PrincipalTom Hazlitt Paul Langley

CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY ORCHESTRA

FLUTEDouglas Stewart, PrincipalShelley Brown (leave of absence)Leslie Newman*

PICCOLODouglas Stewart, PrincipalShelley Brown (leave of absence)Leslie Newman*

OBOEMark Rogers, PrincipalLesley Young

BASSOONEric Hall, Principal

HORNMikhailo Babiak, PrincipalGary Pattison

TRUMPETRobert Weymouth, Acting

PrincipalMichael Fedyshyn*

TIMPANIMichael Perry, Principal

PERCUSSIONTrevor Tureski, Principal

HARPSICHORDJohannes DebusChristopher Bagan*

CELLO CONTINUOAlastair Eng

ARCHLUTE AND BAROQUE GUITAR

Sylvain Bergeron*

MUSIC LIBRARIANWayne Vogan

ASSISTANT MUSIC LIBRARIANOndrej Golias

STAGE LIBRARIANPaul Langley

PERSONNEL MANAGERIan Cowie

* extra musician


Audiences may recall Richard Jones’ production of The Queen of Spades during the COC’s 2002/2003 season. A shared feature with his production of Ariodante is the haunting use of puppetry, an element that has enjoyed a huge gain in popularity in the last decade in all genres of theatre.

SOPRANOSLindsay Barrett Alexandra Lennox-Pomeroy Jennifer Robinson

MEZZO-SOPRANOSWendy Hatala Foley Anne McWatt Karen Olinyk

TENORSStephen Bell Taras Chmil Sam Chung

CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY CHORUSBARITONES/BASSESJason Nedecky Gene Wu Michael York

MUSIC STAFFChristopher Bagan (Head Coach)Timothy CheungHyejin Kwon (Ensemble Studio Intern Coach)

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Walter Althammer

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERSGerry EganChris Porter

ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNERDavida TkachSiobhan Sleeth

UNDERSTUDIESAriodante Emily D’AngeloGinevra Jennifer TavernerDalinda Danika LorènPolinesso Lauren Eberwein Odoardo Charles Sy

ASSISTANT PUPPETRY DIRECTOR Kate Colbrook

PUPPETEERS Sam ClarkTommy LutherJohn Trindle


FROM ARTASERSE TO ARIODANTE

The decade of the 1730s was a rough one for Handel. His exclusive, Crown-chartered opera company, the Royal Academy, was under pressure from competitors yet again, his health had failed several times, and he had gone broke. And yet, he still soldiered on, fighting the inevitable decline of the Alessandro Scarlatti model of opera, the only creative world he knew and the only means, he thought, of sustaining him financially.

By contrast, the previous decade of the 1720s had been a tremendous boon for Handel. With Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano and Rodelinda he had scaled incredible commercial and artistic heights, advancing the expressive range of opera considerably. Handel had found innovative ways to extend the focused, dramatic intent of an aria, even if plot had been reduced to a level of secondary importance, often beguiled by bizarre twists. Yet this was also a time when opera productions had begun to collapse under the weight of salary demands from its star singers with associated staging costs ever rising. Arias had become long and overly decorous, virtuosity had overruled art, and the arbiters of public taste, both patrons and audience, had grown tired of it all.

That's when John Gay fired the first salvo against Handel and opera seria. The Beggar's Opera (1728) used common English words and music hall type song often set to derisive lyrics saturated with anti-high art sentiment to signal the beginning of the end of the old opera seria order and this cost

BY STEPHAN BONFIELD

Handel dearly. People flocked to it, considerably reducing the composer's Haymarket theatre audiences. Handel's Royal Academy went out of business.

The 1730s also ushered in a new operatic phenomenon that would prove to be one of the greatest and most durable hits of the entire century—a story set 90 times to a libretto by the era's greatest operatic plot maestro, Metastasio. It was called Artaserse, and recounted the tale of an assassination attempt against King Artaxerxes of Persia. The opera was a smash hit in any of its multiple versions, especially its very first incarnations by Leonardo Vinci and Johann Adolph Hasse, filled as they were with many musical novelties that bolstered a lurid plot of attempted regicide pitting love against duty.

Vinci's take on the Artaserse plot pushed opera beyond simpler models explored by Scarlatti in previous decades. While managing to simplify

his harmonies and textures, the overall structure became longer and more elaborate, comprised of large blocks of musical time.

Furthermore, Artaserse carried the careers of many stars, notably the great virtuoso castrato Farinelli, to prominence. The London pasticcio performance version set to songs by composers such as Hasse, Ariosti and Porpora was sponsored by Handel's greatest competitor, the Opera of the Nobility, who had wooed Farinelli as the company's franchise star. His singing often gave way to unbridled adulation, with one woman crying out “One God, one Farinelli!” at the end of a particularly acclaimed performance.

When Handel re-founded the (second) Royal Academy of Music, he needed a viable commercial and artistic response, and respond he did. In 1735, he created two of his most ambitious musical masterpieces in the opera seria genre, Ariodante and Alcina. To combat Opera of the Nobility's Farinelli, Handel countered with his own marquee star singer, the remarkable virtuoso castrato Carestini, himself a singer of considerable range and vocal acrobatic talents, to take on the title role of the prince Ariodante.

Further, in response to the longer sections of sustained musical time found in Artaserse, it is thought that Handel in turn made his operas longer too, albeit remaining rooted in the old da capo aria tradition [opening “A” section followed by a contrasting “B” section, completed by a repeat of “A”].

But something changed in the

1730s. With Handel’s responses

to the Artaserse phenomenon we see a new kind of

expression coming from the composer.


HANDEL AND OPERA IN THE 1730s

Handel seemed to set himself the task of creating more novel ways to compose in A-B-A form, demanding excruciating virtuosity from his singers, sure to impress the audience. And as a composer and a businessman, he had to find the best way to please his audiences.

When we think of the process of how operas are mounted and performed today, we believe in a hierarchy of sorts in which the composer and librettist reign supreme followed by the director and creative team, and very often lastly the performers themselves. Patrons and audiences are not given top consideration unless a composer states explicitly that the goal is to create a

populist theatre piece. Regardless, the placement of composer at the top of the artistic pyramid is a Romantic-era/Modernist model of how art tends to be created in the opera house today.

In Handel's time, the flow proceeded very differently, beginning with the royal patron first, moving to audience taste second, singers' demands third and the librettist fourth. Placing distantly behind them all was the composer, whose impossible job was to try to please everyone.

But something changed in the 1730s. With Handel's responses to the Artaserse phenomenon we see a new kind of expression coming from the

composer. The dramatic complexity of the sorceress Alcina for example, and the greater depth of character development demonstrated by her futile passions was beginning to become a hallmark of opera long before the reforms of Gluck and the innovations of Mozart. Equally important was the tremendous range of emotion Handel composed for his lead character Ariodante, as evidenced in his remarkable aria with bassoon obbligato, “Scherza infida.” Or, how about Handel's deft depictions of Ginevra's emotional struggles with the loss of her betrothed Ariodante, to say nothing of the musical originality to be found in their Act I love duet, “Prendi, prendi da questa mano”?


Patricia Petibon as Ginevra and Luca Tittoto as the King.

Music was moving beyond the simple portrayal of one emotion throughout an aria or an entire opera—known as affect—to something more emotionally nuanced. Handel, it seems, was starting to please himself more as a creative artist, while straddling the commercial line of pleasing his audiences.

One essential reason why this production of Ariodante is set in a 1960s seaside town of Scottish heritage has to do with our contemporary response to the composer’s artistic development in the 1730s. Handel was forced to find new paths to musical expression that were driven by librettist and audience demands. Likewise, in our time, we respond to such developments in the composer's artistic life with scenarios that can more appropriately illuminate the human drama Handel sought to innovatively illustrate in his music. We often modernize and update operas because, in some sense, we are frequently forced to do so, not

Opera Insights features big conversations and interactive events that take participants inside the operas of the Canadian Opera Company’s 2016/2017 season.

ARIODANTE BOOTCAMP!Friday, October 14: 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Gain an exclusive glimpse at what it takes to bring an opera to the stage when COC Music Director Johannes Debus prepares the young artists of the COC Ensemble Studio for roles they are understudying in Handel’s Ariodante.

BAROQUE STYLE: HANDEL’S ARIODANTEThursday, October 20: 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Take a trip back in time to 18th-century London with COC Orchestra violinists Paul Zevenhuizen and Liz Johnston, joined by musicologist and COC speaker Stephan Bonfield, as they discuss and perform works by the greatest opera composer of the Baroque era: Handel.

More About HandelHandel’s phenomenal career might never have happened. Born in Halle, Prussia, he was discouraged by his parents from studying music. However his father’s employer, the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, overheard the nine-year-old Handel playing the organ, and persuaded his parents to give him a musical education. In 1703, 18-year-old Handel moved to Hamburg to work at the opera house as a violinist. His first opera, Almira, was mounted the following year and was a great success. Handel never looked back. He travelled extensively through Italy, familiarizing himself with the Italian style of operas and church music, reaching London in 1710. Handel was to present the first real Italian opera written for London and performed by Italians: Rinaldo premiered in 1711 and was a sensation. He continued to compose more operas to mixed success but was also writing church music. Water Music premiered in 1717, and, in the same year, he wrote 11 anthems and two dramatic works, Acis and Galatea and Esther. In 1719, Handel was appointed the musical director of the newly founded Royal Academy of Music, for which he wrote a dazzling series of operas: Rodelinda, Giulio Cesare, Ottone, and Admeto, but he lost his position when the academy closed in 1728 due to lack of funds. In 1729, he launched a series of opera seasons at the King’s Theatre. Works included Acis, Orlando, Ariodante and Alcina. In 1741, Messiah premiered in Dublin and Handel stopped composing operas. This may have been related to British audiences’ growing desire for English-language works. From then on, Handel’s work comprised English-language oratorios, (including Semele, Samson, Belshazzar, and Judas Maccabaeus), orchestral works, and revivals of his many operas. When Handel died in London on April 14, 1759, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

for the sake of novelty, but because the composer's own internal creative development demands a similar, creative response from our directors and production teams.

Handel truly rose to the occasion with sublime music in Ariodante, a new path for him to tread, trying out what he needed to stay in business, while still planting another foot firmly in the past glories of a medium that was already beginning to change faster than the composer was fully prepared to acknowledge. But Handel eventually would find a solution. Within a few years of Ariodante he had stopped writing opera and began composing great oratorios such as Messiah. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Stephan Bonfield is a frequent speaker at the COC and other opera companies across Canada and is the opera and ballet critic for The Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal.

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Reaching their Somedayis music to everyone’s ears.

The hard work, perseverance and vision of emerging artists demonstrate the

power of having – and the joy of realizing – a Someday™. Together with programs

like the Ensemble Studio at the Canadian Opera Company, we support a

diverse range of Canadian talent in communities across the country through

the RBC Emerging Artists Project.

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Credits: (left) Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, photo: Karen E. Reeves. (bottom, l-r) Ensemble Studio Competition First Prize and Audience Choice Award winner Emily D’Angelo, Centre Stage 2015, photo: Michael Cooper; A scene from the Ensemble Studio performance of The Barber of Seville, 2015, photo: Michael Cooper; Emily D'Angelo with Rashaan Allwood (on piano) in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, photo: Karen E. Reeves

DEREK BATE(Toronto, ON)Assistant ConductorSELECT COC CREDITS: Carmen, Siegfried, Pyramus and Thisbe with Lamento d’Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (2015); Conductor, Don Quichotte (2014); Conductor, Carmen (1979)

RECENT: Conductor, The Student Prince (Toronto Operetta Theatre [TOT])

UPCOMING: Götterdämmerung, Louis Riel (COC); Conductor, The Pirates of Penzance (TOT)

MARILYN GRONSDAL(Toronto, ON)Assistant DirectorSELECT COC CREDITS: Maometto II, Pyramus and Thisbe with Lamento d’Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, (2015); Associate Director, Siegfried (2016); Director, La Bohème (2009) RECENT: Co-director, Madama Butterfly (Saskatoon Opera [SO]) UPCOMING: Director, La Cecchina (The Glenn Gould School); Assistant Director, Götterdämmerung, Tosca (COC); Director, Don Giovanni (SO)

BIOGRAPHIES: NORMA

DIMITRY IVASHCHENKOBass (Novosibirsk, Russia)OrovesoCOC DEBUT: Hunding, Die Walküre (2015)

RECENT: Vodnik, Rusalka (Opéra Bastille); Ivan Chovanski, Khovanshchina (Dutch National Opera); Sparafucile, Rigoletto (Metropolitan Opera)

UPCOMING: Daland, The Flying Dutchman (Teatro Real de Madrid); The Four Villains, The Tales of Hoffmann (Komische Oper Berlin); Osmin, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Semperoper Dresden)

SANDRA HORST(Toronto, ON)Chorus MasterSELECT COC CREDITS: Carmen, Maometto II, The Marriage of Figaro (2016); La Traviata, Pyramus and Thisbe with Lamento d’Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (2015) RECENT: Conductor, The Machine Stops and Paul Bunyan (UofT Opera) UPCOMING: The Magic Flute, Götterdämmerung, Louis Riel, Tosca (COC) ADDITIONAL: Director of Musical Studies at UofT Opera

JESSICA JAHN(New York City, NY, USA)Costume DesignerCOC DEBUT

RECENT: Maria Stuarda (Seattle Opera); The Crucible (Glimmerglass Festival); The Manchurian Candidate and Carmen (Minnesota Opera)

UPCOMING: Dead Man Walking (Washington National Opera); Moby Dick (Utah Opera)

DAVID KORINS(New York City, NY, USA)Set DesignerCOC DEBUT RECENT: Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Misery and Motown the Musical (Broadway); Bel Canto (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Grease: Live (FOX Television); Mary Magdalene (San Francisco Opera); Oscar (Santa Fe Opera)

JENIFER KOWAL(Thornhill, ON)Stage ManagerSELECT COC CREDITS: Maometto II, The Marriage of Figaro (2016); Pyramus and Thisbe with Lamento d’Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung (2015)

RECENT: ATG’S Messiah (Against the Grain Theatre)

UPCOMING: Tosca (COC)

STEPHEN LORD(Bolton, MA, USA)Conductor COC CREDITS: A Masked Ball (2014); Lucia di Lammermoor (2013); Norma (1998)

RECENT: Norma (English National Opera); Macbeth (Michigan Opera Theatre [MOT] and Opera Theatre of St. Louis); La Rondine (Opera Theatre of St. Louis)

UPCOMING: La fanciulla del West (MOT); La Traviata (San Diego Opera)

AVIVA FORTUNATASoprano (Calgary, AB)Clotilde

SELECT COC CREDITS: The Countess, The Marriage of Figaro (Ensemble Studio performance [ENS], 2016); Annina, La Traviata (2015); Berta, The Barber of Seville (2015); Helmwige, Die Walküre (2015); Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte (ENS, 2014)

ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Song Prize Finalist in 2015 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World; Finalist, Operalia Competition, 2016

ISABEL LEONARDMezzo-soprano (New York City,

NY, USA)Adalgisa COC DEBUT: Sesto, La clemenza di Tito (2013) RECENT: Cherubino, The Marriage of Figaro and Rosina, The Barber of Seville (Metropolitan Opera [Met]); Ada Monroe, Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia); Angelina, La Cenerentola (Lyric Opera of Chicago) UPCOMING: Rosina, The Barber of Seville (Wiener Staatsoper); Charlotte, Werther (Met and Teatro Comunale di Bologna) ADDITIONAL: Two-time Grammy Award winner, Best Opera Recording (2016 and 2013)


