Falstaff Performance - Fall 2014

Performance C a n a d i a n O p e r a C O m pa n y

Fa l l 2 0 1 4

FALSTAFF

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CONTENTS 4

ROBERT CARSEN: FALSTAFF FOR A NEW AGE

BY GIANMARCO SEGATO

12 OH, THE PLACES THEY’LL GO! COC ENSEMBLE STUDIO 2014/2015

BY JENNIFER PUGSLEY

18 AROUND THE WORLD WITH MADAMA BUTTERFLY KRISTIN McKINNON

28 BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND

Performance C a n a d i a n O p e r a C O m pa n y

Fall 2014

Top: Falstaff (Teatro alla Scala, 2013).

Photo: Rudy Amisano Bottom: (l-r) Allyson McHardy and Adina Nitescu in Madama Butterfly (COC, 2009). Photo: Michael Cooper

n CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY EDITORS: Gianna Wichelow, Senior Manager, Creative and Publications; Claire Morley, Associate Manager, Editorial n RJ PERFORMANCE MEDIA INC.: PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER: Joe Marino n CEO: Frank Barbosa n SECRETARY TREASURER: Rajee Muthuraman n FINANCE: Gina Zicari n NATIONAL ACCOUNT DIRECTORS: Gary Bell, Tom Marino n ART DIRECTOR /DESIGN: Jan Haringa

n Cover images: Falstaff: A scene from the COC/Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Metropolitan Opera/ Teatro alla Scala/Dutch National Opera co-production of Falstaff, 2013, Teatro alla Scala. Photo: Rudy Amisano Madama Butterfly: Adina Nitescu as Cio-Cio San and David Pomeroy as Pinkerton in the COC's production of Madama Butterfly, 2009. Photo: Michael Cooper Canadian Opera Company’s edition of Performance magazine is published quarterly by RJ Performance Media Inc., 2724 Coventry Road, Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6R1. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written consent is prohibited. Contents copyright © Performance Inc. Subscriptions available by contacting publisher.

Direct all advertising enquiries to 2724 Coventry Road, Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6R1 or phone 905-829-3900

Catch up with blogs and enjoy COC Radio at coc.ca.

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ROBERT CARSEN: FALSTAFF

FOR ANEW AGE

BY GIANMARCO SEGATO

Robert Carsen

R

obert Carsen believes that more than any other art form, opera offers a direct portal to the way people lived in the past.

In addition, a work like Verdi’s Falstaff, written a mere 150 years ago in a cultural milieu not so far removed from our own, has the ability to shed light on many of the same social anxieties and obsessions that still occupy us today. In his new production of what is arguably opera’s greatest comedy, Carsen has masterfully blurred boundaries between all these seemingly disparate time 4

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periods by re-inventing Verdi’s 1890s take on 1590s Elizabethan England as a mid-century farce set in post-war, class-obsessed, suburban Great Britain.

Fortunately, COC audiences are now very familiar with the work of this international, in-demand, Canadian director and designer.

Carsen’s stagings of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Iphigenia in Tauris as well as Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites have been hailed as some of the most compelling events in the Toronto theatre scene in

A scene from Falstaff, Teatro alla Scala, 2013.

Photo: Rudy Amisano

recent seasons. Those operas, however, are mostly fraught, tragic affairs with nary a moment of comic relief. Falstaff is cut from a decidedly different cloth – Verdi’s final masterpiece is the successful comedy he always craved, written as much to please himself as any public. No mere buffo confection, Carsen calls Falstaff “a social comedy told from a point of view focused on a very specific part of society. The plot doesn’t just play around with comic situations but enriches them with a grand, deep exploration of the human soul.”

Compared to the more serious works we’re accustomed to seeing him direct, Carsen admits that comedy is a real challenge: “Falstaff consists mostly of group scenes, and it moves very quickly so you have to be very careful and direct it like a movie, making sure that every single person in any moment knows exactly what they’re doing and is completely on.”

When deciding how to best interpret Verdi’s brilliant exploration of human folly for a modern, international audience (the production’s original co-producers were the COC, Teatro alla Scala and Royal Opera Catch up with blogs and enjoy COC Radio at coc.ca.

House, Covent Garden), Carsen was faced with a rather challenging paradox. Normally, when working on a concept he feels no compunction to faithfully reproduce specific locations or time periods but Falstaff “is the most English of all comedies, set in England, in Windsor, on the River Thames with all these typically English characters.

On the other hand Verdi is the symbol of Italian music, so in taking Falstaff back to La Scala where it had its world premiere in 1893, we had to make sure that it worked extremely well in those two cities [Milan and London] which have a particular connection to the work.”

There are all sorts of compelling reasons for maintaining an English locale: for one, Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor on which the opera is partly based, is unique among the playwright’s comedies for being the only one set in England. But Carsen wasn’t interested in “authentic,” traditional, heavy Elizabethan brocades and half-timbered, “Tudorbethan” stage sets.

Instead, he looked forward in time to the “second Elizabethan” period – that of postwar England at the time of the coronation 5

Robert Carsen: Falstaff for a new age

Setting Falstaff in 1950s England gave costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel the chance to play with traditional English styles and fabrics. Clockwise from left: Ambrogio Maestri as Falstaff; (l-r) Kai Rüütel, Ana María Martínez and Amanda Forsythe; a scene in the Garter Inn; All photos from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden production.

Photos: Catherine Ashmore

of Queen Elizabeth II. “It seemed a good period in which Falstaff would be able to lament what had passed after the Second World War, because England was never the same. [The lifestyle of] all the great aristocratic homes which had employed almost seventy percent of the English workforce was all finished. All those big houses were sold; people couldn’t afford to keep them on, so in this setting, Falstaff [whom Verdi and his librettist Boito characterize as a down-on-his-luck, gone-to-seed aristocrat] has something to complain about and to regret.”

The 1950s English setting also affords costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel a chance to play with what Carsen characterizes as a particularly Italian fetishization of British men’s fashion, 6

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

as evidenced by their penchant for tweeds, blazers and classic Oxfords. He notes the Milanese have an especial talent for transforming these elements into something quite different from traditional English style. “I find the effect of this fusion – “Italianness” clothed in English style – very amusing!” In his production, this synchronicity of style and national identity comes together most trenchantly in the big hunt ball which ends the show where “we have a lot of hunting tweeds and hunting pinks … beautiful red cutaway coats and the women in tartans.” Carsen seized upon the hunt theme due to the many references in the libretto to “la caccia” (“the hunt”) – Boito’s well-chosen metaphor alluding to Falstaff’s ongoing, devious hunt for women with deep pockets!

A NEW FRAGRANCE FOR HER #REVEALMORE The Preferred Fragrance of

the Canadian Opera Company

Robert Carsen: Falstaff for a new age

A scene from Falstaff, Teatro alla Scala, 2013. Photo: Rudy Amisano.

Robert Carsen discussing his concept for Falstaff at the COC, 2014. Photo: Jeff Higgins Photography

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

Beyond its outward trappings, the post-war milieu also seemed to be the right choice for teasing out the social class tensions inherent in the opera: “One of the things that’s evident in Shakespeare’s plays and even more so in Verdi’s time is the way the opera deals with the sunset of the aristocracy and the rise of the middle class. It’s the moment in which one perceives the problem of the English aristocracy after the Second World War when it entered a phase of decline. And in this production Falstaff has a lot of nostalgia for his past, for the Edwardian era. Ford [the husband of Alice, one of Falstaff’s potential conquests] is a nouveau riche. He represents the new emerging middle class, focused as it was on the acquisition of money but lacking the elegance of the aristocracy. Ford is insecure and paranoid in the face of Falstaff’s affected, stylish manner. When he comes in disguise to visit Falstaff in Act II we decided to dress him as a rich American, [appropriate]

for the period in which England was just beginning to come out of all the problems after the war, and when America was starting to be this wonderful place where motor cars and household appliances like refrigerators were being manufactured.

A lot of this was just beginning to come into England as it became wealthier again.”

In the second scene of Act II, we get to see cupboards full of these colourful, shiny, brand-spanking new American products in the Fords’ gigantic kitchen where the women’s fashionable, Christian Dior-style, A-line “New Look” dresses are also completely in period.

Previous Carsen productions seen at the COC have all been re-mountings of stagings that originated in other theatres. Falstaff is his first new co-production for the company,

a development he feels is “an indication of the COC’s standing; its co-producers are major houses like La Scala and Covent Garden [Metropolitan Opera and Dutch National Opera were added later as partners in the collaboration] and Alexander Neef sees the company in terms of the world, recognizing that opera is very much a global art form using the greatest artists from all over the world.” It is in this spirit of global co-operation together with Carsen’s melding of visual styles, nationalities, historical periods, and its sheer comedic fun that Falstaff makes a much anticipated return to the Toronto stage this fall. n Gianmarco Segato is Adult Programs Manager at the Canadian Opera Company.

FOR FURTHER INSIGHT INTO FALSTAFF, READ ANATOMY OF AN OPERA AND AN INTERVIEW WITH GERALD FINLEY IN THE FALL ISSUE OF PRELUDE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT COC.CA/PUBLICATIONS.

Catch up with blogs and enjoy COC Radio at coc.ca.

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FALSTAFF

Falstaff, 2013, Teatro alla Scala.

Photo: Rudy Amisano

OPERA BACKGROUND Saving the laughs for last Over the course of his prodigious career, Verdi gravitated toward the grand and tragic subjects of the human condition: love, death, vengeance.

Yet for his final opera – written as the composer approached his 80th birthday – Verdi set his extraordinary talents loose on comedy, a genre he had attempted only once before, and without much success. But this time, Verdi gave the world a lush, sunny, and life-affirming work that many consider his crowning achievement. “In writing Falstaff,” he claimed, “I haven’t thought about either theatres or singers. I have written for myself and my own pleasure.”

The opera’s premiere at La Scala in Milan in 1893 was a complete triumph for the composer.

Even though Verdi’s work was practically canonized in Italy by this point, his Falstaff demonstrated such humour and zest, such mastery and ingenious invention, that it is hard to imagine a more appropriate grand finale to one of the most illustrious careers in opera.

“It must seem very very easy” The storyline of Falstaff comes primarily from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Verdi’s librettist Arrigo Boito made cuts and streamlined the five-act material to move briskly on the opera stage. He also weaved in passages from Henry IV, Parts I and II (the plays in which Falstaff was first introduced in all his charm and gluttonous richness). Boito saw his task as having to “squeeze all the juice from that Shakespearean orange without letting any of the useless pips fall into the glass... It is very very difficult and it must seem very very easy.”

Unfettered Musical Flow For Verdi’s predecessors and contemporaries the traditional way of structuring opera was to combine impressive, virtuosic set-pieces (arias, ensembles, duets) that had clear beginnings and endings with sections of recitative and dialogue that moved the plot along until the next occasion for an extravagant musical number.

But Falstaff is very different, an almost entirely through-composed opera. It has virtually none of the discernible set-pieces that were the building blocks of Italian opera up until that point, and it races along with a remarkable, free-flowing continuity of form. The music responds with quicksilver sensitivity to the language of Boito’s libretto and makes rapid melodic shifts in lockstep with the imagery and tone of the text. This generates the pace and naturalism of spoken-theatre, but with all the emotional colour and musical expressivity of the best operas.

From the Maestro COC Music Director Johannes Debus shared his high praise for the opera: “Falstaff is, in a way, the sum and summary of life. And it offers this incredible wisdom through humour – humour as the human condition, as something we cannot practically live without. It’s really one of the true masterpieces of all time.”

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

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OH , THE PLACES

THEY’LL GO! COC ENSEMBLE STUDIO 2014/2015

BY JENNIFER PUGSLEY

D

r. Seuss’s charming tale, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, conjures up a whimsical but very appropriate image of what it means to be a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. Four new artists join the ranks of this illustrious training program in the 2014/2015 season: soprano Karine Boucher, tenor Jean-Philippe FortierLazure, bass-baritone Iain MacNeil and pianist/coach Jennifer Szeto, and it is indeed a journey they are about to embark upon.

Since the program’s inception in 1980, over 180 young professional Canadian singers, opera coaches, stage directors and conductors have acquired their first major professional operatic experience through the Ensemble Studio. Centre Stage is the COC’s lavish annual gala featuring a thrilling vocal showcase of audition finalists for the Ensemble Studio with the forces of the COC Orchestra led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus. Boucher,

Soprano Karine Boucher

Centre Stage host Rufus Wainwright (far right) with the finalists of the 2013 Ensemble Studio Competition

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

OH, THE PLACES THEY’LL GO! COC Ensemble Studio 2014/2015

Tenor Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure

Bass-baritone Iain MacNeil

Fortier-Lazure, and MacNeil were the top prize-winners in 2013.

“I’m most excited about the learning opportunities I will have while in the Studio,” says Fortier-Lazure. “Having the chance to perform alongside some of the best international singers, musicians and conductors, and learning from their rehearsals and performances is simply a dream for me.”

MacNeil is equally in awe and looking forward to “working with and learning from the faculty [of the Ensemble Studio] and the artists involved in the season.” The last few years alone have connected Studio artists with some of opera’s most exciting and influential names for masterclasses and talkback sessions: baritones Gerald Finley, Russell Braun, and Sir Thomas Allen; tenor Neil Shicoff; mezzo-soprano

Judith Forst; soprano Erika Sunnegårdh; conductor Carlo Rizzi; the Metropolitan Opera’s Executive Director of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Brian Zeger; Vice President at Columbia Artists Management William G. Guerri; and impresario and artist manager Matthew Epstein, to name but a few.

For Boucher, joining the Ensemble Studio is indeed about “taking all the tools the COC will give me to reach my goals.”

But it’s also about finding ways to recreate a moment she experienced so intensely during Centre Stage last fall.

“At the competition I could feel this energy passing through the orchestra members to Maestro Debus to me and out to the audience. The result was so powerful that I, and everyone else there, had the feeling of being a part of something bigger, something special that makes the soul feel great.”

After graduating from the Ensemble Studio, its members are “off and away!”

One need only look to the casting of the COC’s 14/15 mainstage season to see how many principal roles are filled with program graduates: tenor Michael Colvin is Dr. Caius in Falstaff and Goro in Madama Butterfly; bass Robert Gleadow is Pistola in Falstaff, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly and Basilio in The Barber of Seville; soprano Simone Osborne is Nannetta and mezzo-soprano Lauren Segal is Meg Page in Falstaff; soprano Sasha Djihanian is Zerlina in Don Giovanni; and mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó is The Woman in Erwartung. n Jennifer Pugsley is Media Relations Manager at the Canadian Opera Company.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CENTRE STAGE, INCLUDING HOW TO BUY TICKETS, VISIT COCCENTRESTAGE.CA.

