Canadian Opera Company
 The Four Seasons Centre, home of the Canadian Opera Company. | |
| Location | 145 Queen Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°39′02″N 79°23′09″W / 43.65056°N 79.38583°W / 43.65056; -79.38583Coordinates: 43°39′02″N 79°23′09″W / 43.65056°N 79.38583°W / 43.65056; -79.38583 |
| Type | Opera house |
| Genre(s) | Opera |
| Seating type | Reserved seating |
| Capacity | Variable, approx. 2000–2300 |
| Opened | June 14, 2006 (2006-06-14) |
| Website | |
| www.coc.ca | |
The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre. For forty years until April 2006, the COC had performed at the O'Keefe Centre (later called the Hummingbird Centre before becoming the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts).
Contents
1 History
2 Recent Productions
2.1 2008/2009 Season
2.2 2009/2010 Season
2.3 2010/2011 Season
2.4 2011/2012 Season
2.5 2012/2013 Season
2.6 2013/2014 Season
2.7 2014/2015 Season
2.8 2015/2016 Season
2.9 2016/2017 Season
2.10 2017/2018 Season
2.11 2018/2019 Season
3 Notable members
4 References
5 External links
History
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario
Nicholas Goldschmidt and Herman Geiger-Torel founded the organization in 1950 as the Royal Conservatory Opera Company. Geiger-Torel became the COC's artistic director in 1956 and its general director in 1960. The company was renamed the Canadian Opera Association in 1960, and the Canadian Opera Company in 1977. Geiger-Torel retired from the general directorship in 1976. Lotfi Mansouri was the COC's general director from 1976 to 1988. In 1983, the COC introduced surtitles (supertitles) to their productions, the first company to use them in an opera house. Productions included Joan Sutherland's first performance of Donizetti's Anna Bolena.[1]
Brian Dickie served as the COC's general director from 1988 to 1993. Dickie named Richard Bradshaw the COC's chief conductor and head of music in 1989. Elaine Calder was the COC's general director from 1994 to 1997. In 1998, Bradshaw was named general director.[2] During his tenure, Bradshaw secured funding for the COC's new permanent home, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.[3] Previously, the COC had been performing at the O'Keefe Centre (renamed to the Hummingbird Centre and then the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts).
In 2006, the COC opened its new opera house with an all-new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Michael Levine was the designer, and there were four directors: Michael Levine (Das Rheingold), Atom Egoyan (Die Walküre), François Girard (Siegfried), and Tim Albery (Götterdämmerung).
In 2006, Bradshaw's contract as general director was renewed for another 10 years. Bradshaw died of a sudden heart attack on August 15, 2007.[3] In June 2008, Alexander Neef was named the COC's general director; he formally assumed the position in October 2008.[4] In October 2008, Johannes Debus made his debut with the COC as a conductor in a production of Prokofiev's War and Peace, where he earned critical acclaim.[5] In January 2009, the COC announced the appointment of Johannes Debus as the company's music director.[6] Pianist and vocal coach Sandra Horst currently serves as the company's chorus master.[7]
Recent Productions
2008/2009 Season
Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
War and Peace (opera) by Sergei Prokofiev
Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven
Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák
Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi
La bohème by Giacomo Puccini
A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera) by Benjamin Britten
2009/2010 Season
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini
The Nightingale an Other Short Fables by Igor Stravinsky
Carmen by Georges Bizet
Otello by Giuseppe Verdi
The Flying Dutchman (opera) by Richard Wagner
Maria Stuarda by Gaetano Donizetti
Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
2010/2011 Season
Aida by Giuseppe Verdi[8]
Death in Venice (opera) by Benjamin Britten
The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Nixon in China by John Adams (composer)
La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini
Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss
Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck
2011/2012 Season
Iphigénie en Tauride by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
L'Amour de loin by Kaija Saariaho
The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach
Eine florentinische Tragödie by Alexander von Zemlinsky
Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini
Semele (Handel) by George Frideric Handel
2012/2013 Season
Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi
Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II
Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner
La clemenza di Tito by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Salome (opera) by Richard Strauss
Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc
Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
2013/2014 Season
La bohème by Giacomo Puccini
Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten
Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi
Hercules (Handel) by George Frideric Handel
Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti
Don Quichotte by Jules Massenet
2014/2015 Season
Falstaff (opera) by Giuseppe Verdi
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini
Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Walküre by Richard Wagner
The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók
Erwartung by Arnold Schoenberg
2015/2016 Season
La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
- Pyramus and Thisbe by Barbara Monk Feldman
Siegfried (opera) by Richard Wagner
The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Carmen by Georges Bizet
Maometto II by Gioachino Rossini
2016/2017 Season
Norma (opera) by Vincenzo Bellini
Ariodante by George Frideric Handel
The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner
Louis Riel (opera) by Harry Somers
Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
2017/2018 Season
L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti
Arabella by Richard Strauss
Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
Abduction from the Seraglio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Nightingale and Other Short Fables by Igor Stravinsky
Anna Bolena by Gaetano Donizetti
2018/2019 Season
Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright
Elektra by Richard Strauss
Cosi Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini
Otello by Giuseppe Verdi
Notable members
Cornelis Opthof - longest serving member for fifty years.[9][10]
References
^ Sandra Martin (May 29, 1984). "Opera: Joan Sutherland In New Role". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2009..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "Richard Bradshaw of Canadian Opera Company dies at 63". CBC News. August 16, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ ab Sandra Martin (August 17, 2007). "Canadian Opera Company's Richard Bradshaw dead at 63". Globe and Mail. Canada. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ "COC names German-born Alexander Neef as general director". CBC News. June 25, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ Robert Everett-Green (January 17, 2009). "Score one for the COC". Globe and Mail. Canada. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
^ Susan Noakes (January 7, 2009). "Frankfurt conductor Johannes Debus named COC music director". CBC News. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ William R. Braun (July 2009). "The Education of a Chorus: Sandra Horst is chorus master at both Canadian Opera Company and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis". Opera News. 74 (1). Retrieved June 24, 2009.
^ Frenette, Brad. "Canadian Opera Company to open season with 'Aida'". National Post. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
^ The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
^ "In memoriam Cornelis Opthof (1930–2008)" ( March 22, 2009) The Free Library
External links
- Canadian Opera Company website
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