Toronto City Opera will close their 2025/26 season — TCO’s 80th — with Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. The fully staged production of the operetta will take the stage at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts on June 27 and 28, 2026.
Directed by Amanda Testini, the production will feature a full orchestra courtesy of the North York Concert Orchestra (NYCO), a first for TCO.
“We want to close this special 80th anniversary season with something fun that also provides lots of opportunities for our TCO Chorus. A few other companies in the country, including Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company, presented Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice this season, and we thought it would be wonderful to offer the comedic version of the story instead,” says Toronto City Opera Artistic Director Jennifer Tung in a statement.
Tung adds, “Through our collaboration with NYCO, this toe-tapping operetta will make for a truly entertaining evening.”
“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Toronto City Opera for this production,” says
NYCO conductor Rafael Luz. “Now in its 51st season, NYCO has a long history of collaborating with organizations across the city, and it feels especially meaningful to join forces with TCO as they celebrate their 80th anniversary season and continue their legacy of bringing opera to Toronto audiences.”
The Operetta
Jacques Offenbach’s operetta takes ancient Greek mythology on a hilarious and satirical ride.
It’s a parody of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, a classical Greek tragedy. In Offenbach’s story (with a libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy) Orpheus is a violin teacher, and not the son of the god Apollo. When his wife Eurydice is kidnapped by Pluto, god of the underworld, he’s happy — not heartbroken. Public Opinion has to pressure Orpheus into a rescue attempt.
The gods of Olympus intervene, and act horribly to comic effect. At the time, the work was widely viewed as a not so subtle satire of the court of Napoleon III.
It’s a fast-paced comedy with an irreverent edge, and the operetta that gave the musical world the Can-Can.
“Self-aware and delightfully irreverent, Orpheus in the Underworld subverts character and plot expectations, pokes fun at virtue and authority, and reminds us not to take life — or even opera — too seriously,” says director and choreographer Amanda Testini.
“Our production is filled with larger-than-life performances, playful Greek tropes, and a hot-as-Hell party in the Underworld. In this operetta, we go on a journey where we start by doing what society expects of us and by the end we embrace the liberation of doing what we want — even if it’s a little bad.”
Trinity-St. Paul’s will be transformed into a madcap and wonderfully anachronistic version of Ancient Greece, with costume design by Alexandra Christofides and lighting and projection design by Nathan Bruce.
The Cast
The cast includes a roster of Toronto professional singers.
- Soprano Teresa Tucci stars as Eurydice, an unhappily married woman who’s thirsty for excitement.
- Orpheus is played by tenor Jeffrey Liu as a man who’s obsessed with image.
- Tenor Christian Matta sings the role of Pluto, King of the Underworld.
- Baritone Matthew Black plays Jupiter, King of the Gods, who ends up in a divine love triangle with Eurydice.
- Mezzo-soprano Jada Alexiou plays the personification of “Public Opinion,” who shames Orpheus
into his quest to rescue Eurydice. - Sopranos Ana Isabella Castro, Alice MacGregor, and Aemilia Moser sing the roles of the goddesses Diana, Cupid, and Minerva.
- The Toronto City Opera Chorus portrays the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus as they
journey to the Underworld in search of a good time.
Performances
Performances take place on June 27 and 28 at Trinity-St. Paul’s.
The June 27 performance will celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community with “Pride Night at
the Opera”. The audience can dive into the event by dressing up in campy costumes inspired by Greek mythology, take photos, and take part in the audience vote to decide on the “best dressed” of the night.
For both performances, the audience can contribute to the Can-Canned food drive in support of the
Daily Bread Food Bank. Audiences are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to support members of the Toronto Community facing food insecurity.
- Find show details and tickets [HERE].
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