CALENDAR
Domoney Artists on Stage & Screen
PAST ENGAGEMENTS
2024
Jan 11 -- 13
Tenor Ernesto Ramirez joins the fun as Alfred in Die Fledermaus, The Champagne Operetta, presented by Calgary’s Alberta Vocal Arts; Shandra Gallant, director; Carlos Foggin, music director
www.albertavocalarts.com
Jan 19, 21, 24, 26 & 28
Baritone Jorell Williams debuts with Greek National Opera as Alexandre in Nadia Boulanger’s only opera, La Ville Morte. With a libretto by Gabriele d’Annunzio from his play of the same name, La Ville Morte is a tale of “suppressed lust and taboo turned lethal, the prisons of other people’s objectifying desires, and the liberatory potential of creativity.” The work, which was scheduled to premiere in 1914 in Paris, was never staged due to the outbreak of the first World War. The first performance took place in 2005, followed by a 2020 production in Sweden. The opera’s score has been supervised by David Conte, a former protege of Boulanger. Neal Goren conducts the cast and an 11-member instrumental ensemble. Robin Guarino directs.
Jan 21
Soprano Melody Courage performs in Vancouver with IndigiDivas: Opera Hits + Indigenous Stories, with Allegra Chamber Orchestra; Janna Sailor, conductor
www.allegrachamberorchestra.com
Jan 26 -- Feb 16
Bass-baritone Giles Tomkins sings the roles of Parson and Badger in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, a new production from English National Opera. When a forest gamekeeper traps a fox and attempts to domesticate her, their encounter leads to a poignant reflection on the natural cycle of life and death, as well as our relationship with the planet. Johannes Debus, conductor; Jamie Manton, director
Jan 27
Marion Newman is a special guest performer with IndigiDivas (Melody Courage, Rebecca Cuddy, and Michelle Lafferty), in concert with Calgary Philharmonic. First Nations music composers from across Turtle Island, alongside fresh interpretations of opera’s greatest hits. Janna Sailor, conductor
Jan 28
Dion Mazerolle is a guest artist with Montreal’s Ensemble Caprice in Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse (Boismortier), an opera- comique first performed in 1743, based on Cervantes’ famous novel; Matthias Maute, conductor www.mbam.qc.ca
Feb 8 & 10
Tenor Ernesto Ramirez stars as Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca with Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, fully staged at the Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall; Stephen Carr, director; Denis Mastromonaco, conductor www.mississaugasymphony.ca
Feb 9
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon sings with Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs for their 2024 "Behind the Keys" fundraiser, including works by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, Ian Cusson, and George Gershwin; Leslie Dala, conductor
Feb 11
The hour is dark for Ukrainians around the world. Russia's invasion of our homeland is nearing its second anniversary and our hearts are heavy. We turn to music to bring a sparkle of light back into our souls. "Ukrainian Lights" is a festival of classical music showcasing a mix of beloved classics and contemporary gems by Ukrainian and international composers performed by exceptional Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian musicians.
"Her Winding Path" features Toronto-based Ukrainian soprano Natalya Gennadi and Ukrainian pianist Anna Sagalova performing a gorgeous selection of 20th and 21st century art songs by Ukrainian and international composers. The program, curated by composer Anna Pidgorna, explores the winding paths that women's lives can take.
Feb 28
Jorell Williams and soprano Jonelle Sills perform in Canadian Opera Company’s noon hour concert series. In this exciting program celebrating new and old work celebrating Black Canadian composers, presented with the Canadian Art Song Project, repertoire will include songs by R. Nathaniel Dett and the public premiere of by Maria Thompson Corely’s The Colour of Joy.
Feb 29, Mar 2 & 3
Marion Newman stars as Isabelle Eberhardt in Song from the Uproar (Music by Missy Mazzoli, Libretto by Royce Vavrek and Missy Mazzoli), with City Opera Vancouver; Anne Hodges, director; Gordon Gerrard, conductor
A passionate romantic and one of the most adventurous women of her era or any other, Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904) was unique: explorer, nomad, journalist, novelist, Sufi. At age twenty, after the death of her mother, brother and father, she left her life in Switzerland for a nomadic and unfettered existence in the deserts of North Africa. She traveled extensively through the desert on horseback, often dressed as a man, relentlessly documenting her travels through detailed journals. At age twenty-seven Isabelle drowned in a flash flood in the desert.
