To Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, 2025 is a special year. This year marks the 40th year since the genesis of Opera Atelier, an opera company founded by the husband-and-wife team. The premiere took place in a modest venue, the Walker Court of the Royal Ontario Museum. On offer was a double bill, pairing Handel’s oratorio, The Choice of Hercules (HWV 69) with Mozart’s ballet Les Petits Reins.
From that modest beginning, OA has developed into the powerhouse it is today, a world-renowned opera company specializing in Baroque and the Classical repertoires. Over four decades, OA has acquired a loyal following, a special subset of opera lovers with a passion for early music, presented in a historically informed manner that is pleasing to the eyes and ears. It also marked the beginning of a four-decade collaboration with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra that continues to flourish today.
Early productions were held at various venues in addition to ROM’s Walker Court — the Art Gallery of Ontario, the MacMillan Theatre at the U of T Faculty of Music and elsewhere. By the early 90s, its primary home was the Elgin Theatre, where it continues to perform to this day. The Company also toured to many international destinations with much success. It was at the Macmillan Theatre where I got my first taste of OA.
As a lifelong opera fan, my preference has always been the 19th and early 20th century works, especially those of Wagner and Strauss. Baroque was not on my radar, to be honest. That was until I had an epiphany of sorts, when a friend persuaded me to attend OA’s Orfeo at the University of Toronto’s Macmillan Theatre back in the late 1980s. I was captivated by what I saw and heard, laying to rest my early prejudice against Baroque operas.
To be sure, it’s never completely smooth sailing in the arts. Like everything else, arts attendance reflects what’s going on in society. I distinctly recall in an interview years ago, when Marshall Pynkoski revealed that how petrified he was during the outbreak of the avian flu epidemic in 2005, when there was all of 250 people in the large, 2,149-seat Elgin Theatre. But Pynkoski and Lajeunesse-Zingg soldiered on. They have rightfully earned the respect of the performing arts community for their vision, resilience, and the undying faith in their mission.
I took this felicitous occasion of the OA’s 40th Anniversary to get in touch with the couple, to get their thoughts on the OA’s significant milestone.
Q&A
Congratulations, Marshall and Jeannette, on the 40th Anniversary of OA! Tell me, when you and Jeannette first launched the Company in 1985, did you think that it would develop into the organization that it is today?
We always believed that Opera Atelier had the potential to have a major impact nationally and internationally, primarily because we believed the repertoire that formed the core of the company’s aesthetic represented some of the finest lyric theatre in the operatic canon. Coupled with the extraordinary coincidence of finding ourselves in a city that is the home of Tafelmusik, designer Gerard Gauci, conductor David Fallis and a wealth of ambitious, beautifully trained singers and dancers, it gave us enormous confidence in the company’s future.
What were some of the big challenges over the years?
Our most significant challenges have always been financial. We began Opera Atelier with the knowledge that we would never have the sponsorship appeal of a company offering multiple productions on a yearly basis. It was a challenge to hold true to our mandate, to produce only twice a year and to build all of our productions from the ground up.
Opera Atelier’s decision to redefine the very concept of period production was initially met with some significant resistance, particularly when we ventured into the classical repertoire. But the international success of our period productions of Mozart and Weber among others gave us the grit to stay the course.
When we first founded OA, our research internationally was funded by Jeannette and me personally. It was personal bank loans that made it possible for Jeannette to study in New York with the great dance historian Wendy Hilton, and an additional loan enabled my extensive study in Adelaide, South Australia with the great dramaturge of Baroque Theatre, Dene Barnett. Our dancing at the Moulin Rouge in Paris paid for a period of invaluable research as we were armed with letters of introduction from Toronto-based curators and professors that enabled us to continue our research in the archives of major opera houses and the Bibliothèque Nationale in France.
Among the many accomplishments of OA, which one(s) are you the proudest of?
Our debut at the 100th Anniversary of the BBC Proms with our production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas was an extraordinary moment, particularly when you realize that OA was only 10 years old.
Perhaps our proudest moments, however, have been tied up with the Royal Opera House in Versailles, where OA was first invited to tour our production of Lully’s Armide in 2012. More than 80 Canadian artists, including the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, joined us for that adventure. The critical success of that tour laid the ground for our ongoing relationship with Château de Versailles Spectacles and the company’s visionary director Laurent Brunner. This is an important relationship that continues to this day.
Can you tell your readers a few special moments during the many performances over the last 40 years that have forever etched in your memory, moments that have left an indelible impression on you, moments that gave you the most satisfaction?
Versailles celebrated the success of our production of Armide by inviting us to remount the production in 2015 in the Royal Opera House. Our arrival in Versailles coincided with the Bataclan terrorist attack, which shut down major museums and theatres across the country. OA’s insistence that we were willing to remain in Versailles and perform was seen as an act of tremendous solidarity between Versailles and Toronto — France and Canada. The opening night included speeches from the stage by Laurent Brunner, Katherine Pégard (the president of Versailles) and myself, followed by Tafelmusik playing the Marseillaise. The fact that we were presenting a French 17th century opera exploring the explosive relationship between a Christian knight and a Muslim warrior princess added a sense of unreality to the entire event.
