In 2023-2024, we invite you to step into a world of wonder with us. We’re beyond excited to share three blockbuster productions that burst with colour and energy; classic works that speak to the profound emotions at the very core of our humanity, while transporting our imagination to somewhere far beyond the everyday. Together, the fiery passion of Bizet’s Carmen, the storybook enchantment of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and a vivid pop art reimagining of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale make for a season of grand-scale, dazzlingly immersive experiences we can’t wait to share with you.
As we get set to present these timeless works, staged to astounding proportions, we hope that you’ll help make this season a huge success by sharing the news and inviting a friend, a neighbour, or an enemy that you’re hoping to mend fences with (figuratively or literally, depending on how that enmity was forged and what kind of property damage was involved). A thriving opera scene is a symbiotic relationship between artists, presenters, donors, and diverse audiences that range from the tentatively curious to the encyclopedically die-hard. For the 2023-2024 season, let’s bring vibrancy to our city and magical experiences to our lives, together.
So, about that 2023-2024 season…
October 21-29 • The Magic Flute
A fairytale within a fairytale, the Canadian Opera Company’s playful and stylized production of The Magic Flute begins at a garden party in 1791…where a performance of Magic Flute is being staged! It’s instant magical immersion for audiences, and the start of a wild journey of high drama and whimsical delight. Armed with an enchanted instrument, Tamino rescues the kidnapped Princess Pamina, and the pair face trials, tribulations, and the wrath of Pamina’s mother, the vengeful Queen of the Night. But like any great fairytale—and this is among the greatest—light triumphs over darkness, and the young pair chart a path towards wisdom, truth, and love. Be transported to a storybook world of fantastical creatures, delightfully imaginative costumes, starry skies and garden mazes, and some of Mozart’s most sublime, soul-stirring music.
February 10-18 • Don Pasquale
Given a mid-20th century Technicolour makeover by the acclaimed creative duo Barbe and Doucet, Don Pasquale’s world bustles with a ramshackle vibrancy. The aging bachelor’s scheme to marry a young bride and disinherit his rebellious nephew Ernesto is countered by a hilarious bait-and-switch caper hatched by Dr. Malatesta and Ernesto’s love, Norina, going undercover as Pasquale’s new and decidedly not-as-advertised betrothed. With an all-star cast and music calibrated for virtuosity, Donizetti’s comic masterpiece of intergenerational jealousy, reconciliation, young love, and madcap machinations leaps from the stage with pulsating colour and endlessly hummable melodies.
April 27-May 5 • Carmen
The blood of passion surges and spills in Carmen, one of the most beloved and widely performed works in operatic history. Animated by an all-star cast and audacious stagecraft, the conflicting worlds of the sensual, rebellious Carmen and the possessive military man Don José burst off the stage. From the stirring Toreador Song to the tauntingly seductive aria Habanera, Georges Bizet’s enduring and richly coloured melodies transcend the hummable; they don’t just gesture towards emotions, they embody the many shapes and shades of passion, from infatuation to violent jealousy. Though it wasn’t well-received when it debuted in 1875, Bizet’s final masterpiece has since become a perennial audience favourite and a powerful artistic platform to explore class conflict, gender inequality, and a host of contemporary issues.
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It’s a season filled with immense and enveloping experiences, and we couldn’t be more excited to invite you to step into a world of wonder with us, starting in October! See you at the theatre!