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Performance History

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome as OPERA IN CONCERT celebrates its Thirty-Fifth Season of presenting rare operas, new sounds and thrilling voices. Here are some highlights of our achievements:

 

Opera in Concert’s 20th Anniversary performance of HAMLET (1974) was broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and by Radio Canada. In 1994 Guillermo Silva-Marin, the original Hamlet, was appointed General Director of Opera in Concert. Mr. Silva-Marin has extended OIC’s programming with an adventurous repertoire including Marschner’s DER VAMPYR, Verdi’s LUISA MILLER, Bellini’s LA SONNAMBULA and Catalani’s LA WALLY, as well as Canadian works FLORENCE, THE LADY WITH THE LAMP by Timothy Sullivan, THE SHIVAREE and NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS by John Beckwith, DEIRDRE by Healey Willan and THE FOOL by Harry Somers.

 

Opera in Concert’s 25th Anniversary performance of Thomas’ MIGNON featuring sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian and Tracy Dahl, tenor Benjamin Butterfield and bass Marcel Beaulieu was broadcast by CBC Radio Two – Saturday Afternoon at the Opera – on Nov. 6, 1999. The legacy of rarely-heard repertoire performed by Canadian artists continued with Opera in Concert’s Handel Trilogy (ALCINA, ARIODANTE and SEMELE).

 

Canadian artists who began their careers with Opera in Concert include Richard Margison, Ben Heppner, Joanne Kolomyjec, Rosemarie Landry, Paul Frey, Jean Stilwell, Russell Braun, Brett Polegato Isabel Bayrakdarian, Michael Schade, Frederique Vézina, Marc Boucher, Susan Eyton-Jones and David Dong Qyu Lee. Many are still singing on important opera stages around the world. Among the 123 OIC concert productions which have been loved and admired by audiences, there have been many Canadian premieres such as Schumann’s GENOVEVA, Montemezzi’s L’AMORE DEI TRE RE, Thomas’ HAMLET, Verdi’s GIOVANNA D’ARCO, Rimsky-Korsakov’s SADKO and Handel’s SEMELE.

 

There have been performances at the Algoma Fall Festival, the Shaw Festival, and special performances of our Opera in Concert Chorus for the Stratford Festival, the Toronto and Montreal Symphonies and the National Ballet of Canada. Add to this two CBC Radio broadcasts, CDs of Rameau’s CASTOR ET POLLUX, Handel’s RINALDO and the soon to be released LA GRISELDA by Vivaldi, all on the Naxos Label and you can see why OIC has ample reasons to celebrate.

 

Opera in Concert’s 31st Season of fire and ice presented some great music from Penella to Prokofiev, from Donizetti to our very own Canadian composers: Timothy Sullivan and Charles Wilson, Opera in Concert strives to accomplish its mandate of presenting rarely heard operas with the best of Canadian talents. We hope to see you during the 2008-2009 Season with more "rarities in performance". In the meanwhile, please consider joining our PATRONS CIRCLE and help support one of Canada’s premiere opera companies.

 

Click here to see our exciting 2008-09 Season operas.

 

 

 

 

 

Message from the Chairman

 

General Director’s Message

 

 

 

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