Giacomo Puccini

LA BOHÈME

This new production of La Bohème is – literally – an enormous vintage picture postcard of Paris. The curtain rises on a modern-day flea market with sellers touting their wares and an accordion duo entertaining the crowd. A present-day tourist discovers a stall specialising in objects d’art from the 1920s. Amid the bustle, a lone visitor puts a record on a vintage gramophone and we hear the opening bars of a very famous opera, transporting the audience back in time. Canadian designer and director duo André Barbe and Renaud Doucet – the team behind Turandot in 2017 – have created a gloriously extravagant production. Set in the interwar years when artists and writers flocked to Paris to live the bohemian life, Café Momus is full of flamboyant jazz-era figures, including a glamorously exotic Musetta. Canadian conductor Judith Yan makes her Vancouver Opera debut. A refreshing look at a much-loved opera.

Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™

February 14, 16, 19, & 21 at 7:30pm
February 24 at 2:00pm
Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Production Sponsor

Production Patrons
Yoshiko Karasawa, Martha Lou Henley, C.M., Alan & Gwendoline Pyatt Foundation, Mike & Kathy Gallagher

Charles Gounod

FAUST

Gounod’s Faust is the pinnacle of 19th century French opera, it’s full of rich characterization, it’s dramatically exciting, and it’s exuberantly evocative. Faust, an aged and bitter man, sells his soul to Méphistophélès in return for youth and the love of Marguerite, an innocent young woman. By trying to have it all, he loses everything. Gounod’s sensuous and sublimely melodic masterpiece will be presented in a production not seen before in Vancouver. This all Canadian cast features east-coast native David Pomeroy and Marianne Fiset, who gave a wonderfully moving interpretation of Liù in the 2017-2018 season opening production of Turandot. Making his Vancouver Opera debut is Toronto native Robert Pomakov, who appears regularly in the world’s greatest opera houses. Jonathan Darlington returns to conduct the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Sung in French with English SURTITLES™

April 27 | May 2 at 7:30pm
May 5 at 2:00pm
Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Production Sponsor

Production Patrons
Martha Lou Henley, C.M., Michael and Inna O’Brian

Gioachino Rossini

LA CENERENTOLA

In Rossini’s masterpiece, La Cenerentola (Cinderella), the evil stepmother trades places with a malevolent stepfather, the fairy godmother is a philosopher, and the legendary glass slipper is replaced with a bracelet. Nonetheless, the essence of the fairy-tale remains: a magical journey from rags to riches. The opera will be presented in the more intimate Vancouver Playhouse. Led by Maestro Leslie Dala, the orchestra will perform the re-orchestration of Rossini’s score. A refreshingly youthful cast will be directed by Jessie Richardson Award winner Rachel Peake who directed Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for Vancouver Opera in 2017. Vancouver native Simone McIntosh, praised for her beautiful, gleaming high mezzo-soprano voice, sings the title role of Cinderella. This popular opera hasn’t been seen at Vancouver Opera since 1981!

Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™

April 27 | May 12 at 2:00pm

May 2 at 12:30pm

May 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, & 11 at 7:30pm

Vancouver Playhouse