Opera Canada

✨Opera Canada Time Capsule✨ Spring 1986: “The multi-purpose auditorium, in trying to be all things for all people, is alleged to be nothing special to any of them.” – Russell Johnson, “Mr. Acoustics” Want more? Join the Opera Canada Patreon to gain access to the full archive. /OperaCanada

“For one performance only, in a semi-staged concert that included excerpts from @iancusson and @rvavrek ’s opera Indians on Vacation, @atgtheatre offered an unusual presentation – Stories Don’t Die: The Artists of Indians on Vacation.” Read the full review on our website. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Lauren Halasz

@canadianopera ’s Werther is “not to be missed.” Ready the full review on our website. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸:Michael Cooper

The Artist of the Week is Canadian baritone Geoffroy Salvas. He will be singing the role of Schaunard in @operadequebec 's production of La bohème from May 16th to 23rd. This week, Geoffroy chats with us about what he's reading and watching, the best thing about being an opera artist and his favourite mind-calming practice. Read on to find out more. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Sylvie-Ann Paré

@rihab_chaieb gives a “profound, whip-smart performance” in @operademontreal ’s Carmen. Read the full review on our website. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Vivien Gaumand

Canadian bass-baritone @nathanbergofficial takes us to Basel, Switzerland, where he is singing the role of Hamm in Kurtág's Fin de Partie at @theaterbasel until June 18th. While in Basel, Nathan chats with us about the opera house, his favourite café for afternoon tea and the odd sight you may see floating down the Rhine. Read on to find out more. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Photo used with permission from the artist

The Artist of the Week is Indigenous Stage Director Yvette Nolan. She is the director of @atgtheatre 's Stories Don't Die: The Artists of Indians on Vacation, which will be presented on May 9th. This week, Yvette chats about how she was "lured" into the world of opera, who is inspiring her and her favourite composers. Read on to find out more. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Wry Everett

✨Opera Canada Time Capsule✨  March/April 2006: “To be honest, I never considered [singing] when I was a teenager at all. I was dead set on being a doctor or a lawyer or something like that.” – Peter McGillivray Want more? Join the Opera Canada Patreon to gain access to the full archive. /OperaCanada

Opera Glasses season 4, episode 6 with mezzo-soprano @missprill is available on all streaming platforms and YouTube now! A premiere disappears three months before opening night, and the artists are told after the decision is already made. That’s the moment that frames our conversation with mezzo-soprano and broadcaster Marion Newman, a singer we’ve long admired for her voice, her wit and her steady insistence on truth. We talk about Indians On Vacation, the new Canadian opera adapted from Thomas King’s novel, and why Marion was drawn to Mimi: an Indigenous, middle-aged woman who stays alive, loves hard, laughs often and refuses to let anxiety impact her travel. Marion walks us through Mimi and Bird’s relationship and the rare power of a story that centres Indigenous joy, curiosity and normal life without pretending history isn’t there. From there, we zoom out to the the development of the operatic Indians on Vacation: pandemic-era workshops, the thrill of a Banff sing-through with orchestra, and then the gut punch of cancellation after years of work involving roughly two dozen Indigenous artists. Marion speaks plainly about what it feels like when stories are shaped inside institutions where final authority still often sits outside the community being represented, and why meaningful consultation can’t be an afterthought. We close with what comes next: Stories Don’t Die: The Artists of Indians on Vacation, a May 9 event in Toronto presented by @atgtheatre featuring selections from the score and a live conversation with the audience.

@canadianopera opens their spring season with Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung. Read the review on our website. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Michael Cooper

In its spring 2003 issue, Opera Canada Magazine (@operacanada ) spotlighted a powerful new Canadian opera rooted in Alberta history: Filumena. Premiered at Calgary Opera (@calgaryopera ), Filumena tells the true story of an Italian immigrant woman caught in the upheaval of Prohibition-era Alberta and placed on trial for the murder of an RCMP officer. With music by John Estacio and a libretto by John Murrell, Filumena would become one of Canada's most successful original operas. Praised for its emotional depth and cathartic final scene, the opera traces Filumena’s journey through love, betrayal, and survival. Estacio’s score blends neo-Romantic lyricism with Italian and Scottish musical influences, while the chorus plays a central role in shaping the drama. From its premiere, Filumena captured audiences, playing to full houses and marking a significant moment for new Canadian opera on the national stage. Visit @operacanada and operacanada.ca to stay up to date on Canadian opera! Image from the Spring 2003 issue of Opera Canada Magazine Featuring Gaétan Laperrière as Emilio and Laura Whalen as Filumena Director: Kelly Robinson Set/props/costume designer: Sue LePage Lighting designer: Harry Frehner Photo by Trudie Lee Original article by Kenneth DeLong #opera #canadianopera #theatre #canadiantheatre #calgary #calgaryopera #filumena #theatrehistory #operahistory

@vancouveropera ’s production of La bohème “hit the sweet spot.” Read the full review on our website. Operacanada.ca #opera #operasingersofinstagram 📸: Emily Cooper Photography