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

OH, THE PLACES THEY’LL GO! COC Ensemble Studio 2014/2015

MEET THE 2014/2015 ENSEMBLE Centre Stage takes places on November 25, 2014 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and features the fourth annual Ensemble Studio Vocal Competition.

Tickets to the competition and cocktail celebration are $100.

Gala tickets, which include a black-tie dinner, are $1,500.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit centrestage.ca, call 416-363-8231 or go to the Four Seasons Centre Box Office (145 Queen St. W.)

(l-r) Clarence Frazer and Owen McCausland in the Ensemble Studio performance of CosĂŹ fan tutte, 2014. Photo: Michael Cooper

Gordon Bintner bass-baritone

Karine Boucher soprano

Charlotte Burrage mezzo-soprano

Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure tenor

Aviva Fortunata soprano

Clarence Frazer baritone

Andrew Haji tenor

Iain MacNeil bass-baritone

Owen McCausland tenor

Jennifer Szeto intern coach

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

ALEXANDER NEEF, General Director

FALSTAFF

by Giuseppe Verdi Opera in Three Acts. Libretto by Arrigo Boito after William Shakespeare’s plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV Parts I and II First performance: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, February 9, 1893 New COC Production Co-production with Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Metropolitan Opera, New York; and Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam Last performed by the COC in 2004 October 3, 9, 12, 14, 25, 29, November 1, 2014 Sung in Italian with English SURTITLESTM

THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance)

Dr. Caius Sir John Falstaff Bardolfo, a follower of Falstaff Pistola, a follower of Falstaff Meg Page, Alice’s friend Alice Ford, Ford’s wife Mistress Quickly Nannetta, Ford’s daughter Fenton, a young gentleman Ford, a wealthy citizen Conductor Director Associate Director Set Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designers Associate Lighting Designer Chorus Master Stage Manager SURTITLES™ Producer

Michael Colvin† Gerald Finley* Colin Ainsworth Robert Gleadow† Lauren Segal† ** Lyne Fortin Marie-Nicole Lemieux Simone Osborne† *** Frédéric Antoun Russell Braun**** Johannes Debus Robert Carsen Christophe Gayral Paul Steinberg Brigitte Reiffenstuel Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet Wendy Greenwood Sandra Horst† ***** Jenifer Kowal Gunta Dreifelds

Performance time is approximately two hours and 45 minutes, including one intermission.

Generously underwritten in part by Production supported in part by *Gerald Finley’s performance is generously sponsored by Sue Mortimer ****Russell Braun’s performance is generously sponsored by Earlaine Collins ***Simone Osborne’s performance is generously sponsored by Robert Sherrin **Lauren Segal’s performance is generously sponsored by Riki Turofsky and Charles Petersen *****Sandra Horst and the COC Chorus are generously underwritten by Tim and Frances Price † Graduate of the COC Ensemble Studio Program information is correct at time of printing. All casting is subject to change.

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

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DIRECTOR’S NOTES

I

n the character of Falstaff, William Shakespeare created one of literature’s greatest celebrants of the pleasures of life.

Here is a man who loves eating, drinking and sex; whose entire attitude reminds us that life – so painfully short, so problemriddled – can ultimately be a wonderful thing. Carpe Diem is clearly Falstaff’s motto.

Verdi was an old man when he composed Falstaff, aware that it would be his last work. It is one of only two comedies he wrote, but it is arguably the best, most accomplished and richest social comedy in the entire operatic repertoire. His collaborator, Arrigo Boito, deserves huge credit for having created a brilliant libretto out of scenes from three different Shakespeare plays, weaving them together and adding a certain amount of his own sugar and spice.

A central theme that occurs in Shakespeare’s text is the sunset of the aristocracy and the rise of the middle class.

To explore those social changes more potently and to bring the satire nearer to our time, we have moved the production from the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth to that of the second: 1950s England, a period in which Falstaff could well lament

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the passing of his privilege, a time when many of the great aristocratic homes in England (which used to employ a huge percentage of the nation’s workforce) were sold by an upper class no longer able to afford their upkeep. The new society belonged to an emerging professional class, men like Ford, whose homes were full of modern electrical appliances and motor cars. Falstaff’s extravagant and imaginative response to life and love is contrasted with Ford’s obsession with money and power.

This period also allows us to explore the quintessential Englishness of Falstaff and its characters. So much of the text is about “la caccia” (the hunt), a theme which we have enjoyed developing visually in this production: hunting, fishing and shooting have remained very upper-class English pursuits through the centuries.

We have also made a point of incorporating food and drink into every scene in the production, which seems in keeping not only with Falstaff’s legendary appetites, but also with the spirit of this opera, which is a superb banquet for the performers and the audience. Bon appetit!

Robert Carsen

SYNOPSIS

ACT I Scene 1: The Garter Inn Dr. Caius bursts into Sir John Falstaff’s room in the Garter Inn, accusing him of unseemly behaviour the previous night.

He further accuses Falstaff’s two henchmen, Bardolph and Pistol, of having robbed him while he was drunk. Unable to obtain reparations, Dr. Caius leaves in a fury.

Falstaff contemplates the large bill he has run up at the inn. He informs Bardolph and Pistol that in order to repair his finances he plans to seduce Alice Ford and Meg Page, both wives of prosperous Windsor citizens. When Bardolph and Pistol refuse to deliver the letters Falstaff has written to the two ladies, Falstaff instructs a page to do so instead. He then ridicules Bardolph and Pistol’s newly discovered sense of honour, before throwing them out of his room.

Scene 2: The Garter Inn Alice Ford and Meg Page laugh over the identical love letters they have received from Sir John Falstaff. They share their amusement with Alice’s daughter Nannetta, and with their friend Mistress Quickly.

Ford arrives, followed by four men all proffering advice: Dr. Caius, whom Ford favours as Nannetta’s future husband; Bardolph and Pistol, who are now seeking advantageous employment from Ford; and Fenton, who is in love with Ford’s daughter Nannetta. When Ford learns of Falstaff’s plan to seduce his wife, he immediately becomes jealous.

While Alice and Meg plan how to take revenge on their importunate suitor, Ford decides to disguise himself in order to pay a visit to Falstaff. Unnoticed in the midst Please visit coc.ca for additional information

of all the commotion, Nannetta and Fenton manage to steal a few precious moments together.

ACT II Scene 1: The Garter Inn Feigning penitence, Bardolph and Pistol rejoin Falstaff’s service. They show in Mistress Quickly, who informs Falstaff that both Alice and Meg are madly in love with him. She explains that it will be easier to seduce Alice, since her husband is out of the house every afternoon, between two and three. Falstaff joyously anticipates his seduction of Alice.

Bardolph now announces that a “Mister Brook” (Ford in disguise) wishes to speak to Falstaff. To Falstaff’s surprise, “Brook” offers him wine and money if he will seduce Alice Ford, explaining that he has long been in love with the lady, but to no avail. If she were to be seduced by the more experienced Falstaff, she might then be more likely to fall a second time and accept “Brook”. Falstaff agrees to the plan, telling his surprised new friend that he already has a rendezvous with Alice that very afternoon.

As Falstaff leaves to prepare himself, Ford gives way to jealous rage. When Falstaff returns, dressed in his best clothes, the two men exchange compliments before leaving together.

Scene 2: Ford’s house Mistress Quickly, Alice and Meg are preparing for Falstaff’s visit. Nannetta tearfully tells her mother that her father insists on her marrying Dr. Caius, but Alice tells her daughter not to worry.

Falstaff arrives and begins his seduction of Alice, nostalgically boasting of his 3

aristocratic youth as page to the Duke of Norfolk. As Falstaff becomes more amorous, Meg Page interrupts the tête-à-tête, as planned, to announce (in jest) that Ford is approaching. But just at that point Mistress Quickly suddenly returns in a panic to inform Alice that Ford really is on his way, and in a jealous temper.

As Ford rushes in with a group of townsfolk, the terrified Falstaff seeks a hiding place, eventually ending up in a large laundry basket. Fenton and Nannetta also hide. Ford and the other men ransack the house. Hearing the sound of kissing, Ford is convinced that he has found his wife and her lover Falstaff together, but is furious to discover Nannetta and Fenton instead. While Ford argues with Fenton, Alice instructs her servants to empty the laundry basket out of the window. To general hilarity, Falstaff is thrown into the River Thames.

INTERMISSION ACT III Scene 1: Outside the Garter Inn A wet and bruised Falstaff laments the wickedness of the world, but soon cheers up with a glass of mulled wine. Mistress Quickly persuades him that Alice was innocent of the unfortunate incident at Ford’s house. To prove that Alice still loves him, she proposes a new rendezvous that night in Windsor Great Park. In a letter which Quickly gives to Falstaff, Alice asks the knight to appear at midnight, disguised as the Black Huntsman.

Ford, Nannetta, Meg and Alice prepare the second part of their plot: Nannetta will be Queen of the Fairies and the others, also in disguise, will help to continue Falstaff’s 4

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

punishment. Ford secretly promises Caius that he will marry Nannetta that evening.

Mistress Quickly overhears them…

Scene 2: Windsor Great Park As Fenton and Nannetta are reunited, Alice explains her plan to trick Ford into marrying them. They all hide as Falstaff approaches. On the stroke of midnight, Alice appears. She declares her love for Falstaff, but suddenly runs away, saying that she hears spirits approaching.

Nannetta, disguised as the Queen of the Fairies, summons her followers who attack the terrified Falstaff, pinching and poking him until he promises to give up his dissolute ways. In the midst of the assault Falstaff suddenly recognizes Bardolph, and realizes that he has been tricked. While Ford explains that he was ‘Brook’, Mistress Quickly scolds Falstaff for his attempts at seducing two younger, virtuous women.

Falstaff accepts that he has been made a figure of fun, but points out that he remains the real source of wit in others.

Dr. Caius now comes forward with a veiled figure dressed in white. They are to be married by Ford. Alice brings forward another couple, who also receive Ford’s blessing. When the brides remove their veils it is revealed that Ford has just married Fenton to Nannetta, and Dr. Caius to Bardolph! With everyone now laughing at his expense, Ford has no choice but to forgive the lovers, and bless their marriage.

Before sitting down to a wedding supper with Sir John Falstaff, the entire company agrees that the whole world may be nothing but a jest filled with jesters, but he who laughs last, laughs best!

Robert Carsen

MUSIC STAFF

Andrea Del Bianco (Head Coach) Rachel Andrist Michael Shannon ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Derek Bate ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Marilyn Gronsdal ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS

Tiffany Fraser Liliane Stilwell APPRENTICE STAGE MANAGER

Lisa McKay COSTUME SUPERVISOR

Zeb Lalljee ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNERS

Jareth Li Davida Tkach ACTORS

Dale Miller Justin Stadnyk Andrew Taylor Robert Yeretch UNDERSTUDIES

Dr. Caius Bardolfo Pistola Meg Page Alice Ford Fenton Ford

Owen McCausland Andrew Haji Gordon Bintner Charlotte Burrage Aviva Fortunata Colin Ainsworth Gregory Dahl

UNDERSTUDY ACTOR

Jak Barradell

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

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ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES COLIN AINSWORTH Bardolfo

Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth is making his COC debut. Acclaimed for his interpretations of the major Classical and Baroque tenor roles, recent appearances include Castor in Castor et Pollux (Festival de Beaune and Le Festival Radio France et Montpellier); Bach’s St. John Passion (Soli Dei Gloria, Chicago); Bach’s Mass in B Minor (Elmer Iseler Singers); Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (Vancouver Opera); Hippolyte in Hippolyte et Aricie (Opera in Concert); Fenton in Falstaff (Pacific Opera); Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (Opera Atelier); and Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared (Against the Grain Theatre).

Upcoming appearances include Messiah (Peterborough Singers, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony Nova Scotia); Weill’s Street Scene (Opera in Concert); and Mozart’s Requiem (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra).

FRÉDÉRIC ANTOUN Fenton

French-Canadian tenor Frédéric Antoun last appeared at the COC as Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites and Tamino in The Magic Flute. Recent appearances include Amadeus Daberlohn in Charlotte Salomon (Salzburger Festspiele); Tonio in La fille du régiment (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/ROH); Gérald in Lakmé (Opéra Comique); and Renaud in Armide (Dutch National Opera). Upcoming appearances include Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Thespis in Platée (Opéra national de Paris); Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles (Opernhaus Zürich), Cassio in Otello (ROH); the title role in 6

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

Dardanus (Opéra National de Bordeaux); Raùl in Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel (Metropolitan Opera, ROH and Salzburger Festspiele); and Tonio (Opéra de Lausanne).

RUSSELL BRAUN Ford

Canadian baritone Russell Braun last appeared with the COC as the Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux. Other COC roles include Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore, Jaufré Rudel in Love from Afar, Orestes in Iphigenia in Tauris, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in War and Peace, Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and the title role in Billy Budd. Recent appearances include Don Giovanni (Teatro Real), a role he reprises at the COC this season; Chou En-lai in Nixon in China, Olivier in Capriccio and Valentin in Faust (Metropolitan Opera); the Prince in Offenbach’s Fantasio (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment); and Lescaut in Manon (Teatro alla Scala).

MICHAEL COLVIN Dr. Caius

Ensemble Studio graduate tenor Michael Colvin’s COC appearances include the Chaplain in Dialogues des Carmélites, Idomeneo/Arbace in Idomeneo, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Grimoaldo in Rodelinda, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri, and Argirio in Tancredi. Other roles include Bob Boles in Peter Grimes (BBC Proms, Opera de Oviedo, London Philharmonic Orchestra, L’Accademia

di Santa Cecilia and English National Opera/ENO); Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw (ENO); Mayor Upfold in Albert Herring (Vancouver Opera); and Jaquino in Fidelio (La Monnaie and Le Cercle de l’Harmonie). Upcoming appearances include Rodolphe in Guillaume Tell (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Herod in Salome (Northern Ireland Opera). This fall with the COC Mr. Colvin also appears as Goro in Madama Butterfly.