SONDRA RADVANOVSKYSoprano (Caledon, ON) Norma COC CREDITS: Elisabetta, Roberto Devereux (2014); Aida, Aida (2010) RECENT: Elisabetta, Roberto Devereux and title roles in Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda (Metropolitan Opera); Aida, Aida (Opéra national de Paris); Tosca, Tosca (Bayerische Staatsoper) UPCOMING: Manon Lescaut, Manon Lescaut (Royal Opera House); Norma, Norma (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Tosca, Tosca (Los Angeles Opera); Amelia Grimaldi, Simon Boccanegra (Opéra de Monte-Carlo); Amelia, A Masked Ball (Opernhaus Zürich)

DUANE SCHULER(Seattle, WA, USA)Lighting Designer COC CREDITS: Maometto II (2016); Rigoletto (2011); The Italian Girl in Algiers (2003) RECENT: Don Pasquale and The Makropulos Case (San Francisco Opera); Béatrice et Benedict (Glyndebourne); Don Pasquale and La donna del lago (Metropolitan Opera [Met]); Count Ory (Seattle Opera) UPCOMING: Cendrillon and Fidelio (Met); Die Fledermaus (Santa Fe Opera); Norma (Lyric Opera of Chicago)

CHARLES SYTenor (Toronto, ON)Flavio COC CREDITS: Condulmiero, Maometto II (2016); Gastone, La Traviata (2015) RECENT: Adolfo, La Rondine (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis); Mr. Owen, Postcard from Morocco (UofT Opera); Tamino, The Magic Flute (Chautauqua Institution and Hawaii Performing Arts Festival) UPCOMING: First Priest, The Magic Flute and Ambroise Lépine, Louis Riel (COC)

RUSSELL THOMASTenor (Miami, FL, USA)Pollione COC CREDITS: Hoffmann, The Tales of Hoffmann (2012); Don José, Carmen (2016)

RECENT: Florestan, Fidelio (Cincinnati Opera); Stiffelio, Stiffelio (Oper Frankfurt); Pollione, Norma (Los Angeles Opera [LAO]); Turiddu, Cavalleria rusticana (Deutsche Oper Berlin) UPCOMING: Ismaele, Nabucco (Metropolitan Opera); Pollione, Norma (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Cavaradossi, Tosca (LAO)

ELZA VAN DEN HEEVERSoprano (Johannesburg, South Africa) Norma COC DEBUT: Leonore, Il Trovatore (2012) RECENT: Elisabetta, Maria Stuarda (Metropolitan Opera [Met]); Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica and Giorgetta, Il tabarro (Oper Frankfurt [OF]); Elisabetta, Don Carlo (Opéra National du Rhin) UPCOMING: Elettra, Idomeneo re di Creta (Met); Norma, Norma (Dallas Opera); Ellen Orford, Peter Grimes (Wiener Staatsoper); Elvira, Ernani (OF)

KEVIN NEWBURY(Brooklyn, NY, USA)Director COC DEBUT RECENT: Eugene Onegin (Portland Opera); Fellow Travelers (Cincinnati Opera); Maria Stuarda (Seattle Opera); Bel Canto (Lyric Opera of Chicago); The Good Swimmer (Prototype Festival); O Columbia (Houston Grand Opera) UPCOMING: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Santa Fe Opera); Bhutto (Pittsburgh Opera); The Perfect American (Long Beach Opera and Chicago Opera Theatre)

ADDITIONAL: Stag and Monsura is Waiting (short films)

Even Bellini wasn’t safe from the W.S. Gilbert TreatmentBefore beginning his partnership with Arthur Sullivan, W. S. Gilbert (of the famed Gilbert and Sullivan operettas) wrote a series of opera burlesques spoofing mainstream works of the 19th century. His version of Norma is The Pretty Druidess (1869). In it, the priestesses are setting up a typical English church bazaar; Norma sips a cup of tea, her “customary fluid,” and turns pages of the Daily Druid; Oroveso has forgotten who he is and is searching for his calling cards in order to find his own identify and Adalgisa is the soprano; everyone jumps in the fire confessing that they have all married Romans; Oroveso discovers he is, in fact, Julius Caesar in disguise and married to Adalgisa. Apparently, it was very well received!


INTRODUCING OUR INTERACTIVE WALL

This fall the COC unveils the addition of a 98” interactive digital multi-media wall to the Four Seasons Centre. The COC collaborated with BT/A Advertising and Cineplex Digital Media to create this exciting initiative to enliven the lobby area during performances and create an opportunity for patrons to learn about the company and season programming through video trailers, social media feeds and trivia applications. Located under the Grand Staircase in the Isadore and Rosalie Sharp City Room, the interactive wall goes live on opening night of Norma, and new applications will be added over the course of the season, so come by and see how your experience can be enriched!

COC365


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VARDUHI ABRAHAMYANMezzo-soprano (Yerevan,

Armenia)PolinessoCOC DEBUT RECENT: Carmen, Carmen (Staatsoper Hamburg and Bolshoi Theatre); Malcom, La donna del lago (Rossini Opera Festival); Ascanio, Benvenuto Cellini (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma); Dalila, Samson et Dalila (Palau de les Arts, Valencia) UPCOMING: Carmen, Carmen (Opéra national de Paris and Teatro Massimo di Palermo); Bradamante, Alcina (Opernhaus Zürich); Olga, Eugene Onegin (Opéra national de Paris)

WALTER ALTHAMMER(Berlin, Germany)Assistant ConductorCOC DEBUT

RECENT: Fidelio (Teatro Real); Iphigénie en Tauride (Grand Théâtre de Genève [GTG]); Das Rheingold (Ruhrfestspiele); Conductor, L’Isola Disabitata (Rheingaufestival)

UPCOMING: Elektra, Tristan und Isolde (L’Opéra de Lyon); Cosí van tutte (GTG); Conductor, Cendrillon (Dutch National Opera Academy)

BIOGRAPHIES: ARIODANTE

LUCY BURGE(London, England)Choreographer COC DEBUT RECENT: Ariodante (Dutch National Opera/Féstival Aix-en-Provence); Gianni Schicchi (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hyogo Arts Centre, Japan); Rusalka (Scottish Opera); La Fanciulla del West (Santa Fe Opera)

NICK BARNES(Hove, England)Puppetry Designer COC DEBUT RECENT: Madama Butterfly (Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera); The Magic Flute (Bregenzer Festspiele); Running Wild (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre); The Lorax (Old Vic Theatre)

UPCOMING: The Tempest (Birmingham Royal Ballet); First Hippo on the Moon (Les Enfants Terrible)

AMBUR BRAIDSoprano (Terrace, BC)Dalinda SELECT COC ROLES: Adele, Die Fledermaus (2012); Stella, The Tales of Hoffman (2012); Amore, Orfeo ed Euridice (2011) RECENT: Queen of the Night, The Magic Flute (English National Opera and Calgary Opera); Anne Truelove, The Rake’s Progress (Teatro de São Carlos); Konstanze, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera Atelier); Violetta, La Traviata (Arizona Opera) UPCOMING: Queen of the Night, The Magic Flute (COC)

FINN CALDWELL(London, England)Puppetry Director/Designer COC DEBUT RECENT: Running Wild (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre); The Lorax (Old Vic); The Light Princess (National Theatre); War Horse (Puppeteer/Associate Puppetry Director – National Theatre/International). As Director: Lardo (Old Red Lion) and The Elephantom (Co-director – National Theatre & West End). UPCOMING: The First Hippo on the Moon (Co-director/Co-designer – Les Enfants Terrible UK Tour); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic) ADDITIONAL: Co-Artistic Director, Gyre & Gimble

ALICE COOTEMezzo-soprano (Cheshire, England)Ariodante COC CREDITS: Dejanira, Hercules (2014); The Composer, Ariadne auf Naxos (2011) RECENT: Octavian, Der Rosenkavalier (Lyric Opera of Chicago); The Composer, Ariadne auf Naxos (Bayerische Staatsoper and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées [TdCE]); Dejanira, Hercules (Barbican Hall, Theater an der Wien and TdCE) UPCOMING: Idamante, Idomeneo re di Creta (Metropolitan Opera); Octavian, Der Rosenkavalier (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden)

BENJAMIN DAVIS(Cardiff, Wales)Associate Director COC DEBUT: Assistant Director, Otello (2010) RECENT: Revival Director, Gianni Schicchi (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Carmen (Scottish Opera); Queen of Spades (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma); Director, Sir John in Love (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); Così fan tutte (Welsh National Opera)

UPCOMING: Revival Director, Khovanshchina (Welsh National Opera); Director, Written on Skin (Mahler Chamber Orchestra semi-staged European tour)

JOHANNES DEBUS COC Music Director (Berlin, Germany/Toronto, ON) ConductorSELECT COC CREDITS: Siegfried and The Marriage of Figaro (2016); Pyramus and Thisbe with Lamento d’Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (2015); War and Peace (2008)

RECENT: The Tales of Hoffmann (Bregenz Festival); The Cunning Little Vixen (Oper Frankfurt); The Marriage of Figaro (Komische Oper Berlin); Engagements with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, and Aspen Music Festival

UPCOMING: Salome (Metropolitan Opera); Götterdämmerung and Louis Riel (COC)

JANE ARCHIBALD Soprano (Truro, NS)GinevraSELECT COC CREDITS: Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro (2016); Donna Anna, Don Giovanni (2015); Semele, Semele (2012, 2014 Brooklyn Academy of Music tour)

RECENT: Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Konstanze, The Abduction from the Seraglio (L’Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Festival d’Aix en Provence)

UPCOMING: Donna Anna, Don Giovanni (Theater an der Wien); Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos (Bayerische Staatsoper)

ONE NATION UNDER THE ARTS

We live in a country with a rich and deep appreciation for arts and culture, and we’re committed to fund programs that enable Canadians of all means

and backgrounds to enjoy the very best.

Proud Presenting Sponsor of the new Share the Opera program at the Canadian Opera Company and proudly Canadian.


ONE NATION UNDER THE ARTS

We live in a country with a rich and deep appreciation for arts and culture, and we’re committed to fund programs that enable Canadians of all means

and backgrounds to enjoy the very best.

Proud Presenting Sponsor of the new Share the Opera program at the Canadian Opera Company and proudly Canadian.

ULTZ(London, England)Set and Costume

Designer COC DEBUT

RECENTMa Rainey’s Black Bottom (National Theatre); Gloriana, Il tabarro (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); The River (Royal Court Theatre/Broadway); Mojo (West End); Jerusalem (West End/Broadway); Lohengrin (Bavarian State Opera); Powder Her Face, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci (English National Opera); Macbeth, Falstaff (Glyndebourne Festival) SELECT AWARDS AND NOMINATIONSOlivier Award (Best Revival, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Best Set Design, Jerusalem); Tony Award nomination (Best Scenic Design, Jerusalem)

MIMI JORDAN SHERIN(Seattle, WA, USA)Lighting DesignerCOC DEBUT: The Italian Girl in Algiers, 2003

RECENTDer Rosenkavalier (Deutsche Oper Berlin and Lyric Opera of Chicago); Don Pasquale and La donna del lago (Metropolitan Opera [Met]); The Marriage of Figaro (Seattle Opera)

UPCOMINGBéatrice et Benedict (Glyndebourne); Don Pasquale and The Makropulos Case (San Francisco Opera); Cendrillon (Met)

AARON SHEPPARDTenor (St. John’s, NL)OdoardoCOC CREDITS: Selimo, Maometto II (2016); Don Curzio, The Marriage of Figaro (Ensemble Studio performance, 2016) RECENT: Fernando, A Little Too Cozy (Against the Grain Theatre); Charlie Whitten, Ours (Opera on the Avalon); Soloist, Lord Nelson Mass (Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra); Kronprinz, Silent Night (Opéra de Montréal)

UPCOMING: First Armed Man, The Magic Flute and Middleton/Smith, Louis Riel (COC)

STEPHANIE MARRS (Toronto, ON)Stage ManagerSELECT COC CREDITS: Carmen (2016); La Traviata (2015); Madama Butterfly (2003, 2014); Hercules (2013); Assistant Stage Manager, Siegfried (2016)

RECENT: Apocalypsis (Luminato Fesitval); Panamania (Pan Am Games 2015 Arts and Culture Festival)

UPCOMING: The Magic Flute, Louis Riel (COC)

OWEN MCCAUSLANDTenor (Saint John, NB)Lurcanio SELECT COC CREDITS: Testo, Pyramus and Thisbe and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (2015); Juan, Don Quichotte and Lord Cecil, Roberto Devereux (2014); Tito, La clemenza di Tito (2013) RECENT: Arturo, Lucia di Lammermoor (Pacific Opera Victoria); Soloist, AtG’s Messiah (Against the Grain Theatre) UPCOMING: Tamino, The Magic Flute (COC)

SANDRA HORST(Toronto, ON)Chorus MasterSELECT COC CREDITS: Carmen, Maometto II, The Marriage of Figaro (2016); La Traviata, Pyramus and Thisbe with Lamento d’Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (2015) RECENT: Conductor, The Machine Stops and Paul Bunyan (UofT Opera) UPCOMING: The Magic Flute, Götterdämmerung, Louis Riel, Tosca (COC) ADDITIONAL: Director of Musical Studies at UofT Opera

JOHANNES WEISSERBaritone (Oslo, Norway)King of ScotlandCOC DEBUT RECENT: King of Scotland, Ariodante (Opéra de Lausanne); Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni (Opéra Royal de Versailles); Melisso, Alcina (Teatro Real Madrid); Onegin, Eugene Onegin (Kristiansund Opera)

UPCOMING: Don Pizarro, Leonore (Theater an der Wien, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden); Baritone, King Arthur (Staatsoper im Schiller Theater Berlin)


ALLISON GRANT (Toronto, ON)Assistant DirectorSELECT COC CREDITS: The Marriage of Figaro (2016); Revival Director, Semele (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2015), The Barber of Seville (2015); Choreographer, Die Fledermaus (2012); Choreographer/Assistant Director, The Queen of Spades (2002) RECENT CREDITS: Director, The Hobbit (Canadian Children’s Opera Company); Director/Choreographer, Company (Music Theatre on the Thames); Director, The Magic Flute (Hawaii Opera Theatre); Director/Choreographer, Le nozze di Figaro (Sarasota Opera); Die Fledermaus, The Barber of Seville (Edmonton Opera); Romeo et Juliette, Così fan tutte (Vancouver Opera)

RICHARD JONES(London, England)Director COC DEBUT: The Queen of Spades (2002) RECENT: Boris Godunov (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and The Girl of the Golden West (English National Opera) UPCOMING: Don Giovanni (English National Opera); La Bohème (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Der Rosenkavalier (Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation)

On the cusp of its 200th anniversary, BMO Financial Group is taking on an expanded role at the COC as the company’s first-ever Season Sponsor. This significant commitment continues a remarkable history of philanthropic support that dates back more than 50 years. As the COC has elevated its artistic standards over that time, launched signature projects and initiatives, and built a world-class opera house that ushered in a new era of possibilities, BMO has been there at each step, providing vital funding, advocacy, and support.

The activities made possible by BMO over those decades span all areas of the company’s work, including education and outreach programming, such as Pre-Performance Chats and Dress Rehearsals for school groups and young people; Ensemble Studio training activity; special events and major projects; the Capital Campaign to build the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts; and, of course, milestone productions such as Kaija Saariaho’s Love from Afar (2012), Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (2013), and Verdi’s Falstaff (2014) were realized thanks to BMO’s critical leadership and support.

