Vancouver Opera announces their 2018—2019 Season & Festival – with a full season of fanciful delights opening with an Art Nouveau-inspired comedic operetta, Lehár’s The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe), and concluding with a “Fairytales & Fables” themed 2019 Vancouver Opera Festival featuring Gounod’s devilishly exciting masterwork, Faust.
The Vancouver Opera Honorary Festival Patron is Martha Lou Henley, C.M.
Vancouver Opera has the continuing support of The Canada Council for the Arts, Canada Heritage, the BC Arts Council and BC Provincial Government, the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Civic Theatres.
ancouver Opera announces their 2018—2019 season consisting of a full year of adventurous and breathtaking opera, and the 3rd annual Vancouver Opera Festival, 9 days of opera, special events, speakers, family events, and more from April 27 to May 5, 2019.
The 2018—2019 season will open with a wonderfully lavish Art Nouveau operetta, Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow (October 20—28, 2018, Queen Elizabeth Theatre), followed by a gloriously extravagant production of one of opera’s most enduring love stories, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème (February 14—24, 2019, Queen Elizabeth Theatre). In the spring, VO will kick off the 2019 Vancouver Opera Festival “Fairytales & Fables” with a devilishly exciting production of Charles Gounod’s Faust (April 27-May 5, 2019, Queen Elizabeth Theatre), and an enduring rags-to-riches story that never goes out of style in Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola (April 27—May 12, 2019, Vancouver Playhouse).
Subscriptions for the 2018—2019 season will be available beginning April 2, 2018. Current subscribers can lock in their reserved seats for the upcoming season from now until March 29, 2018 by calling into the VO Ticket Centre at 604 683 0222 or online at vancouveropera.ca. Single tickets will be available beginning July 16, 2018, and the VO 2018—2019 season brochure is available now for download from VO’s website. and the VO 2018-2019 season brochure is available now for download from VO’s website.
In making the season announcement, Kim Gaynor, Vancouver Opera’s General Director, said, “I am thrilled to announce this new season and our 3rd annual opera festival. I have chosen works from the standard repertoire which will be reimagined with new productions and fresh, exciting casts offering many opportunities to Canadian talent, and to the emerging artists in our Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program. I have invited a number of very talented conductors who have never directed for us before, as well as welcoming back Jonathan Darlington to conduct Gounod’s Faust.”
2018—2019 VANCOUVER OPERA SEASON & FESTIVAL
The Merry Widow
by Franz Lehár
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Sung in German with English dialogue and English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage
Evening performances 7:30pm. Matinée performance 2:00pm.
Saturday, October 20, 2018 | Thursday, October 25, 2018
Saturday, October 27, 2018 | Sunday, October 28, 2018 • matinée
Get ready to indulge in the Viennese torte known as Franz Lehár’s comedic operetta The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe) in this wonderfully lavish Art Nouveau production directed by Canadian Kelly Robinson (last at Vancouver Opera as director of the hit production of Evita). Set in the heart of vibrant fin de siècle Paris, the wealthy widow, Hanna Glawari, sung by Italian-Canadian Lucia Cesaroni, schemes to win the heart of dashingly handsome Count Danilo, interpreted here by tenor John Cudia, recently at VO as Cassio in Verdi’s Otello. The story unfolds on a stage packed with elegant ladies, eligible bachelors, and Maxim’s famous can-can dancers. Franz Lehár’s charming score, last performed at VO in 1990, is filled with lush waltzes and ballads. Susan Memmott-Allred’s costumes and Michael Yeargan’s sets evoke the Belle Epoque period with winning style. Rising star conductor Ward Stare will direct the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
La Bohème
by Giacomo Puccini
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage
Evening performances 7:30pm. Matinée performance 2:00pm.
Thursday, February 14, 2019 | Saturday, February 16, 2019 | Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Thursday, February 21, 2019 | Sunday, February 24, 2019 • matinee
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.
2019 Vancouver Opera Festival: Fairytales & Fables
Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Vancouver Playhouse
Join us for the 3rd annual Vancouver Opera Festival which celebrates Fairytales & Fables. Enjoy two mainstage operas, special events, speakers, family events, and more. Additional programming will be announced in spring 2019.
Faust
by Charles Gounod
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Sung in French with English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage
Evening performances 7:30pm. Matinée performance 2:00pm.
Saturday, April 27, 2019 | Thursday, May 2, 2019 | Sunday, May 5, 2019 • matinee
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.
La Cenerentola
by Gioachino Rossini
Vancouver Playhouse
Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage
Evening performances 7:30pm. Matinée performances 2:00pm. Early matinée performances 12:30pm.
Saturday, April 27, 2019 • matinee | Tuesday, April 30, 2019 • early matinee
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 | Thursday, May 2, 2019 • early matinee
Saturday, May 4, 2019 | Tuesday, May 7, 2019 | Wednesday, May 8, 2019 • matinee
Thursday, May 9, 2019 | Saturday, May 11, 2019 | Sunday, May 12, 2019 • matinee
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!
About Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera is the second largest opera company in Canada. It is regarded worldwide for its fine mainstage productions; for its country-leading education programs, which have reached more than 1.6 million children and their families in more than 40 years; for its innovative and award-winning community programs; and for forging groundbreaking cross-cultural creative partnerships that have brought opera to new generations of Canadians. Its mission is to be the destination performing arts organization that entertains, stimulates and enriches British Columbians, driven by programming that redefines “Opera” and revolutionizes its accessibility and community value. Visit www.vancouveropera.ca to find out more.
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Tickets are available exclusively through the Vancouver Opera Ticket Centre:
604-683-0222 or online at vancouveropera.ca.
Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted.
Special pricing for groups of 10 or more is available by phone.
Details, programming and casting are subject to change.
Image: Sally Jubb Photography
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