Vancouver Opera

🌈 Pride Special: Presenting Authentically, Without Fear

A candid conversation about identity, queerness, and joy with UBC voice professor and baritone J. Patrick Raftery and his former student and tenor Spencer Britten.Patrick is about to launch his all-queer reimagining of Maurice Ravel's L'heure espagnole as A Spanish Hour? with two performances on July 27th.

Credits

J. Patrick Raftery - Guest Spencer Britten - Guest Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Mack McGillivray - Producer Learn More

Henry Heng Lu on Vancouver’s Cultural Landscape

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden’s new executive director shares insights on art, heritage, and the power of cultural collaboration to confront racism.

Credits

Henry Heng Lu - Guest Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Mack McGillivray - Producer Learn More

Luka Kawabata's The Hafu ハーフ Project comes to Vancouver this May

An emotional journey of navigating identity through music, dialogue and media.

Credits

Host - Ashley Daniel Foot Guest - Luka Kawabata https://www.lukakawabata.com/ Editing - Mack McGillivray Cover Photo - Mark Yammine https://www.markyammine.com/ The Hafu ハーフ Project: Chapter 1: Paueru-Gai パウエル街 - https://youtu.be/-0an29gwOL8 Chapter 2: Childhood 幼年 - https://youtu.be/Q1TU2yE5iHk Chapter 3: Wish 希望 - Coming Soon Learn More

Meet the mother and daughter who sing together in the Vancouver Opera Chorus

The inspiring Eve-Lyn de la Haye and Clara Griesdale on what it's like to share the stage in five operas.

Credits

Clara Griesdale - Guest Eve-Lyn de la Haye - Guest Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Mack McGillivray - Producer Learn More

Georges Bizet: Life and Times

Dive into our seven-part series exploring the life of Carmen's iconic composer

Credits

Written and edited by Kris Epps Additional editing by Ashley Daniel Foot and Mack McGillivray Music Supervisor and Clearances: Kris Epps and Ashley Daniel Foot Sound design by Kris Epps Associate Producer: Vincent Huynh Voice cast: Bizet: Felix LeBlanc Narrator: Jane Potter Additional Voices: Ashley Daniel Foot, Travis Baugh Allen, Vincent Huynh Learn More

Finding Voice, Passing the Torch

Canadian opera icon Judith Forst and Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Simran Claire share the experiences of being a mezzo-soprano and wearing the pants onstage.

Credits

Simran Claire - Guest Judith Forst - Guest Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Tabitha Brasso-Ernst - Associate Producer Mack McGillivray - Producer Learn More

Bringing the Pieces Together: Jim Wright on engaging community and advocating for the audience

In a rollicking and candid conversation, Jim Wright reflects on his storied career and his 17 years leading Vancouver Opera and spills the beans on long-held desire to be a senator from Indiana

Credits

Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Jim Wright - Guest Mack McGillivray - Producer Learn More

Honouring Black History Month: Singing Pictures: The Musical Lives of Jim and Sheila Johnson

The inspiring story of Jim Johnson's musical legacy and the remarkable choir he and his wife, Sheila, founded in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island

Credits

Jim Johnson - Guest Sheila Johnson - Guest Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Mack McGillivray - Producer Learn More

The life and works of a most prolific and popular composer.

Today we’re profiling one of the kings of the bel canto age, Gaetano Donizetti; composer of our upcoming opera Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, as well as La fille du régiment, The Elixir of Love, the hits go on and on... 

Jane Potter - Writer and Narrator Ashley Daniel Foot - Voice of Gaetano Donizetti Richard Wolfe - Voice of Felix Mendelssohn Tom Wright - Voice of Giuseppe Verdi Mack McGillivray - Audio Producer, Voice of Hector Berlioz Learn More

A rollicking conversation that reflects on making peace with a massive voice, playing nice in the sandbox, and his signature sound, and the curious ;/ emoji he sends his friends

Today, we're talking with baritone extraordinaire, Greg Dahl. Audiences from Vancouver will remember him last season as the lead role in The Flying Dutchman. And he's back! Back in Vancouver for another title role as Don Pasquale, opening on February 10th at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Credits

Gregory Dahl - Baritone, Don Pasquale Ashley Daniel Foot - Host Mack McGillivray - Audio Producer Learn More

Operatic creative partners Barbe & Doucet on the Timeless Appeal of Don Pasquale

We have a special episode for you today hosted by former guest on the show, baritone Luka Kawabata. Luka had the chance to speak with world-renowned production partners, André Barbe and Renaud Doucet.

Credits

André Barbe - Guest, Costume & Set Designer Renaud Doucet - Guest, Stage Director and Choreographer Luka Kawabata - Host Mack McGillivray - Audio Producer Learn More

Composer Tawnie Olson and conductor Arianne Abela discuss ‘Sanctuary & Storm’ and the state of women in opera.

We’re talking about Sanctuary & Storm, our new collaboration with re:Naissance Opera and the H.R MacMillan Space Centre from November 17th to 19th. Tickets are already going very quickly, so be sure to head to VancouverOpera.ca to grab your tickets. Sanctuary & Storm is truly an unusual creation that imagines a conversation that took place between medieval luminaries, Hildegard of Bingen and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Credits

Host – Ashley Daniel Foot Guest – Tawnie Olson (Guest and Composer of Sanctuary & Storm) Guest – Arianne Abela (Guest and Conductor of Sanctuary & Storm) Audio Producer – Mack McGillivray Learn More

Vancouver Opera’s new Music Director shares his unique path to the podium and the lessons of teamwork he’s learned along the way.

Credits

Host – Ashley Daniel Foot Guest – Jacques Lacombe Editing – Mack McGillivray Learn More