{"id":24824,"date":"2015-01-14T18:30:45","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T23:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=24824"},"modified":"2015-01-14T18:45:53","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T23:45:53","slug":"breaking-canadian-opera-company-to-announce-the-world-premiere-of-a-new-canadian-opera-for-20152016-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/01\/14\/breaking-canadian-opera-company-to-announce-the-world-premiere-of-a-new-canadian-opera-for-20152016-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking | Canadian Opera Company Announces World Premiere of a New Canadian Opera for 2015\/2016 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_24827\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24827\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-24827 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Sokolovic-Ana-Credit-Alain-Lefort.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Sokolovic-Ana-Credit-Alain-Lefort.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Sokolovic-Ana-Credit-Alain-Lefort-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Sokolovic-Ana-Credit-Alain-Lefort-682x1024.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24827\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">composer Ana Sokolovi\u0107 Photo: Alain Lefort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Tonight marks the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Season Launch Event ushering in a new season, and a number of exciting new initiatives for Canada&#8217;s premiere opera company.<\/p>\n<p>Musical Toronto\u2019s opera expert, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.musicaltoronto.org\/category\/the-voice\/\" target=\"_blank\">Neil Crory<\/a> will be on hand to cover the event,\u00a0and also discuss the news with COC General Director, Alexander Neef.<\/p>\n<p>Until then, here is a brief overview as well as the entire press release reprinted below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ensemble Studio members for 2015\/2016 season announced<\/li>\n<li>The 2015\/2016 season as a whole, which includes multiple COC premieres and one world premiere presentation.<\/li>\n<li>Details of the new Canadian opera that the COC will be presenting for its world premiere as part of the 2015\/16 season. The opera is called <em>Pyramus and Thisbe<\/em> and is by Canadian composer Barbara Monk Feldman. Please note this is NOT a COC commission. The COC is\u00a0simply the world premiere presenter.<\/li>\n<li>News that the Canadian Opera Company has commissioned a new Canadian opera, <em>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/em>, to be composed by Canadian composer Ana Sokolovi\u0107, with libretto by Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>COC Press Release: January 14, 2015 \u2013 6:30 p.m.<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>Toronto<\/b> \u2013\u00a0<b>Alexander Neef<\/b>, General Director of the Canadian Opera Company, announced today the commission of a new opera for its mainstage by one of Canada\u2019s most important composers, <b>Ana Sokolovi\u0107<\/b>. Titled <b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b>, the libretto is by Quebec playwright <b>Michel Marc Bouchard<\/b> and based on his play of the same name. Inspired by Queen Christina of Sweden who ruled the country in the 17th century before abdicating her throne at the age of 27, <b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b>is currently in development and is scheduled to have its world premiere in the COC\u2019s 2019\/2020 season.<\/p>\n<p>Sweden\u2019s Queen Christina (1626-1689) sought to make her country the most sophisticated in Europe. She was an enigmatic, flamboyant and unpredictable individual with a passion for philosophy and the arts, leading an unconventional lifestyle by adopting masculine dress and behaviour. She was also obsessed with celibacy, which encouraged other royals in their romantic pursuit of her. Her personal aspirations and her unconventional sexuality, however, put her at profound odds with her court and her country. As the daughter of a Protestant champion in the Thirty Years\u2019 War, Christina ultimately caused a great scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1654. <b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b> focuses on the visit of French philosopher\u00a0Ren\u00e9 Descartes to the Swedish court, while Christina, newly in love with the Countess Ebba Sparre and under pressure from male pretenders, calls into question everything that defines what she has been to date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very proud to announce today a new opera commission by the Canadian Opera Company. Ana is one of Canada\u2019s greatest composers and Michel Marc is one of this country\u2019s greatest playwrights, and we take great pride as a company to have brought them together to create this new Canadian opera,\u201d says <b>COC General Director Alexander Neef<\/b>. \u201cI have long been an admirer of Ana\u2019s work, especially her opera <i>Svadba-Wedding<\/i>, and have thought for a while that she was ready for a mainstage opera, and Michel Marc\u2019s <i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i> is one of the best new plays that I\u2019ve read. The subject of Christine of Sweden is one of Shakespearean proportion \u00a0with universal relevance. I think it will make a fantastic opera, especially in the hands of Ana and Michel Marc.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the Serbian-born, Montreal-based <b>Ana Sokolovi\u0107<\/b>, <b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b>allows the composer to chart new musical territory. \u201cAfter writing three chamber operas for Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, I am back to Toronto for this amazing new project: a mainstage opera for soloists, chorus and full orchestra. For this important step in my artistic career, I am honoured to receive such an important Canadian opera commission, and working closely with one of the greatest Canadian authors, Michel Marc Bouchard, is a huge privilege for me,\u201d says <b>Sokolovi\u0107<\/b>. \u201cAs a woman and as an artist, I am particularly touched by this story about the\u00a0Swedish Queen Christina. She was an inspiring woman ahead of her time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b>is Michel Marc Bourchard\u2019s second libretto. \u201cThe story of Christina of Sweden has taken me on a long journey, one that started with cinema and theatre and now continues with opera.