Song from the Uproar uses texts inspired by her writing to immerse the audience in the surreal landscapes of Isabelle’s life; she describes the death of her family, the thrill of her arrival in Africa, her tentative joy at falling in love, the elation of self-discovery and the mystery of death.
Mar 9
Tenor Jean-Philippe Lazure debuts as a guest soloist with Bach Elgar Choir, in Handel's Choral Masterpieces", a fascinating look at Handel’s life and choral works, including selections from Acis and Galatea, Messiah, and Alexander’s Feast; Alexander Cann conducts Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra
Mar 9
Mezzo soprano Hillary Tufford is a guest soloist in Duruflé’s Requiem with Victoria Philharmonic Choir; Peter Butterfield, conductor
Mar 14 & 16
Soprano Melody Courage and mezzo-soprano Marion Newman star in Opera Kelowna’s Wreckonciliation. It’s a talk show. It’s a concert. It’s completely irreverent… in a good way! Wreckonciliation is a musical response to the last decade of learning, striving, and failing to reckon with Canada’s colonial past. Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman, of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations with English, Irish and Scottish heritage; Métis soprano Melody Courage, and director Yvette Nolan (Algonquin), have teamed up with Opera Kelowna for an evening that upends expectations and invites everyone to take up the joy, and the work, of building a better future together. Musical Direction by Rosemary Thomson. Accompanied by string quartet and piano.
Mar 22 -- 24
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon stars as Boy Angel in the Canadian premiere of Du Yun and Royce Vavrek’s Angel’s Bone.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning opera uses contemporary opera as a creative lens and collaborative tool to generate conversation and awareness around human trafficking of youth. Using multimedia design elements and a unique community engagement approach that brings together social workers, survivors, lawyers, human rights activists and opera artists in co-presentation, this cross- cultural event premiered in Vancouver in November 2022.
Co-produced with Sound the Alarm Music/Theatre (Vancouver), Turning Point Ensemble (Vancouver) and Loose Tea Music Theatre (Toronto), and Array Music ( Toronto).
Mar 29
Baritone Clarence Frazer sings the role of Jesus with Metropolitan United Church in the second Canadian performance of Bach’s Markus Passion BWV 247, as reconstructed by Robert Koolstra ( 2017); Jonathan Oldengarm, director and continuo
Mar 29
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is a guest soloist with Montreal’s Les Idées Heureuses in their continuing project of presenting Graupner’s Cantatas at Salle Bourgie; Geneviève Soly, musical director
Mar 29
Countertenor Daniel Cabena is a guest soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Grand Philharmonic Choir, and Musicians of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony; Mark Vuorinen, conductor
Mar 30
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon is the Evangelist and tenor soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Vancouver Bach Choir; Leslie Dala, conductor
Apr 6 & 7
Janna Sailor is guest conductor with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra for "Shift", featuring music of 20th Century compositions by Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel
www.okanagansymphony.com
Apr 7
Asitha Tennekoon debuts with Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra as the Evangelist in St. John Passion; Leslie Dala, conductor
www.saskatoonsymphony.org
Apr 13, 17 & 19
Jacques Arsenault is Remendado in his debut with Manitoba Opera, and Giles Tomkins is Zuniga in Carmen; Tyrone Paterson, conductor; Brian Deedrick, director
Apr 19 -- 21
Baritone Jorell Williams performs in the American debut of La Ville Morte, following performances with Greek National Opera in January
Apr 20
Janna Sailor conducts the Saskatoon Symphony for "XYE Divas", featuring the best female pops, rock, blues, and jazz voices Saskatoon has to offer including Eekwol, Sonia Reid, Falynn Baptiste, Elyse Evangelista, Eileen Laverty, Madison McLean, Ellen Nasser, Kateryna Khartova, and more!