GERALD FINLEY Falstaff

Grammy and Juno award-winning Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley, one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, makes his role debut in a return to the COC stage after more than 20 years. He has performed at the world’s major opera houses in a wide variety of repertoire. Recent appearances include Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Glyndebourne Festival); Iago in Otello (London Symphony Orchestra); Amfortas in Parsifal (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/ROH); J. Robert Oppenheimer in Dr. Atomic (Metropolitan Opera/Met); Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni (Bayerische Staatsoper); Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen (Wiener Staatsoper); and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte (Salzburger Festspiele).

Upcoming appearances include Wolfram in Tannhäuser (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress (Met); and the title role in Guillaume Tell (ROH).

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in July 2014.

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

LYNE FORTIN Alice Ford

French-Canadian soprano Lyne Fortin is making her COC debut.

Recent appearances include Alice Ford (Opéra de Québec/OQ and Hamilton Opera); the Woman in Erwartung (OQ); Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Pacific Opera and OQ); and Violetta in La Traviata (Calgary Opera). Other roles include Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Susanna and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Elettra in Idomeneo, Mimì in La Bohème, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Micaëla and Carmen in Carmen, Thaïs in Thaïs, Gilda in Rigoletto, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. Future engagements include a return to Calgary Opera as Marietta in Die tote Stadt.

ROBERT GLEADOW Pistola

Canadian bass and Ensemble Studio graduate Robert Gleadow recently appeared with the COC as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. Other COC credits include Publio in La clemenza di Tito, A Steersman in Tristan und Isolde, the Old Gypsy in Il Trovatore, the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, and Colline in La Bohème. Other roles include Rocco in Fidelio (La Monnaie and Le Cercle de l’Harmonie); Sam in Un ballo in maschera and Colline (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Leporello in Don Giovanni (Glyndebourne Festival); and Zuniga in Carmen, the King in Aida and Talbot in Maria Stuarda (Houston Grand Opera). This season at the COC Mr. Gleadow also appears as The Bonze in Madama 7

ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

Butterfly and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville.

MARIE-NICOLE LEMIEUX Mistress Quickly

French-Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux last appeared at the COC as Eduige in Rodelinda.

Other COC credits include Isaura in Tancredi and Cornelia in Giulio Cesare. Recent appearances include Mistress Quickly (Teatro alla Scala; Opéra national de Paris; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Wiener Staatsoper; and Opéra de Montréal); Azucena in Il Trovatore (Salzburger Festspiele); the title role in Tancredi and Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées); Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Gran Teatre del Liceu); and Zita in Gianni Schicchi and the Princess in Suor Angelica (Theater an der Wien). Upcoming appearances include Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera (La Monnaie) and Dalila in Samson et Dalila (Opéra de Montréal).

SIMONE OSBORNE Nannetta

Ensemble Studio graduate soprano Simone Osborne last appeared with the COC as Oscar in A Masked Ball and Musetta in La Bohème. Previous COC roles include Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Gilda in Rigoletto and Pamina in The Magic Flute. Recent performances include appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic; Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Festival; Carnegie Hall; and the Luminato Festival with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Osborne is a grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Upcoming appearances this 8

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

season include the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor (Edmonton Opera) and debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris and the orchestras of Toulouse and Monte Carlo.

LAUREN SEGAL Meg Page

Former Ensemble Studio mezzo-soprano Lauren Segal last appeared with the COC as The Muse/ Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann. Other COC credits include Diana in Iphigenia in Tauris, Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Third Lady in The Magic Flute, Nancy T’sang in Nixon in China, Mercédès in Carmen, Sonya in War and Peace, Aljeja in From the House of the Dead and Siebel in Faust. Recent appearances include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Calgary Opera); Meg Page in Falstaff (Opéra de Montréal); The Muse/ Nicklauss/Voice (Edmonton Opera); the title role in Carmen (Saskatoon Opera) and Mozart’s Coronation Mass (Toronto Symphony Orchestra). Upcoming performances include Maddalena in Rigoletto and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Opera Tampa); a recital tour (Debut Atlantic); and Messiah (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra).

JOHANNES DEBUS Conductor

COC Music Director Johannes Debus recently conducted the company’s Don Quichotte, Così fan tutte and Peter Grimes.

Other COC credits include Dialogues des Carmélites, Salome, Tristan und Isolde, Die Fledermaus, The Tales of Hoffmann, Love from Afar, Rigoletto and, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables. Other highlights

ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

include his recent BBC Proms debut in a concert featuring Rufus Wainwright and Deborah Voigt; The Adventures of Mr. Brouček and Rusalka (Oper Frankfurt); appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra Haydn, and Philharmonia Orchestra; Elektra and The Rake’s Progress (Staatsoper Unter den Linden); Hänsel und Gretel and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Bayerische Staatsoper); and appearances at Opéra Festival de Québec, Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and Spoleto, Scotiafest, Aspen, and Blossom music festivals. This season at the COC Mr. Debus also conducts Die Walküre and Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung.

ROBERT CARSEN Director and Lighting Designer

Canadian theatre and opera director Robert Carsen last appeared with the COC for Dialogues des Carmélites. Other COC credits include Iphigenia in Tauris, Orfeo ed Euridice, Mario and the Magician and Kát’a Kabanová.

He recently directed The Queen of Spades (Opernhaus Zürich); Platée (Opéra Comique); From the House of the Dead (Opéra national du Rhin); Rinaldo (Glyndebourne Festival); Rigoletto (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence); Elektra and Die Zauberflöte (Opéra national de Paris); The Turn of the Screw (also designer; Theater an der Wien); Don Giovanni (Teatro alla Scala), L’amour des trois oranges (Deutsche Oper); Ariadne auf Naxos (Bayerische Staatsoper); and My Fair Lady and Candide (Théâtre du Châtelet). Future projects include Campra’s Les fêtes vénitiennes (Opéra Comique); Singin’ in the Rain (Théâtre du Châtelet); and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s CO2 (Teatro alla Scala).

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

CHRISTOPHE GAYRAL Associate Director

French stage director Christophe Gayral recently worked at the COC on Orfeo ed Euridice.

Credits include co-writing and directing Le Grand Carrousel, an equestrian opera, for the City of Brussels, as well as writing Jai mata di, an Indo-French co-production which toured India. Other credits include directing Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor and the world premiere of La Fable de Ooh et Aah (Alden Biesen Festival); and Il matrimonio segreto, Owen Wingrave and Idomeneo (Opéra national du Rhin). His work with Robert Carsen includes Iphigénie en Tauride (Lyric Opera of Chicago; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and Teatro Real); L’incoronazionne di Poppea (Glyndebourne Festival, Opéra National de Bordeaux and Wiener Staatsoper); Alcina and Don Giovanni (Teatro alla Scala); Rinaldo (Glyndebourne Festival); and La Traviata (La Fenice).

PAUL STEINBERG Set Designer

American set designer Paul Steinberg is making his COC debut. Recent productions include Der Rosenkavalier (Glyndebourne Festival); Billy Budd and Peter Grimes (English National Opera/ ENO and Deutsche Oper/DO); and Un ballo in maschera (Metropolitan Opera); La Périchole (New York City Opera); and Khovanshchina (Vlaamse Opera).

With Robert Carsen, his credits include Il Trovatore (Bregenz Festival); Tannhäuser (Tokyo Opera Nomori, Opéra national de Paris and Gran Teatre del Liceu); L’amour des trois oranges (DO); Lohengrin (Opéra national de Paris); La fanciulla del West and Madama Butterfly (Vlaamse Opera); and Otello (Opernhaus Köln). Upcoming 9

ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

productions include the world premiere of CO2 (Teatro alla Scala); Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (ENO); and Semiramide (Bayerische Staatsoper).

BRIGITTE REIFFENSTUEL Costume Designer

German costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel recently worked at the COC on Lucia di Lammermoor and The Tales of Hoffmann.

Born in Munich and trained at the London College of Fashion and St. Martin’s School of Art, her credits include Pique Dame (Opernhaus Zürich and Opéra national du Rhin); Adriana Lecouvreur, Faust and Elektra (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); The Pearl Fishers and Madama Butterfly (Santa Fe Opera); Un ballo in maschera and Giulio Cesare (Metropolitan Opera/Met); Don Giovanni (Teatro alla Scala); Il Trovatore (Met, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago/LOC); Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne Festival); Billy Budd and The Makropulos Case (LOC); and Lucrezia Borgia, Peter Grimes, Tosca, The Damnation of Faust and Boris Godunov (English National Opera). She also designed the costumes for Kate Bush’s recent concerts in London.

PETER VAN PRAET Lighting Designer

Belgian lighting designer Peter van Praet recently worked at the COC on Iphigenia in Tauris and Orfeo ed Euridice.

He has worked on many productions by Robert Carsen, including The Turn of the Screw (Theater an der Wien); L’amour des trois oranges (Deutsche Oper); Rinaldo (Glyndebourne Festival); Jenůfa, The Cunning Little Vixen and Kát’a Kabanová (Flemish Opera); Die Zauberflöte, Rusalka 10

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

and Capriccio (Opéra national de Paris); Platée (Opéra Comique and Theater an der Wien); La Traviata (La Fenice); Rigoletto (Grand Théâtre de Genève) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Barcelona.

With Valentina Carrasco he worked on the special abridged version of Wagner’s Ring (Teatro Colón) and Don Giovanni (Perm Opera). Future plans include CO2 (Teatro alla Scala) and Die Walküre (Houston Grand Opera).

WENDY GREENWOOD Associate Lighting Designer

Canadian lighting designer Wendy Greenwood has worked for 15 seasons with the COC as lighting supervisor and assistant lighting designer. She recently recreated the lighting design for Peter Grimes and her associate lighting design credits include Eugene Onegin, the Ring Cycle and The Handmaid’s Tale. She received a Dora Award nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design for The League of Nathans (Factory Theatre). Other design credits include Agamemnon, Elektra, The Flies and The Trials of Ezra Pound (Stratford Festival); The School for Scandal (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Glass Menagerie and Tuesdays With Morrie (Globe Theatre); and Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life and Annie (Grand Theatre). Ms. Greenwood is a past guest faculty member at the National Theatre School in Montreal.

SANDRA HORST Chorus Master

Sandra Horst’s most recent COC credits include Don Quichotte, Roberto Devereux and Hercules. Also at the COC she conducted Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. As director of musical studies at

ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

UofT Opera, she most recently conducted Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Ms. Horst has served as chorus master for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Edmonton Opera; a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions; and music staff of the Juilliard Opera Center, Chautauqua Institution, Boston Lyric Opera, and Banff Centre for the Arts. She was one of the 100 Alumni of Achievement honoured by Wilfrid Laurier University and is a graduate of the COC Ensemble Studio. This season Ms. Horst is also chorus master for Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni and The Barber of Seville.

DEREK BATE Assistant Conductor

COC Assistant to the Music Director Derek Bate recently served as conductor for a performance of Don Quichotte. Also with the COC, he has led performances of Salome, La clemenza di Tito, Rigoletto, Aida, Madama Butterfly, The Flying Dutchman, Luisa Miller, Eugene Onegin, La Bohème, Carmen, Turandot, La Traviata, Die Fledermaus and served as assistant conductor for Così fan tutte, Peter Grimes, Love From Afar, A Florentine Tragedy/Gianni Schicchi, Maria Stuarda, Nixon in China, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, War and Peace and the complete Ring Cycle, among others. Mr. Bate frequently conducts with Toronto Operetta Theatre, and was musical director for Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Show Boat.

MARILYN GRONSDAL Assistant Director

Marilyn Gronsdal was recently associate director for the COC’s Così fan tutte and assistant director for Don Quichotte Please visit coc.ca for additional information

and Peter Grimes. Other COC credits include director of La Bohème, associate director of Eugene Onegin, production assistant director for the COC’s Ring Cycle and assistant director on several productions that have been presented elsewhere: Oedipus Rex with Symphony of Psalms (Edinburgh Festival), La Traviata (New Zealand Opera), Siegfried (Opéra national de Lyon) and the COC’s production of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables (Brooklyn Academy of Music).

Other credits include directing Carmen and Don Pasquale (Saskatoon Opera) and remounting the COC’s Der fliegende Holländer (Opéra de Montréal). In 2013, she was a jury member in the HelikonOpera's International Competition for Young Opera Directors in Moscow.

Upcoming engagements include associate director for the COC’s Die Walküre.

JENIFER KOWAL Stage Manager

This is Jenifer Kowal’s 23rd season with the COC. Her numerous COC stage managing credits include Roberto Devereux, Così fan tutte, Peter Grimes, Salome, La clemenza di Tito, Die Fledermaus, Semele, Tosca, Rigoletto, Aida, Carmen, The Flying Dutchman, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fidelio, War and Peace, Eugene Onegin, Don Carlos, La Traviata, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the Ring Cycle and, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables. She was the production stage manager for Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s Miss Saigon, which also toured to Toronto and Schenectady. Ms. Kowal studied theatre at Indiana University.