“We have always been motivated by the artistic excellence and positive impact that the COC brings to its community, both in the Toronto-area and beyond,” says Nada Ristich, Director of Corporate Donations at BMO. “In 2016, we’re more excited than ever to continue supporting the COC in its vision of working with the best international and Canadian artists to create live opera that is second to none.”

As BMO approaches its bicentennial celebrations in 2017—and gets ready to mark the country’s sesquicentennial the same year—Canada’s first bank is unwavering in its commitment to the arts, including investment in leading-edge, multi-disciplinary projects. BMO signed on, for example, as Presenting Sponsor of Cité Mémoire, an ongoing media work consisting of multi-surface projections in Montreal’s historic district and featuring some 20 tableaux related either to a period in Montreal’s history or to a particular theme. Incidentally, the collaborative project features the work of author Michel Marc Bouchard, who is also the librettist of the COC-commissioned opera La Reine-Garçon (scheduled for the 2019/2020 season), based on his own play of the same name, with music by composer Ana Sokolovic.

THE BMO EFFECTWITH ITS BICENTENNIAL ON THE HORIZON, BMO FINANCIAL GROUP IS CONTINUING ITS TRADITION OF BIG INVESTMENT IN THE ARTS

For more than five decades BMO has been a committed supporter of the COC’s activities, including education and outreach programming. Left: children attend a performance of a COC production in the early days at the O’Keefe Centre, 1960s; right: students pose at the top of the Grand Staircase prior to a BMO Financial Group Student Dress Rehearsal, 2014.

In addition to major support of the Capital Campaign to build the opera house, BMO stepped up as the Presenting Sponsor of the Inaugural Gala Concert that marked the opening of the FSCPA. Here Gerald Finley, Aline Kutan, Ben Heppner, Richard Bradshaw, Adrianne Pieczonka, and Brett Polegato take a bow after the concert in 2006.

As production underwriter and sponsor, BMO has helped realize important artistic work that pushes the boundaries of the art form and the company. A scene from Tristan und Isolde in 2013.


[1] We had a long winter this year, but the heat and passion of our highly successful production of Carmen helped usher in a reluctant spring. The cast, creative team, donors and COC staff gathered after the opening performance to enjoy a toast and [2] a selfie or two!

[3] A couple of weeks later we celebrated opening night of Rossini’s rarity, Maometto II. Bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni (Maometto) is photographed with mezzo-soprano Leah Crocetto (Anna) and Rossini scholar and conductor Hans Schellevis, who participated in our Opera Insights event, “Rossini Reconstructed.”

[4] Director David Alden together with Alexander Neef offered President’s Council members an in-depth discussion of his creative

process and how Rossini’s nearly forgotten masterpiece, Maometto II,was unearthed for modern audiences. The Opera Insider Chat preceded a viewing of the production-in-progress, giving our donors an exclusive opportunity to encounter the opera as it was readied for the stage.

[5] Prior to the 2016 Governor General’s Awards in Ottawa, COC Board Chair Colleen Sexsmith (front right) hosted a dinner at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in honour of GG recipient Ben Heppner. Accompanied by his wife Karen (centre), Mr. Heppner was feted by many members of the COC community who made the trip to the capital.

[6] You meet the best people when you travel! COC media relations manager Jennifer Pugsley got together with Ensemble alumna and mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb at the Met in New York.

BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND!Here is a look at some of our recent activities, many shared with our wonderful COC donors, including parties, galas, and backstage meet-and-greets with artists.


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[7-8] As we wrapped up last season, we invited our generous donors to a special behind-the-scenes event in May, featuring members of the Ensemble Studio training program. Hosted by CBC Radio personality Brent Bambury (not pictured) the event offered an inside look at what goes on during a coaching session, and included an audience-led Q&A panel with Ensemble Studio Head Liz Upchurch and the young artists and their mentors.

[9-10] At the company’s annual Season Closing Party, supporters gathered to enjoy cocktails and refreshments surrounded by the lush greenery of the Max Tanenbaum Courtyard. Guests enjoyed a performance by tenor Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure and baritone Iain MacNeil, both graduating Ensemble Studio members.

[11] As part of their membership experience, COC supporters were treated to an exclusive, surprise performance by tenor Russell Thomas (Pollione in Norma) at the company’s Season Opening Party, which also featured a musical showcase of our new Ensemble Studio members.

[12] In April, Encore Legacy members were invited to an In Conversation event featuring two Ensemble Studio graduates: mezzo-soprano Janet Stubbs (far left, a member of the original ES cohort) and soprano Simone Osborne (far right, a 2012 graduate).

Interviewed by Director of the Ensemble Studio Nina Draganic (centre), Janet and Simone discussed their time in the Ensemble and shared stories from the COC Carmen productions they were personally a part of (1979 and 1984 for Janet, and 2010 and 2016 for Simone).

[13] In early September, with the company in back-to-school mood, new and returning members of the Ensemble Studio gathered in the Max Tanenbaum Courtyard for their official portrait.

[14-15] This past July, the COC hosted opera camps for young people in grades 1 to 12. A week of intensive learning and exploration in the senior camp culminated in a performance of their own original opera, Diner 80-Styx.

[16] Our popular Opera Insights series continued when flamenco dancer Anjelica Scannura taught participants how to strike a Spanish pose at our April 19 Carmen Danza! event.

Visit our website at coc.ca to learn more and get involved in all the COC has to offer!

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productiontopassionFrom

Blakes salutes the beautiful combination of rigour and inspiration that brings art to life. We are proud to sponsor the Canadian Opera Company.

TORONTO CALGARY VANCOUVER MONTRÉAL OTTAWA NEW YORK LONDON RIYADH/AL-KHOBAR* BAHRAIN BEIJING

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP | *Associated Offices | blakes.com

In the last decade the Canadian Opera Company has undergone an extraordinary transformation: what was once a respected national opera company is now an international leader, ranked among the world’s best companies, as well as a destination for top-tier artists and opera-goers from across Canada and beyond. In a cultural sector that has its share of challenges and difficulties, the COC is a remarkable success story not only because of what we’ve accomplished, but how we made it happen.

When we built our new home, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, we effectively redefined opera in Canada by unleashing the possibilities of a world-class opera house, and we did it by completing the associated $186-million capital campaign in only six years, on time and on budget—a feat virtually unheard of in the Canadian cultural landscape. With the expanded artistic potential of our hall, our operating budget quickly doubled in size and we added venue management to our corporate resume. We experienced a sudden leadership change, yet steered the course, increasing the amount of artistic activity, including creating a second performance stream—the Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre—and enhanced our education and outreach programs. We managed to do this while navigating the multi-faceted effects of the global financial crisis of 2008 and the introduction of the 8% HST hike on tickets sales—barely a season after opening our doors. Throughout this period, we never put the company’s future at risk.

BY AMY MUSHINSKI

Our main sources of revenue—ticket sales, fundraising, and government support—continue to be competitively robust, and we added other income streams as part of our commitment to stay flexible and adaptable.

Fortunately, the substantial reserve fund that the COC built up and carefully managed through its Canadian Opera Foundation allowed the company to weather the lasting effects of the worldwide economic downturn, while adjusting our business model and operations with an eye to sustainability. We reorganized, tightened our belts, revisited long-held assumptions, and emerged leaner and stronger: an opera company for the new century.

Establishing the COC as a company worthy of one of the world’s finest opera houses was a very clear objective for Alexander Neef when he began his tenure at the COC in 2008. And now, the COC is a peer to the very best.

Artistically, we partner on a regular basis with renowned companies, such as the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Opéra national de Paris; Lyric Opera of Chicago; Teatro Real Madrid; Houston Grand Opera; Dutch

BACKING A WINNING TEAM

In a cultural sector that has its share of challenges and

difficulties, the COC is a remarkable success story....


National Opera; San Francisco Opera; and Bolshoi Opera. Collaborations with these organizations, and many others, are extraordinarily beneficial to Canadian culture. Through them we export Canadian artistry to the opera-going world, and we import the finest that the art form has to offer to the Canadian public here at home.

Opera, performed in this international arena, is expensive, and we thank all our supporters for making it possible: we are extraordinarily grateful for your belief in the COC and your unfailing generosity. You are all stakeholders and partners in Canada’s national company.

At this time of renewed discussion about the importance of the arts in Canada, it’s worth imagining what the COC could be if funding consistently matched our artistic and organizational standards, from the tremendous impact we could be bringing to communities across the country, to the breathtaking level of production excellence we could present on our mainstage. We’re already one of the best opera companies in the world, but the moment to build on that success and push even further is now: we’re eager for all our stakeholders to join us in fulfilling the incredible potential of what a national opera company can be in the 21st century.

Amy Mushinski is the COC’s Manager of Government Relations

This November, the COC Ensemble Studio School Tour will hit the road again, bringing opera to young people across Ontario. This year’s production is Second Nature, by the brilliant young composer (and conductor/writer/pianist) Matthew Aucoin. He has been making waves with his compositions not only for their innovative and sophisticated sound, but also for his age—he just turned 26 this year. We spoke with Matthew to learn more about his career and how composing for young people differs from composing for an adult audience.

This fall, you’ll become the Artist-in-Residence at Los Angeles Opera—tell us a bit more about what this position will entail. What are you most excited about?

I feel like a kid set loose in a candy shop, or possibly a bull in a china shop. Seriously, I feel deeply lucky. My job in LA was created specifically for my artistic personality: I compose and conduct, and typically those two activities are kept rather far apart. This job brings them together.

I’ll conduct at least two productions per season, starting with Glass’ Akhnaten this fall, and I’ll compose a full-length, mainstage opera for LA, which will premiere in 2019/2020. We’ll be mounting my other operas—Crossing and Second Nature, plus my vocal chamber music—and I’ll curate a late-night concert series.

I’m most excited to help create a warm and welcoming—yet also adventurous—atmosphere in the opera house. I do not want, in the words of the poet D.A. Powell, to "bring comfort to the comfortable.” I want to go out into the city of Los Angeles—to the neighborhoods far from downtown—and reach people through the power of opera, and I hope to make the opera house itself a hub for musical and theatrical experimentation and adventure.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Well, for a composer, the most exciting events occur between the pen and the paper—so they’re hard to describe! But I remember certain transcendent moments when we were rehearsing my opera Crossing in Boston. I have mixed feelings about that piece, as I do about all my pieces, but it was thrilling to see my amazing colleagues—the baritone Rod Gilfry, the director Diane Paulus—bringing my music into the air.

I also recall a concert I conducted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Inglewood neighborhood of LA last year. That got me even more excited about the outreach work I hope to do with LA Opera.

MATTHEW AUCOIN:DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY

What was your first experience with opera?

I caught the opera bug early on. I heard a CD of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro when I was seven or eight, and I was hooked.

Why did you write an opera for young people?

Most operas, I think, speak to something very young in us—something primal. This is true both of operas that are palpably youth-friendly, like The Magic Flute, and operas that aren’t, like Verdi’s works, which engage with the human psyche at a deep, pre-conscious level, even an animal level. Opera is very good at this deep, direct form of communication, and it’s something kids can certainly feel if it’s done right.

Because of this, certain kid-friendly forms are well-suited to opera: fairy tale, parable, myth. So when the folks at Lyric Opera of Chicago asked if I wanted to write an opera for the young, I leapt at the opportunity.

How is writing opera for youth different than writing for adults?

Frankly it’s not so different. Just leave out the profanity and the nudity! Otherwise, I find that kids are sometimes more open-minded about opera than adults are. They’re much less likely to complain that my music doesn’t sound like Puccini.

Why is it important that we expose young people to opera? And do you feel it’s best to do that with the classics or with new work written specifically for them?

Opera’s great virtue is not its grandeur but rather its intimacy. In the 21st century, everything is available at the click of a mouse—except for the power of unamplified human music, which must be experienced live. Opera, and classical music more generally, are physical and spiritual reminders that we are mortal, that we’re here, that we’re flesh and blood; that’s what you feel when you’re in the same room as a great voice. That’s actually what Second Nature is about, too—the

BY VANESSA SMITH


danger of accepting virtual realities, and the possibility of being truly present.

The ending of Second Nature is left very open—what do Jake and Lydia find after they’ve left the Habitat?

Oh, I’ll leave that to the listener’s imagination! Maybe there should be a sequel. Uh, Third Nature.

Vanessa Smith is the COC’s School Programs Manager

SECOND NATURESet in a fictional future when humans

have retreated from nature because of the deteriorating environment, Second

Nature tells the story of two inquisitive and courageous teens who decide to leave the safety of their artificial habitat and work to

heal the planet.

The COC Ensemble Studio will perform Second Nature in a public performance on Sunday, November 27 at 1:30 p.m. at the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre. To learn more and purchase tickets, visit

coc.ca/OperaforFamilies.

559 College Street, Suite 401 Toronto, ON M6G 1A9

416-323-3282

Date: Sep 08, 2016

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BY JENNIFER PUGSLEY

“Soak up every bit of experience you can, and be proud of yourself for getting this far. The Canadian Opera Company has created an amazing opportunity for young Canadian singers through this event, and it is an experience you won’t forget!” says Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, who was both thrilled and humbled to have been presented with both First Place and the Audience Choice Award at the Ensemble Studio Competition at Centre Stage last November.

Welcome words of advice to this year’s finalists, but also an enticing promise of what to expect for the audience watching the action unfold at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on November 3, 2016.

The significance of the occasion goes beyond the dazzling gala affair accentuated by black-tie attired guests. First and foremost, Centre Stage is an inspiring night to discover and celebrate the next generation of Canadian opera stars. It offers those in attendance a rare glimpse into the early days of a young opera singer’s professional journey as witnesses to an exhilarating vocal showcase of

“AN EXPERIENCE YOU WON’T FORGET”LEGENDARY CANADIAN TENOR BEN HEPPNER RETURNS AS HOST OF CENTRE STAGE

young Canadian singers selected from nationwide auditions. Centre Stage is set against the stunning backdrop of the mainstage of the Four Seasons Centre with the acclaimed COC Orchestra being led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus.

Yes, these singers are vying for much-appreciated cash prizes, but also for something of even greater value–a highly coveted invitation to join the COC’s young artist program, the Ensemble Studio. Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals, the Ensemble Studio is a launching pad to a future international career.

A shining example of the glittering operatic path these finalists hope to walk will be there to remind them and gala guests in the form of legendary Canadian tenor, CBC Radio personality and COC Ensemble Studio graduate, Ben Heppner. One of the finest dramatic tenors in the world, Heppner returns to host Centre Stage for the second time since the gala’s launch in 2013 as the COC’s premier fundraiser.

“Watching the finalists perform in the vocal competition is the best

thing about being a host for Centre Stage. I can’t tell you how inspiring it is to see these singers go out there and have their moment singing on the stage of a major opera house and move an audience with their voice,” says Ben Heppner. “When I was in the Ensemble, back in the early ‘80s, I didn’t have any experience at all. So this was a time I could gain experience on stage, first in a small kind of way, and then moving on to larger roles. It all starts with that first important audition, though, to set you on your path.”

So soak up every bit of the Centre Stage experience. It’s one you won’t forget!

Jennifer Pugsley is the COC’s Media Relations Manager


The 2016/2017 Ensemble Studio features an impressive roster of 10 artists. Of its new members, the COC welcomed D’Angelo and the additional top prize winners of the 2015 Ensemble Studio Competition: mezzo-soprano Lauren Eberwein and baritone Bruno Roy. The 2015 competition finalist soprano Samantha Pickett, and two singers who impressed the COC artistic administration during the

preliminary auditions, soprano Danika Lorèn and mezzo-soprano Megan Quick, along with pianist Stéphane Mayer also joined the 16/17 Ensemble Studio. Three current members return to the program: tenors Aaron Sheppard and Charles Sy, and pianist Hyejin Kwon.