Apr 27 & 28
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is a guest soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Ensemble Caprice, in Montreal and Quebec; Matthias Maute, conductor
Apr 27 & 28
Melody Courage, soprano debuts with Kamloops Symphony Orchesta in Mozart’s Requiem; Gordon Gerrard, conductor
2023
Jan 13
Marion Newman performs Five Songs on Poems of Marilyn Dumont (Cusson) with the New Orford String Quartet and pianist Philip Chiu, at Wolf Performance Hall, London
www.jefferyconcerts.com
Jan 27 -- Feb 18
Jacques Arsenault is Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro with Canadian Opera Company; Harry Bicket, Conductor
Feb 3 -- 24
Jorell Williams debuts as Nazarene #3, Jacques Arsenault appears as Jew #3, and Giles Tomkins is Jew #5 in Canadian Opera Company’s production of Salome; Johannes Debus, Conductor
www.coc.ca
Feb 3 & 5
Dion Mazerolle sings the role of Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, in a co-production of Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni di Modena, and Teatro Municipale di Piacenza; Marco Angius, conductor
www.teatripiacenza.it
Feb 4, 8 & 10
Soprano Melody Courage debuts as Chrisann Brennan with Calgary Opera in the Canadian premiere ofThe (R)evolution of Steve Jobs; Michael Christie, conductor
Feb 11 & 12
Marion Newman is a guest artist with Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra in “Winter Song”, singing Cantaloube’s Chants d’Auvergne, and the premiere of a new work by Jennifer Butler; Cosette Justo Valdez, Conductor
www.vancouverislandsymphony.com
Feb 11, 16 & 19
Hillary Tufford is Hermia, Clarence Frazer is Demetrius with Asitha Tennekoon as Flute in Britten’s enchanting A Midsummer Night’s Dream; directed by Aria Umezawa with Jacques Lacombe, conductor
Feb 11 & 17
Mar 1, 23 & 31
Apr 19 & 20
Jennifer Maines is Beelzebub in the Austrian premiere of Last Paradise Lost, a rock opera by Günter Werno, Andy Kuntz and Stephan Lill, based on John Milton's Paradise Lost, with Tyrolean State Theater, Innsbruck in a co-production with the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern and the Theater Münster
Feb 19
Soprano Natalya Gennadi stars as Médée in Cherubini's opera with Voicebox:Opera in Concert; Narmina Afandiyeva, music director/pianist
www.operainconcert.com
Feb 23 -- 25
François Racine directs the students of l’Université de Montréal’s Opera Studio in Johann Strauss’ effervescent operetta Die Fledermaus (La chauve-souris); Jean-François Rivest, conductor
Feb 22
Jennifer Taverner is soprano soloist in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem at St James Church, Orillia; Mitchell Pady, conductor
Mar 4 & 5
Giles Tomkins is the bass soloist in Beethoven’s choral masterpiece, Missa Solemnis. Both grand and intimately personal, this expansive score, inscribed by Beethoven with “from the heart, may it again go to the heart”, is the composer at the height of his creative genius. Don’t miss the combined voices of Chorus Niagara and Orpheus Choir; performances in Toronto and St. Catharines, under the direction of Robert Cooper.
Mar 5 | IN CONCERT & LIVESTREAM
Hillary Tufford is mezzo-soprano soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Kingston Symphony, Kingston Chamber Choir, and Queen's University Choral Ensemble; Evan Mitchell, conductor
Mar 10 -- 12
Charlotte Knight, Canadian musical theatre soprano singer/actor, has established herself as an emerging artist on both concert and opera stages. Having recently played the iconic role of Elsa in Frozen, The Musical with Disney Cruise Line, Charlotte is a versatile artist, equally gifted in modern, contemporary, and classical musical theatre. Charlotte returns to Windsor and joins the WSO along with the talented students from St. Clair College Music Theatre for "Charlotte Knight Sings Broadway"; Robert Franz, conductor
Mar 10 -- 12
Melody Courage (Native Girl) and Marion Newman (Dr. Wilson) debut with Anchorage Opera in the USA premiere production of Missing. First presented in Vancouver in 2017, this opera – by distinguished First Nations playwright Marie Clements & Juno-award winning composer Brian Current – gives voice, in English and Gitxsan, to the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. A poetic expression of loss, hope and the spirit finding home.