11

WHO WILL BE CANADA’S NEXT OPERA STAR? CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRESENTS

ENSEMBLE STUDIO COMPETITION GALA TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2014 FEATURING THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY ORCHESTRA For tickets, visit COCCentreStage.ca #COCCentreStage

Competition Sponsors

Platinum Sponsor

Opera Under 30 Sponsor

Gala Reception Sponsor

Peter M. Deeb Creative: BT/A Advertising

CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY ORCHESTRA VIOLIN I Marie Bérard, Concertmaster The Concertmaster’s chair has been endowed in perpetuity by Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Aaron Schwebel, Acting Associate Concertmaster Sandra Baron, Acting Assistant Concertmaster Anne Armstrong Bethany Bergman Hiroko Kagawa* Nancy Kershaw Dominique Laplante Yakov Lerner Jayne Maddison Neria Mayer Joanna Zabrowarna

BASS Alan Molitz, Principal Robert Speer, Assistant Principal Tom Hazlitt Paul Langley Robert Wolanski*

VIOLIN II Paul Zevenhuizen, Principal Csaba Koczó, Assistant Principal James Aylesworth Christine Chesebrough* Elizabeth Johnston Boris Kupesic* Renée London* Aya Miyagawa Alexey Pankratov* Louise Tardif

ENGLISH HORN Lesley Young

VIOLA Keith Hamm, Principal Joshua Greenlaw, Assistant Principal Carolyn Blackwell* Rory McLeod* Nicholaos Papadakis* Rhyll Peel, on leave of absence Angela Rudden* Beverley Spotton Yosef Tamir CELLO Bryan Epperson, Principal Alastair Eng, Associate Principal Paul Widner, Assistant Principal Maurizio Baccante Olga Laktionova Elaine Thompson

FLUTE Douglas Stewart, Principal Christine Little* Shelley Brown

CIMBASSO Scott Irvine, Principal TIMPANI Michael Perry, Principal PERCUSSION Trevor Tureski, Principal Ryan Scott* HARP Sarah Davidson, Principal

PICCOLO Shelley Brown

GUITAR Jeffrey McFadden*

OBOE Mark Rogers, Principal Lesley Young

BANDA

CLARINET James T. Shields, Principal, on leave of absence Colleen Cook, Acting Principal Michele Verheul* BASS CLARINET Michele Verheul* BASSOON Eric Hall, Principal Elizabeth Gowen HORN Joan Watson, Principal Janet Anderson Bardhyl Gjevori Gary Pattison

PERCUSSION Trevor Tureski HORN Scott Wevers

LIBRARIAN Wayne Vogan ASSISTANT MUSIC LIBRARIAN Ondrej Golias STAGE LIBRARIAN Paul Langley PERSONNEL MANAGER Ian Cowie * extra musician

TRUMPET Robert Grim, Principal Andrew Dubelsten* Robert Weymouth TROMBONE Charles Benaroya, Principal Ian Cowie BASS TROMBONE Herbert Poole

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

13

CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY CHORUS SOPRANOS Lindsay Barrett Andrea Cerswell Margaret Evans Alexandra LennoxPomeroy Ingrid Martin Jennifer Robinson Catherine Tait Teresa van der Hoeven

MEZZO-SOPRANOS Sandra Boyes Wendy Hatala Foley Erica Iris Huang Lilian Kilianski Kathryn Knapp Anne McWatt Karen Olinyk Vilma Indra Vitols

TENORS Stephen Bell Taras Chmil Sam Chung Stephen Erickson John Kriter James Leatch Stephen McClare Eric Olsen

BARITONES & BASSES Grant Allert Kenneth Baker Peter Barnes Bruno Cormier Peter Wiens Marcus Wilson Gene Wu Michael York

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coc.ca/Fall

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Mr. Tony Arrell, President Mr. Philip C. Deck, Chair Mr. Paul A. Bernards, Treasurer Mr. John H. Macfarlane, Secretary Mr. Alexander Neef, General Director (ex officio) Mr. Robert Lamb, Managing Director (ex officio)

MEMBERS Mr. Mark Appel Ms. Nora Aufreiter Mr. Robert Brouwer Ms. Marcia Lewis Brown Mr. Stewart Burton Mr. Peter M. Deeb Mr. George S. Dembroski Mr. William Fearn (ex officio) Mr. David Ferguson (ex officio) Mr. Adam Froman Mr. Michael Gibbens Mr. Peter Hinman Dr. Linda Hutcheon Ms. Trinity Jackman Mr. Justin Linden

Mr. Jeff Lloyd Ms. Anne Maggisano Mr. Stephen O. Marshall Ms. Judy Matthews Ms. Trina McQueen Mr. Jonathan Morgan Mr. Nick Mutton Ms. Frances Price Mr. Arthur R.A. Scace, C.M. Ms. Colleen Sexsmith Mr. Philip S.W. Smith Mr. Paul B. Spafford Ms. Michele Symons Ms. Kristine (Kris) Vikmanis Mr. John H. (Jack) Whiteside HONORARY DIRECTOR Mr. Joey Tanenbaum, C.M.

VOLUNTEER SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS COC OPERA GUILDS Brantford Opera Guild, David M. Cullen, President Kingston Opera Guild Grace Orzech, President London Opera Guild Ernest H. Redekop, President Muskoka Opera Guild Dr. Hans Heeneman, President Northumberland Opera Guild Thais Donald, President Oakville Opera Guild Maureen Rudzik, President Sudbury Opera Guild Diane Moore, President Western New York Opera Guild Dorothy K. Piepke, President

CANADIAN OPERA FOUNDATION DIRECTORS Mr. Tony Arrell Mr. Jonathan Bloomberg Mr. J. Rob Collins Mr. William Fearn, Chair Mr. David Forster, Treasurer Mr. Michael Gough Mr. Gary Grad Mr. Christopher Hoffmann Mr. David Spiro, Secretary HONORARY DIRECTORS Mr. George Hamilton Hon. Dennis Lane

For more information on COC Guilds please visit coc.ca/Guilds

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

15

ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF ALEXANDER NEEF, General Director Robert Lamb Managing Director Johannes Debus Music Director EXECUTIVE OFFICE Marguerite Schabas Executive Assistant to the General Director ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION Roberto Mauro Artistic Administrator

COC Ensemble Studio Gordon Bintner Karine Boucher Charlotte Burrage Jean-Philippe FortierLazure Aviva Fortunata Clarence Frazer Andrew Haji Iain MacNeil Owen McCausland Jennifer Szeto Production Assistants Adriana Dimitri Jane Honek

Amy Cummings Scene Shop Co-ordinator

Nancy Hawkins Head of Wardrobe

David Retzleff Head Scene Shop Carpenter

Leslie Brown Wardrobe Assistant

Andrew Walker Assistant Scene Shop Carpenter Richard Gordon Head Scenic Artist

Cori Ferguson Head of Wig & Make-up Crew

Carolina Valenzuela Assistant Head Scenic Artist

Shawna Green Production Co-ordinator

PROGRAMMING Olwyn Lewis Company Manager Karen Olinyk Assistant, Artistic Administration & Music MUSIC Sandra Gavinchuk Music Administrator Sandra Horst Chorus Master Wayne Vogan Music Librarian, Coach Elizabeth Upchurch Head of the Ensemble Studio & Coach Wendy Nielsen Head Vocal Consultant Derek Bate Assistant to the Music Director Music Staff Rachel Andrist Timothy Cheung Andrea Del Bianco Jenna Douglas Stephen Hargreaves Anne Larlee Ben Malensek Kevin Murphy Michael Shannon

Nina Dragani´ ´c Director of Programming – Free Concert Series

Guy Nokes Properties Supervisor

Peter W. Lamb Director of Production

Stephanie Tjelios Resident Properties Builder/Co-ordinator

Chuck Giles Technical Director Barney Bayliss Associate Technical Director Wendy Greenwood Lighting Co-ordinator Assistant Technical Directors Melynda Jurgenson Wendy Ryder Janice Fraser Head Electrician Joel Thoman Assistant Electrician Bob Shindle Head of Sound Craig Kadoke Assistant Sound

Kathryn Garnett Scheduling Manager

Paul Watkinson Head Carpenter

Adriana Dimitri Scheduling Assistant

David Middleton Assistant Carpenter

Birthe Joergensen Archivist – Joan Baillie Archives

Rupert Baker Head Flyman

Ian Cowie Orchestra Personnel Manager Ondrej Golias Assistant Librarian

16

Scott Williamson Rehearsal Head Technician

PRODUCTION

Lee Milliken Production Manager

Daniel Graham Head of Properties Core Crew Scott Clarke Terry Hurley Paul Otis Chuck Theil

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

Sharon Ryman Wig & Make-up Supervisor

Kathy Frost Resident Properties Buyer/Co-ordinator Tracy Taylor Properties Builder/ Co-ordinator

Hannah Gordon Production Department Assistant Gunta Dreifelds SURTITLES™ Producer Zane Kaneps SURTITLES™ Editor Ariel Martin-Smith SURTITLES™ Assistant Supernumeraries Co-ordinators Analee Stein Elizabeth Walker DEVELOPMENT

Properties Builders Carolyn Choo Wulf

Christie Darville Chief Advancement Officer

Sandra Corazza Costume Supervisor

Paige Phillips Development & Board Relations Officer

Cassandra Spence Costume Co-ordinator Costume Assistants Natassia Brunato Christina Del Monte Sue Furlong Resident Tailor Assisted by Gulay Cokgezen Karen Hancock Barbara Nowakowski Additional Footwear By Handmade Shoe Kaz Chopican Additional Millinery

Amy Mushinski Manager, Government Relations Stephen Gilles Director of Development Peter Hussell Senior Manager, Advancement Operations Dawn Marie Schlegel Associate Director, Donor Relations Emma Noakes Donor Relations Officer

Chrome Yellow Additional Paint and Breakdown

Natalie Sandassie Senior Development Officer, Annual Programs and Patron Engagement

Special thanks for the building of Gerald Finley’s body padding and prosthetics to Robert Allsopp & Associates

Bree Callahan Co-ordinator, Annual Programs and Patron Engagement

Alexandra Folkes Co-ordinator, Annual Programs and Patron Engagement Victor Widjaja Senior Development Officer, Friends of the COC Kevin Sean Pook Co-ordinator, Friends of the COC Francesco Corsaro Senior Development Officer, Institutional Gifts Sarah Heim Senior Development Officer, Partnerships Nikita Gourski Development Communications Officer

Kiersten Hay Digital Marketing Co-ordinator Eldon Earle Marketing Co-ordinator Dorian Cox Retail Co-ordinator Kristin McKinnon Assistant Publicist EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Katherine Semcesen Associate Director, Education and Outreach Gianmarco Segato Adult Programs Manager Vanessa Smith School Programs Manager

Tracy Briggs Senior Manager, Special Events

Blanche Israël Interim Children and Youth Programs Co-ordinator

Laura Aylan-Parker Senior Development Officer, Special Events and Ensemble Circle

TICKET SERVICES

John Kriter Donation Database Officer Olena Moldovan Donation Database Officer COMMUNICATIONS Steven Kelley Chief Communications Officer Claudine Domingue Director of Public Relations Phil Stephens Senior Manager, Sales and Customer Service Gianna Wichelow Senior Manager, Creative and Publications Jennifer Pugsley Media Relations Manager Claire Morley Associate Manager, Editorial Meighan Szigeti Associate Manager, Digital Marketing

Alan Moffat Patron Relationship Manager Andrea Salin Associate Manager, Ticket Services Nikki Tremblay Assistant Ticket Services Manager David Nimmo Group Sales Co-ordinator Lillian Fung Ticket Services Supervisor Ticket Services Representatives James Baldwin Ernest Cayemen Aurelie Dufour Anna Kay Eldridge Peter Genoway Sylvie Goncalves Maureen Gualtieri Cat Haywood Keith Lam Kevin Morris Paulina Saliba Kat Smiley Darcy Stoop

Call Centre Representatives Catherine Belyea Wendy Limbertie DeeAnn Sagar Margaret Terry Asna Wise FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Lindy Cowan, CPA, CA Director of Finance and Administration Lorraine O’Connor, CHRP Human Resources Manager Amalie Vanderzwet, CPA, CA Finance Manager General Accountants Florence Huang Zoran Orli´ ´c (FSCPA) Vera Brjozovskaia Accounting Clerk Payroll Accountants Jovana Bojovic Jeanny Won Steven Sherwood Manager, IT Services Brad Staples Database Reporting Specialist Tony Sandy IT Services Assistant Katarina Božovi´´c Receptionist/ Switchboard Branka Hrsum Mailroom Clerk/Courier BUILDING SERVICES Joe Waldherr Associate Director, Facilities Management Christian Coulter Assistant Manager, Operations Maintenance Assistants Ryszard Gad (COC) Branislav Peterman (COC) Julian Peters (COC) James Esposito (FSCPA) Mark Healy (FSCPA) Piotr Wiench (FSCPA)

Security Officers George Balyasin Tammy Hill Natalia Juzyc Usman Khalid Kathleen Minor Heather Reid Craig Thompson Building Operators Dan Bisca Dan Popescu Adrian Tudoran Paula Da Costa Eurest Services Supervisor Eurest Services Team Jennifer Barros Malaku Godana Nash Lim Jimmy Pacheco Sugey Torres FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Alfred Caron Director, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Elizabeth Jones Associate Director, Business Development Shannon Churm Business & Events Co-ordinator Jefferson Guzman Associate Director, Patron Services Kim Hutchinson-Barber Assistant Manager, Patron Services Julia Somerville Assistant Manager, Front of House Brigitte Lang Assistant Manager, Food & Beverage Patron Services Supervisors Stuart Constable Enrique Covarrubias Cortes Jamieson Eakin Lori MacDonald Melissa McDonnell Patron Services Assistant Jennifer Toulmin

CALL CENTRE Richard Paradiso Call Centre Manager

Security Supervisors Videsh Dookhu Dave Samuels

Patron Services Leads Karol Carstenson Christine Groom Skye Plowman Rosemary Williams

FSCPA – Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

17

S U P P O RT I N G T O R O N T O ’ S G R O W I N G A RT S C O M M U N I T Y T O D AY, A N D F O R E V E R

As Naming Donor of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts we are proud to be a lifelong friend of the fine arts experience for the patrons here and from around the world.

ENJOY THE PERFORMANCE

fourseasons.com

E. LOUISE MORGAN SOCIETY The E. Louise Morgan Society was created to reflect the vision and commitment of its founder and the members who have created a legacy of leadership, passion and philanthropy in support of the goals of the Canadian Opera Company.

Each of these donors has contributed a cumulative total of more than one million dollars over the past 15 years. Their support is critical to the company’s success and we are forever indebted to their commitment and generosity.

The Estate of Dr. Larry M. Agranove ARIAS: Canadian Opera Student Development Fund The Gerard & Earlaine Collins Foundation The late John A. Cook The Estate of Horst Dantz and Don Quick Jerry and Geraldine Heffernan Kolter Communities

The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation Roger D. Moore E. Louise Morgan Tim & Frances Price Colleen Sexsmith Joey & Toby Tanenbaum Anonymous (2)

MAJOR GIFTS & SPECIAL PROJECTS The COC offers its sincere thanks to the individuals listed below for their extraordinary support.

PRODUCTION UNDERWRITERS Demonstrating their leadership and generosity, these donors have underwritten the COC’s main stage productions. $500,000 + Jerry & Geraldine Heffernan The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation Colleen Sexsmith $100,000 – $499,999 Anne & Tony Arrell Paul Bernards Philip Deck & Kimberley Bozak Donald O’Born David Roffey & Karen Walsh

$25,000 – $49,999 Earlaine Collins J. Hans Kluge Dr. David Stanley-Porter & Dr. Colin McGregor Mailer Anonymous (1) Up to $25,000 Robert Sherrin Carol Swallow Riki Turofsky & Charles Petersen Ms Kristine Vikmanis & Mr. Denton Creighton

ENSEMBLE STUDIO SUPPORTERS Encouraging the next generation of artists, these donors support the COC’s Ensemble Studio.