Public performances over the course of the season are exciting opportunities to watch Ensemble Studio members’

talents grow and develop. From those first steps of auditioning to joining the esteemed training program, this group is poised to take that next step in becoming Canada’s future opera stars.

For tickets and more information, visit

COCCentreStage.ca

Top: Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo is congratulated by Alexander Neef on her double win at the 2015 Ensemble Studio Competition

559 College Street, Suite 401 Toronto, ON M6G 1A9

416-323-3282

Date: Sep 20, 2016

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5:30 p.m. Cocktails 6:30 p.m. Competition

Hosted by Ben Heppner With the COC Orchestra conducted by Johannes Debus, COC Music Director

Join us for an elegant evening featuring the Ensemble Studio Competition

Tickets at COCCentreStage.ca or 416-363-5801

#COCCentreStage

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016

OPERA UNDER 30 SPONSOR

A CELEBRATION OF

CANADA’S EMERGING

OPERA VOICES


If you don’t live in Toronto, there’s a wonderful way to feel closer to the opera scene in Canada, and to the COC in particular. For decades, enthusiastic groups of opera lovers situated outside the GTA, have organized themselves into guilds, for several purposes: to find like-minded people who share their passion for the art form, to encourage their local art scene, to support developing artists, to sponsor the Ensemble Studio School Tour in local schools, and to come together to travel to Toronto and enjoy COC performances!

MEET THE GUILDS!

If you’re in the area, this would be a good time to join the BRANTFORD Opera Guild, as they’re about to celebrate their 40th anniversary! Along with the above activities, Brantford produces a program called “Discover Opera” which is a series of information sessions with guest speakers. They’ve also organized opera tours to Montreal, Quebec City, Chicago, and New York.

The KINGSTON Opera Guild has been active for over 30 years. A highlight of their programming is their Operabus trips which bring members to COC performances. The guild holds monthly meetings, often to prepare members for COC performances, but in recent years, the topics have shifted to include such subjects as political correctness in opera, and talks by singers and composers about their work. Socializing and dining take place after the talks. This November the guild will bring a COC Ensemble Studio school tour to town!

The LONDON Opera Guild is one of the largest, with 150 members. Each year this very busy organization holds four events featuring speakers and sometimes singers; runs a bus to Toronto for Sunday matinee performances at the COC; purchases tickets for local high school students to see opera performances at Western University, which they support even further with donations and SURTITLESTM sponsorship. Over the years, this guild has awarded

TO JOIN A GUILD OR FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT

coc.ca/Guilds

Top left: Students from the University of Western Ontario have received 77 scholarships from the London Guild; four are pictured here in recital.

Bottom left: The Muskoka Guild’s sculpture-filled meeting space.

Top right: Once a year, guild representatives come to spend a day with COC staff to learn more about upcoming seasons and programming.

Bottom right: David Nimmo (second from left) is the main COC contact for guilds and groups and relishes the long-term relationships the company has forged with them.

77 scholarships to vocal students at Western, and also donates money to the COC.

The MUSKOKA Opera Guild is a relative newcomer, founded in 2006. They have a delightful meeting location, at the Knox Presbyterian Church in Bracebridge, which boasts great audio-visual equipment and a kitchen for refreshments: both are musts for opera lovers! Members welcome speakers to their meetings, explore recordings of many genres of opera, and travel to cinemas locally and in Orillia to enjoy opera broadcasts from the Met and Royal Opera House. They also attend OperaMuskoka and other events together.

The SUDBURY Opera Guild has been active for over 40 years! Their monthly meetings centre around operas being presented at the COC or the Met. They award three scholarships annually to Sudbury vocal students, and host two dinners a year, particularly relishing the opportunity to share their enthusiasm for the art form, and swapping notes for visits to COC performances.

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The Arts makes us better. It pushes us to develop new perspectives. To see the world in a different light. It inspires us to pursue our own passions. We get so much more back from the Arts than we could ever imagine—that’s why we support the Arts in Canadian communities.

Scotiabank is proud to support the Canadian Opera Company’s Children’s Education Programs.

Get inspired at www.scotiabank.com/arts

® Registered trademarks of The Bank of Nova Scotia.

Get Inspired by the Arts.


AN OPEN LETTER FROM JOHANNES DEBUS, COC MUSIC DIRECTOR

1,696 DONORS PARTICIPATED IN THE

SEASON-END MATCHING CAMPAIGN

$315,888THEY RAISED MORE MONEY THAN ANY

OTHER COMPARABLE MATCHING CAMPAIGN IN COC HISTORY

These funds support the COC Orchestra, as well as the COC

Orchestra Academy, an intensive mentorship program that gives

emerging instrumentalists opportunities that include

performing in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre,

playing with the COC Orchestra at our annual Season Launch Celebration and a mainstage

opening night,

and benefitting from private development sessions with world-leading artists and professionals,

such as Christine Goerke.

I want to say thank you to the nearly 1,700 people who participated in our Season-End Matching Campaign back in the spring. Your enthusiasm and generosity made this the most successful matching campaign in the COC’s history! All of us in the orchestra are deeply humbled and touched by your support, and we look forward to honouring your investment by continuing to explore the incredible potential of the operatic repertoire, by discovering the power, nuance, and emotional truth of our art form, and sharing it with you. The pursuit of artistic excellence on the mainstage goes hand in hand with our commitment to young Canadian artists. And by participating in last season’s campaign, you helped advance our Orchestra Academy program this year, giving emerging Canadian instrumentalists the opportunity to enter into an immersive apprenticeship with the COC Orchestra, and to learn directly from the astonishing artists and professionals who make the COC one of the world’s greatest companies.

These are efforts that will strengthen your Canadian Opera Company even further, and on behalf the COC, I extend our gratitude to you for participating in the Season-End Matching Campaign! Sincerely,

Johannes Debus Music Director

We are working together with the Canadian Opera Company to make a difference in our communities.

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REMEMBERING LOUIS RIEL BY CLAUDINE DOMINGUE

“To be involved with the very first important Canadian opera was a tremendous responsibility, and a great challenge.”

COC365


There’s no question that the world premiere of Louis Riel in 1967 was a seminal moment in the COC’s storied history. But, after speaking with several of the original collaborators, it became quickly apparent that the production was equally momentous in the lives of the artists who created it. Fifty years after its first performance, these artists speak about it as if it happened just yesterday, with all the joy, apprehension and excitement they must have experienced then.

“I think the whole thing; the fact that it was a new work—a Canadian work—with Canadian composer, librettist, conductor and director, and all the Canadian singers, made it really special,” says Leon Major, the original production’s director. Conductor Victor Feldbrill concurs. “To be involved with the very first important Canadian opera was a tremendous responsibility, and a great challenge.” Major and Feldbrill were brought on early to the project while composer Harry Somers and librettist Mavor Moore were still working on the opera.

“It was quite an accomplishment, and such a team effort,” says Feldbrill. “Leon, me, Murray Laufer and Marie Day—we were there every moment of the composition as Harry was composing. We got to know the work as it was being created.”

All of them speak about the care they took to tell the tale as responsibly as possible. Major says that the entire team worked for over a year on the project. “The research that Murray, Marie, Bernard and I did was extraordinary. We wanted to make sure it was accurate, and we didn’t want to short-change anyone.”

Costume designer Marie Day, who, along with her husband set designer Murray Laufer, created the look of the opera, calls the months spent researching Riel’s life and times “an amazing adventure.” They wanted the show to be historically pertinent. “History made Riel out to be a kind of shabby half-breed who probably never had a bath, but we wanted to get him

Harry Somers wrote

much of the music to match the individual singers’ abilities. Early on, as baritone

Bernard Turgeon (pictured second from left) remembers, “Harry came

to me and asked how high I could go. And I said ‘Let’s not push it, let’s say a G.’ So he wrote it, and there were

many, many, many Gs. To this day, when I hear it, I’m not

sure how I did that!”

right. It mattered so much to us.” In the spirit of accuracy Day went so far as giving Turgeon an actual buffalo coat that he wore throughout rehearsals. It was “incredibly hot and heavy and smelly—and he wore it all the time—I don’t know how he did it,” says Day.

Wearing a real buffalo coat throughout rehearsals was just one of the ways baritone Bernard Turgeon threw himself into the title role. When he found out he’d been given the part, Turgeon travelled to Saint Boniface, Manitoba and Batoche, Saskatchewan. There he absorbed Riel’s world—the people, the environment, the history—as thoroughly as he could before coming back to Toronto to rehearse.

As Major says, “Bernard made that role. He took Louis Riel into his own body. In rehearsal, when I’d go to talk to him, I was talking to Riel not Bernard.” Roxolana Roslak, who sang the role of Marguerite, Riel’s young wife, agrees, “He was so possessed, in the most positive sense, by the character that it was incredible to watch.” And Feldbrill adds, “Bernard was Louis Riel from day one.”

For his part, Turgeon admits “it was the greatest, most difficult experience of my life.” But, ever humble, he gives his

castmate the kudos, “I thought Roxy’s aria [the unaccompanied lullaby, ‘Kuyas’] was the highlight of the evening.”

Roslak herself notes that, apart from the technical difficulty of the music, Somers perfectly positioned the lullaby at the beginning of Act III to allow for the greatest impact. “After two acts featuring very tumultuous music and mostly male voices, it was such a beautiful change of pace. Out of the darkness and quiet there’s just… sound.” The lullaby starts as description of the hunt then transitions into a soothing lullaby as Marguerite rocks her infant son to sleep, and by the end is “almost a cry from the heart. Harry was like that; he put the work in the notes and let you discover it yourself.”

To a person, all agree that a new COC production is cause for celebration, even if some may have had some initial misgivings. Day admits, “at first, I


didn’t want anyone to touch what we did. But now I’m really excited, because we have a whole new generation looking at the story!”

As Leon Major enthuses, “I’m just thrilled the COC is doing a new production. It would be a calamity if you tried to do a similar version, or to copy what we did. It was 50 years ago. It would be madness. It would be a throwback. No, no, it has to be now.”

The Canadian Opera Company is the only professional opera company in the world that has ever produced Louis Riel. Canada’s Centennial Commission provided funds to the COC to commission two new operas. One of them, Louis Riel made its world premiere at Toronto’s O’Keefe Centre (now the Sony Centre) on September 23, 1967. It was subsequently produced by the COC again as part of Expo’67 in Montreal, in 1968 at the O’Keefe Centre, and in 1975 with performances at the O’Keefe, the National Arts Centre, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as part of the USA’s bicentennial celebrations. The 1969 televised version created by the CBC is available at Amazon.ca.

Victor Feldbrill was conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony when his friend Harry Somers suggested him to General Director Herman Geiger-Torel as conductor. Long respected as a champion of Canadian music, Feldbrill has conducted orchestras and taught at universities around the world and has made a point of including Canadian works in as many concerts as possible. Now 92, the still-very active maestro says, “If I had to pick the single best work and opportunity in my life, it would be Louis Riel.”

Award-winning designers Murray Laufer and Marie Day had individually and together worked on 40 productions at the COC (including the 1958 La bohème starring a very young Teresa Stratas) when they were tapped to design Louis Riel. Both are still very active and renowned artists; Day is now a writer and illustrator of children’s books, and Laufer is an artist whose work is represented in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown. You can see their original set and costume designs for Louis Riel at the Toronto Reference Library.

At only 34, Leon Major was already a seasoned professional by the time he directed the premiere of Louis Riel in 1967, and the subsequent remounts. He went on to direct many other operas for the COC, as well as at opera and theatre companies across the Americas and Europe throughout his long career. Major is currently the Artistic Director of The Maryland Opera Studio for the University of Maryland.

Roxolana Roslak’s career has included many world premieres and career highlights such as her recording of Hindemith’s Marienleben with Glenn Gould. But, the experience of working on Louis Riel was special. “Up until very recently, I still had people come up to me and talk about the opera as if it happened yesterday. That’s wonderful to me!”

The Canadian

Opera Company presents Louis Riel

next spring,in a new co-production with Canada’s National

Arts Centre.

In addition to singing the title role for every professional production of the opera, Bernard Turgeon’s operatic career has taken him around the world. He also worked many years as a teacher and administrator, developing opera programs across Canada, and is considered the nation’s foremost developer, trainer, consultant and practitioner in the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Claudine Domingue is the COC’s Director of Public Relations

LOUIS RIEL IS GENEROUSLY UNDERWRITTEN IN PART BY

PHILIP DECK AND KIMBERLEY BOZAKTHE ASPER FOUNDATIONTHE MAX CLARKSON FAMILY FOUNDATION

The famous lullaby

‘Kuyas’ wasn’t orginally part of the opera. Somers had written it as a test piece for a

competition taking place in Montreal in the summer of 1967, but his wife, actress Barbara Chilcott, suggested

that he add it into the opera. Left: soprano Roxolana Roslak, who created the role of Marguerite, is pictured here singing this

beautiful lullaby.


season tickets on sale now!

Tickets and dining: 813.229.STAR (7827) • Outside Tampa Bay: 800.955.1045Group Sales (10+ get a discount): 813.222.1016 or 1047 • OPERATAMPA.ORG

Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice. Handling fees will apply.

IT’S GRAND OPERA AT ITS GRANDEST!STRAZ CENTER

DARE. DELIGHT.

DEFY . SUN • NOV 6, 2016 Park opens and activities begin at 1:30PM

Concert from 3:00-5:00PMCurtis Hixon Park, Downtown Tampa

In celebration of National Opera WeekIn partnership with Gasparilla Festival of the Arts• Free, family-friendly outdoor musical event • Featuring Opera Tampa Singers and visiting Broadway performers • Popular local food trucks and local chalk artists

Arts

CHARLES GOUNOD’S

ROMEO AND JULIETFRI • JAN 20, 2017 • 8PMSUN • JAN 22, 2017 • 2PMMORSANI HALL

GIOACHINO ROSSINI’S

CINDERELLA (LA CENERENTOLA)FRI • FEB 10, 2017 • 8PMSUN • FEB 12, 2017 • 2PMFERGUSON HALL

GIACOMO PUCCINI’S

TOSCAFRI • APR 7, 2017 • 8PMSUN • APR 9, 2017 • 2PMMORSANI HALL

OPERATAMPA

16 17 SEASON.

Thank you to our 16•17 Season Sponsors:Helen Torres Foundation, Dr. Zena Lansky & Mr. Warren Rodgers, Dr. Yi-Hwa Outerbridge & Mr. Felix Cannella, Jr., Charlene & Mardy Gordon, Brad & Mary Ann Morse, Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Charles A. & Faith S. Simmons, Florida Health Care News/Dr. Barry Levine & Gina d’Angelo, Raymond James, Neiman MarcusMedia Sponsors: WEDU • Tampa Bay Magazine

1617 Season ad_Canadia Opera Company Program_10.1.indd 1 9/14/16 3:55 PM

JOIN US BEFORE OR AFTER THE OPERA FOR FOOD, DRINK, ART + MUSIC

W E ’ R E O N LY S T E P S AWAY ! [at the corner of York + Adelaide]

Pre-Opera Chef’s Menu Every Saturday Three course menu custom designed by our Chef de Cuisine Jon Pong each week. Includes appetizer, main course and dessert, made with the freshest seasonal ingredients, all for $40*

*In by 6:30PM, please notify the host at time of reservation.