Mar 19
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is Ophémon in L’Amant Anonyme (Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges) with Toronto’s Voicebox:Opera in Concert; Stephen Hargreaves, music director/pianist
www.operainconcert.com
Mar 19
Baritone Clarence Frazer and tenor Jean-Philippe Lazure are guest artists with the Ottawa Choral Society in “War and Peace”, a concert presenting modern and contemporary works by women composers, many Canadian, including Eleanor Daley and Joni Mitchell. The concert centrepiece will be Latvian composer Lucija Garuta’s cantata "God, Thy Earth Is Aflame". The work was first performed in Latvia in 1944 during the final phases of the Second World War. It evinces human desperation in the face of armed conflict, as well as hope for peace. Gabrielle Gaudreault, Artistic Director/Conductor
Mar 25 -- Apr 1
Baritone Jorell Williams stars as Maduka in Of the Sea, the world premiere of a new Black Canadian co-production with Obsidian Theatre Company and Tapestry Opera, created by librettist Kanika Ambrose and composer Ian Cusson. "A father will do anything to save his daughter. Of the Sea follows the story of Maduka, his daughter Binyelum, and fellow Africans thrown overboard during the Middle Passage, who now populate mythical underwater kingdoms that span the ocean floor. Amidst the waves, fiery plans for revenge are made, a parent is blinded by love for their child, and a fight against fate begins.In the cold, murky waters, everyone dreams to see the sun again.” Jennifer Tung, conductor
www.obsidiantheatre.com
Apr 6
Soprano Melody Courage, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman, and baritone Evan Korbut share the stage in a "Music in the Afternoon" concert including works by Berlioz, Rossini, Cusson, Mozart, Tovey and Broadway’s Frank Loesser, presented by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto; Gordon Gerrard, piano
www.wmct.on.ca
Apr 7
Dion Mazerolle is a guest artist in the first of 6 concerts presenting Christoph Graupner’s complete cycle of nineteen cantatas composed for Good Friday, at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, in collaboration with Les Idées heureuses; Geneviève Soly, organ and conductor
www.mbam.qc.ca
Apr 22
Jennifer Taverner, Maria Soulis, Ernesto Ramirez and Dion Mazerolle are guest soloists with Collingwood ChoralWorks in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, plus favourite opera selections; Brian Rae, conductor
Apr 22, 25 & 28
Tenor Jean-Philippe Lazure debuts as Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Manitoba Opera
Apr 28 –- May 20
Baritone Clarence Frazer is the Murderer and bass-baritone Giles Tomkins is the Voice of First Apparition in a brand-new production of Verdi’s thrilling Macbeth with Canadian Opera Company; Speranza Scappucci, Conductor; Sir David McVicar, director
May 5 -- 27
Giles Tomkins is Sciarrone in Canadian Opera Company’s production of Puccini’s Tosca; Giuliano Carmella conductor, Paul Curran, director
May 6
Tenor Ernesto Ramirez is the tenor soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Peterborough Singers; organist Ian Sadler and 12 -piece brass ensemble, conducted by Syd Birrell
May 6
Dion Mazerolle is bass soloist in Beethoven's Mass in C major with Pax Christi Chorale; Elaine Choi, conductor
Pax Christi Chorale journeys into a deeper understanding of Beethoven’s writing process and inner struggle, especially around the time when his hearing started to fade. Described as “profound and unforgettable”, American composer Jake Runestad’s modern-day masterpiece, A Silence Haunts Me takes us into Ludwig van Beethoven’s thoughts in his later years as he struggled with hearing loss. Paired with A Silence Haunts Me is Beethoven’s Opferlied, Op. 121.b and the masterwork Mass in C.
May 12
Asitha Tennekoon sings the world premiere of Ian Cusson's “Love Songs on Poems of Michael Ondaatje”, and songs by Joyce Morlock, Robert Owens and Clara and Robert Schumann, with Muzewest at The Annex, Vancouver; Leslie Dala, piano
May 13
Tenor Ernesto Ramirez stars as Alfredo in Southern Ontario Lyric Opera's La Traviata
May 13 & 14
Marion Newman stars in Nu-Na Hup: Sacajawea’s Story with Opera Theater Oregon, a new opera that reimagines the story of Sacajawea, the extraordinary Agai-Dika/Lemhi-Shoshone woman who was a crucial member of the historic 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition, from her Agai-Dika, Indigenous perspective and oral history and language of her familial descendants.