$50,000 – $99,999 The Asper Foundation

$1,000,000 Peter M. Deeb

PERFORMANCE AND ARTIST SPONSORS

$500,000 – $999,999 The Slaight Family Foundation

The following donors extend their generous support to individual artists and productions. $100,000 + Jack Whiteside $50,000 – $99,999 Sue Mortimer

$25,000 – $499,999 Anne & Tony Arrell Ethel Harris & the late Milton E. Harris Hal Jackman Foundation Marjorie & Roy Linden The Stratton Trust W. Garfield Weston Foundation

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

Up to $25,000 ARIAS: Canadian Opera Student Development Fund Marcia Lewis Brown Margaret Harriett Cameron and the late Gary Smith Classical 96.3 FM Earlaine Collins Ninalee Craig Catherine Fauquier Patrick Hodgson Family Foundation Peter & Hélène Hunt Alexandra Jonsson Marjorie & Roy Linden Jo Lander Tom C. Logan Roger D. Moore James Nicol & Christine Milne Colleen Sexsmith OCC Lasik Brian Wilks Anonymous (1)

GENERAL PROGRAM SUPPORTERS Providing general program support is critical to the COC’s artistic mission. $1,000,000+ Tim & Frances Price $100,000+ Anonymous (1) $10,000 - $25,999 Bruce C. Bailey

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Developing new audiences, providing a greater understanding of opera, and creating new productions is smart business.

BMO Financial Group is proud to sponsor the Canadian Opera Company’s Student Performances, Pre-Performance Opera Chats, and this season’s production of Falstaff.

Registered trade-marks of Bank of Montreal.

®

MAJOR GIFTS & SPECIAL PROJECTS ENDOWMENT SUPPORT Making a gift to the Endowment ensures the long-term stability for the COC and its artists. $100,000 + Hon. Henry N. R. Jackman Anonymous (1) $25,000 – $99,999 Michael W. & Wanda Plachta Endowment Fund Up to $25,000 Anonymous (1)

LEGACY AND BEQUEST GIFTS

MEMORIAL AND HONORARY DONATIONS

The COC honours the memory of the following patrons whose vision and generosity has provided lasting support.

The COC expresses its sincere appreciation to all donors who have made memorial and honorary donations.

Estate of Horst Dantz and Don Quick‡ Estate of Mary B. Godfrey Estate of Egon Homburger‡ Estate of Judith Howard Estate of John Gordon Hunter Estate of Ethel Berney Jackson‡ Estate of Henri Kolin Estate of Borge John Kraglund Estate of Vida Peene Estate of J.M. (Doc) Savage‡ Estate of Helen Stacey Estate of Jeanie Irwin Walker Anonymous (1)

In Memory of Diedre Gipp Stephen Walter Ireland Janet Lo David Murray Harley Eric Rump Sylvia Shawn

‡ designates funds directed to the COC’s Endowment

In Honour of Walter Bowen Earlaine Collins Ninalee Craig Yael Dunkleman Michael Gibbens and Julie Lassonde Earl B. Law Wailan Low Barbara and Iain Scott Colleen Sexsmith Beverly Zerafa As of August 29, 2014

INDIVIDUAL GIVING ANNUAL SUPPORT GOLDEN CIRCLE GOLD, $50,000 + Anne & Tony Arrell**** Cecily & Robert Bradshaw* David G. Broadhurst** In memory of Gerard H. Collins**** Jerry & Geraldine Heffernan**** The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation**** Roger D. Moore**** Colleen Sexsmith*** Anonymous (1) SILVER, $25,000 – $49,999 Andrew Peller Limited* Mark & Gail Appel*** Paul Bernards*** Barbara Black** The Black Family Foundation Philip Deck & Kimberley Bozak*** George & Kathy Dembroski**** Michael Gibbens & Julie Lassonde* Ethel Harris & the late Milton Harris**** Douglas E. Hodgson****

Rennie & Bill Humphries**** Ronald Kimel & Vanessa LaPerriere**** Susan Loube & William Acton** James Nicol & Christine Milne Jack Whiteside*** BRONZE, $12,500 – $24,999 Dr. & Mrs. Hans G. Abromeit**** Philip & Linda Armstrong** Ms Nora Aufreiter* Mr. Philip J. Boswell**** Walter M. & Lisa Balfour Bowen**** Susanne Boyce & Brendan Mullen**** Rob & Teresa Brouwer** Marcia Lewis Brown* Stewart & Gina Burton* Wendy M. Cecil**** Dr. John Chiu in memory of Yvonne Chiu, C.M.**** Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Christ**** Stephen Clarke & Elizabeth Black** The Max Clarkson Family Foundation**** J. Rob Collins & Janet Cottrelle****

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

Sydney & Florence Cooper** Ninalee Craig*** Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Dan*** Jean Davidson & Paul Spafford**** Jill Denham & Stephen Marshall** David & Kristin Ferguson**** George Fierheller**** Lloyd & Gladys Fogler*** Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts*** Robert Fung** The Hon. William C. Graham & Mrs. Catherine Graham**** Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin*** William & Nona Heaslip Foundation**** Mr. Peter Hinman & Ms Kristi Stangeland Michael & Linda Hutcheon**** Trinity Jackman* Bernhard & Hannelore Kaeser**** Jeff Lloyd & Barbara Henders* Justin S. Linden Mr. & Mrs. J. S. A. MacDonald**** Bobby & Gordon MacNeill** 21

Judy & Wilmot Matthews* Hon. Margaret McCain*** John & Esther McNeil**** Don McQueen & Trina McQueen, O.C. ** John McVicker & B. W. Thomas**** Delia M. Moog*** Jonathan Morgan & Shurla Gittens** Sue Mortimer**** Nicholas & Rosemary Mutton* Mrs. Christl & Mr. Karl Niemuller*** Donald O’Born*** Peter M. Partridge**** Mr. Tim & Mrs. Frances Price**** Ms R. Raso**** David Roffey & Karen Walsh**** Barrie D. Rose & Family*** Philip & Maria Smith** Stephen & Jane Smith**** Marion & Gerald Soloway** David E. Spiro*** David Stanley-Porter**** Ryerson & Michele Symons Riki Turofsky & Charles Petersen** Ms Kristine Vikmanis & Mr. Denton Creighton**** The Youssef-Warren Foundation**** PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL TRUSTEE, $7,500 – $12,499 à la Carte Kitchen Inc. Laurie & Fareed Ali** Margaret Atwood & Graeme Gibson*** Mr. & Mrs. Avie Bennett**** Dr. David & Constance Briant**** Paul G. Cherry & Dean C. Noack**** Marilyn Cook* Ms Lindsay Dale-Harris & Mr. Rupert Field-Marsham**** Andrew Fleming** J. Hans Kluge** Jean V. Kramar** Mr. Gurney Kranz**** Mr. Philip Lanouette** Paul Lee & Jill Maynard**** Anne Lewitt** Jerry & Joan Lozinski**** Amy & John Macfarlane* Kathleen McLaughlin & Tim Costigan* Dr. Judith A. Miller*** Douglas L. Parker**** Annie & Ian Sale* Dr. David Shaw** Françoise Sutton*** Carol Swallow*** William R. Waters**** Anonymous (1)

PATRON, $3,750 – $7,499 Sue Armstrong**** Ron Atkinson & Bruce Blandford**** Mona H. Bandeen, C. M. ** Karen & Bill Barnett* L. H. Bartelink in memory of Oskar & Irmgard Gaube*** Dr. Frank Bartoszek & Mr. Daniel O’Brien**** Dr. Thomas H. Beechy**** Mr. & Mrs. Eric Belli-Bivar*** Dr. Catherine Bergeron*** Tom Bogart & Kathy Tamaki** Peter Brieger & Beverley Hamblin* Dr. Jane Brissenden & Dr. Janet Roscoe**** Mrs. Donna Brock*** Alice Burton*** Margaret Harriett Cameron**** Joe & Laurissa Canavan Cesaroni Management Limited*** Frank Ciccolini**** The Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson* Mr. & Mrs. William J. Corcoran*** Lindy Cowan† & Chris Hatley*** Norman Curtis**** Brian J. Dawson*** Dr. Jeanne Deinum**** Carol Derk & David Giles** Mrs. A. Ephraim Diamond & Family**** Peter & Anne Dotsikas** Jeffrey Douglas Vreni & Marc Ducommun*** Ron Dyck & Walter Stewart*** Bud & Leigh Eisenberg*** Joseph Fantl & Moira Bartram** Mr. & Mrs. Fraser M. Fell**** Kimberley Fobert & Robert Lamb†**** The Fraser Elliott Foundation**** Dr. & Mrs. Wm. O. Geisler*** Ben & Sarah Glatt**** Ann J. Gibson**** Peter & Shelagh Godsoe** Rose & Roger Goldstein**** Michael & Anne Gough**** Ronald & Birgitte Granofsky**** Douglas & Ruth Grant* John & Judith Grant** Al & Malka Green** John Groves & Vera Del Vecchio**** James & Joyce Gutmann**** George & Irene Hamilton**** Hampton Securities Ltd. * Scott & Ellen Hand*** Maggie Hayes** Hon. & Mrs. Paul Hellyer**** Chris Hoffmann & Joan Eakin** Michiel Horn & Cornelia Schuh**** Ken Hugessen & Jennifer Connolly** Dr. Melvyn L. Iscove***

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

The Jackman Foundation*** Victoria Jackman*** Ms Elizabeth Johnson** Dr. Joshua Josephson & Ms Elaine Lewis**** Lorraine Kaake**** Patrick & Barbara Keenan**** Dr. Joel Keenleyside**** Joseph Kerzner & Lisa Koeper**** Jim & Diane King** Dr. Elizabeth Kocmur**** Murray & Marvelle Koffler**** John B. Lawson, Q.C. **** Mr. J. Levitt & Ms E. Mah** Daniel & Janet Li** Vincent & Helene Lobraico* Tom C. Logan* Jonathan & Dorothea Lovat Dickson** Mr. Jed MacKay**** Mrs. R. MacMillan **** Dr. Colin McGregor Mailer**** Mrs. J. L. Malcolm* Dr. & Mrs. M. A. Manuel* Paul & Jean McGrath**** Ronan McGrath & Sarah Perry* June McLean**** Mr. Ian McWalter* Mr. Ulrich Menzefricke**** Bruce & Vladka Mitchell* Mr. Noel Mowat** Dr. Shirley C. Neuman** Eileen Patricia Newell*** Sally-Ann Noznesky**** E. Oliana & A. Iu*** Janice Oliver*** Keith & Brenda Ottaway*** The Ouellette Family Foundation Julia & Liza Overs**** Dr. & Mrs. William M. Park**** John & Gwen Pattison** June C. Pinkney**** Polk Family Charitable Fund** Julian Porter, Q.C. ** Mary Jean & Frank Potter*** Margrit & Tony Rahilly**** Rob & Penny Richards*** Margaret A. Riggin* Gordon Robison & David Grant* Cameron Rusaw & Anne-Marie Sorrenti Judy & Hy Sarick**** Sam & Esther Sarick**** Helen & John Scott** June Shaw & the late Dr. Ralph Shaw**** Allan & Helaine Shiff**** David & Hilary Short*** Judy & Hume Smith**** Dr. Harley Smyth & Carolyn McIntire Smyth** Philip Somerville* Dr. John Stanley & Dr. Helmut Reichenbächer*** Drs. Wayne Stanley & Marina Pretorius* 23

Doreen L. Stanton**** Mr. & Mrs. Gordon Taylor**** Wendy J. Thompson**** Anthea Thorp**** Ian Turner*** Sandra & Guy Upjohn*** Dita Vadron & James Catty** Rosalind & Dory Vanderhoof** Donald & Margaret Walter**** Hugh & Colleen Washington** Ruth Watts-Gransden**** Dr. Virginia Wesson*** Dr. Jack Williams & Dr. Dorothy Pringle*** Ms Lilly Wong* Mr. & Mrs. Richard Wookey**** Linda Young* Helen Ziegler*** Susan Zorzi** Sharon Zuckerman**** Anonymous (2) MEMBER, $2,250 – $3,749 D. C. Adamson-Brdar**** Susan Agranove & Estate of Dr. Larry M. Agranove**** Donna & Lorne Albaum** Mr. & Mrs. Roberto & Nancy Albis*** David & Debbie Allan Clive & Barbara Allen**** Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Claire Allen** Dr. D. Amato & Ms J. Hodges**** Anne-Marie H. Applin*** Valerie Armstrong**** Philip Arthur & Mary Wilson* Virginia Atkin*** Mr. Jeff Axelrod & Dr. John Goodhew John Bailey** James C. Baillie** Marilyn & Charles Baillie**** Andrew & Cornelia Baines**** Janice A. Baker**** Richard J. Balfour**** Lindy Barrow** Julia Bass & David Hamilton*** Alice & Tom Bastedo*** Dr. Gail Beck, O. Ont. & Mr. Andrew Fenus* Mr. & Mrs. Peter & Sondra Beck* Ms Marie Bérard†*** Nani & Austin Beutel**** Dody Bienenstock** John & Mandy Birch* Anneliese & Walter Blackwell**** Darlene & Peter Blenich* Ian & Janet Blue*** John & Ila Bossons** Mr. W. Bowen & Ms S. Gavinchuk†**** Mr. Stephen Bradley Mrs. Carolyn Bradley-Hall & Mr. William Bradley*** Mrs. Richard Bradshaw*** 24

