Alexander Neef News

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 unveiled its 2013/2014 season today at a press conference at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The company's 64th season stars the world's best singers, conductors, directors and designers in a performance year with seven operas, including three COC premieres and three new COC productions. The COC presents Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème with a new production featuring some of Canada's brightest stars; COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his Benjamin Britten debut when he conducts Peter Grimes with a production starring acclaimed Canadian tenor Ben Heppner in the iconic title role; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte with a new COC production by renowned film and theatre director Atom Egoyan with Debus conducting; Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera starring great Canadian diva Adrianne Pieczonka in a role debut; George Frideric Handel's Hercules with a COC premiere and new COC production by world-renowned director Peter Sellars with a star-studded cast; Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereux with a COC premiere starring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in a role debut; and Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte with a COC premiere featuring Debus in another conducting debut and the world's pre-eminent bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role.

Canadian Opera Company Music Director Johannes Debus conducts his first Tristan und Isolde when he leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus this winter in the company's production of Wagner's epic masterpiece. He replaces Jir?i? Be?lohla?vek, who has regrettably withdrawn due to health reasons.

The Canadian Opera Company hosts its second annual Ensemble Studio Competition today, November 29, 2012 in the intimate Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The Ensemble Studio Competition is the final round of national auditions for the COC Ensemble Studio, Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals. Today, November 29, Canada's finest young opera singers will compete in front of a public audience for four cash prizes and the offer of a coveted position in the 2013/2014 Ensemble Studio.

Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef is pleased to announce that Music Director Johannes Debus has signed a new contract with the COC that extends his tenure as Music Director through the 2016/2017 season. Debus joined the COC at the start of the 2009/2010 season with a contract that would have him with the company through 2012/2013.

The Canadian Opera Company has announced that, after four months of negotiations, the company's offer to the membership of Canadian Actors' Equity Association and the Toronto Musicians Association has been rejected. An agreement would have allowed the COC to continue to produce, in partnership with the CBC, broadcasts of the COC's entire 2012/2013 season on CBC Radio 2 and Radio-Canada's Espace Musique. These broadcasts have been in place since the fall of 2009.

Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef has signed a new contract with the COC that extends his tenure as General Director through the 2020/2021 season.

The Canadian Opera Company hosts its second annual Ensemble Studio Competition on November 29, 2012 in the intimate Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The Ensemble Studio Competition is the final round of national auditions for the COC Ensemble Studio, Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals. On November 29, Canada's finest young opera singers will compete in front of a public audience for four cash prizes and the offer of a coveted position in the 2013/2014 Ensemble Studio.

The Canadian Opera Company has closed another successful opera season with 2011/2012 recording an average attendance of 91%. A total of 125,238 patrons attended the 67 performances of the company's seven mainstage productions in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts: Gluck's Iphigenia in Tauris, Verdi's Rigoletto, Puccini's Tosca, Saariaho's Love from Afar, Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, the double bill of Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, and Handel's Semele.

On June 27th Toronto celebrated the 32nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards which honour excellence in Canada theatre. BWW was on hand for the complete event, including the VIP reception where nominees mingled with sponsors and patrons, the award show itself and of course, the happening after-party which shut down Front St for most of the night. We are thrilled to bring you exclusive coverage of the entire night.

Following a sold-out world premiere engagement in Toronto and standing ovations at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Robert Lepage's critically acclaimed The Nightingale and Other Short Fables makes its anticipated US premiere at BAM.

Following a sold-out world premiere engagement in Toronto and standing ovations at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Robert Lepage's critically acclaimed The Nightingale and Other Short Fables makes its anticipated US premiere at BAM.

Health Arts Society of Ontario (HASO) and the City of Toronto launched the ArtsWay series of concerts today at City of Toronto long-term care home Castleview Wychwood Towers (351 Christie St.).

Joseph V. Melillo, executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, today announced programming for the BAM 2011 Spring Season, which runs from Jan 7 through Jun 11, 2011. The season comprises eight theater, opera, and dance engagements and features BAMcinématek series, BAMcafé Live weekend music events, artist talks, visual art exhibitions, and literary events.