{"id":66430,"date":"2020-02-11T19:10:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T00:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=66430"},"modified":"2020-02-11T19:10:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T00:10:33","slug":"report-cocs-splendiferous-2020-21-season-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2020\/02\/11\/report-cocs-splendiferous-2020-21-season-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: The COC\u2019s Splendiferous 2020-21 Season Reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The COC’s Alexander Neef at the 2020-21 Season Reveal (Photo : Gaetz Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In February each year, the Canadian Opera Company announces its upcoming season. There was a time when it was a modest affair that took place at its headquarters on Front Street, designed mostly for the media and COC core supporters. Now it\u2019s a mega event in the Four Seasons Centre, complete with full orchestra and artists in performance. Subscribers, supporters, and donors are invited to this event, designed to generate maximum buzz.<\/p>\n

A fun game for winter-weary Toronto opera fans is to guess the program for the coming season, always a closely guarded secret. That said, this year is a bit of an exception \u2014 it was announced months ago that the season opens with Parsifal,<\/em> the first time staged by the COC. It\u2019s the Fran\u00e7ois Girard production that took the Met by storm a few seasons ago. This will mark General Director Alexander Neef\u2019s last season with the Company.<\/p>\n

Neef is slated to head the Paris Opera in the 2021-22 season, and what better way to say farewell to Toronto than with this monumental work? \u201cMonumental\u201d in the sense that it runs close to six hours, requiring an orchestral force in excess of 100, not to mention world class Wagnerian singers. It\u2019s also monumental in cost; the rumoured price tag is in the neighbourhood of $2 million. The COC has been fundraising in earnest for this production since last fall.<\/p>\n

The format for this year\u2019s Season Launch \u2014 now billed as \u201cSeason Reveal\u201d \u2014 is a bit different. There are no interviews, no filmed footage of singers, so that\u2019s slightly disappointing. It opened with the Land Acknowledgement by COC General Director Alexander Neef, immediately followed by a special guest, a First Nations Knowledge Keeper, Pauline Shirt, who performed a smudging ceremony on stage. Then it\u2019s presentation of the operas by soprano Simone Osborne, who spoke beautifully. I dare say if she were to want to have a sideline, she can be a brilliant broadcaster!<\/p>\n

Osborne also sang \u201cDoDo, mon petit,\u201d an alternate aria composed by COC Composer-in-Residence Ian Cusson, replacing the original aria for Marguerite in Louis Riel.<\/em> Other performances included mezzo Jamie Groote singing Cherubino\u2019s \u201cVoi che sapete\u201d from Le nozze di Figaro<\/em>, bass-baritone Joel Allison\u2019s Toreador\u2019s Song \u201cVotre toast\u201d from Carmen<\/em>, and tenor Matthew Cairns singing Alfredo\u2019s Act 2 aria from La Traviata<\/em>. Orchestral selections under Johannes Debus included Dance of the Furies from Orfeo<\/em>, and the Verwandlungsmusik from Act One of Parsifal.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"COC
COC 2020-21 Season creative (Photo : BT\/A Advertising)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2020-21 season includes six productions:<\/p>\n

Parsifal<\/strong> (7 performances September 25 for October 18, 2020).<\/em> The Fran\u00e7ois Girard production, a co-production with the Met and Lyon is a real blockbuster. This is the kind of show that Wagnerites the world over will travel to see. In the last few months, some of us fantasized about the cast, coming up with names like Andreas Schager, Christine Goerke, and Gerald Finley. Well, we couldn\u2019t have been more wrong! But the singers we are getting are equally wonderful. Tenor Christopher Ventris, whom I have heard several times mostly in Santa Fe, is Parsifal. Singing two performance will be Russian tenor Viktor Antipenko, who had a triumph as Siegmund in the Chemnitz Ring last year. It\u2019s great to have bass-baritone Johan Reuter back, after his unforgettable Walkure<\/em> Wotan here a few seasons back. And I look forward to hearing mezzo Tanja Baumgartner as Kundry. Johannes Debus will be conducting his first Parsifal.<\/p>\n