Mr. Ingvar & Mrs. Sheila Brogren Murray & Judy Bryant*** Brian Bucknall & Mary Jane Mossman**** Christopher & Elizabeth Buller Thomas J. Burton** Maureen Callahan & Douglas Gray** Sharon & Howard Campbell** Brian & Ellen Carr**** Gail Carson**** Drs. Carol & David Cass Cara Celotti & Tom Nicolopoulos Prof. Alfred L. Chan & Mr. Michael Farewell*** Dr. & Mrs. Albert Cheskes*** John D. Church Dr. Howard M. Clarke*** Edward Cole & Adrienne Hood*** Brian Collins & Amanda Demers* Mr. Andrew Combes* Tony & Elizabeth Comper* Mr. & Mrs. R. W. Corcoran Murray & Katherine Corlett**** Harold & Anita Corrigan*** Dr. Lesley S. Corrin**** Bram & Beth Costin Gay & Derek Cowbourne** Mary & John Crocker**** Ruth & John Crow*** Carrol Anne Curry*** Michael & Honor de Pencier**** Mrs. Rosario de Wit-Farro*** Dr. & Mrs. Michael & Ute Davis** Mrs. Leonard G. (Anne) Delicaet & Mrs. Kendra Anne DelicaetAlmasi**** Angelo & Carol DelZotto*** Mr. & Mrs. A. J. Diamond* J. DiGiovanni* Olwen & Frank Dixon** James Doak & Patricia Best*** Sandra Z. Doblinger** Ms Petrina Dolby*** Dr. James & Mrs. Ellen Downey** Marko Duic and Gabriel Lau**** Mr. Albert D. Dunn* Mrs. Anne W. Dupré William & Gwenda Echard**** Jean Patterson Edwards** Wendy & Elliott Eisen**** Jordan Elliott & Lynne Griffin* Robert Elliott & Paul Wilson** Christoph Emmrich & Srilata Raman Dr. & Mrs. John Evans*** Fabris Inc.* Mr. Eddy Fan George A. Farkass** Gail & Bob Farquharson* Darren Farwell Catherine Fauquier*** Bill Fearn & Claudia Rogers**** Lee & Shannon Ferrier**** William & Rosemary Fillmore*** Mrs. Lois Fleming****

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

Goshka Folda* J. E. Fordyce**** Robert & Julia Foster** Margaret & David Fountain**** Linda & Ken Foxcroft* Mrs. Ingrid Fratzl Rev. Ivars Gaide & Rev. Dr. Anita Gaide*** Ann Gawman*** Dr. Barry A. Gayle**** The Honourable Irving Gerstein & Mrs. Gail Gerstein** Mary & Lionel Goffart* Dr. Eudice Goldberg* Dr. Fay Goldstep & Dr. George Freedman** Deanna A. Gontard**** Dr. Paul W. Gooch Tina & Michael Gooding*** Wayne A. Gooding**** Goodman Family* Dr. Noëlle Grace & the Shohet Family**** Jane Greene** Mr. Finn Greflund & Mrs. M. Ortner** Mr. Carmen & Mrs. Vittoria Guglietti** Ellen & Simon Gulden**** Mr. Albert Haddad Dan Hagler & Family*** Ms Pamela Hallisey Mr. Adrian J. Hamel Beverly Hargraft** Mr. Harquail & Dr. Sigfridsson* Michael Harris & Carol Rak** Mr. & Mrs. William B. Harris*** Paul & Natalie Hartman* Caroline Helbronner*** Jacques & Elizabeth Helbronner*** Thea Herman & Gregory King*** William E. Hewitt*** Pamela Hoiles Sally Holton**** Emmy & Walter Homburger*** Drs. Walter & Virginia Hryshko* Ms Judith Hull Anthony C. J. Humphreys**** Peter & Hélène Hunt**** Eva Innes & David Medhurst* Elliott Jacobson & Judy Malkin** Paul Jaggard & Ruth Caswell Lynne Jeffrey**** Laurence Jewell** The Norman & Margaret Jewison Charitable Foundation**** E. Patricia Johnson** Dr. Albert & Bette Johnston** Joyce Johnston*** Alexandra Jonsson Ms Miriam Kagan David W. & Sheryl L. Kerr* Inta Kierans**** Ellen & Hermann Kircher**** Mr. Martin Kirr & Ms Suzanne McCuaig

Mr. Douglas Klaassen** Michael & Sonja Koerner*** Robin Korthals & Janet Charlton** Dr. Robert Kosnik**** Valarie Koziol* William & Eva Krangle**** Richard T. La Prairie* Elizabeth & Goulding Lambert*** Leslie & Jo Lander**** M. J. Horsfall Large** Marc Lebeau & Guylaine Lefebvre Dr. Connie Lee*** Linda Lee & Michael Pharoah**** Neal & Dominique Lee** Dr. Richard Lee & Mr. Gary Van Haren** Alexander & Anna Leggatt*** Joy Levine*** Mr. Peter Levitt & Ms Mai Why*** Mr. Kejun Liang L. Liivamagi & Dr. D. N. Cash Justin S. Linden* Marjorie & Roy Linden**** Dr. & Mrs. W. G. Lindley**** Janet & Sid Lindsay*** Anthony J. Lisanti*** Dr. Vance Logan**** A. Benson Lorriman**** Douglas L. Ludwig & Karen J. Rice*** Dr. Robert G. Luton**** James & Connie MacDougall**** Dr. & Mrs. Richard Mackenzie**** Macro Properties Ltd. ** Ole P. Madsen* Mr. A. Mafrici**** R. Manke**** Mr. & Mrs. R. Gordon Marantz**** Frederick J. Marker Fernando & Marietta Martinez-Caro Roberto Mauro† & Erin Wall Mrs. Ettore Mazzoleni*** Dr. & Mrs. John A. McCallum**** The Hon. Barbara McDougall*** Dr. & Mrs. Donald C. McGillivray**** Darcy & Joyce McKeough* Mark & Andrea McQueen*** Don McLean & Diane Martello Guy & Joanne McLean**** M. E. McLeod**** Jean M. McNab**** Mr. Thomas McNicholas* Shawn McReynolds & Elaine Kierans* Dr. Davender Mehra & Dr. Ellis Galea Kirkland* Dr. Don Melady & Mr. Rowley Mossop*** Eileen Mercier**** Ms Andrea Miller Marvene (Cox) & Gordon Miller** Lee Milliken† & Doug MacNaughton** Patricia & Frank Mills***

Dr. & Mrs. Steven Millward** Florence Minz Audrey & David Mirvish*** Dr. David N. Mitchell & Dr. Susan M. Till*** Eva Mocarski* Anne Moore**** Mr. Robert Morassutti**** Ruth Morawetz & Ken Judd*** Alice Janet Morgan*** Ms Rosalind Morrow** Drs. Christopher & Pippa Moss*** Gael Mourant & Caroline Hubberstey* Mr. Joseph Mulder** Anne Murdock** Matt & Debbie Mysak*** David & Mary Neelands*** Dr. Emilie Newell* Dr. Steven Nitzkin**** Simon & Marlene Nyilassy* Dr. James & Mrs. Valda Oestreicher*** Benson Orenstein*** Martin & Myrna Ossip* Eileen & Ralph Overend* Clarence & Mary Pace** Dr. & Mrs. N. Pairaudeau**** Lee Parsons* Dr. Roger D. Pearce*** Dr. A. Angus Peller* John & Penelope Pepperell* John & Carol Peterson*** M. J. Phillips**** Robin B. Pitcher**** Wanda Plachta**** Georgia Prassas**** Ms Jill Presser & Mr. John Duffy* Dr. Mark Quigley**** Stephen Ralls & Bruce Ubukata*** The Carol & Morton Rapp Foundation**** Professor C. Edward Rathé**** Kenneth F. Read**** Mrs. Richard Gavin Reid** Grant L. Reuber*** Mrs. Gabrielle Richards** Carolyn Ricketts**** Ms Nada Ristich* Emily & Fred Rizner** Clara Robert* Mr. Mike & Ms Stacy Robitaille Steve & Richa Roder Dr. Michael & Mary Romeo**** John & Hannah Rosen* Ken & Helen Rotenberg** Rainer & Sharyn Rothfuss**** The Roux Family Peter A. Roy & Leah Taylor Roy Drs. Orest & Maureen Rudzik**** David A. Ruston*** Ms Sharon Cookie Sandler**** Mallory Morris Sartz & John Sartz**** Go Sato****

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Katalin Schäfer*** Fred & Mary Schulz** Dr. Marianne Seger**** Carol Seifert & Bruno Tesan*** Robert & Geraldine Sharpe**** Victor & Rhoda Shields**** Milton & Joyce Shier**** Dr. Kevin Shiffman** William Siegel & Margaret Swaine** Dr. Bernie & Mrs. Bobbie Silverman** Rod & Christina Simpson In memory of Dr. Bernard Slatt* Dr. & Mrs. Jeremy Sloan** Jay Smith & Laura Rapp* Ms Muriel Smith & Mr. Eric Ojala**** Dr. Joseph So*** John & Ellen Spears**** Martha E. Spears*** Alex & Kim Squires**** Oksana R. Stein*** Mr. & Mrs. Gary & Sula Stern* Dr. & Mrs. Stephen Stern*** John D. Stevenson**** James H. Stonehouse** Janet Stubbs** Eric Tang & Dr. James Miller** Mr. Arthur Paul Tarasuk* Judith Teller Foundation**** Tesari Charitable Foundation** Elizabeth Tory**** Mr. Alex Tosheff* Edmond & Sylvia Vanhaverbeke**** Dr. R. B. Van Winckle* Stefan Varga & Dr. Marica Varga* Mr. & Mrs. Henry & Ann Louise Vehovec**** Dr. Yvonne Verbeeten** Dr. Helen Vosu & Donald Milner**** Richard & Nathalie Wachsberg* Elizabeth & Michael Walker*** Ann & Marshall Webb** Peter Webb & Joan York**** Dr. Bogomila Welsh** Ms Eleanor Westney** Melanie Whitehead*** Mr. Brian Wilks* Elizabeth Wilson & Ian Montagnes**** John Wright & Chung-Wai Chow* Dr. Jackson Wu & Dr. Viviana Chang* Ms June Yee** Morden Yolles**** Walter Zwig**** Anonymous (24)

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Visit the OPERA SHOP This fall we have huge discounts on DVDs, CDs, books, giftware and COC merchandise!

Fabulous Fall Jewellery In celebration of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the Opera Shop is carrying exquisite, handmade origami work by Robert Wu, and a cherry-blossom inspired jewellery collection from ZSISKA. FALL TRUNK SHOWS Sunday, October 19: Jeweller Nancy Ciccone; hatmaker Rene Falcon Saturday October 25: Jeweller Alice Chik

Featured Recordings DVD Madama Butterfly This 2009 Metropolitan Opera HD transmission features our own Cio-Cio San, Patricia Racette, in a portrayal that is “quite simply revelatory ... one of the most beautiful interpretations in memory” (Opera News). $38 including tax DVD Falstaff This acclaimed Metropolitan Opera production by Franco Zeffirelli is conducted with warmth and brio

by James Levine. The stunning cast includes Paul Plishka, Mirella Freni, Marilyn Horne and Barbara Bonney. $25.75 including tax

The Opera Shop is a project of the Canadian Opera Company, in partnership with Decca – The Opera Label. All proceeds support the Canadian Opera Company.

FRIENDS OF THE COC SUSTAINING FRIENDS $1,600 – $2,249 Yvonne Blaszczyk Iivi Campbell**** Jayne & Ted Dawson**** Mr. Steven D. Donohoe**** Mr. James Hamilton* Bill Heaslip**** Mr. Josef Hrdina* Dr. Paul & Mrs. Marcia Kavanagh Mrs. Mary Liitoja**** I. McDorman**** Mrs. Annette Oelbaum* Barbara & Peter Pauly** Dr. Norbert V. Perera**** Ms Adrianne Pieczonka Mr. & Mrs. Domenic Porporo** David Smukler & Patricia Kern** The Sorbara Group**** Vernon & Beryl Turner**** Ms Eda Varalli Gordon Waugh**** Anonymous (1) ASSOCIATE FRIENDS $1,100 – $1,599 Carol & Ernest Albright**** Ms I. M. Allen**** Gail Asper O.C., O.M., LLD Michael & Janet Barnard** Michael Benedict & Martha Lowrie**** Don Biderman**** Dr. & Ms B. M. Braude** Dr. Wendy C. Chan* Patricia Clarke** Cogeco Data Services Inc. Robert D. Cook** Mr. Stuart Davidson Mr. Darren Day*** Dr. Christine Dunbar** Dr. James M. Ferguson Mr. Morris Flicht**** R. Dalton Fowler**** John H. Galloway**** Alison Girling & Paul Schabas** Ricardo Gomez-Insausti* David Gordon & Wendy Flores Gordon* Mr. & Mrs. H. C. Hatch**** Lawrence & Beatrice Herman**** In memory of Pauline Hinch* Haim & Mardi Hirshberg** David Holdsworth & Nicole Senécal* Richard & Susan Horner**** Donald Hughes**** James Hughes*** Mr. Sumant Inamdar** Karen & Craig** Ms Elisa Kearney Ms Suanne Kelman & Dr. Allan J. Fox** P. Anne Mackay**** Mrs. Janet Maggiacomo** Georgina McLennan**** Mr. David Milovanovic & Dr. Cinda Dyer Mr. Carl Morey****

Mr. Sean O'Neill**** Ms Marianne Orr* Eileen & Ralph Overend* Mr. Martti Paloheimo** Ms Victoria Pinnington*** Dr. Peter Ray**** William & Meredith Saunderson**** Ms Elisabeth Scarff**** Joan Sinclair & John McConnell** Dr. & Mrs. W. K. Stavraky*** Norma & George Steiner**** Dr. & Mrs. Karel Terbrugge* Ms Peg Thoen** Angela Thompson Dr. M. Lynne Thurling & Dr. John Treilhard*** Dr. Peter Voore**** Valery Lloyd-Watts Janet White** Ron Williams* Anonymous (7) CONTRIBUTING FRIENDS $700 – $1,099 Dr. I. L. Babb Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation**** Schuyler Bankes & Family*** In memory of M. Baptista*** Mrs. Lynn Bayer*** Dr. Robert Bell Catherine Belyea† Jeniva Berger**** Anthony Bird**** Dr. B. Derek & Dr. Anne W. Birt**** Dr. Jennifer Blake** Ellen & Murray Blankstein* Mary Brock & Brian Iler**** Mr. Thomas N. Bryson*** Ms Judith Burrows*** Ms E. Burton*** Mr. Bill Cameron* Betty Carlyle**** Mark Cestnik & Natercia Sousa**** Geoffrey & Bilgi Chapman**** Harold Chmara & Danny Hoy**** Joe T. R. Clarke**** Sherri Clarkson Ms Rovena Cooper Mr. Neil Crawford* Professor K. G. Davey*** M. P. Davies** Anita Day Don DeBoer & Brent Vickar*** Mr. Michael Disney* Dr. Eric Domville** Wendy Drahovzal Howard & Kathrine Eckler*** Peter & Shashi Eden** Ms Eleanor L. Ellins**** Roger & Janet Emery*** Mr. Arthur English** Mr. Larry Enkin*** Joe & Helen Feldmann*** Brian A. Ferguson**** Tom Flemming**** Jennifer & Frank Flower***