www.operatheateroregon.com
May 13 -- 20
François Racine returns to Opéra de Québec, directing their spring production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly; Clelia Cafiero, conductor
www.operadequebec.com
May 26 & 27
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon leads the cast in Haydn's Orfeo: The Soul of the Philosopher (L’anima del filosofo) at the MacMillan Theatre, University of Toronto; Dorian Bandy, conductor, Ivars Taurins, chorus master, directed by Nico Krell
May 26 & 28
Dion Mazerolle is a guest soloist in performances in Montreal and Quebec City of Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor with Ensemble Caprice; Matthias Maute, conductor
www.ensemblecaprice.com
May 27
Cantabile Choirs of Kingston presents "La Vie en Rose", including arrangements of well-known French songs by Édith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Alys Robi, and La Bolduc, from the Champs-Élysées to the shores of the St. Lawrence, with charming guest duo French Squeeze (Jacques Arsenault, accordion/singer & Marjorie Maltais, mezzo soprano)
May 28
Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman and tenor Jean-Philippe Lazure are guest soloists for the world premiere of Stephanie Martin’s "Water: an Environmental Oratorio" and Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Grand Philharmonic Choir and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony; Mark Vuorinen, conductor
Jun 6
François Racine directs L’Adorable Belboul, a short operetta that draws on the codes of vaudeville and the archetypal characters of late 19th century French farces – It can be categorized as an oriental, satirical comedy in the Italian style; composed by Jules Massenet and his librettists, conducted by Michel-Alexandre Broekaert
Jun 10
Marion Newman is a guest artist with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s “Day of Music”, performing Bramwell Tovey’s song cycle Ancestral Voices; Otto Tausk, conductor
www.vancouversymphony.ca
Jun 11, 17, 25, 28 & 30
Jul 6 & 9
Jennifer Maines sings the role of Aufseherin in Strauss’ Elektra with Tyrolean State Theater, Innsbruck
Jun 14
Soprano Caitlin Wood joins "Queen of the Orchestra", Thorgy Thor and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in "Thorgy and the Thorchestra II: The Regal Sequel"; Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, conductor
Jun 14
Dion Mazerolle is Fray Domingo in a concert performance of Dubois's Miguela with Nouvel Opéra Métropolitain
Jun 15 | Cathedral Church of St. Michael’s and All Angels, Kelowna BC
Jun 16 | Poplar Grove Winery, Penticton BC
Melody Courage sings a concert of selections that range from the familiar Puccini and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Poulenc and Strauss; Perri Lo, collaborative pianist
Jun 23 -- 25
Asitha Tennekoon sings Tamino in a new John Greer adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute, with the Little Opera Company of Winnipeg
www.littleopera.ca
Jul 11 | Caraquet, New Brunswick
Jul 13 | Grand Barachois, New Brunswick
Baritone Dion Mazerolle presents “Amours Masculines”, a recital of works for voice and piano that explore the words, music and lives of gay men -- from Francis Poulenc to Matthew Shepard; Pierre- André Doucet, pianist
www.acadielove.ca
Jul 13 & 14
Mezzo-soprano Hillary Tufford debuts with Brott Opera as Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata; Alain Trudel, conductor
Jul 16
Baritone Clarence Frazer is a guest performer at the free, 2nd annual "Opera in the Park" with Vancouver Opera at Deer Lake Park, Burnaby BC; Jonathan Darlington, conductor
Jul 25
Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman opens the Victoria Summer Music Festival in a recital with the Emily Carr String Quartet and Kimberley-Ann Bartczak, piano, in an exciting program featuring Ian Cusson‘s Five Songs on the Poems of Marilyn Dumont as well as songs of Mahler, Cantaloube, and de Falla
Jul 25 -- Aug 2
Audience favourite, soprano Caitlin Wood returns to Westben, singing in their concert version of Les Miserables
Jul 29
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is a guest soloist in Bach’s Magnificat with Ensemble Caprice, at Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque, New Brunswick; Matthias Maute, conductor
Aug 7 -- 13
Baritone Jorell Wiliams joins Tapestry Opera’s 2023 Box Concerts, featuring artists, spreading joy and song to care homes, private residences and – for the first time this year – three Toronto parks!
Aug 18 & 19
Caitlin Wood is Despina and Asitha Tennekoon is Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Mozart’s comic masterpiece about love and relationships is set in the Canadian Rockies in the 1930s; Rob Herriot, director; Rosemary Thomson, conductor
Aug 21 -- Sep 3
Soprano Natalya Gennadi joins Tapestry Opera’s 2023 Box Concerts, featuring artists, spreading joy and song to care homes, private residences and – for the first time this year – three Toronto parks!