JOIN US BEFORE OR AFTER THE OPERA FOR FOOD, DRINK, ART + MUSIC

W E ’ R E O N LY S T E P S AWAY ! [at the corner of York + Adelaide]

Pre-Opera Chef’s Menu Every Saturday Three course menu custom designed by our Chef de Cuisine Jon Pong each week. Includes appetizer, main course and dessert, made with the freshest seasonal ingredients, all for $40*

*In by 6:30PM, please notify the host at time of reservation.

CREATING A BETTER DONOR EXPERIENCE

LISTENING TO OUR SUPPORTERS

Through personal conversations, surveys, and evaluation of data, we are always striving to better understand which experiences are meaningful to our patrons and how we can better deliver those moments and services.

When we learned that it was not always convenient for our Friends members to visit the donor lounge on Ring 3 for hanging up their coat, we responded by extending complimentary coat check privileges on the Lower Lobby of the opera house to all Friends supporters.

This season our President’s Council members will enjoy an informal toast with the cast of each production after the opening performance. In previous years we offered only a smaller number of toasts, but made the decision to expand this unique social opportunity to all productions because of the enthusiastic response the events have garnered in recent seasons.

Speaking with our members has led us to launch a few other new initiatives as well. We recently introduced digital member cards in the MyCOC App for added convenience, and created a new member update email to help our supporters keep track of all the events and opportunities available to them. Due to positive feedback on our Membership Desk pilot project last season, this desk (at the foot of the Grand Staircase on the Orchestra Level of the FSCPA) will now be a permanent location for membership inquiries and a dedicated space for assisting members with any requests they may have at a performance.

We will continue to talk with our supporters about how to make their experience at the opera as rewarding as possible. Please keep an eye out for more announcements about improved member services and benefits emerging from these conversations.

INTRODUCING: THE EMERITUS COUNCIL

The COC’s Board of Directors comprises some of the most talented and accomplished people in Canada, representing a diverse number of fields. Every season, they volunteer hundreds of hours, make substantial financial commitments, and share their expertise to drive the company forward.

Yet for years, the COC had no explicit recognition program in place for Board Members who had completed their term, and no defined opportunities to carry the relationship forward.


Emeritus Council Co-Chairs Michael Gough and Jack Whiteside

For COC members and supporters, the experience of opera extends beyond the mainstage performance to a number of enriching opportunities: connecting with friends and acquaintances who share a passion for the art form, gaining insight into how a production is brought to life, and even celebrating opening night alongside the artists themselves.

Yet we are always exploring new ways—both big and small—of showing our appreciation to the vital supporters who make opera possible.

That’s about to change as the COC unveils its new Emeritus Council, a program especially designed to maintain our connections with former Board members and to reenergize involvement through a unique slate of engagement events. Chaired by long-time COC supporters Michael Gough and Jack Whiteside—former and current Board members respectively—the Emeritus Council will take a highly personalized approach to member engagement, honouring the former Board members’ relationship with the company and focusing on one-of-a-kind events and learning opportunities.


It's been six years since hundreds of thousands of honeybees came to live and work on the roof of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Under the supervision of beekeeper Fred Davis, the bees produce delicious honey, which has been available for sale all this time at the bars of the Four Seasons Centre. But the product is now expanding.

This fall you'll also be able to purchase delicious honey drops created by artisanal candy producer Papabubbles —perfect if you feel a tickle in your throat, but delicious at any time. There's even a lemon-flavoured version.

And this past June, the Cheese Boutique launched a new cheese which incorporates our bees' honey. Called “Henry goes to the Opera,” it’s a two-year-old Quebec goat cheddar, rubbed and aged for 90 days in fresh creamed honey. The cheese is available for sale at the Cheese Boutique and will be included in cheese trays available for purchase at the Four Seasons Centre bars.

The bees haven't just been creating good food, they also spent a good 18 months assisting in an artistic endeavour which culminated in a sculpture that was displayed as part of last June's Luminato Festival. The sculpture (pictured above) is titled Untilled (Liegender-Frauenakt) and was created by artist

HONEY, CHEESE, ART!

COC365

Pierre Huyghe. The reclining female nude was completed with a beehive engulfing her head and upper torso.

Many thanks to Fred and the hundreds of thousands of bees that collaborate to make all this possible!

You can keep up with the honeybees—and other news—on our blog, coc.ca/Parlando.


This winter at the COC, experience the enchantment of Mozart’s fantastical The Magic Flute, and Wagner’s epic Götterdämmerung, the extraordinary conclusion of his monumental Ring Cycle. Tickets start at $35 and subscribers can purchase extra tickets at their already reduced subscription rate.

Visit coc.ca/Tickets or call 416-363-8231 or 1-800-250-4653.

WARM UP THIS WINTER TO THE MAGIC AND MAJESTY OF GREAT OPERA

TICKETS OR GIFT

CERTIFICATESMAKE GREAT

HOLIDAY GIFTS!

COC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

COC OPERA GUILDSBrantford Opera Guild ~ David M. Cullen, PresidentKingston Opera Guild ~ Grace Orzech, PresidentLondon Opera Guild ~ Ernest H. Redekop, PresidentMuskoka Opera Guild ~ Dr. Hans Heeneman, PresidentSudbury Opera Guild ~ Dianne Moore, President

For more information, visit coc.ca/Guilds.

OFFICERSMs. Colleen Sexsmith, ChairMr. Justin Linden, Vice-ChairMr. Paul A. Bernards, Treasurer Mr. John H. Macfarlane, SecretaryMr. Alexander Neef, General Director (ex officio)Mr. Robert Lamb, Managing Director (ex officio)

MEMBERSMs. Yael Woodward Amaral Mr. Tony Arrell

CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Canadian Opera Company would like to thank all those who volunteer both on a daily basis and for special events with the company.

Michael Cooper, Official Photographer

Musical excerpts provided by Universal Classics

The COC is a member of Opera America, Opera.ca and TAPA.

The COC operates in agreement with Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

The COC operates in agreement with I.A.T.S.E., Local #58, Local #822, Local #828.

Ms. Nora AufreiterMs. Marcia Lewis BrownMs. Helen BurstynMr. Philip C. DeckMr. Peter M. DeebMr. George S. DembroskiMr. William FearnMr. David Ferguson (ex officio)Mr. Michael GibbensMr. Peter HinmanDr. Linda HutcheonMs. Carolyn JarvisMr. Jeff Lloyd

Mr. Timothy LoftsgardMs. Anne MaggisanoMs. Judy MatthewsMr. Jonathan MorganMr. James (Jim) NicolMs. Frances PriceMr. Jeffrey RemediosMr. J. Allen SmithMr. Philip S. W. SmithMr. Paul B. SpaffordMs. Kristine (Kris) VikmanisMr. Graham WatchornMr. John H. (Jack) Whiteside

CANADIAN OPERA FOUNDATION DIRECTORSMr. Tony ArrellMr. Jonathan BloombergMr. J. Rob Collins

Mr. Philip C. Deck, Chair Mr. Christopher Hoffmann

Ms. Colleen SexsmithMr. David Spiro, Secretary

SUPERNUMERARIESNORMA: Clara FacchinelliMark GarronFabio HernandezWard JardineNyla JeffreyCaleb Miller


16_3626_FSCOR_COC_Support_Ad_FA_Outline.indd 1 2016-07-14 10:13 AM

ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF

Managing DirectorRobert Lamb

Music DirectorJohannes Debus

EXECUTIVE OFFICEExecutive Assistant to the General Director Marguerite Schabas

MUSIC AND ARTISTICADMINISTRATION

Director of Music & Artistic Administration

Roberto Mauro

Contracts ManagerKaren Olinyk

Company ManagerOlwyn Lewis

Chorus MasterSandra Horst

Assistant to the Music DirectorDerek Bate

Scheduling ManagerKathryn Garnett

Production AssistantsKatherine BelyeaAndréane Christiansen

Orchestra Personnel ManagerIan Cowie

Music Librarian, CoachWayne Vogan

Assistant Music LibrarianOndrej Golias

Music StaffWalter Althammer (Ariodante)Rachel Andrist (Norma)Christopher Bagan (Ariodante)Timothy Cheung (Ariodante)Ben Malensek (Norma)

COC ENSEMBLE STUDIO ANDORCHESTRA ACADEMY

Director, COC Ensemble Studio and Orchestra Academy

Nina Draganic

Head of the Ensemble Studio & Coach

Liz Upchurch

Head Vocal ConsultantWendy Nielsen

Performance Kinetics ConsultantJennifer Swan

COC Ensemble StudioEmily D’AngeloLauren EberweinHyejin KwonDanika LorènStéphane Mayer Samantha Pickett Megan Quick Bruno Roy Aaron SheppardCharles Sy

PRODUCTION

Director of ProductionChuck Giles

Production Manager Michael Freeman

Lighting Co-ordinatorDaniele Guevara

Assistant Technical DirectorsAutumn Coppaway Jake Gow Melynda Jurgenson

Assistant Production ManagerShawna Green

Head ElectricianJoe Nalepka

Assistant ElectriciansAshley RoseJoel Thoman

Head of SoundBob Shindle

Assistant SoundCraig Kadoke

Head CarpenterPaul Watkinson

Assistant CarpenterDavid Middleton

Head FlymanDavid Alexander

Head of PropertiesDaniel Graham

Head of Front of HouseAlex Maitland

Core CrewDoug ClossTerry HurleyPaul OtisGregg Feor

Scene Shop Co-ordinatorAmy Cummings

Head Scene Shop CarpenterDavid Retzleff

Assistant Scene Shop CarpenterAndrew Walker

Head Scenic ArtistRichard Gordon

Assistant Head Scenic ArtistKatherine Lilley

Rehearsal Head TechnicianScott Williamson

Properties SupervisorGuy Nokes

Resident Properties Builder/ Co-ordinatorStephanie Tjelios

Resident Properties Buyer/ Co-ordinatorKathy Frost

Properties Builder/Co-ordinatorTracy Taylor

Properties BuilderWulf

Costume SupervisorSandra Corazza

Costume Co-ordinators Chloe AndersonCassandra Spence

Costume Assistants Natassia BrunatoChristina Del Monte

Resident CutterTracey Glas

Assisted by Karen HancockLaura Delchiaro

Additional Costumes Industry Costumes Avril Stevenson

Additional Painting and Dyeing Marjory Fielding

Head of Wardrobe Nancy Hawkins

Wardrobe Assistant Leslie Brown

Wig & Make-up SupervisorSharon Ryman

Head of Wig & Make-up CrewCori Ferguson


SURTITLES™ EditorZane Kaneps

SURTITLES™ AssistantsOlwyn LewisMichael Shannon

Supernumeraries Co-ordinatorsAnalee SteinElizabeth Walker

ADVANCEMENT

Chief Advancement OfficerChristie Darville

Executive Assistant to the Chief Advancement OfficerElizabeth Scott

Manager, Government RelationsAmy Mushinski

Foundation DevelopmentJanet Stubbs

Director of DevelopmentStephen Gilles

Senior Manager, Advancement Operations

Peter Hussell

Senior Manager, Events & Engagement

Tracy Abergel

Senior Development Officer, Events & Engagement

Erin Koth

Development Officer, Events & Engagement

Alexandra Folkes

Senior Development Officer, Stewardship

Emma Noakes

Senior Development Officer, Annual Programs & Patron Engagement

Natalie Sandassie

Co-ordinators, Annual Programs & Patron Engagement

Brianna ChaseEileen Hanratty

Senior Development Officer, Friends of the COC

Victor Widjaja

Individual Giving Co-ordinator, Friends of the COC

Soojin Ahn

Senior Development Officer, Institutional Gifts

Francesco Corsaro

Senior Development Officer, Partnerships

Sarah Heim

Development Communications Officer

Nikita Gourski

Advancement Operations OfficersJohn KriterSophie Malek

COMMUNICATIONS

Chief Communications OfficerSteve Kelley

Director of Public RelationsClaudine Domingue

Senior Manager, Creative & Publications

Gianna Wichelow

Manager, Direct Sales and GivingRichard Paradiso

Media Relations ManagerJennifer Pugsley

Associate Manager, Marketing & Customer Service

Eldon Earle

Associate Manager, Digital Marketing

Meighan Szigeti

Publicist and Publications Co-ordinator Kristin McKinnon

Digital Marketing Co-ordinatorTanner Davies

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

Associate Director, Education & Outreach

Katherine Semcesen

Program Manager, Free Concert Series

Dorian Cox

Adult Programs ManagerGianmarco Segato

School Programs ManagerVanessa Smith

Children & Youth Programs Co-ordinator Amber Yared

TICKET SERVICES

Ticket Services Manager Andrea Salin

Assistant Ticket Services ManagerNikki Tremblay

ALEXANDER NEEF, General Director


Group Sales Co-ordinatorDavid Nimmo

Ticket Services Supervisor Lillian Fung

Ticket Services Supervisor Maureen Gualtieri

Ticket Services Representatives Ernest CayemenNick DavisAnna Kay Eldridge Peter GenowayChristopher HackettCat HaywoodManda KennedyKeith LamMegan MilesKevin MorrisRafael RenderosPaulina SalibaAmelia SmartKat SmileyMax Williams

CALL CENTRE

Call Centre RepresentativesDona Arbabzadeh Catherine Belyea Frank BusheTaisa DackiwKeith FernandesPaul MalyMargaret Terry

FINANCE ANDADMINISTRATION

Director of Finance & Administration

Lindy Cowan, CPA, CA

Human Resources ManagerLorraine O’Connor, CHRP

Finance ManagerSaptarsi Saha, CPA, CA

General AccountantsFlorence HuangZoran Orlic (FSCPA)

Accounting ClerkVera Brjozovskaia

Payroll AccountantsJovana BojovicJeanny Won

Finance AssistantLorrie Element

Manager, IT ServicesSteven Sherwood

Database Reporting SpecialistBrad Staples

IT Services AssistantTony Sandy

Archivist, Joan Baillie Archives Birthe Joergensen

Receptionist/SwitchboardKatarina Božovic

Mailroom Clerk/Courier Branka Hrsum

FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Director, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

Alfred Caron

Associate Director, Business Development

Elizabeth Jones

Business & Events Co-ordinator Lori MacDonald

Assistant, Scheduling & EventsHannah Gordon

Patron Services Manager, Front of HouseJulia Somerville

Patron Services Manager, Food & Beverage Brigitte Lang

Assistant Manager, Patron Services Kim Hutchinson-Barber

Senior Patron Services Supervisors

Stuart ConstableMelissa McDonnellKimberly Wu

Patron Services Supervisors Karol Carstensen Stuart Constable Jamieson Eakin Christine Groom Melissa McDonnell Evan Steingarten Sophia Wiens Rosemary WilliamsKimberly Wu

Patron Services LeadsDiana PfefferAmelia SmartKate Werneburg

BUILDING SERVICES

Associate Director, Facilities Management

Joe Waldherr

Assistant Manager, OperationsChristian Coulter

Maintenance AssistantsRyszard Gad (COC)Branislav Peterman (COC)Julian Peters (COC)James Esposito (FSCPA)Enrique Covarrubias Cortes

(FSCPA)Piotr Wiench (FSCPA)

Security SupervisorDave Samuels

Security OfficersGeorge BalyasinAbdi GulleedNatalia JuzycUsman KhalidNicholas MartinKathleen MinorHeather Reid

Building OperatorsDan BiscaDan PopescuAdrian Tudoran

Eurest Services Supervisor Paula Da Costa

Eurest Services TeamJennifer BarrosMalaku GodanaNash LimJimmy PachecoSugey Torres

Support the COC and enjoy the perks of membership.