\u00a0<i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i> is my second adventure in the world of opera after <i>Les Feluettes<\/i> (<i>Lilies<\/i>) for l\u2019Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al, which will be produced in 2016. Fascinating, demanding, oversized, it is a great world to explore,\u201d says <b>Bouchard<\/b>. \u201cIt is an unexpected gift to have one of the most prestigious opera houses in North America ask me to write the libretto for <i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i> and to work with Ana Sokolovi\u0107, whose own works are so compelling, inspiring and modern. Ana and I now enter the intimate alcoves of creation to offer you this new opera.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, <b>Sokolovi\u0107<\/b> has earned a steady stream of commissions and awards. Her works include orchestral, vocal, chamber, operatic and theatrical pieces. From 1995 to 1998, she was a three-time recipient of the SOCAN Foundation Award for Young Composers. In the 1999 edition of the CBC Young Composers Competition, she won the grand prize along with first prize in the chamber music category. In 2005, she won the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize presented by the Canada Council for the Arts, and in 2007 the Conseil qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois de la musique awarded her the Prix Opus for composer of the year. In 2008, she won the Jan V. Matejcek Award presented by SOCAN; in 2012, she was a repeat winner of the same award. In 2009, she won the prestigious National Arts Centre Award, which included commissions, residencies and teaching positions over a five-year period. In the summer of 2012, her opera <i>Svadba-Wedding<\/i>, commissioned and produced by the Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, received six nominations for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards and won for Outstanding New Musical\/Opera. The opera then went on tour in Canada and Europe until 2013. <i>Svadba-Wedding<\/i> is next scheduled to be performed in summer 2015 at the Festival d\u2019Aix-en-Province in France.<\/p>\n<p><b>Bouchard<\/b> has written more than 20 plays, which are translated into many languages and performed worldwide, with six adapted for film. Various productions, most notably <i>Lilies or the Revival of a Romantic Drama, The Tale of Teeka, The Orphan Muses, The Coronation Voyage, Down Dangerous Passes Road, The Madonna Painter<\/i> and <i>Tom at the Farm<\/i>, have garnered Dora Mavor Moore and Chalmers Awards (Toronto), the National Arts Centre Award, the Betty Mitchell Award (Calgary), the prix du Journal de Montr\u00e9al, Primo Arte Candoni (Italy), the prix SACD (France), the Lamdba Literary Award (New York) and many international critics\u2019 awards. Bouchard has received three nominations for the Governor General\u2019s Award for literature, including for <i>Christine, la reine-gar\u00e7on,<\/i> produced at the Stratford Festival in 2014. <i>Tom<\/i> <i>\u00e0<\/i> <i>la ferme<\/i>, adapted for screen by Xavier Dolan, won the International critics award at the Venice Mostra 2012, and <i>Tom at the farm<\/i> will be presented at Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto in spring 2015. Bouchard is currently working on <i>The<\/i> <i>Divine<\/i>, which will be presented at the Shaw Festival in 2015, then produced in Montr\u00e9al as <i>La Divine Illusion<\/i>. The film <i>The Girl King<\/i>,\u00a0based on the life of Queen Christian of Sweden and written by Bouchard and directed by Mika Kaurismaki, is scheduled for release in 2015. Bouchard\u2019s first opera, based on <i>Lilies<\/i>, will premiere in 2016 with l\u2019Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al. Bouchard is an Officer of the Order of Canada and Knight of the National Order of Quebec.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b>will be the sixth opera commissioned by the COC that has had its world premiere on the company\u2019s mainstage since 1950. The COC\u2019s previous mainstage commissions are <i>Hadrian<\/i>, to premiere in 2018\/2019 (composer: Rufus Wainwright; librettist: Daniel MacIvor); <i>The Golden Ass<\/i>, 1999 (composer: Randolph Peters; librettist: Robertson Davies); <i>Mario and the Magician<\/i>, 1992 (composer: Harry Somers; librettist: Rod Anderson); <i>H\u00e9loise and Ab\u00e9lard<\/i>, 1973 (composer: Charles Wilson; librettist: Eugene Benson); and <i>The Luck of Ginger Coffey<\/i>, 1967 (composer: Raymond Pannell; librettist: Ron Hambleton).<\/p>\n<p>The COC is also the presenter of operatic world premieres. As part of the 15\/16 season, the opera company presents the world premiere of <i>Pyramus and Thisbe<\/i> (composer and librettist: Barbara Monk Feldman). It also presented the world premiere of <i>Louis Riel<\/i> (composer: Harry Somers; librettist: Mavor Moore in collaboration with Jacques Languirand) in 1967, a work commissioned by the Floyd S. Chalmers Foundation, which it will revive in a new production for the COC\u2019s 2016\/2017 season.<\/p>\n<p>For presentations off the mainstage, the COC has commissioned 14 operatic works that have premiered in concert, as part of its school tour initiative or as chamber opera productions featuring members of its young artist training program, the Ensemble Studio.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>La Reine-Gar\u00e7on<\/i><\/b>will be sung in French. Information regarding the opera\u2019s creative team as well as casting, design and sponsorship will be released as details become available.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tonight marks the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Season Launch Event ushering in a new season, and a number of exciting new initiatives for Canada&#8217;s premiere opera company.<\/p>\n<p>Musical Toronto\u2019s opera expert, Neil Crory will be on hand to cover the event, and also discuss the news with COC General Director, Alexander Neef.<br \/>\nUntil then, here is a brief overview as well as the entire press release reprinted below&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,39],"tags":[5235,266,628],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Sokolovic-Ana-Credit-Alain-Lefort.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-6so","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24824"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24844,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24824\/revisions\/24844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24824"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=24824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}