Sep 28, 29 & Oct 1
Marion Newman and pianist Gordon Gerrard perform selections from Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder in MagDance 5 (Art + Dance+ Archive), a continuing collaboration with New Dance Horizons at Regina’s MacKenzie Art Gallery. Since 2011, this groundbreaking series of dance residencies/exhibitions have broken barriers by bringing the black box of contemporary dance in to the white cube of the art gallery.
Oct 7
Marion Newman is a guest artist with Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra in their season opening concert, performing Tovey’s Ancestral Voices. Martin MacDonald, Music Director.
Oct 9
Caitlin Wood is Despina and Asitha Tennekoon is Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Mozart’s comic masterpiece about love and relationships. Set in the Canadian Rockies in the 1930s, this brilliant production, premiered at Manitoba Opera in April, is directed by Rob Herriot and conducted by Rosemary Thomson.
Oct 12, 15,18 & 21
Soprano Jennifer Maines debuts as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, a bold and robust masterpiece of musical storytelling. Wagner’s score delves deep into the world of Norse mythology. Sopranos Natalya Gennadi, Jennifer Taverner and mezzo-soprano Maria Soulis are Valkyries Gerhilde, Ortlinde and Grimgerde. Directed by Glynis Leyshon, with Timothy Vernon conducting.
Oct 14
Bass-baritone Giles Tomkins is a guest soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with London Symphonia; Matthias Maute, conductor
Oct 15
Ernesto Ramirez is Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Southern Ontario Lyric Opera at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre; Sabatino Vacca, conductor
www.southernontariolyricopera.com
Oct 19
Tenor Jacques Arsenault debuts as Remendado for Edmonton Opera’s Diamond Season (60 years) opener, Carmen; Maria Lamont, Director; Simon Rivard, Conductor.
Oct 21
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is a guest soloist with Grand Philharmonic Choir and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Estacio’s The Houses Stand not Far Apart and Mozart’s Requiem; Mark Vuorinen, conductor
Oct 21, 16, 28 & 29
Clarence Frazer is Papageno and Melody Courage is First Lady in Mozart’s enchanting The Magic Flute; Tania Miller, Conductor; Ashlie Corcoran, Revival Director
Oct 21
Friend of the RSO, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman returns to Regina Symphony Orchestra to celebrate a new season opening night with new music from Canadian composer Ian Cusson, From the House of Death; Gordon Gerrard, conductor
Oct 22
Niagara Symphony Orchestra welcomes Charlotte Knight and colleagues to sing the classics of Rodgers and Hammerstein. One of the most successful partnerships in Broadway musical history, this duo created Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King And I, Cinderella, and The Sound of Music, all contributing songs to the Great American Songbook; Bradley Thachuk, conductor
Oct 28
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is a guest artist with Guelph Chamber Choir in their Halloween Gala featuring Orff’s Carmina Burana as well as Music from Harry Potter, The Addams Family, The Nightmare before Christmas and more! ToRQ Percussion Quartet;Dr. Irene Gregorio and Alison MacNeill, piano; Charlene Pauls, conductor
Nov 1--12
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon, winner of the Dora for Outstanding Male Performance, reprises his role as the childlike Paul in a new Tapestry Opera in association with Crow's Theatre production of Rocking Horse Winner, reuniting much of the original cast and creative team; Gareth Williams, composer; Anna Chatterton, libretto; Michael Hidetoshi Mori, director; Kamna Gupta, music director
www.tapestryopera.com
Nov 17--19
Marion Newman portrays Hildegard of Bingen in Sanctuary & Storm. This award-winning opera features the compelling confrontation between Hildegard of Bingen and Eleanor of Aquitaine, wrapped in a dialogue on power, respect, and liberation. Crafted by composer Tawnie Olson and librettist Roberta Barker, and premiering at IndieFest 2023, this groundbreaking new work is now brought to you by Vancouver Opera with re:Naissance Opera and the H.R MacMillan Space Centre. Arianne Abela, conductor
Nov 18
Natalya Gennadi joins a stellar cast of sopranos with Slow Rise Music as they present "Here Be Sirens". An immersive musical experience centred around the unifying them of siren song, this will be a one of a kind event. Along with American composer Kate Soper's Here Be Sirens Suite, the concert features new compositions by Ashley Seward, Paul Lessard, Aida Khorsandi, and Kathryn Knowles, drawn together into unique, cohesive whole with sound design by Slow Rise Music co-founder Tristan Zaba and set design by award-winning artist Jessica Hiemstra.