Le nozze di Figaro<\/strong> (8 performances Oct. 20 \u2013 Nov. 7, 2020).<\/em> Austrian bass-baritone Josef Wagner<\/a><\/span> is back to reprise his Figaro. The Susanna is Louise Alder, whose lovely voice I heard on a live stream of the Cardiff Singer of the World a few years ago. It\u2019s great to have South African soprano Johanni van Oostrum as Contessa \u2014 I heard her wonderful Elsa in Munich last November, replacing an indisposed Anya Harteros. Lots of great Canadians in this show \u2014 Russell Braun (Conte), Emily D\u2019Angelo (Cherubino), Michael Colvin (Basilio), Robert Pomakov (Bartolo), and Doug MacNaughton (Antonio). American mezzo Helene Schneiderman is back to reprise her Marcellina. Santa Fe Opera Music Director Harry Bicket returns to the COC to conduct.<\/p>\n

Carmen<\/strong> (9 performances Jan. 23 to Feb. 21, 2021)<\/em>. Last seen only four or five years ago, Joel Ivany inherited this production and is back to direct. American mezzo J\u2019nai Bridges makes her COC debut as Carmen, opposite the tenor sensation Michael Fabiano as Don Jose. Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury, last heard as Liu, is back as Micaela. Adam Palka, a name new to me and a Fest artist at Staatsoper Stuttgart, makes his COC debut as Escamillo. Johannes Debus conducts.<\/p>\n

\"COC
COC 2020-21 Season creative (Photo : BT\/A Advertising)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Katya Kabanova<\/strong> (7 performances Feb. 6 \u2013 20, 2021)<\/em>. Janacek used to be a regular offering at the COC during Richard Bradshaw\u2019s time, and it\u2019s good to have it back. I recall vividly seeing Katya at the Elgin Theatre in the early \u201890s, with Stephanie Sundine as Katya. This time it\u2019s the fabulous Polish-American soprano Amanda Majeski, whom I\u2019ve seen several times in Santa Fe, most recently as the Countess in Capriccio<\/em> \u2014 a wonderful singer! Last seen in Zemlinsky\u2019s Florentine Tragedy<\/em>, tenor Michael K\u00f6nig returns as Boris. British soprano Susan Bullock, a former COC Brunnhilde and Klytemnesta, is Kabanicka. Johannes conducts \u2014 he\u2019s a busy guy!<\/p>\n

La Traviata<\/strong> (9 performances April 17 \u2013 May 16, 2021).<\/em> This is the other blockbuster besides Parsifal<\/em>, thanks to the two leads. The great Sondra Radvanovsky takes on Violetta, a role she sang nearly twenty years ago in Santa Fe. She\u2019s partnered by Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, who is returning to the COC after 21 years. I remember vividly his splendid Rodolfo in 2000 at the COC, when he was only 21 years old! He went on to become a superstar. Polish baritone and frequent Met singer Artur Rucinski is Germont. American conductor Stephen Lord returns to the COC.<\/p>\n

Orfeo ed Euridice<\/strong> (7 performances May 1 to 15, 2021)<\/em>. The Gluck masterpiece is the most popular of all Baroque operas, ranked #44 in terms of popularity based on statistics from 2004-2019 (1,422 performances in 299 productions). And we\u2019ll have a fine cast led by British countertenor Iestyn Davies and fast-rising Canadian\/COC Ensemble soprano Anna-Sophie Neher as the two lovers. Former COC Ensemble soprano Mireille Asselin returns as Amor. Baroque specialist Bernard Labadie returns to conduct in the Robert Carsen production.<\/p>\n

There you have it, the making of a great season! Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us\u00a0on <\/em>Facebook<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span>, <\/em>Instagram<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span> <\/b>or <\/em>Twitter<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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