There’s a place for you here.

416-363-5801coc.ca/Support

Earlaine CollinsJ. Rob Collins

David Ferguson (Chair)

Jerry and Geraldine HeffernanBen Heppner

Henry N. R. Jackman

Tony and Anne ArrellThe Estate of Dr. Larry M. Agranove

ARIAS: Canadian Opera Student Development Fund The Gerard & Earlaine Collins Foundation

The late John A. CookThe Estate of Horst Dantz and Don Quick

Philip Deck & Kimberley BozakJerry and Geraldine Heffernan

The Henry White Kinnear Foundation

Kolter CommunitiesThe Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation

Roger D. MooreE. Louise Morgan

Tim & Frances PriceColleen Sexsmith

Joey & Toby TanenbaumAnonymous (3)

Adrianne PieczonkaArthur R. A. Scace, C. M.

David Stanley-Porter

Life Trustees Council The Canadian Opera Company salutes the leaders of the COC community whose efforts have been integral to the company’s artistic evolution and transformative history of accomplishment.

E. Louise Morgan Society The E. Louise Morgan Society was created to reflect the vision and commitment of its founder and the members who have created a legacy of leadership, passion and philanthropy in support of the goals of the Canadian Opera Company.

The support from each of these individuals is critical to the company’s success and we are forever indebted to their commitment and generosity.

Major Gifts and Special Projects The COC offers its sincere thanks to the individuals listed below for their extraordinary support.

PRODUCTION UNDERWRITERSDemonstrating their leadership and generosity, these donors have underwritten the COC’s mainstage productions.

$500,000 + The Catherine and Maxwell

Meighen Foundation Colleen Sexsmith

$100,000 – $499,999Philip Deck & Kimberley Bozak

$10,000 – $99,999The Asper FoundationThe Max Clarkson Family

Foundation

PERFORMANCE AND ARTIST SPONSORSThe following donors extend their generous support to individual artists and productions

$100,000 + George & Kathy Dembroski Jack Whiteside

$25,000 – $99,999Earlaine CollinsRobert SherrinThe Tauba and Solomon Spiro

Family FoundationKristine Vikmanis & Denton CreightonAnonymous (1)

Up to $24,999J. Hans Kluge

ENSEMBLE STUDIO SUPPORTERSEncouraging the next generation of artists, these donors support the COC Ensemble Studio.

$1,000,000Peter M. Deeb

$500,000 – $999,999The Slaight Family Foundation

$25,000 – $499,999Ethel Harris & the late Milton E. HarrisHal Jackman FoundationBarbara Keenan Marjorie and Roy LindenRoger D. MooreThe Stratton Trust

Up to $24,999ARIAS: Canadian Opera

Student Development Fund Marcia Lewis BrownMargaret Harriett Cameron and

the late Gary SmithCatherine Fauquier Peter & Hélène Hunt Jo LanderColleen Sexsmith Toronto Wagner Society Brian WilksAnonymous (2)

GENERAL PROGRAM SUPPORTERSProviding general program support is critical to the COC’s artistic mission.

$1,000,000+ Jerry and Geraldine HeffernanThe Henry White Kinnear

FoundationTim & Frances Price Anonymous (1)

$100,000+ Anne & Tony Arrell

Up to $24,999Bruce C. BaileyJames & Christine NicolSimon Nyilassy

ENDOWMENT SUPPORTMaking a gift to the Endowment ensures the long-term stability for the COC and its artists.

$100,000 +Hon. Henry N. R. Jackman

$25,000 – $99,999Dr. Rodney C. EllisMichael W. & Wanda Plachta

Endowment FundJanet Stubbs

Up to $24,999David E. SpiroAnonymous (1)

LEGACY AND BEQUEST GIFTSThe COC honours the memory of the following patrons whose vision and generosity has provided lasting support.

Estate of Anne Margaret Delicaet‡

Estate of Marion Gertrude Farr‡Estate of Eluned MacMillanEstate of James Drewry

StewartEstate of Norma Yvonne

Sawden‡Estate of Marion Caroline

Wilson‡

‡ designates funds directed to the COC’s Endowment

MEMORIAL AND HONORARY DONATIONSThe COC expresses its sincere appreciation to all donors who have made memorial and honorary donations.

In Memory of James A. BradshawPatricia MartinDr. Samuel A. OjoEmily RankinAbraham (Bram) Smit

In Honour of Ninalee CraigJean EdwardsColleen SexsmithDr. David Stanley-Porter

As of August 26, 2016


MANY THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

Individual GivingAnnual SupportGOLDEN CIRCLE

GOLD, $50,000 +Anne & Tony Arrell****Cecily & Robert Bradshaw* David G. Broadhurst**In memory of Gerard H. Collins****Jerry & Geraldine Heffernan**** The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen

Foundation****Colleen Sexsmith***Anonymous (1)

SILVER, $25,000 – $49,999Mark & Gail Appel****Paul Bernards***Barbara Black**Philip Deck & Kimberley Bozak***Michael Gibbens & Julie Lassonde* The Hon. William C. Graham & Mrs. Catherine Graham**** Rennie & Bill Humphries**** Ronald Kimel & Vanessa LaPerriere****Susan Loube & William Acton**Judy & Wilmot Matthews** James & Christine NicolJack Whiteside*** Anonymous (1)

BRONZE, $12,500 – $24,999Dr. & Mrs. Hans G. Abromeit****Ms Nora Aufreiter*Mr. Philip J. Boswell****Walter M. & Lisa Balfour Bowen****Susanne Boyce & Brendan Mullen**** Marcia Lewis Brown*Helen Burstyn & FamilyStewart & Gina Burton**Wendy M. Cecil & Jack Cockwell

Family****Dr. John Chiu in memory of Yvonne Chiu, C.M.****Stephen Clarke & Elizabeth Black** The Max Clarkson Family

Foundation****J. Rob Collins & Janet Cottrelle**** Sydney & Florence Cooper**Ninalee Craig****Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Dan*** Jean Davidson & Paul Spafford**** David & Kristin Ferguson****George Fierheller****Lloyd & Gladys Fogler***Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts***Robert Fung**Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin***Ethel Harris & the late Milton Harris****William & Nona Heaslip

Foundation****Mr. Peter Hinman & Ms Kristi StangelandDouglas E. Hodgson**** Michael & Linda Hutcheon****Bernhard & Hannelore Kaeser**** Justin S. Linden*Jeff Lloyd & Barbara Henders**Ms Anne Maggisano Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain*** John & Esther McNeil****John McVicker & B. W. Thomas****Delia M. Moog***Jonathan Morgan & Shurla Gittens** Sue Mortimer in memory of Clive Bennett Mortimer**** Peter M. Partridge****Mr. Tim & Mrs. Frances Price****

Ms R. Raso****David Roffey & Karen Walsh****Barrie D. Rose & Family*** J. Allen Smith & Katherine Megue-Smith Philip & Maria Smith***Stephen & Jane Smith****Marion & Gerald Soloway***David E. Spiro****Françoise Sutton*** Ryerson & Michele SymonsKiersten Taylor & Tim LoftsgardRiki Turofsky & Charles Petersen**Ms Kristine Vikmanis & Mr. Denton Creighton****The Youssef-Warren Foundation****

PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL

TRUSTEE, $7,500 – $12,499Margaret Atwood & Graeme Gibson***Frank Ciccolini Sr. **** Marilyn Cook**Bud & Leigh Eisenberg***Andrew Fleming**Peter & Shelagh Godsoe***Chris Hoffmann & Joan Eakin** J. Hans Kluge**Anne Lewitt** Jerry & Joan Lozinski****Mr. & Mrs. J. S. A. MacDonald**** Kathleen McLaughlin & Tim Costigan** Dr. Judith A. Miller****Douglas L. Parker**** Alan & Gwendoline Pyatt Annie & Ian Sale*Dr. David Shaw**Carol Swallow***

PATRON, $3,750 – $7,499Miguel Amaral & Yael Woodward Amaral Sue Armstrong****Ron Atkinson & Bruce Blandford****Mona H. Bandeen, C. M. *** Henk Bartelink in memory of Oskar & Irmgard Gaube***Dr. Frank Bartoszek & Mr. Daniel O’Brien**** Dr. Thomas H. Beechy****Mr. & Mrs. Eric Belli-Bivar*** Dr. Catherine Bergeron*** Tom Bogart & Kathy Tamaki**Dr. David & Constance Briant****Dr. Jane Brissenden & Dr. Janet Roscoe****Mrs. Donna Brock***Alice Burton*** Margaret Harriett Cameron**** Sharon & Howard Campbell**Cesaroni Management Limited***The Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson* Mr. & Mrs. William J. Corcoran***Bram & Beth Costin Lindy Cowan† & Chris Hatley***Brian J. Dawson*** Peter Deeb*Dr. Jeanne Deinum****Angelo & Carol DelZotto***Carol Derk & David Giles**Mrs. Shirley Diamond & Family**** Peter & Anne Dotsikas***Jeffrey Douglas Vreni & Marc Ducommun****Joseph Fantl & Moira Bartram**Mr. & Mrs. Fraser M. Fell**** Ms Lindsay Dale-Harris & Mr. Rupert Field-Marsham****Margaret & David Fountain****Dr. & Mrs. Wm. O. Geisler***Susan Gerhard** Ann J. Gibson****

Rose & Roger Goldstein****Michael & Anne Gough****Dr. Noëlle Grace & The Shohet Family****Ronald & Birgitte Granofsky****Douglas & Ruth Grant*John & Judith Grant**Al & Malka Green**John Groves & Vera Del Vecchio****Dr. Albert J. HaddadGeorge & Irene Hamilton****Scott & Ellen Hand***Mr. Harquail & Dr. Sigfridsson**Maggie Hayes** Hon. & Mrs. Paul Hellyer****Michiel Horn & Cornelia Schuh****Ken Hugessen & Jennifer Connolly**Mr. Robert C. Jefferies**** Dr. Joshua Josephson & Ms Elaine Lewis****Lorraine Kaake****The Patrick & Barbara Keenan

Foundation****James & Diane King**Dr. Elizabeth Kocmur****Kimberley Fobert & Robert Lamb†****Mr. Philip Lanouette**John B. Lawson, C.M. Q.C. ****Paul Lee & Jill Maynard**** Mr. J. Levitt & Ms E. Mah** Mr. Peter Levitt & Ms Mai Why*** Daniel & Janet Li**Dr. Vance Logan**** Peter H. Lunney*James & Connie MacDougall****Mr. Jed MacKay****Dr. Colin McGregor Mailer**** Mrs. J. L. Malcolm**Dr. & Mrs. M. A. Manuel**Frederick J. Marker & Anne W. Dupré Fernando Martinez-CaroDr. & Mrs. Donald C. McGillivray****Paul & Jean McGrath****Ronan McGrath & Sarah Perry* June McLean****Don McQueen & Trina McQueen,

O.C. *** Mr. Ulrich Menzefricke****Bruce & Vladka Mitchell**Mr. Noel Mowat** Dr. M. L. Myers & the late Dr. W. P. Hayman****Matt & Debbie Mysak*** Dr. Shirley C. Neuman*** Eileen Patricia Newell***Dr. Emilie Newell** Sally-Ann Noznesky**** Simon Nyilassy*Donald O’Born*** Emile Oliana & Alvin Iu**** Janice Oliver*** Julia & Liza Overs***Dr. & Mrs. William M. Park****John & Gwen Pattison**John & Carol Peterson***June C. Pinkney**** Polk Family Charitable Fund** Julian & Anna PorterMargrit & Tony Rahilly**** Mrs. Richard Gavin Reid**Douglas L. Ludwig & Karen J. Rice*** Rob & Penny Richards***Margaret A. Riggin**Gordon Robison & David Grant** Ms Sharon Cookie Sandler**** Judy & Hy Sarick**** Sam & Esther Sarick****Helen & John Scott**June Shaw & the late Dr. Ralph Shaw****Allan & Helaine Shiff****David & Hilary Short****

Hume Smith****Dr. Harley Smyth & Carolyn McIntire Smyth**Mr. Philip Somerville**Cameron Rusaw & Anne-Marie SorrentiDr. John Stanley & Dr. Helmut Reichenbächer***Wayne Stanley & Marina Pretorius** David Stanley-Porter**** Doreen L. Stanton****Janet Stubbs†**Wendy J. Thompson**** Anthea Thorp****Ian Turner***Sandra & Guy Upjohn*** Donald & Margaret Walter****Hugh & Colleen Washington**Ruth Watts-Gransden****Dr. Virginia Wesson*** Mr. Brian Wilks** Ms Lilly Wong* Mrs. Richard Wookey**** Linda Young*Helen Ziegler***Susan Zorzi**Sharon Zuckerman****Anonymous (6)

MEMBER, $2,250 – $3,749D. C. Adamson-Brdar****Dr. & Mrs. Larry M. Agranove**** Donna & Lorne Albaum**Clive & Barbara Allen****Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Claire Allen** Dr. D. Amato & Ms J. Hodges****Mr. Mark Andrews Anne-Marie H. Applin****Valerie Armstrong****Philip Arthur & Mary Wilson** Virginia Atkin****Mr. Jeff Axelrod & Dr. John Goodhew K.R.I. Bailey**John Bailey**James C. Baillie**Marilyn & Charles Baillie****Andrew & Cornelia Baines****Janice A. Baker****Richard J. Balfour****Alice & Tom Bastedo*** Mr. N. Beilstein & Mr. A. Lee Ms Marie Bérard†***Nani & Austin Beutel****Dody Bienenstock** John & Mandy Birch*Anneliese & Walter Blackwell****Ian & Janet Blue***Mr. W. Bowen & Ms. S. Gavinchuk****Mr. Stephen Bradley Mrs. Carolyn Bradley-Hall & Mr. William Bradley***Mrs. Richard Bradshaw****Christopher & Elizabeth Buller Thomas J. Burton**Maureen Callahan & Douglas Gray**Ken & Denise Cargill** Brian & Ellen Carr**** Gail Carson****Drs. Carol & David CassLee Chambers Prof. Alfred L. Chan & Mr. Michael Farewell*** Dr. & Mrs. Albert Cheskes***John D. Church Dr. Howard M. Clarke***Edward Cole & Adrienne Hood***Brian Collins & Amanda Demers**Tony & Elizabeth Comper**Katherine Robb Corlett**** Anita Corrigan*** Dr. Lesley S. Corrin****Gay & Derek Cowbourne**Mary & John Crocker****Ruth & John Crow***


Mary Beth Currie & Jeff RintoulCarrol Anne Curry****Mr. Stuart Davidson*Dr. & Mrs. Michael & Ute Davis***Honor & Michael de Pencier****Charles Dennis & Steve Kelley† Mr. & Mrs. A. J. Diamond*J. DiGiovanni**Olwen & Frank Dixon**James Doak & Patricia Best***Sandra Z. Doblinger**Ms Petrina Dolby***Dr. James & Mrs. Ellen Downey**Marko Duic and Gabriel Lau**** Dr. Alicia Dunlop Mr. Albert D. Dunn* William & Gwenda Echard****Jean Patterson Edwards**Wendy & Elliott Eisen****Jordan Elliott & Lynne Griffin* Christoph Emmrich & Srilata Raman Dr. & Mrs. John Evans***George A. Farkass**Darren Farwell Catherine Fauquier***Bill Fearn & Claudia Rogers****Lee & Shannon Ferrier****William & Rosemary Fillmore***Goshka Folda* J. E. Fordyce**** Robert & Julia Foster** Mrs. Ingrid FratzlRev. Ivars Gaide & Rev. Dr. Anita Gaide***Judy & David GallowayMs Carol Gray Ann Gawman***Dr. Barry A. Gayle****The Honourable Irving Gerstein &