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Angelo Furgiuele & Family* Douglas G. Gardner**** Girish & Bharati Ghatalia Elinor Gill Ratcliffe C.M., O.N.L., LLD (hc) Aviva & Andrew Goldenberg** Dr. Wilfred S. Goodman**** Mrs. Marion A. Green**** Mrs. Suzy Greenspan** Dr. & Mrs. Voldemars Gulens**** Dr. & Mrs. Brian & Cynthia Hands**** Roy & Gail Harrison**** Sandra Hausman** In memory of Glenda Henniger* Mr. Matthew Hilgerdenaar* In memory of Pauline Hinch** Mr. Sylvain Houle* Dr. Ivan & Mrs. Diana Hronsky**** In loving memory of Joyce Whitney Hughes Mr. Pierre Hurtubise**** Mr. David Hutton*** Mr. Kazik Jedrzejczak**** Douglas & Dorothy Joyce**** Ms Meredith Keeve Lilian Kilianski† & Brian Pritchard* Dr. & Mrs. L. A. Kitchell**** Mr. & Mrs. I.P. & O.M. Komarnicky Mr. Christopher J. Kowal* Mr. Jonathan Krehm* Gediminas P. Kurpis**** Mr. James R. Lake**** Harry Lane*** Alan & Marti Latta**** Giles le Riche & Rosemary Polczer*** Claus & Heather Lenk* Mr. Yakov Lerner* Dr. David Levine* Dr. Francois Loubert* Mr. Andrew & Mrs. Harriet Lyons Kathy Marton* Mary McClymont**** Mary McGowan**** Jil McIntosh** Mr. Bruce McKeown**** Sylvia McPhee**** Janis Medland* Suzanne Mess**** In memory of N. Bruce Grandfield* Kamini & Lynne Milnes Frank & Anne Moir*** Blake Murray & Nancy Riley**** Peter Naylor Larry Nevard Mr. Tomi Nishio**** David Northcote & Suzanne Betcke* Ms Cristina Oke*** Mrs. Jean O'Grady Karen Olinyk†* Mr. James C. Pappas**** Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Letizia Paradiso*** Pauline & Donald

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David Peachey & Georgia Henderson** Mrs. Dorothy K. Piepke**** Alice Pitt & Deborah Britzman Ed & Beth Price*** Mr. Robert Radke Dr. Shelley Rechner**** Marat Ressin Ms Laura Rimas** Ms Virginia Robeson* Dorothy & Robert Ross*** Amye & DeeAnn Hagler Sagar† M. & G. Sanvido**** Patti & Richard Schabas** Nancy A. Schiefer in memory of Walter Schiefer**** Marlene Pollock Sheff* Cheryl Shook** D. Bruce Sinclair** John Spears**** Phil Spencer**** Mr. Paul Steep & Ms Anne McNeilly* Helga & Klaus Stegemann*** Jane & Ted Stephenson**** Stoesser Law Office Ms Michelle Tan** Dr. R. Paul Thompson* Ria Tietz**** Dr. Claude Tousignant** Mr. & Mrs. David G. Trent**** Maria & Ian Tulip**** Mrs. Norene Turvolgyi**** Dr. Nancy F. Vogan**** Mr. Wayne Vogan†**** George Vona & Lark Popov** Mr. John M. Welch**** James & Margaret Whitby**** F. Whittaker** Nina Wright*** Ms Diana Yenson Ms Iris Zawadowski* Anonymous (6) THE ENCORE LEGACY The Encore Legacy is the planned giving program of the Canadian Opera Company.

Planned giving is making the decision today to provide a gift for the Canadian Opera Company that may not be realized until after your lifetime.

Gifts planned today, that will ultimately affect your estate, allow you to make a statement of support that will become a lasting legacy to the COC. The Canadian Opera Company gratefully acknowledges and thanks the following individuals who have included the COC in their estate planning: Susan Agranove & Estate of Dr. Larry M. Agranove Ken R. Alexander Isobel Allen Renata Arens & Elizabeth Frey Mrs. Rosalen Armstrong

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Ron Atkinson & Bruce Blandford Lindy Barrow Mr. L. H. Bartelink J. Linden Best & James G. Kerr David Bowen Mr. Philip J. Boswell Marnie M. Bracht Gregory Brandt Mrs. Ann Christie Earl Clark The Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson Brian Collins & Amanda Demers Earlaine Collins David H. Cormack Ninalee Craig Anita Day & Robert McDonald Ann De Brouwer Helen Drake Rowland D. Galbraith Douglas G. Gardner Ann J. Gibson Michael & Anne Gough L. A. Grover George & Irene Hamilton Joan L. Harris James Hewson John R. Higgins Mr. Kim Yim Ho & Walter Frederic Thommen Douglas E. Hodgson Matt Hughes Michael & Linda Hutcheon Lynne Jeffrey Ann Kadrnka Ben Kizemchuk Kathryn Kossow Mr. Gurney Kranz Jo Lander Peggy Lau Marjorie & Roy Linden Tom C. Logan, A.R.C.T. Ms Lenore MacDonald Dr. Colin M. Mailer R. Manke Tim & Jane Marlatt Mr. Shawn Martin Margaret McKee Sylvia M. McPhee Dr. Alan C. Middleton Eleanor Miller Sigmund & Elaine Mintz Donald Morse Sue Mortimer Mr. & Mrs. James D. Patterson Mervyn Pickering Gunther & Dorothy Piepke Wanda Plachta Ms Georgia Prassas K. F. Read Dr. John Reeve-Newson Mrs. Margaret Russell Cookie & Stephen Sandler Claire Shaw R. Bonnie Shettler David E. Spiro Dr. D. P. Stanley-Porter Doreen L. Stanton Lilly Offenbach-Strauss Drs. W. & K. Stavraky

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

Janet Stubbs Ann Sutton Ronald Taber Mrs. L. Treutler Riki Turofsky & Charles Petersen N. Suzanne Vanstone Marie-Laure Wagner Hugh & Colleen Washington Marion C. Wilson Marion York Tricia Younger Anonymous (58) OPERATOURS DONORS $700 + (From July 2013 – August 2014) James C. Baillie* Ben & Sarah Glatt**** Donald Gutteridge & Anne Millar**** Dr. Elizabeth Kocmur**** John B. Lawson, Q.C.**** Dr. & Mrs. Richard Mackenzie**** David & Jean McIntosh* Drs. Moira & Matthew McQueen* Dr. Krystyna Prutis-Misterska**** Desmond Scott & Corinne Langston* Stephen & Jane Smith**** Anonymous (1) CORPORATE MATCHING PARTNERS The Canadian Opera Company gratefully acknowledges the following organizations that have matched gifts by their employees: Canadian Tire Corporation Limited IBM Canada Ltd. Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc Goodman & Company, Investment Counsel Ltd. FM Global Foundation The above Individual Support Gifts were made as of August 21, 2014. * ** *** **** † ‡

five to nine years of support 10 to 14 years of support 15 to 19 years of support 20 or more years of support COC administration, chorus or orchestra member Endowment

Despite the staff’s extensive efforts to avoid errors and omissions, mistakes can occur. If your name was omitted, listed incorrectly or misspelled, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We would appreciate being notified of any errors at 416-847-4949.

Join the Ensemble Circle

Three acclaimed opera productions Invitations to special events Post-performance toast with artists Henry N. R. Jackman Lounge access

Exclusive backstage tour Attend working rehearsal Admission to Operanation ‌ and much more

The Ensemble Circle is a rapidly expanding community of young people who appreciate and support opera and the arts in Toronto. By becoming a member, you join a network of your peers from across the arts, media and business communities, and benefit from a personalized introduction to the world of opera and the Canadian Opera Company.

Call 416-306-2309

E-mail lauraa@coc.ca

Visit ensemblecircle.ca

Photos from Operanat10n: A Night of Temptation, 2013. Left: Cameron McPhail and Catherine Affleck. Photo: Ryan EmberleyMedia Needs. Centre: Photo: Tara Noelle. Right: (l-r) Katie Jones, Ashleigh Semkiw and Marissa Semkiw. Photo: Tara Noelle

MAJOR CORPORATE SPONSORS 2014/2015 SEASON BMO Financial Group Pre-Performance Chats BMO Financial Group Student Dress Rehearsals Verdi’s Falstaff generously underwritten in part by

Presenting Sponsor of SURTITLES™

Official Automotive Sponsor of the COC at the FSCPA

Presenting Sponsor Opera Under 30 and Operanation 11: Light Up the Night

Official Canadian Wine of the COC at the FSCPA

Glencore Ensemble Studio School Tour

Production Sponsor Rossini’s The Barber of Seville

Preferred Jewellery Partner

Preferred Hospitality Sponsor

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Production Sponsor Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

Preferred Fragrance

Preferred Dry Cleaner

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

Major Supporter, Ensemble Studio Competition Supporter, Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition Gala

Production Sponsor Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

Program Sponsor After School Opera Program

Preferred Medical Services Provider

Golden Circle Hosting Partner

2014/2015 SPONSORS DIAMOND PERFORMANCE SPONSORS Barrick Gold Blake, Cassels & Graydon Burgundy Asset Management Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP Fionn MacCool’s Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Linden & Associates McCarthy Tetrault LLP Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP HOSTING SPONSOR

PREFERRED FLORISTS Bloom The Flower Company Quince Flowers CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION DONORS $50,000+ The Asper Foundation The Slaight Family Foundation The Hal Jackman Fund at the Ontario Arts Foundation $10,000 – $49,999 Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation Cineplex Great West Life, London Life and Canada Life J.P. Bickell Foundation The Lloyd Carr-Harris Foundation OCC Lasik The McLean Foundation The W. Garfield Weston Foundation Anonymous (1) $5,000 to $9,999 225490 Investments Limited The Hope Charitable Foundation JMV Food Services Canada Ltd. Local 58 Charitable Benefit Fund Mill Street Brewery Shinex Window Cleaning Inc State Street Unit Park Holdings Inc. The WholeNote Magazine $2,500 – $4,999 Hicks Memorial Fund at The Calgary Foundation Vida Peene Fund at the Canada Council for the Arts $1,000 – $2,499 Aimia D’Avignon Freight Services Inc. Jarvis & Associates Loch-Sloy Holdings Ltd. LoyaltyOne Inc. MAC Cosmetics Milgram Group of Companies Ltd. O’Shanter Development Company Ltd. The Powis Family Foundation

CENTRE STAGE: ENSEMBLE STUDIO COMPETITION GALA 2013 COMPETITION SUPPORTERS RBC and RBC Foundation Peter M. Deeb Hal Jackman Foundation PLATINUM SPONSOR Mercedes-Benz GOLD SPONSORS Brookfield Asset Management Extuple Scotiabank OPERANAT10N: A NIGHT OF TEMPTATION PRESENTING SPONSOR TD Bank Group VIP SPONSOR J.P. Morgan OFFICIAL FRAGRANCE Calvin Klein DOWNTOWN PARTNERING SPONSORS Burgundy Asset Management Globalive Communications Corp.

CONTRIBUTING SPONSORS BMO WeirFoulds LLP EVENT SPONSORS 10tation Alan Candy Chair-man Mills KAELEN Knot PR Lilium Media Needs Mill St. Perrier Sheridan Nurseries Toronto Life Trius Wines FINE WINE AUCTION 2014 PRESENTING SPONSORS TD Securities Bloomberg Graywood Group PARTNERING SPONSORS GWLM Inc. Thomson Reuters Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP SUPPORTING SPONSORS IAMGOLD Ozz Electric EVENT SPONSORS Falconcrest Homes Marel Contractors CHEESE SPONSOR The Cheese Boutique AUCTIONEER Stephen Ranger Fine Art Valuation & Consultancy

Please visit coc.ca for additional information

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GOVERNMENT SUPPORT The Canadian Opera Company gratefully acknowledges the generous support of these government agencies and departments.

OPERATING SUPPORT

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $157 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 157 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO

SPECIAL PROJECT FUNDING For the many programs and special initiatives undertaken each year by the Canadian Opera Company, we gratefully acknowledge project funding from: Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Department of Canadian Heritage Employment and Social Development Canada

CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Canadian Opera Company would like to thank all those who volunteer both on a daily basis and for special events with the company.

Michael Cooper: Official photographer The COC is a member of Opera America, Opera.ca. and TAPA. The COC operates in agreement with Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

The COC operates in agreement with I.A.T.S.E., Local #58, Local #822, Local #828.

SUPERNUMERARIES Liz Allemang Angela Boyd Marie Colucci Shawna Green Polo Izqueirdo Ward Jardine Paulette Kuehn

Carla Kurzenhauser Mark Milligan Lee Perenack Ryan Reeve Max Sokolovski Patrick Stepien-Scanlon Tiffany Tobias

Photographer credits for pages 28-29 of colour pages: 1, 4, 5, 7: Joey Lopez; 2: Tara Noelle-medianeeds; 3, 10: Dave Cox; 6,9, 11: Ryan Emberley-medianeeds; 8. Henry Chan.

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

AROUND THE WORLD WITH

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

BY KRISTIN McKINNON

A scene from Madama Butterfly, 2009, COC. Photo: Michael Cooper

M

adama Butterfly, a timeless tale of love, loss and devotion, is one of the world’s most popular operas. From New York City, to Rome and Finland, our globe-trotting Madama Butterfly artists have performed in opera houses and festivals around the world.

We asked them to share their favourite stories, memories and behind-the-scenes tidbits from this beloved opera.

PATRICK LANGE (COnduCtOr) One of the things that makes live performance so exciting is that even after countless rehearsals, you can never guarantee the final result. Conductor patrick Lange knows this from experience, when a show he was conducting didn’t go quite as planned… but he took it in stride and now it’s one of his favourite Butterfly memories!

I had one of my most memorable Butterfly experiences when I was working, for the first time, with a certain singer notorious for slowing down the tempo in performances – but in rehearsals, this singer asked me not to slow down his part. When it came time for the performance, the Concertmaster (who had known this singer for years) asked me if I was sure about keeping the quicker tempo. I replied 18

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

confidently, “Of course!

Rehearsals have been going well!” But when the performance started, the singer was in a completely different world, singing his part much slower and making it impossible to go at the speed we’d rehearsed.

When I looked down at the pit, I received a beautiful, knowing smile from the orchestra. These things are part of the fun of opera!

