Opera in Concert will bring together composer Colin Mack and librettist Sharon Singer for a look at two of humanity's greatest figures of all time: ISIS AND OSIRIS, brother and sister, husband and wife, king and queen of one of the world's most advanced civilizations. Egypt was their kingdom, and their story, flowed beyond the waters of the Nile, inspiring the world to new cultural, political, social and religious heights.

Opera in Concert plans to present their fascinating story for the first time ever in Opera Form.

The opportunity to work on a new piece for the lyric stage is a golden one indeed. Knowing that in Egyptian Antiquity, gold was perceived as the flesh of the gods, ISIS AND OSIRIS gives us all a precious metal from which to forge amazing characters and dramatic events of great appeal to an operatic audience. In presenting to you, our first look into the life of ISIS AND OSIRIS, we will focus on the human factors of these two sibling's lives that would directly connect us both emotionally and affectingly with their human predicament. As ISIS AND OSIRIS progresses into a full blown opera, we hope to keep you informed of our progress and entice your curiosity for more as we approach the World Premiere of ISIS AND OSIRIS

Special Showcase
Opera in Concert, ARIAWORKS, The Arts Gallery of Ontario and the Egyptian Tourist Authority came together for a 30 minute presentation of ISIS AND OSIRIS on Wednesday March, 31, 2010 at the Walker Court during the auspicious 2010 KING TUT EXHIBIT.

Music by Colin Mack
Libretto by Sharon Singer

Isis, Osiris and Seth are siblings. Isis rules as Queen and Osiris as King. Their brother Seth murders Osiris in his greedy quest for power. In order to ensure no challenge from the dead king, Seth dissects Osiris into 14 pieces and buries them across Egypt. Seth demands Isis as queen, but she refuses, choosing instead to conspire against her criminal brother. Seth resolves to destroy Egypt if he can not legitimize his rule by marrying his sister. Isis, however, has found 13 parts of Osiris's body and through her magical power, she fashions Osiris' phallus and sets up to resurrect her king. To make him whole, though, she must immortalize him as the god of the underworld, and supply him with an heir. The lovers are only briefly reunited, and the heir of Osiris, Horus, is conceived, though Seth still remains a force of evil and of lingering threat.

Colin Mack, Composer
Composer Colin Mack has written a variety of solo, chamber, orchestral, vocal, choral and film works, which have been recorded for broadcast or distribution on CBC Radio, Radio-Canada, Galaxie and the NFB. Commissions have come from the Ontario Arts Council and Espace Musique. Mack's music has been performed in Canada, the United States and Poland, including the National Arts Centre. His first solo CD Imprints was released by CanSona Arts Media (2009) and is available through the Canadian Music Centre. In recent years Mack has focused on vocal music and in 2006 was one of three composers chosen for Pacific Opera's LibLab. His song cycle The Names of Water (with text by Sharon Singer) was released on the CD Hail CanSona (2006)

Sharon Singer, Librettist
Librettist Sharon Singer has published four poetry books: Global Warming, LyricalMyrical Press; Moses, Batsheva Books; The Last Years of the Natural World, Rising Phoenix Press; and Fire Rider, Fire Mountain Press. In addition to appearing in venues from Toronto to Dallas to St. John's as a spoken word performer, a word singer, Sharon performed in 2008 with the Toronto Sinfonietta Orchestra at the Royal Ontario Museum, with music composed by Philip McConnell. In addition to a commission for lyrics for Marko Lukac's CD Sunrise, Sharon has released her own jazz/spoken word CD, Global Warming, collaborating with renowned New York saxophonist Bob Mover. Work with composer Colin Mack followed on the song cycle The Names of Water for the CD Hail: Canadian Art Song.