{"id":122550,"date":"2026-03-13T15:22:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=122550"},"modified":"2026-03-13T20:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T00:12:13","slug":"interview-award-winning-librettist-grain-ad-royce-vavrek-talks-canuck-cantatas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/03\/13\/interview-award-winning-librettist-grain-ad-royce-vavrek-talks-canuck-cantatas\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Award-Winning Librettist & Against The Grain AD Royce Vavrek Talks About Canuck Cantatas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R:
L-R: Librettist and playwright Vern Thiessen (Photo courtesy of the artist); Composer Sonny-Ray Day Rider (Photo courtesy of the artist); Vocalist\/composer Danika Loren (Photo: Thomas Li); Vocalist\/librettist Emma Pennell (Photo courtesy of the artist); Vocalist\/composer Sarah Slean (Photo courtesy of the artist); Librettist, and Artistic Director of Against the Grain Theatre, Royce Vavrek (Photo: Ricardo Beas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boundary pushing company Against the Grain Theatre will be presenting an evening that promises the world premieres of three new Canadian mini-operas. Canuck Cantatas has teamed up six artists into three duos of librettist and composer, with one member of each duo also doubling as the performing artists.<\/p>\n

The composers include Sonny-Ray Day Rider<\/strong>, Sarah Slean<\/strong>, and Danika Lor\u00e8n<\/strong>, and they\u2019ve been paired up with librettists Royce Vavrek<\/strong> (also Artistic Director of Against the Grain), Emma Pennell<\/strong>, and Vern Thiessen<\/strong>. Heather Slater<\/strong> will produce, with Lesley Abarquez Bradley<\/strong> acting as stage manager.<\/p>\n

Canuck Cantatas takes place April 10 to 12 at Toronto\u2019s Redwood Theatre.<\/p>\n

Expect bold work, and thoughtful miniature operas which bring to life fictional Canadian characters who form part of the Canadian identity in various ways.<\/p>\n

LV caught up with AtG Artistic Director Royce Vavrek<\/a> to talk about the initiative.<\/p>\n

Royce Vavrek: The Interview<\/h2>\n

It turns out that Canuck Cantatas is an idea Vavrek\u2019s been nursing since he was appointed AtG\u2019s Artistic Director back in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the first things that I dreamt up when I was even in the interview process for this post,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love commissions,\u201d he adds. \u201cThis felt like a really nice opportunity to create some new operas.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he points out, basing the initiative on 15-minute operas also meant that new works could be created fairly quickly, while still making works with substance. \u201cWe could do very meaningful projects,\u201d Vavrek says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of potential in the 15 minutes. You can do a lot in 15 minutes that doesn’t occupy all your developmental time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becoming AD of Against the Grain meant that Vavrek, who has worked internationally for much of his career, could also focus on creating Canadian content.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hungry to get some new Canadian repertoire into the world,\u201d he says. \u201cI started thinking of what is of value right now? I’m feeling very Canadian these days,\u201d he adds. \u201cI think our ideas of what opera can be are very broad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creating serious Canadian content, and presenting it in Toronto, is one of his goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been so lucky to do a little bit of Canadian work in my life.<\/p>\n

He mentions the operas Mermaid in the Jar, based on the short story by Sheila Heti, and with music by Rachel J. Peters, which premiered at the Oberlin Conservatory in 2020, and Adoration, based on Canadian director Atom Egoyan\u2019s film of the same name, which premiered in 2024 in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I’ve been tiptoeing into Canadian stories. My career has been very international,\u201d he says. It\u2019s time for more emphasis on Canadian artists. \u201cWe\u2019re awesome,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The Project<\/h3>\n

Once the teams were assembled, they were given the criteria for Canuck Cantatas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked the teams […] to create a fictional Canadian character,\u201d Vavrek explains. The 15-minute opera for one soloist could consist of one or more movements, and feature a theatrical arc that speaks to the Canadian experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s going to be very cool,\u201d he says. \u201cThe soloists are all young Canadians, but the diversity within those experiences is very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The soloist performers include sopranos Emma Pennell, who\u2019s also acting as a librettist, Sarah Slean, and Danika Lor\u00e8n. The latter two are also composing the operas they\u2019ll perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something really exciting about this cohort of creators,\u201d he says. He\u2019s excited to hear Slean and Lor\u00e8n sing their own music, and Pennell interpret her own libretto. That was a serendipitous outcome, and not one of the requirements. \u201cIt’s not a prerequisite that they perform their own work,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Operas<\/h3>\n

He\u2019s hoping that the event will be just the first iteration of Canuck Cantatas. \u201cWhile it wasn’t necessarily how I imagined it from the ground level, I would love for this to be a [series that repeats],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s been a fulfilling experience so far. As librettist, he\u2019s paired up with Sarah Slean.<\/p>\n

\u201cSarah Slean is absolutely one of my most favourite artists,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Danika Lor\u00e8n is paired with Vern Thiessen. \u201c[Their opera is called] \u201cThe Close Encounters of Faith Friesen\u201d,\u201d Vavrek shares. Faith is working alone in a radio station. She\u2019s obsessed with the idea of making contact with aliens.<\/p>\n

Emma Pennell and Blackfoot composer Sonny-Ray Day Rider\u2019s opera is titled \u201cRed Daughters\u201d. Vavrek calls it \u201ca haunting meditation on girlhood, memory, and survival\u201d. Rider comes from the Kainai Blood Tribe, and Emma\u2019s roots include a mix of settler and Mi\u2019kmaw of the Ktaqmkuk people, who come from what is now Newfoundland. The protagonist of the opera carries her wishes from her home among the trees into the city, where she knows she may not be safe.<\/p>\n

The opera Vavrek and Slean have created is titled Kimberly Dunbar, and tells the story of a mother who is desperately trying to influence everything and everyone in her environment\u2014 including banning books, and building a like-minded community.<\/p>\n

Vavrek says he was struck by the viral video of Margaret Atwood<\/a> attempting to burn her own Handmaid\u2019s Tale. \u201cI was very inspired by Margaret’s video,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He calls Kimberly Dunbar a \u201cmisguided woman\u201d who genuinely believes she\u2019s doing what\u2019s best for her family. She thinks banning books makes the world safer. Representing her without demonizing her was part of the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important to Sarah and I,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere was something really fascinating about creating a character who didn’t have the same political beliefs, but not vilifying her. Building bridges and compassion [are] major buzzwords for a reason,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The operas will each be performed in full.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be staging,\u201d he continues, \u201clean and mean, but a full production.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Importance Of Canadian Content<\/h3>\n

Vavrek points out that Canada as a nation is younger than the art of opera itself. He believes creating Canadian works plays an important role in developing opera repertoire overall. The world needs Canadian ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow important it is that we really double down on our Canadian ideas and amplify them as loudly as possible,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope we can build a bigger volume of literature. We need to seize this moment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make sure that our contemporary vantage is represented in art.\u201d<\/p>\n