Opera Atelier Reveals 2023/24 Season Lineup
Handel's Company's 38th season features 1774 French version of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice and the groundbreaking mixed program, All Is Love.
Opera Atelier's founding Co-artistic Directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg announced the company's celebratory 2023/24 season, featuring the 1774 French version of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice - written expressly for Marie Antoinette - on stage October 26 to November 1, 2023, followed by the groundbreaking mixed program, featuring music by Debussy, Hahn, Handel, Lully, Purcell and Rameau in All Is Love, on stage April 11 to 14, 2024.
The season kicks off in the Elgin Theatre with Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, October 26 and 28 at 7:30pm, and October 29 and November 1 at 2:30pm. Gluck's reform opera/ballet will star Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth as Orpheus - a role he first sang for Opera Atelier in 2007. The stunning production will also include company favourite, soprano Mireille Asselin as Eurydice and soprano Anna-Julia David, who makes her company debut as Amour.
“Few singers are able to sustain the extraordinary vocal range required of the tenor in the 1774 French version of Orpheus and Eurydice,” says Pynkoski. “We are honored to have Mr. Ainsworth return - his talent in full bloom, to interpret this role, which has been an ambition of Opera Atelier for more than a decade.”
Gluck, bowing to the unique aesthetic of 1774 France, wrote extensive additional dance music for Orpheus, including an unprecedented balletic finale, which allows the full corps of the Artists of Atelier Ballet an exceptional opportunity to shine in Lajeunesse Zingg's choreography.
“The Artists of Atelier Ballet, who have reached an internationally acclaimed level of finesse, are thrilled to be involved in a production in which they can explore the stylistic links between baroque dancing and 19th century Romantic ballet,” adds Lajeunesse Zingg.
The season continues with Opera Atelier's seminal mixed program, All Is Love, which played to rapturous reviews in February 2022 at its premiere. All Is Love will be presented in the superb acoustics of Toronto's Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, April 11 and 13 at 7:30pm, and April 12 and 14 at 2:30pm.
“All Is Love expands the very definition of period performance, featuring repertoire by Handel, Lully, Purcell and Rameau opposite that of Reynaldo Hahn, and Act One of Debussy's symbolist masterpiece - Pelleas et Melisande,” says Music Director David Fallis.
All Is Love explores the different ways in which love and desire impact our lives and relationships. The character of Love, as portrayed by Artist of Atelier Ballet Eric da Silva, formerly of the Royal Danish Ballet, will literally appear on stage, propelling the action and emotions of all of the performers.
All Is Love will feature an all-star cast including Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, with Artist of Atelier Ballet Eric da Silva, tenor Colin Ainsworth, baritone Jesse Blumberg, soprano Anna-Julia David, soprano Meghan Lindsay, mezzo soprano Danielle MacMillan, soprano Cynthia Akemi-Smithers, and bass baritone Douglas Williams.
Both productions of Opera Atelier's 2023/24 season will feature the Artists of Atelier Ballet and will be accompanied by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Opera Atelier Music Director David Fallis with the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale (Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, Founder and Artistic Director).
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