OPERA NEWS - 22 Jan '10

OPERA CURTAIN UP

COC Premieres, new productions planned for 2010-11 season

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
22 Jan '10


  With a successful launch to his 2009-10 season under his belt, the Canadian Opera Company's general director Alexander Neef let patrons know Wednesday what he has planned for the company's 2010-11 season at the Four Seasons Centre.

At a news conference, Neef announced the seven operas that comprise the COC's 61st season -- including two new productions and two COC premieres, in addition to a trio of international productions long overdue for a Toronto showcase.

  The season kicks off with a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's AIDA, directed by Tim Albery and designed by Hildegard Bechtler (sets) and Jon Morrell (costumes). Sondra Radvanovsky and Michele Capalbo will share the title role, with Rasario La Spina cast as Radames.

   It will be paired in the fall season with Benjamin Britten's DEATH IN VENICE, a co-production of the Aldeburgh Festival Opera national de Lyon, Bregenz Festival and the Prague State Opera, directed by Yoshi Oida and conducted by Stuart Bedford, who conducted the work's world premiere.

The winter season launches with an all-new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE, directed by Diane Paulus and designed by Myung Hee Cho. Michael Schade and Frederic Antoun will share the role of Tamino, with Isabel Bayrakdarian and Simone Osborne sharing the role of Pamina. A special performance featuring the COC's Ensemble Studio is slated for Feb. 17, 2011.

  THE MAGIC FLUTE will be paired with John Adams' acclaimed contemporary opera NIXON IN CHINA, directed by James Robinson and co-produced by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Chicago Opera Theatre, Opera Colorado, Houston Grand Opera,
Minnesota Opera and Portland Opera.

The spring 2011 season will open with a production of Gioacchino Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA that premiered at the Houston Grand Opera, and which has gone on to worldwide acclaim under the direction of Joan Font. It is paired with the Welsh National Opera's production of Richard Strauss' ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, featuring Richard Margison and Adrianne Pieczonka. The
Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Christoph Willibald Gluck's ORFEO ED EURIDICE, directed by our own Robert Carsen, and featuring Lawrence Zazzo and Isabel Bayrakdarian, rounds out the season.
   
   And while current economic conditions and the realities of opera production mean that seat prices will remain high, Neef also announced a new initiative that will gladden the hearts of opera lovers whose budgets don't match their tastes.

   In addition to the 200 tickets that are available at a reduced cost to the under-30 set, beginning in the 2010-11 season 50 standing-room spaces will be offered for every COC performance at a cost of only $12 per ticket, including all taxes.

    And speaking of taxes, with the HST slated to kick in May 1, COC board president Paul Spafford used Wednesday's news conference as a platform to remind current patrons to renew before that date, in order to avoid the new tax.