Around the World with Madama Butterfly

PATRICIA RACETTE (CiO-CiO San) Working and performing with children on stage can lead to all kinds of interesting situations. as one of the world’s leading Butterflys, patricia racette has shared the stage with countless “troubles” (or “Sorrows,” as Butterfly’s child is known in the COC’s production) and her experiences prove that working with opera’s youngest performers comes with its own unique challenges and rewards…

My best Butterfly stories typically involve my various “Troubles.” The situations I’ve dealt with have been hilarious, heart-warming and sometimes exhausting! The best moments seem to occur during “Dormi amor mio” at the end of Act II. I am always a bit tired at that point and, apparently, so are my Troubles! On more than one occasion the child has actually fallen asleep, and, I must remind any of you who are unaware, a

sleeping child is MUCH heavier than one who’s awake! So to carry a child AND sing becomes more challenging. Once my little Trouble actually snored during the entire exit and I had to physically rouse her to wake her up when we got offstage!

In a recent production, I also had the great pleasure to work with a lovely little boy whose mother informed me that he had referred to me as his “adult girlfriend.”

KELLY KADUCE (CiO-CiO San) as a young singer, soprano Kelly Kaduce took a risk tackling the title role in Madama Butterfly for the first time at minnesota Opera (her home state). Her gamble paid off, thanks in part to an influential director who had a lasting impact on her professional and personal life.

When I sang my first Butterfly, I was quite young for the role.

The general consensus is that you should wait until you’re older and more established because it’s so difficult. I sought out a lot of advice and basically everyone said “No.” But I’m a little headstrong and decided I wanted to do it. And the biggest factor for me – other than that when you’re a young singer, you’re crazy to say no to anything – was that Colin Graham was directing it. He was such 20

Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

a well-known director, and he spent a large part of his life in Japan and knew a lot about the culture. So I knew that if I took this opportunity to do that Butterfly with him, I would really learn a lot. And sure enough I did. I learned about Japanese gesture and culture. And I just loved that man to death.

I wound up doing a good handful of operas with him.

My husband and I even ended up naming our son after him.

Around the World with Madama Butterfly

STEFANO SECCO (pinKertOn) Stefano Secco’s first experience singing the role of pinkerton in rome was a global experience that brought together a diverse international cast.

The first time I sang the role of Pinkerton was in a beautiful city: Rome. It was 2002. In addition to the huge emotions about making my debut in such a great theatre, I was also curious about the other singers.

Cio-Cio San was African, Kate

Pinkerton was Korean, the American Consul Sharpless was Uruguayan and I’m an Italian playing an American. It was a very interesting situation!

That’s the beauty of music – it’s a universal language! It was an extraordinary experience.

ANDREA CARÈ (pinKertOn) tenor andrea Carè’s role debut as pinkerton at Finland’s Savonlinnan Opera Festival in 2010 turned out to be a life-changing experience in ways he didn’t expect.

I arrived in Finland in mid-June from Italy, where it had been 34 degrees and sunny. Finland was cold, windy and rainy. No one spoke to me because my English was really bad at the time and I didn’t know even one Finnish word. After 10 days of rehearsal, the weather changed and the sun started to shine on the wonderful castle of Olavinlinna and I fell in love with the woman who was to become my wife! She was acting as an extra in the production, where she actually played a ninja. The

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

newspaper version of our story is that I fell in love with two wonderful blue eyes jumping out from a black ninja suit, while I was singing in a romantic and breathtaking castle in the middle of Finland. The truth is that I started to “stalk” that ninja during rehearsals that took place in a much more modest and less romantic place: a gym.

A few months later, I found myself spending much more time in Finland than in Italy, and that summer that ninja married me.

Around the World with Madama Butterfly

ELIZABETH DESHONG (SuzuKi) mezzo-soprano elizabeth deShong knows the importance of drama in Madama Butterfly, whether it takes shape in some real tour-de-force acting, or by a surprise from mother nature!

I have had the pleasure of working with both Kelly Kaduce and Patricia Racette in Madama Butterfly. Kelly was my first Butterfly at Santa Fe Opera.

One evening, after we had finished scattering petals during the "flower duet” and the news of Pinkerton’s return had been delivered, a storm blew in. As the drama intensified on stage, the wind picked up the flower petals and swirled them onstage while lightning flashed on the horizon. Mother Nature provided us with stage effects that no amount of money could buy!

That production also understood the importance of all of the

characters. Suzuki is so much more than a servant; she is Butterfly’s one true friend. And the audience sees and feels what Suzuki does – a silent worry and attachment to a young girl who stands to lose everything for love. My most recent Butterfly was with Patricia Racette at San Francisco Opera, and while visually stunning, it called for the singers onstage to be truly substantial actors and actresses so that the story didn’t become lost in the vivid setting. Pat was just the kind of dramatic force needed to lead the cast. It is a pleasure to revisit our roles together again at COC!

DWAYNE CROFT (SHarpLeSS) during a show, not everything always goes to plan, even for seasoned pros, as dwayne Croft discovered in a recent performance at the metropolitan Opera.

Most recently I was in a performance at the Met and took out my prop glasses to read the letter to Butterfly in Act 2. The glasses had gotten bent while in my pocket and they wouldn’t stay on, so I had to incorporate broken glasses into that beautiful,

Catch up with blogs and enjoy COC Radio at coc.ca.

intimate moment but they kept popping off. I finally put them away and pretended to read the letter holding it far away like I do in real life. It was distracting, but these things happen... and they are the things you always remember.

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Around the World with Madama Butterfly

GREGORY DAHL (SHarpLeSS) Gregory dahl rushed across Canada to make an earlier than expected debut as Sharpless with Opera Lyra in Ottawa.

I was scheduled to debut the role of Sharpless with Vancouver Opera in November 2004; however, that summer, while attending a friend’s wedding in British Columbia, Opera Lyra called to request that I replace their Sharpless who had cancelled due to a family crisis.

Rehearsals were to start in 10 days, so I returned to Toronto and got to work.

After four furious days of memorizing and coaching sessions, I was ready for rehearsals to begin. I was pleased with my performance and, if the reviews were any indication, the show was a huge success. Ten seasons later, I’m excited to reprise the character of Sharpless and I am grateful to have more than 10 days to prepare!

FOR FURTHER INSIGHT INTO MADAMA BUTTERFLY, READ AN INTERVIEW WITH PATRICIA RACETTE AND KELLY KADUCE IN THE FALL ISSUE OF PRELUDE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT COC.CA/PUBLICATIONS.

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

MADAMA BUTTERFLY OPERA BACKGROUND

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) wrote almost nothing but operas. A meticulous composer, he worked intensely on his scores, constantly revising his work until he was satisfied.

Although his style is firmly rooted in the 19th-century Italian tradition, his later works reveal cosmopolitan musical tastes, including the influence of French Impressionist composers and the German masters. These variations reflect the musical activity and changes going on around the world during Puccini’s lifetime. He was frequently learning about new trends in music and art, and continued to reinvent himself. What remains constant, however, are his strong melodies and incomparable attention to orchestral detail.

During a visit to London in 1900, Puccini saw David Belasco’s one-act play Madame Butterfly, which served as inspiration for the opera. The libretto is based on two sources – Belasco’s play, and the 1889 short story by John Luther Long that inspired it. Both are quite slim on dialogue, and so librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa greatly expanded upon this story, creating fully realized characters and dramatic action that considerably improved upon both of the original sources.

Puccini considered Madama Butterfly to be his best work, as well as the most technically advanced of all of his operas. It showcases Puccini’s varied influences – the strong vocal lines and beautiful lyricism of the Italian tradition, a large orchestra and a throughcomposed style like that of the German masters, uncommon harmonies reminiscent of the experimentation of the French impressionists, and the use of American and Japanese melodies as principal motifs. Puccini studied Japanese music to enhance Butterfly’s score, studying with a “Mrs. Oyama” as well as using recordings shipped from Tokyo and transcriptions of Japanese songs. This resulted in a mix of existing and newly created Japanese-inspired melodies in Butterfly.

Madama Butterfly is one of opera’s most enduring tales, and a favourite amongst opera lovers worldwide. It currently ranks as the sixth-most-performed opera internationally and has served as the inspiration for numerous screen and stage adaptations, including the Broadway musical Miss Saigon. (l-r) Xiu Wei Sun as Cio-Cio San, Liam Benson as Sorrow (laying down) and Allyson McHardy as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, 2003, COC. Photo: Michael Cooper

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Vladimir Jurowski, Principal Conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano Winner of the Gramophone Concerto Award 2014

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014 8 PM ROY THOMSON HALL Magnus Lindberg: Chorale Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 Supported by and

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CALL CA LL 4 416-872-4255 16 - 8 7 2- 4 25 5 MASSEYHALL.COM MA S SE YH A LL .C OM | ROYTHOMSON.COM ROY THOMSON.C OM

BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND

OUR WONDERFUL COC DONORS HELPED US CELEBRATE A GREAT 2013/2014 SEASON AT SOME UNFORGETTABLE EVENTS THAT INCLUDED PARTIES, GALAS, AND BACKSTAGE MEET-AND-GREETS WITH ARTISTS!

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6 1. Sopranos Simone Osborne and Adrianne Pieczonka celebrate the opening of A Masked Ball.

2. Sam Roberts Band wowed 1,000+ audience members at 2013's Operanation, the COC's annual bash mixing music, art, food and fashion, that raises funds for the COC Ensemble Studio program.

3. Pianist Carolyn Maule (far left) and baritone Russell Braun with former COC Board members Earlaine Collins (centre) and Sue Mortimer (right) at the COC's 2014/2015 season launch celebration. Mrs. Collins generously sponsors Russell Braun's performances.

4. (l-r) CBC Radio host Eleanor Wachtel and artist and writer Bernice Eisenstein.

5. (l-r) COC Chorus Master Sandra Horst, star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, and COC General Director Alexander Neef, with opera fans Toronto deputy mayor Norm Kelly and wife Charlotte at the Golden Circle toast following Roberto Devereux.

6. 2013's Operanation VIP dinner included delicious eats by 10tation Event Catering.

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Canadian Opera Company 2014/2015 Season

7 7. The COC's 2014 Fine Wine Auction attracted 350 guests who bid on hundreds of the finest international wines.

8. (l-r) Actor David Bradley (Harry Potter series, Game of Thrones), COC principal viola Keith Hamm, Ensemble graduate mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, COC Board member Kris Vikmanis and tenor Richard Croft celebrate the premiere of the COC's Hercules.

9. Jian Ghomeshi joins the revelers at 2013's Operanation.

8 10. (l-r) Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, soprano Sasha Djihanian and mezzo-soprano Ariana Chris after their triumphant opening performance of Don Quichotte.

11. (l-r) Sisters Katie Jones and Ashleigh and Marissa Semkiw at Operanation.

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Catch up with blogs and enjoy COC Radio at coc.ca.

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PATRON INFORMATION AND POLICIES Etiquette Patrons are reminded that R. Fraser Elliott Hall is an extremely lively auditorium and that all audience noise will be accentuated and audible to other patrons.

Turn off all electronic devices, avoid talking, coughing, humming, moving loose seats, kicking the backs of seats, rustling programs, and unwrapping candies or cough drops. In consideration of patrons with allergies please avoid wearing strongly perfumed beauty products and fragrances. Please remain in your seat until the performance has completely ended and the house lights have been turned on.

Electronic Devices The use of mobile and smartphones and all other electronic devices is extremely disruptive and is strictly prohibited during performances. If a patron has an emergency and needs to be contacted during a performance, he or she should contact Patron Services for assistance before the performance.

Cameras/Recording Devices The use of cameras, video cameras or sound-recording devices of any kind is prohibited in R. Fraser Elliott Hall during performances. Any person using an unauthorized recording device while the performance is in progress will be required to surrender or erase any recordings, photographic or digital images and may be asked to leave. No refunds will be issued.

Latecomers In the interest of safety and for the comfort of all patrons and performers, latecomers may not enter the auditorium or be seated unless there is a suitable break in the performance (usually intermission). Patrons leaving the auditorium during the performance or returning late after intermission may not be readmitted or may be accommodated in an alternate viewing location.

Children and Babes-in-Arms All patrons, including children, must have a ticket for the performance. All children must be seated next to an accompanying adult. Young children should be able to sit quietly throughout the performance. If unable to do so, children and their accompanying adult will be asked to leave the auditorium. Babes-in-arms will not be admitted.

Patron Services Located in the Lower Lobby, the following services are available: coat and parcel check, booster seats, back supports, infrared hearing-assistive devices and rental of binoculars, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Medical Emergencies and First Aid A house doctor is present at all performances.

Please contact an usher if medical services are required.

Lost and Found During performances please speak with an usher or visit Patron Services at the Coat Check in the Lower Lobby.

Following performances, all lost and found items will be stored at the security desk at Stage Door. Please call 416-363-6671 for information.

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Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014 Season

Ticket Services Canadian Opera Company subscriptions and individual tickets are available through COC Ticket Services ONLINE: coc.ca

BY PHONE: 416-363-8231 or long distance 1-800-250-4653 Monday to Friday – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

IN PERSON: Four Seasons Centre Box Office 145 Queen St. W. Monday to Saturday – 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or through first intermission Sunday (performance days only) – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or through first intermission The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Box Office also services ticketing needs for The National Ballet of Canada and all other Four Seasons Centre events.

Group Sales Groups of 10 or more enjoy savings on regular individual ticket prices. For more information or to reserve seats call 416-306-2356.

Parking There is parking on a first-come, first-served basis for about 200 vehicles underneath the Four Seasons Centre.

The entrance is located on the west side of York Street, south of Queen Street. Additional parking is conveniently located just steps away in the Green P lot underneath Nathan Phillips Square. For directions visit greenp.com.

Four Seasons Centre Facility Tours Tours of the Four Seasons Centre now include backstage access! For more information, visit fourseasonscentre.ca.

BMO Financial Group Pre-Performance Opera Chats The Canadian Opera Company Volunteer Speakers Bureau offers free, insightful chats about the stories, music and background of all COC performances, 45 minutes prior to each performance in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.

Food and Beverage Service A pre-order system for intermission refreshments is available at all bars throughout the Isadore and Rosalie Sharp City Room. Food and beverages are not permitted in R. Fraser Elliott Hall.

Special Events and Catering The Four Seasons Centre is available for rental for all of your presentation, meeting or special events needs, with spaces accommodating from 20 to 2,000 people and full catering services. For further details visit fourseasonscentre.ca or call 416-363-6671.

The Opera Shop Located on the orchestra level of the Isadore and Rosalie Sharp City Room, the COC’s Opera Shop offers a fine selection of opera recordings on CD and DVD, as well as opera-related books, giftware and COC souvenirs.

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