{"id":48633,"date":"2017-10-28T10:32:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-28T14:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=48633"},"modified":"2017-10-28T11:06:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T15:06:33","slug":"scrutiny-canadian-childrens-opera-companys-50th-birthday-bash-pure-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/10\/28\/scrutiny-canadian-childrens-opera-companys-50th-birthday-bash-pure-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Canadian Children’s Opera Company\u2019s 50th Birthday Bash Pure Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Canadian
Canadian Children’s Opera Company with soprano Measha Brueggergosman (Photo:Jason S Cipparrone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An inspiring evening as the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company celebrates a Milestone<\/em><\/p>\n

We live in an age of impermanence, especially in the arts. A fiftieth birthday is considered rare in a non-profit organization, given the precariousness of funding, and a general devaluing of the arts. The Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company (formerly the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Chorus) can be justly proud that it achieved such a milestone. It\u2019s time for celebration.<\/p>\n

And celebrate it did, in grand style, in a Gala appropriately named, Ruby\u2019s Gold<\/em>. \u00a0A very well filled Four Seasons Centre, with many proud parents in the audience \u2014 very many of them former choristers themselves \u2014 to usher in CCOC\u2019s 51st year. It was a very festive atmosphere all evening, an early highlight of the still-young 2017-18 musical season.<\/p>\n

The event was fittingly called Ruby\u2019s Gold<\/em> because the CCOC was founded in 1968 by the late Ruby Mercer and Lloyd Bradshaw. Mercer was a former Metropolitan Opera soprano, broadcaster, author, and the founder of Opera Canada<\/em>. I got to know Ruby Mercer in my musical circles, and later as a contributor to her magazine. Without a doubt, Ruby was passionate about nurturing the next generation. For her, children are precious \u2014 they are the \u201cgold\u201d of our culture; they inherit the future.<\/p>\n

\"Canadian
Canadian Children’s Opera Company. (Photo:Jason S Cipparrone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CCOC has 240 boys and girls aged 6 to 19 in five divisions, under the directorship of Teri Dunn. Among the choristers, 80 of them form the Principal Chorus and sing as the children\u2019s chorus in COC productions and with the TSO. In its fifty-year history, the CCOC has commissioned thirteen operas, beginning with The Selfish Giant<\/em> (1973) to this season\u2019s The Monkiest King.<\/em> It has toured North America and Europe, and made six recordings. Impressively, many alumni have gone on to musical careers or as leaders in other fields. The CCOC is justly proud of its many accomplishments.<\/p>\n

This evening was hosted by the tenor Ben Heppner. Guest artists included sopranos Karina Gauvin, Measha Brueggergosman and Simone Osborne, mezzo Krisztina Szabo, vocalist Alana Bridgewater, tenor Andrew Haji, baritone Theodore Baerg, and actor Ben Carlson. Nicole Bellamy, Christina Faye and Steven Philcox were at the keyboard. In addition, former Artistic Directors John Tuttle (1985-2000) and Ann Cooper Gay (2000-2015), former CCOC accompanist Edward Moroney returned to perform. Remarkably, the singers were either former CCOC choristers or have worked with the CCOC in opera productions in the past. It was indeed a \u201cfamily affair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Canadian
Canadian Children’s Opera Company. (Photo: Jason S Cipparrone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show opened with the chorus from Doctor Canon\u2019s Cure<\/em>, by Canadian composer Derek Holman, whose creations figured prominently in CCOC\u2019s history. The CCOC-COC collaborations were highlighted in two excerpts from Carmen<\/em>, with veteran baritone Theodore Baerg as Escamillo. Soprano Simone Osborne, a lovely Pamina at the COC, joined her voice with the three Genies in a delightful scene from Die Zauberfl<\/em>\u00f6te<\/em>. Quebec soprano Karina Gauvin, who\u2019s in town to be honoured with the \u201cRubies,\u201d showed off her agility in \u201cDa tempeste\u201d from Handel\u2019s Giulio Cesare<\/em>, as well as a delicious excerpt from Mendelssohn\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Tenor Andrew Haji, one of the best young tenors today, offered a clarion \u201cLa donna e mobile\u201d from Rigoletto<\/em>. Mezzo Krisztina Szabo was at her alluring best as Musetta in \u201cQuando m\u2019en vo,\u201d I remember fondly her stunning diminuendo<\/em> high B when she sang it at the COC, quite a feat for a mezzo. She repeated it flawlessly tonight. Soprano Measha Brueggergosman showed off her magnetic stage persona in two spirituals, while R&B\/Soul\/Gospel artist Alana Bridgewater contributed a striking \u201cYou Raise Me Up.\u201d \u00a0Very interesting was a preview of CCOC\u2019s new commission penned by Hong Kong-born Canadian composer Alice Ho, The Monkiest King.<\/em> She got her inspiration from the celebrated Chinese novel.<\/p>\n

Arguably the single most memorable moment this evening was at the end, when the Alumni Chorus sang a medley from A Dickens of a Christmas<\/em>, the English folksong \u201cGod Bless the Master\u201d (conducted by John Tuttle) and the final number, \u201cWe Sing.\u201d Seeing so many people in the audience getting up to make their way onstage was a powerful and moving statement. In an age when the arts are not taught \u2014 indeed not valued \u2014 in Canadian schools, when so many see arts as money-wasting, frivolous pastimes, these former choristers show powerfully that music does matter. It enriches our lives. It\u2019s part of what makes us human. With their passion and commitment, the next 50 years of CCOC is assured.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i>
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An inspiring evening as the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company celebrates a Milestone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":48635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,11,76,19,52,63],"tags":[620,12859,2175],"yst_prominent_words":[12848,7140,12637,12628,12650,12668,12651,12851,12849,12608,10660,12847,12853,6886,6884,12875,12878,10017,7536,12646],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/10\/CCOC-3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-cEp","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48633"}],"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\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48633"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48647,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48633\/revisions\/48647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48633"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=48633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}