Alexander Neef News

Tonight, February 7, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., the spotlight shines on the rising stars of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio when they take to the mainstage of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. They present their own special performance of Mozart's wry romantic comedy, Così fan tutte. This production is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES and all tickets to the Ensemble Studio performance are accessibly priced at $25 or $55.

The Canadian Opera Company opens its 2013/2014 winter season with Così fan tutte (or The School for Lovers), Mozart's wry comedy about romantic love, fidelity and temptation. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, the COC's Così fan tutte comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for 10 performances today, January 18 and January 24, 29, February 1, 6, 7*, 9, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals, welcomes four talented new Canadian artists for the 2014/2015 season. Soprano Karine Boucher, tenor Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure and bass-baritone Iain MacNeil were among the nine finalists featured in the third annual Ensemble Studio Competition in November 2013. Boucher, Fortier-Lazure andMacNeil were top prize winners at the competitive vocal showcase which was the feature event of the COC's inaugural Ensemble Studio Competition Gala, Centre Stage, an evening dedicated to the discovery and celebration of the next generation of opera stars. In addition to the three opera singers, the 14/15 Ensemble Studio welcomes pianist Jennifer Szeto.

The Canadian Opera Company unveiled a season dominated by the most important, respected and talked-about artists working on the operatic world stage today at a public launch of its 2014/2015 season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

On Friday, February 7, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., the spotlight shines on the rising stars of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio when they take to the mainstage of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. They present their own special performance of Mozart's wry romantic comedy, Così fan tutte. This production is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES and all tickets to the Ensemble Studio performance are accessibly priced at $25 or $55.

The Canadian Opera Company expands its training program for young opera professionals this January with the launch of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra Academy. Developed in collaboration with the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music, the COC Orchestra Academy is a mentorship program led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus offering student musicians professional insight and experience in their pursuit of a career in an opera orchestra.

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company presents Verdi's opera of forbidden passion amid political turmoil, A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera). Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, A Masked Ball comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for eight performances on February 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 16, 20, 22, 2014.

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company opens its 2013/2014 winter season with Così fan tutte (or The School for Lovers), Mozart's wry comedy about romantic love, fidelity and temptation. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, the COC's Così fan tutte comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for 10 performances on January 18, 24, 29, February 1, 6, 7*, 9, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

Toronto – Alexander Neef, General Director of the Canadian Opera Company, today released details of the company's new opera commission, Hadrian, composed by internationally acclaimed Canadian-American singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright with libretto by award-winning Canadian actor, director and playwright Daniel MacIvor. Inspired by the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his love for Antinous, Hadrian is currently in development and is scheduled to open the COC's 2018/2019 mainstage season.

Toronto – Soprano Karine Bocher from Quebec City took home first prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Canadian Opera Company's third annual Ensemble Studio Competition on November 26, 2013, at the

Out of a pool of 155 young, aspiring opera singers from across the country, the Canadian Opera Company has selected nine to compete in the third annual COC Ensemble Studio Competition today, November 26, 2013 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Out of a pool of 155 young, aspiring opera singers from across the country, the Canadian Opera Company has selected nine to compete in the third annual COC Ensemble Studio Competition on November 26, 2013 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The Ensemble Studio Competition is the feature event at the COC's first annual fundraising gala, Centre Stage, an evening dedicated to the discovery and celebration of the next generation of opera stars.

Artistically, the company's 63rd season was matched with equal levels of success and recorded an impressive average attendance of 90%. The 2012/2013 season was met with overwhelming critical acclaim, featuring some of opera's greatest masterpieces, the return of works both long absent and familiar to the COC stage, and some of the best emerging and established stars the operatic world has to offer.

Today at the Canadian Opera Company's Annual General Meeting, COC Board President Tony Arrell reported on the financial and artistic success of the 2012/2013 season, with the company achieving a record-breaking $10.83 million (net) in annual fundraising and posting a modest surplus of $15,000.

The Canadian Opera Company regrets to announce that Mexican tenor David Lomelí, who was scheduled to perform the role of Rodolfo in the upcoming production of Puccini's La Bohème, has had to withdraw for health reasons. Lomelí was scheduled to sing eight of the production's 12 performances. In his place, the COC has cast two of the most exciting young tenors in the opera world today: Dimitri Pittas (October 3, 6, 9, 12) and Michael Fabiano (October 16, 19, 27, 30). They share the role of Rodolfo with the previously announced Italian-American tenor Eric Margiore (October 18, 22, 25, 29).

The Canadian Opera Company is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of former general director Lotfi Mansouri, who guided the company from 1976 to 1988.

The Canadian Opera Company has closed another successful opera season by recording an average attendance of 90% for 2012/2013. A total of 114,133 patrons attended the 61 performances of the company's seven mainstage productions this season in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts: Verdi's Il Trovatore, Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Richard Strauss's Salome and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2013 spring season marks the return of celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan with his searing, critically acclaimed COC production of Richard Strauss's Salome.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2013 spring season marks the return of celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan with his searing, critically acclaimed COC production of Richard Strauss's Salome.