Mrs. Gail Gerstein***Sarah Glatt****Dr. Eudice Goldberg*Aviva & Andrew Goldenberg**Dr. Fay Goldstep & Dr. George Freedman**Deanna A. Gontard****Tina & Michael Gooding***Wayne A. Gooding†****David & Wendy Flores-Gordon**Bryan Grant Mr. Finn Greflund & Mrs. M. Ortner***Mr. Carmen & Mrs. Vittoria

Guglietti**Ellen & Simon Gulden****James & Joyce Gutmann**** Dan Hagler & Family***Mrs. Pamela Hallisey Mr. Adrian J. Hamel*Beverly Hargraft**Paul & Natalie Hartman**Jacques & Elizabeth Helbronner***Thea Herman & Gregory King*** William E. Hewitt***Ms Pamela HoilesSally Holton****Frances Humphreys in memory of

Anthony C. J. Humphreys**** Peter & Hélène Hunt****Mr. Sumant Inamdar**Dr. Melvyn L. Iscove*** Eva Innes & David Medhurst* Elliott Jacobson & Judy Malkin**Lynne Jeffrey****Dr. R.G. Perrin** Laurence Jewell**The Norman & Margaret Jewison

Charitable Foundation****Ms Elizabeth Johnson** In Memory of Patricia Johnson** Dr. Albert & Bette Johnston**Joyce Johnston***Miriam KaganH. L. Katarynych***Dr. Joel Keenleyside****

David W. & Sheryl L. Kerr*Ms Kristina Kerr Inta Kierans****Ellen & Hermann Kircher****Mr. Martin Kirr & Ms Suzanne McCuaig*Mr. Douglas Klaassen** Michael & Sonja Koerner***William & Eva Krangle****Richard T. La Prairie**Peter Lamb & Veronica Tennant Elizabeth & Goulding Lambert****Jo Lander****The Hon. Dennis Lane, Q.C. & Mrs. Sandra Lane****M. J. Horsfall Large*** Dr. Connie Lee*** Linda Lee & Michael Pharoah****Neal & Dominique Lee** Dr. Richard Lee & Mr. Gary Van Haren**Alexander & Anna Leggatt****Joy Levine***L. Liivamagi & Dr. D. N. Cash*Marjorie & Roy Linden****Dr. & Mrs. W. G. Lindley****Janet & Sid Lindsay***Anthony J. Lisanti***Dr. Weldon Liu Tom C. Logan*A. Benson Lorriman**** Jonathan & Dorothea Lovat

Dickson** Amy & John Macfarlane** Dr. & Mrs. Richard Mackenzie****Tom MacMillan**** Macro Properties Ltd. **Mr. A. Mafrici****R. Manke**** Mr. & Mrs. R. Gordon Marantz****Roberto Mauro† & Erin Wall Mrs. Ettore Mazzoleni*** Diane McArthur The Hon. Barbara McDougall**** Don McLean & Diane Martello* Guy & Joanne McLean****M. E. McLeod****Mr. Timothy McNicholas*Mark & Andrea McQueen****Shawn McReynolds & Elaine Kierans** Dr. Don Melady & Mr. Rowley Mossop***Eileen Mercier****Ms Cornelia Mews Patricia & Frank Mills***Dr. & Mrs. Steven Millward**Florence MinzAudrey & David Mirvish***Dr. David N. Mitchell & Dr. Susan M. Till***Mr. Donald Mitchell*Mr. Robert Morassutti**** Alice Janet Morgan****Ms Sylvie Morin***Ms Rosalind Morrow**Drs. Christopher & Pippa Moss***Gael Mourant & Caroline Hubberstey* Mr. Joseph Mulder**David & Mary Neelands***Dr. Steven Nitzkin****Dr. James & Mrs. Valda

Oestreicher***Marwan Osseiran The Ouellette Family Foundation Eileen & Ralph Overend** Clarence & Mary Pace*** Dr. & Mrs. N. Pairaudeau****Elizabeth Paupst Dr. Roger D. Pearce**** Dr. A. Angus Peller** John & Penelope Pepperell** Dr. R. G. Perrin** M. J. Phillips****

Robin B. Pitcher****Wanda Plachta****Mr.& Mrs. Domenic Porporo**Mary Jean & Frank Potter***Georgia Prassas****Ms Jill Presser & Mr. John Duffy*Dr. Mark Quigley**** Stephen Ralls & Bruce Ubukata***The Carol & Morton Rapp

Foundation****Lola Rasminsky & Bob Presner Dr. Reza Rastegar Professor C. Edward Rathé**** Kenneth F. Read**** Grant L. Reuber**** Mrs. Gabrielle Richards*** Carolyn Ricketts****Ms Nada Ristich*Emily & Fred Rizner**Clara Robert**Steve & Richa RoderDr. Michael & Mary Romeo****Mrs. Gertrude Rosenthal****Rainer & Sharyn Rothfuss****The Roux FamilyDavid A. Ruston****Mallory Morris Sartz & John Sartz****Go Sato****Fred & Mary Schulz**Dr. Marianne Seger****Carol Seifert & Bruno Tesan***Robert & Geraldine Sharpe****Milton & Joyce Shier****Dr. Bernie & Mrs. Bobbie Silverman** Rod & Christina Simpson Helen Sinclair & Paul Cantor In memory of Dr. Bernard Slatt*Jay Smith & Laura Rapp**Ms Muriel Smith & Mr. Eric Ojala****Dr. Joseph So****John & Ellen Spears****Martha E. Spears****Rosemary SpeirsMs Gillian Stacey Oksana R. Stein****John D. Stevenson****James H. Stonehouse**William Siegel & Margaret Swaine***Eric Tang & Dr. James Miller** Tesari Charitable FoundationDr. M. L. Thurling Mr. Ronald L. W. Till****Elizabeth Tory****Mr. Alex Tosheff* Dr. R. B. Van Winckle*Dory Vanderhoof & Rosalind Bell****Edmond & Sylvia Vanhaverbeke****Stefan Varga & Dr. Marica Varga*Dr. Yvonne Verbeeten**Dr. Helen Vosu & Donald Milner****Elizabeth & Michael Walker***Peter Webb & Joan York**** Ms Eleanor Westney**Melanie Whitehead*** Elizabeth Wilson & Ian Montagnes****Robert Elliott & Paul Wilson**John Wright & Chung-Wai Chow**Dr. Jackson Wu & Dr. Viviana Chang* Mr. Takahiro YamanakaMs June Yee*** Morden Yolles**** Anonymous (26)

FRIENDS OF THE COC

SUSTAINING FRIENDS $1,600 – $2,249Carol & Ernest Albright****Gail Asper & Michael PatersonIivi Campbell****Jayne & Ted Dawson****

Mr. Steven D. Donohoe****Ricardo Gomez-Insausti*Mr. James Hamilton*Roy & Gail Harrison****Bill Heaslip****Frieda and Vern HeinrichsMr. Josef Hrdina**Dr. Paul & Mrs. Marcia KavanaghDuncan & Sondra LearGeorgina McLennan****Lee Parsons*Barbara & Peter Pauly**Norbert & Elizabeth Perera****Ms Joan Sinclair***David Smukler & Patricia Kern**The Sorbara Group of

Companies****Georgina S. SteinskyMs Peg Thoen**Vernon & Beryl Turner****Gordon Waugh****F. Whittaker**Carole & Bernie Zucker***

ASSOCIATE FRIENDS $1,100 – $1,599Michael & Janet Barnard**Michael Benedict & Martha Lowrie****Don Biderman****Ellen & Murray Blankstein*Darlene & Peter Blenich*Dr. Wendy C. Chan*Geoffrey & Bilgi Chapman****Patricia Clarke**Robert D. Cook**Mr. Neil Crawford*Mr. Greg Cumming***Mr. Darren Day***Mr. Rohan D’souzaDr. Christine Dunbar**Howard & Kathrine Eckler***Lawrence Enkin***R. Dalton Fowler****Mr. Osvaldo & Mrs. Joanne

GirimonteMs Alison Harvison Young & Mr. Herman J. Wilton-Siegel**Sylvie Hatch****David Holdsworth & Nicole Senécal**Richard & Susan Horner****Dr. Ivan & Mrs. Diana Hronsky****James Hughes***Mr. David Hutton***Mr. Kazik Jedrzejczak****Ms Suanne Kelman & Dr. Allan J. Fox**Dr. & Mrs. L. A. Kitchell****Murray & Marvelle Koffler****Ms Elizabeth Lorimer*Andrew & Harriet LyonsP. Anne Mackay****Mrs. Janet Maggiacomo**Mary McClymont****Janina Milisiewicz****Mr. David Milovanovic & Dr. Cinda DyerMr. Carl Morey****Sean O’Neill & Victoria Cowling****Justice Michael & Susan PhelanMs Victoria Pinnington***Brayton PolkaMr. Andrew ProdanykDr. Peter Ray****Dr. Shelley Rechner****Robert & Dorothy Ross****Mr. Michael Samborsky***William & Meredith Saunderson****Dr. Anabel M. ScaraneloMs Elisabeth Scarff****Dr. & Mrs. W. K. Stavraky***Mr. Paul Steep & Ms Anne McNeilly*Helga & Klaus Stegemann***Norma & George Steiner****


Anna Talenti****Mr. & Mrs. David G. Trent****Dr. Peter Voore****Ms Virginia WaiMr. John M. Welch****Nina & Norman Wright***Anonymous (4)

CONTRIBUTING FRIENDS $700 – $1,099Nancy and Arthur Ameis Charitable

Fund**Leila Appleford***Dr. I. L. Babb Fund at the Toronto

Community Foundation****In memory of M. Baptista***Karen & Bill Barnett*Peter & Leslie Barton***Mrs. Lynn Bayer***Catherine Belyea†Jeniva Berger****Anthony Bird****Staunton BowenMary Brock & Brian Iler****James E. Brown**Brian Bucknall & Mary Jane Mossman****Ms Judith Burrows***Ms E. Burton***Mr. Bill Cameron**Mary Campbell****Betty Carlyle****Mark Cestnik & Natercia Sousa****Harold Chmara & Danny Hoy****George Clark**Joe T. R. Clarke****Mr. Philip J. Conlon***Mr. Scott Connell & Ms Anouchka FreybeWilliam Cowan & Elodie Fourquet**Sylvain CrozonPeter and Elly DanielsMr. & Mrs. Michael Davies****Anita DayDon DeBoer & Brent Vickar***Mr. Michael Disney**Ms Eleanor L. Ellins****Susan ElliottMr. Arthur English**Joe & Helen Feldmann***Bruce & Mary FillierRussell FinchJennifer & Frank Flower****Marie-Lison Fougere**Angelo Furgiuele & Family*Douglas G. Gardner****Mr. M. Gerwin & Mrs. J. Rutledge**Alison Girling & Paul Schabas**Les & Marion Green****Ms Julianna GreenspanDr. & Mrs. Voldemars Gulens****Dr. & Mrs. Brian & Cynthia Hands****Sandra Hausman**Mrs. Hana Havlicek-Martinek*W. L. B. Heath****Barbara & John Hepburn*Dr. Paul Cooper & Mr. David HiebertIn memory of Pauline Hinch**Richard & Donna Holbrook****In loving memory of Joyce Whitney Hughes*Mr. Chris Ibey***Xiao JiangDouglas & Dorothy Joyce****Lilian Kilianski† & Brian Pritchard*Mai Kirch****Mr. & Mrs. I. P. & O. M. Komarnicky***Adrian Kos & Olga RepryntsevaChristopher Kowal*Dr. Milos Krajny****Ms Eva Kukiel**Gediminas P. Kurpis****Mr. James R. Lake****Harry Lane***Alan & Marti Latta****

Giles le Riche & Rosemary Polczer***Mr. Tom Le Seelleur***Mr. Martin LeistnerClaus & Heather Lenk**Yakov Lerner†*Mrs. Mary Liitoja****Susan Lockwood*Gil & Dorota LorensonDr. Francois Loubert**Francess G. Halpenny****Deidre Lynch & Thomas Keirstead*David MacfarlaneMary P. MacLean***Kathy Marton*Mary McGowan****Jil McIntosh**Mr. Bruce McKeown****Dr. & Mrs. Martin & Deborah McKneally**Sylvia M. McPhee****Janis Medland*Dr. Alan C. Middleton***Randy Mills*Kamini & Lynne Milnes*John Mogan*Frank & Anne Moir***Peter NaylorLarry NevardMrs. Sara NixonMs Cristina Oke***Karen Olinyk†*Mr. Vlad Ovchinnikov & Mrs. Lesia Menchynska*Joan Pape****Mr. James C. Pappas****Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Letizia Paradiso***Dr. Wadermar A. Pieczonka****Ed & Beth Price***Robert RadkeMr. Jason Roberts***Ms Virginia Robeson**Mr. Anthony Rubin****Patti & Richard Schabas**Front Desk Ltd./Toby SchertzerValerie Schweritzer & Chris Reed****Marlene Pollock Sheff**Mrs. Pamela Smith***John Spears and Elisabeth Marsden****Phil Spencer****Mr. Paul StraatmanPavel and Vera Straka***Penelope K. Sullivan****Ms Grace SzczerbowskiLarry & Judy Tanenbaum****Terry S. Tator***Ria Tietz****Dr. Claude Tousignant**Dr. Nancy F. Vogan****Mr. Wayne Vogan†****George Vona & Lark Popov**Angela & Michael Vuchnich****Dr. O. R. Waler*James & Margaret Whitby****Joan Williams****David A. YoungMs Iris Zawadowski**Yvonne ZhangAnonymous (13)

The Encore LegacyThe Encore Legacy is the planned giving program of the Canadian Opera Company.

Planned giving is making the decision today to provide a gift for the Canadian Opera Company that may not be realized until after your lifetime.

Gifts planned today, that will ultimately affect your estate, allow you to make a statement of support that will become a lasting legacy to the COC.