Nov 23
Baritone Clarence Frazer debuts with Orchestre Classique de Montréal in Piazzolla’s “Tango Opera”, María de Buenos Aires; Jacques Lacombe, conductor
Nov 30, Dec 1 & 3
Soprano Caitlin Wood is a guest artist in performances of Messiah Highlights with Windsor Symphony Orchestra; Jeffrey Pollock, conductor
Nov 30 | Artspring, Salt Spring Island, BC
Dec 3 | Victoria Symphony & Pacific Opera Victoria
Dec 7 | Music Toronto
Dec 12 | Queen's University, Kingston
Marion Newman joins Gryphon Trio in Echo: Memories of the World. In collaboration with a global circle of Indigenous and non-Indigenous composers, poets, researchers, theatre artists and filmmakers, the Gryphon Trio and guest artists Marion Newman and Aaron Wells present Echo – Memories of the World. Featuring music by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Valentin Silvestrov, Andrew Balfour, Eliot Britton and Ry Moran with storytelling, digital audio, images, and film, this multimedia concert presents resilient visions of the future from four areas of the world: Canada, Norway, Mali, and Ukraine.
www.artspring.ca
Dec 1
Dion Mazerolle is guest artist in Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Toronto Choral Society at Koerner Hall; Geoffrey Butler, conductor
www.torontochoralsociety.org
Dec 2
Clarence Frazer is a guest soloist in "A Christmas Delight" with ChoralWorks Collingwood, as the choir celebrates their 10th Anniversary, singing Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with harpist Judy Loman; Brian Rae, conductor
Dec 3
Soprano Jennifer Taverner, mezzo soprano Marjorie Maltais, and tenor Jean-Philippe Lazure are guest soloists in Handel’s Messiah with Ontario Philharmonic and Amadeus Choir; Kathleen Allan, conductor
Dec 3
Ernesto Ramirez and Giles Tomkins are guest performers with Off Centre Music Salon, in their season opening concert, "Fritz Kreisler and his Epoch", with music of Beethoven, Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Johann Strauss
Dec 8
Mezzo-soprano Hillary Tufford debuts as a guest soloist and Jorell Williams, baritone returns to sing Messiah with Elmer Iseler Singers; Lydia Adams, conductor. www.elmeriselersingers.com
Dec 8 & 9
Marjorie Maltais, mezzo soprano and baritone Clarence Frazer are guest soloists in Handel’s Messiah with Thunder Bay Symphony; James Sommerville, conductor
Dec 9
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon is tenor soloist in Bach’s sparkling celebration of the season, Christmas Oratorio, with Grand Philharmonic Choir and musicians of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony; Mark Vuorinen, conductor
Dec 13
Soprano Jennifer Taverner and baritone Clarence Frazer are soloists for Messiah with Chorus Niagara in a new role-reversal twist on Handel’s Messiah (tenor sings soprano, soprano sings tenor); Robert Cooper, conductor
Dec 13 & 14
Tenor Asitha Tennekoon is a guest soloist in “Winter Solstice”, Music on Main’s annual tradition of warm and inspiring music for the winter season
Dec 14--17
Countertenor Daniel Cabena is a guest performer with Soundstreams in"Electric Messiah", a re-imagining of Handel’s Messiah. Toronto’s newest holiday tradition is a reboot that includes musical styles ranging from jazz, blues, hip-hop and gospel. Guided by composer and synth player Adam Scime, this is a collaborative effort with musical contributions from all the singers and instrumentalists.
Dec 15
Dion Mazerolle is baritone soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Choir of St. James Cathedral and the Chapel Choir of Trinity College, University of Toronto, along with the 14-member Orchestra of St. James; Thomas W. D. Bell, conductor. Artist Hope Flynn will be painting live during the performance, inspired by the oratorio as it is sung.
Dec 16 & 17
Tenor Ernesto Ramirez is a guest soloist with Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and Bach-Elgar Choir’s presentation of Messiah; Alexander Cann, conductor
Dec 21 & 22
Baritone Clarence Frazer debuts with Symphony Nova Scotia in Handel’s Messiah; Ivars Taurins, conductor
Dec 23
Baritone Dion Mazerolle is a guest soloist in Haydn’s Creation with Galileo (Orchestre symphonique de la vallée-du-haut-Saint-Laurent ); Daniel Constantineau, conductor