OA had the great honour of producing Lully’s Persée in the Royal House in Versailles in 2014. This was the opera that opened the Royal Opera House in celebration of the wedding of Marie Antoinette and the future Louis XVI in 1770. OA’s production was the first time the opera had played in the Royal Opera House since its inauguration.
Our 40-year relationship with Tafelmusik is a historically unprecedented collaboration in Canadian theatre history, and the establishment of a corps de ballet (the Artists of Atelier Ballet) as an integral part of each OA production has given us great pleasure and pride.
We are also very proud of the fact that OA enjoys the most extensive international touring schedule of any theatre company in Canadian history. What’s more, we have never self-presented. All of our performances in major venues, such as the Salzburg Festival, La Scala, the Glimmerglass Festival, and tours to Japan, Singapore, South Korea and throughout Europe, originated with invitations by the presenters in question.
And finally, what plans do you have for OA going forward?
Opera Atelier continues to grow and change, but the change is organic — never something that is imposed. Our entire creative team is completely in sync as we look toward to productions of Debussy and his contemporaries in addition to new creations for period instruments. We will always, however, find opportunities to return to our core repertoire, revelling in productions of Monteverdi, Lully, Charpentier and Handel.
We are very proud of the fact that OA’s productions have always reflected the tremendous diversity we find in Toronto, one of the most diverse cities in the world. This is a phenomenon that has been noticed and commented upon in our international touring. It is something that has made OA an ideal representative of Canada’s values on an international stage.
David and Jonathan: Review
Opera Atelier | Charpentier: David and Jonathan; Mireille Asselin, soprano; Colin Ainsworth, tenor; Christopher Dunham, baritone; Stephen Hegedus, bass baritone; David Witczak, baritone; Mireille Lebel, mezzo-soprano; Antonin Rondepierre, tenor; Artists of Atelier Ballet. Marshall Pynkoski, director, Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, choreographer; Tafelmusik Chamber Orchestra, David Fallis, conductor. April 9, 2025, Koerner Hall.
During the rehearsal period leading up to the performance, I heard comments via the grapevine about the “beautiful” and “wonderful” upcoming production. These tantalizing tidbits made me look even more forward to opening night, which finally arrived on April 9 at Koerner Hall. It was indeed a grand night at the opera.
Marc Antoine Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, an opera with a prologue and five acts, had its premiere in 1688. It is based on the Old Testament story of the friendship between David (tenor Colin Ainsworth) and Jonathan (boy soprano, here sung by light lyric soprano Mireille Asselin), and the conflict between David and Jonathan’s father, King Saul, sung by baritone David Witczak. Although the opera takes the form of a typical French “tragédie en musique,” it is sometimes called a “tragédie biblique” because of its Biblical theme.
The performance opens with a Prologue, in a scene dominated by the Sorceress Pythonisse, impressively sung and acted by mezzo Mireille Lebel. The following five acts follows the twists and turns of the plot, with the bulk of the singing falling on the capable shoulder of tenor Colin Ainsworth, who scored a major triumph as David, both vocally and dramatically. In the big moments, his voice rang out thrillingly, and in the tender moments, his sound was suitably soft and lovely.
Interesting that Charpentier composed Jonathan as a boy soprano, a role here taken by soprano Mireille Asselin. The role has less music to sing, although it does have several moments in the sun — primarily in the last two acts — making it all worthwhile for the prima donna!
To my eyes and ears, acts 4 and 5 are also the best part of the opera. Asselin was an endearing Jonathan, and she sang with beautiful tone. Canadian baritone Christopher Dunham made an auspicious OA debut as King Achis, singing with sturdy tone and acting up a storm.
Kudos to the eight Ensemble Soloists, taken by some familiar names the likes of Danielle MacMillan, Alexander Cappellazzo and Olivier Laquerre — luxury casting indeed! Front and centre in any OA production is the Atelier Ballet, marvellous as expected.
If I were to nitpick, I do find the stage action, while entertaining, to be a bit too frenetic and over the top, accentuated by the relatively small stage area. While we don’t know for certain what performance practice was like over three and a half centuries ago, I doubt that it would be as busy and melodramatic.
Designer Gerard Gauci has created a set specially designed for Koerner Hall, completely different from what was seen in the Chapel in Versailles. (For the curious, you can watch it on YouTube). The four imposingly tall pillars, the plentiful use of wood matching Koerner’s interior, twin staircases and lots of tapestries — these elements managed to transform the Koerner concert space into an efficient opera stage, aided in no small way by dramatic lighting and sound effects.
Performers going down the aisles of the auditorium to go on the stage brings with it a sense of marvel and surprise for the audience. Placing the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir up on the side balcony also enhanced their sound from where I was sitting. Under its longtime conductor David Fallis, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra sounded terrific, particularly in the friendly acoustics of Koerner, far superior to the dry acoustics of the Elgin Theatre.
With such an entertaining show, the two and a half hours flew by in a flash. There are three more performances, to April 13. Not to be missed!
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