The Canadian Opera Company gratefully acknowledges and thanks the following individuals who have included the COC in their estate planning:

Mary AgaySusan Agranove & Estate of Dr. Larry M. AgranoveKen R. AlexanderIsobel AllenMs Sandra AlstonMs Ann AndrusyszynCallie ArcherRenata Arens & Elizabeth FreyMrs. Rosalen ArmstrongTony & Anne ArrellRon Atkinson & Bruce BlandfordMr. L. H. BartelinkJ. Linden Best & James G. Kerr Mr. Philip J. BoswellDavid BowenMarnie M. BrachtGregory BrandtMs Cindy Breslin-CarereMarcia Lewis BrownBrian Bucknall & Mary Jane MossmanDita Vadron & Jim CattyMrs. Ann ChristieEarl ClarkStephen Clarke & Elizabeth BlackThe Rt. Hon. Adrienne ClarksonBrian Collins & Amanda DemersEarlaine CollinsDavid H. CormackNinalee CraigAnita Day & Robert McDonaldAnn De BrouwerHelen DrakeYvonne EarleDavid & Kristin FergusonCarol FordyceRowland D. GalbraithDouglas G. GardnerSusan GerhardAnn J. GibsonTina & Michael GoodingMichael & Anne GoughDonald I. F. GrahamColin GruchyDavid G. HallmanGeorge & Irene HamiltonJoan L. HarrisWilliam E. HewittJames HewsonJohn R. HigginsMr. Kim Yim Ho & Walter Frederic ThommenDouglas E. HodgsonMichiel HornMatt HughesMichael & Linda HutcheonElaine IannuzzielloDr. Ingrid JarvisLynne JeffreyAnn KadrnkaBen KizemchukKathryn KossowJo LanderPeggy LauMarjorie & Roy LindenTom C. Logan, A.R.C.T.Ms Lenore MacDonaldDr. Colin M. MailerR. MankeTim & Jane MarlattMr. Shawn MartinMargaret McKee

Sylvia M. McPheeJohn McVicker & B. W. ThomasDr. Alan C. MiddletonEleanor MillerSigmund & Elaine MintzDonald MorseSue MortimerMr. & Mrs. James D. PattersonMervyn PickeringGunther & Dorothy PiepkeSheila K. PierceyDr. Zitamaria PintoWanda PlachtaMs Georgia PrassasK. F. ReadDr. John Reeve-NewsonFlorence RichlerJohn & Norma RogersMrs. Margaret RussellSharon Ryman†Cookie & Stephen SandlerFred & Mary SchulzJohn & Helen ScottColleen SexsmithClaire ShawJune Shaw, in memory of Dr. Ralph ShawR. Bonnie ShettlerWilliam Siegel & Margaret Swaine Paul SpaffordDavid E. SpiroDr. D. P. Stanley-PorterDoreen L. StantonDrs. W. & K. StavrakyLilly Offenbach-StraussJanet Stubbs† Ann SuttonRonald TaberSusanne TaburMrs. Ann C. TimpsonRiki Turofsky & Charles Petersen Tony & Mary van StraubenzeeN. Suzanne VanstoneMarie-Laure WagnerHugh & Colleen WashingtonWilliam R. WatersBrian WilksMarion YorkTricia YoungerAnonymous (38)

Corporate Matching PartnersThe Canadian Opera Company gratefully acknowledges the following organizations that have matched gifts by their employees:

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.Canadian Tire Corporation LimitedIBM Canada Ltd.

The above Individual Support Gifts were made as of August 30, 2016

* five to nine years of support** 10 to 14 years of support*** 15 to 19 years of support**** 20 or more years of support† COC administration, chorus or orchestra

member‡ Endowment

Despite the staff’s extensive efforts to avoid errors and omissions, mistakes can occur. If your name was omitted, listed incorrectly or misspelled, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We would appreciate being notified of any errors at 416-847-4949.


2016/2017 Corporate Sponsors and Foundation Supporters

Official Automotive Sponsorof the COC at the FSCPA

Presenting Sponsor of Share the Opera

Presenting SponsorOpera Under 30,

Operanation, and Centre StagePreferred Credit Card

TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege*

Official Canadian Wine of the COC at the FSCPA

Production SponsorPuccini’s Tosca

Production SponsorMozart’s The Magic Flute

Title SponsorChildren’s Education Programs

Preferred Hospitality Sponsor Radio Partner

Supporter of Ensemble Studio and Centre Stage

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTThe Canadian Opera Company gratefully acknowledges the generous support through operating grants from these government agencies and departments:

an Ontario government agencyun organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

OPERATING SUPPORT ENSEMBLE STUDIO

For many programs and special initiatives undertaken each year by the Canadian Opera Company, we gratefully acknowledge project funding from:

Department of Canadian Heritage Employment and Social Development Canada

SPECIAL PROJECT FUNDING

Ticket Back Sponsor


$100,000 +The Slaight Family Foundation

$50,000 – $99,999Chair-man Mills Inc. The Hal Jackman Foundation at the

Ontario Arts Foundation

$10,000 – $49,999Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable FoundationBarrick GoldBlake, Cassels & Graydon LLPBurgundy Asset Management LimitedDavies Ward Philips VinebergGoldman SachsGreat-West Life Assurance CompanyJackman Foundation J.P. Bickell FoundationLinden & AssociatesThe Lloyd Carr-Harris FoundationMcCarthy TetraultThe Mclean FoundationNorton Rose Fulbright Canada LLPOsler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLPShangri-la HotelAnonymous (1)

$5,000 – $9,999The George Cedric Metcalf Charitable

FoundationThe Hope Charitable FoundationLocal 58 Charitable Benefit FundMill St. BreweryThe Peterson Family Charitable

FoundationShinex Window Cleaning Inc.Unit Park Holdings Inc.Vida Peene Fund at the Canada Council

for the Arts

$2,500 – $4,999Hicks Memorial Fund at the Calgary

FoundationTesari Charitable Foundation

$1,000 - $2,499Gill Ratcliffe FoundationJarvis & AssociatesJudith Teller FoundationLoch-Sloy Holdings LimitedThe Powis Family Foundation

HOSTING SPONSORSDrake One FiftyNota Bene Restaurant

PREFERRED FLORISTSBloom The Flower CompanyQuince Flowers

CENTRE STAGE GALA 2015

Platinum SupportersPeter M. DeebMercedes-Benz CanadaRBC and RBC Foundation

Opera Under 30 SponsorTD Bank Group

Competition SupporterHal Jackman Foundation

Gold SponsorsBrookfield Asset ManagementPhilip Deck & Kimberley Bozak Linden & AssociatesScotiabank

OPERANATI0N 2016

Presenting SponsorTD Bank Group

Entertainment HostShangri-La hotel, Toronto

Partnering SponsorBurgundy Asset Management

Supporting Sponsor Globalive Capital

Contributing Sponsors Altus Securities The Catalyst Capital Group Inc.Ewing Morris & CoGrowth and Income .caMilborne Real Estate Inc.Priority Access Realty Corp.

Event SponsorsBT/ACacao BarryChairman MillsCXBOThe Knot GroupMill St. BreweryMount Gay RumNestle Waters CanadaPink TwigRyan Emberley Photography Toronto LifeTrius 10tation Event CateringWellington Printworks Anonymous (2)

SEASON LAUNCH CELEBRATION 2016

Lead SponsorTD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card

FINE WINE AUCTION 2016

Presenting SponsorsGraywood GroupPwC CanadaMichael Gibbens & Julie Lassonde

Partnering SponsorsGillam Group Inc.RR Donnelley Canada Inc.

Supporting SponsorGeoffrey Pennal of CIBC Wood Gundy

Event Sponsors10tation Event CateringThe Cheese BoutiqueTrius WinesStephen Ranger Waddingtons

PHOTO CREDITS COVER: COC costume department, photo: COC, 2016. PAGE 3: Alexander Neef, photo: bohuang.ca, 2016. PAGES 4, 6/7, 8, 11: Scenes from Norma (San Francisco Opera, 2014), photos: Cory Weaver. PAGES 13: Main photo of Elza van den Heever by Roberto Giostra; inset: photo: Michael Cooper. PAGES 14, 16, 18/19, 21: photos by Pascal Victor/ArtComArt. PAGE 26: Interactive wall photo: Gaetz Photography. PAGE 31: top left: unknown photographer; top right: photo: Chris Hutcheson; middle and bottom: photos: Michael Cooper. PAGES 32 and 33: 1, 2, 3: Joey Lopez; 4, 7 to 12: Gaetz Photography; 5: Photo: Lindsay Ralph; 6: photo courtesy of Jennifer Pugsley; 13: Bronwen Sharp; 14 to 16: COC. PAGE 35: photo: Lucia Graca. PAGE 38: Michael Cooper. PAGE 40: Top left: photo courtesy of London Opera Guild; bottom left: photo courtesy of Muskoka Opera Guild; right top and bottom, photos: COC. PAGE 42: Counter-clockwise from top left: Johannes Debus, photo: bohuang.ca; Members of the COC Orchestra and the Orchestra Academy, photo: Karen E. Reeves; Johannes Debus and the COC Orchestra at the COC’s 2016/2017 Season Launch, photo: Chris Hutcheson; Members of the COC Orchestra Academy with soprano Christine Goerke, photo: COC. PAGES 44-46: photos: Robert Ragsdale. PAGE 49: Main photo: COC; inset photos: Lindsay Ralph. PAGE 50: Top photo courtesy of Luminato; bottom left: Gaetz Photography; bottom right: COC. PAGE 51: Ambur Braid and Simone Osborne in The Magic Flute (COC, 2011); Joni Henson and Mats Almgren in Götterdämmerung (COC, 2006); inset: Aline Kutan in The Magic Flute (2011), photos: Michael Cooper. PAGE 55: Gaetz Photography. PAGE 62: A bar at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, photo: Joey Lopez


COAT AND PARCEL CHECK To uphold the safety of the building, oversized bags and parcels may be prohibited from entering R. Fraser Elliott Hall. Patrons attending COC performances may be offered complimentary parcel check. Coat check is located in the Lower Lobby, where the following services are also available: booster seats, back supports, infrared hearing-assistive devices and rental of binoculars, on a first-come, first-served basis.

GO SCENT FREE In consideration of patrons with allergies, please avoid wearing perfumed beauty products and fragrances.

NOISE ETIQUETTE Patrons are reminded that R. Fraser Elliott Hall is an extremely lively auditorium and that all audience noise will be accentuated and audible to other patrons. Turn off all electronic devices, avoid talking, coughing, humming, moving loose seats, kicking the backs of seats, rustling programs, and unwrapping candies or cough drops. Please remain in your seat until the performance has completely ended and the house lights have been turned on.

ELECTRONIC DEVICES The use of mobile and smartphones and all other electronic devices is extremely disruptive and is strictly prohibited during performances. If a patron has an emergency and needs to be contacted during a performance, he or she should contact Patron Services for assistance before the performance.

CAMERAS/RECORDING DEVICES The use of cameras, video cameras or sound-recording devices of any kind is prohibited in R. Fraser Elliott Hall during performances. If you’d like to get a picture inside the auditorium, do so before the performance begins. However, the design and direction of the production is restricted under intellectual property law, so patrons must have the permission of the COC to take pictures of the production’s set or the stage before or during performances. Any person using an unauthorized recording device will be required to surrender or erase any recordings, photographic or digital images and may be asked to leave. No refunds will be issued. Be sure to take a look at our Facebook page for official photos of our productions!

LATECOMERS In the interest of safety and for the comfort of all patrons and performers, latecomers may not enter the auditorium or be seated unless there is a suitable break in the performance (usually intermission). Patrons leaving the auditorium during the performance or returning late after intermission may not be readmitted or may be accommodated in an alternate viewing location.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE Outside food and beverages are prohibited from entering the venue. RECORDINGS Patrons consent to appear in recorded material by attending FSC performances/events. OBJECTIONABLE BEHAVIOUR Management reserves the right to refuse admission without refund, and expel from the premises, any person whose presence or conduct is deemed objectionable.

CHILDREN AND BABES-IN-ARMS All patrons, including children, must have a ticket for the performance. All children must be seated next to an accompanying adult. Young children should be able to sit quietly throughout the performance. If unable to do so, children and their accompanying adult will be asked to leave the auditorium. Babes-in-arms will not be admitted.

MEDICAL EMERGENCIES AND FIRST AID A house doctor is present at all performances. Please contact an usher if medical services are required.

LOST AND FOUND During performances please speak with an usher or visit Patron Services at the Coat Check in the Lower Lobby. Following performances, please e-mail [email protected] or call 416-342-5200 for information.

TICKET SERVICESCanadian Opera Company subscriptions and individual tickets are available through COC Ticket ServicesONLINE: coc.caBY PHONE: 416-363-8231 or long distance 1-800-250-4653 Monday to Friday – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.IN PERSON: Four Seasons Centre Box Office 145 Queen St. W. Monday to Saturday – 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or through

first intermission Sunday (performance days only) – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

or through first intermissionThe Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Box Office also services ticketing needs for The National Ballet of Canada and all other Four Seasons Centre events.

GROUP SALES Groups of 10 or more enjoy savings on regular individual ticket prices. For more information or to reserve seats call 416-306-2356.

PARKING There is parking on a first-come, first-served basis for about 200 vehicles underneath the Four Seasons Centre. The entrance is located on the west side of York Street, south of Queen Street. Additional parking is conveniently located just steps away in the Green P lot underneath Nathan Phillips Square. For directions visit greenp.com.

FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FACILITY TOURS Tours of the Four Seasons Centre include backstage access! For more information, visit fourseasonscentre.ca.

PRE-PERFORMANCE OPERA CHATS COC Education and Outreach staff and guest speakers offer free, insightful chats about the stories, music and background of all COC productions, 45 minutes prior to each performance in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Doors open one hour before each performance. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first served basis. Please join the line-up early to avoid disappointment.

SPECIAL EVENTS AND CATERING The Four Seasons Centre is available for rental for all of your presentation, meeting or special events needs, with spaces accommodating from 20 to 2,000 people and full catering services. For further details visit fourseasonscentre.ca or call 416-342-5233.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE We are pleased to offer, for the convenience of all our patrons, a pre-order system for intermission purchases. Our pre-order system is designed to decrease your wait time at the bar during intermisison and we invite you to make use of it at every COC performance. Bars are located throughout the Isadore and Rosalie Sharp City Room’s many levels.

Food and beverages are not permitted in R. Fraser Elliott Hall.


PATRON INFORMATION AND POLICIES

488university.com

R7

Ad Number: MBZ_BRA_P23362_COC_HP_4Publication(s): Canadian Opera Company Winter House Program

This ad prepared by: SGL Communications • 2 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario • phone 416.413.7495 • fax 416.944.7883 File Location: SGL_MercedesBenzCanada:Magazine Ads:2016:P67264_2016 COC Program Insert:MBZ_BRA_P23362_COC_HP_4.indd

JOB SPECIFICS

Client: Mercedes-BenzCreative Name: COC Center Stage Gala ProgramAgency Docket #: MBZ BRA P67264Main Docket #: SMZ COR P67264Art Director: Paul WiersmaCopy Writer: NonePrint Production: Tom BurtonRetoucher: Jano KLive: 7.875” x 10.375”Trim: 8.375” x 10.875”Bleed: 8.625” x 11.125”Artwork Scale: 1:1Print Scale: None

FILE SPECIFICATIONS:

File Name: MBZ_BRA_P23362_COC_HP_4.inddCreation Date: 7-28-2016 12:48 PMLast Modified: 7-28-2016 3:57 PMWorkstation: T11-0483InDesign Version: CC 2015 App. Version: 11.3Round #: 1 Page Count: 1GRAPHIC PRODUCTION:

Operator: Dennis SousaCorrection: None

SIGNOFFS:

Creative:

Production:

Premedia:

Proofreading:

Account:

Client:

PREMEDIA OPERATOR:

Operator: None

INKS:

Cyan

MAGENTA

YELLOW

BLACK

FONTS & PLACED IMAGES

Family Style

Times RegularCorporate S LightCorporate A Condensed Regular

File Name Colour Space Eff. Res (PPI)

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This proof was produced by the following department:

PRODUCTION

© 2016 Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc.

A performance masterpiece.Presenting the all-new E-Class Sedan from Mercedes-Benz Canada – a proud sponsor of the Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. e-class.ca

S:7.875”S:10.375”

T:8.375”T:10.875”

B:8.625”B

:11.125”

NORMA ARIODANTE - Canadian Opera Companyfiles.coc.ca/pdfs/program/COC_fall_program2016.pdf ·...

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Transcript of NORMA ARIODANTE - Canadian Opera Companyfiles.coc.ca/pdfs/program/COC_fall_program2016.pdf ·...