canadian opera company
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Rigoletto.' Photo by Michael Cooper.
REVIEW: COC’s elegantly bleak Rigoletto is no laughing matter
As Rigoletto wept, I became distracted by a lone petal belatedly descending from above. An accident, certainly, but one that offered a reminder of opera’s unpredictable magic: that, even among the grandest of designs, a performance’s final form depends upon these ephemeral moments one calls fate.
iPhoto caption: Iestyn Davies as Orfeo (right, facing away) in the Canadian Opera Company's production of Orfeo ed Euridice, 2025. Photo by Michael Cooper.
REVIEW: The COC’s Orfeo ed Euridice plunges starkly into its mythical dilemma
Though I won’t spoil it here, I will note that the twist subverts narrative and thematic expectations and reveals the production’s true emphasis: its desire to underscore the fact that, despite mortal weakness, love triumphs all.
iPhoto caption: Sophia Walker and Gord Rand in 'Slave Play.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Slave Play sparks debate — so we reviewed it twice
To mark the Canadian premiere of this influential satire, Intermission is honouring the play’s divisive reputation by presenting a pair of reviews written independently of one another.
iPhoto caption: Stephen Costello and Kseniia Proshina in 'Roméo et Juliette.' Photo by Michael Cooper.
REVIEW: Amy Lane’s campy Roméo et Juliette wears its heart on its sleeve at the COC
The opera is so grand, and Gounod’s music so august, that, at the start of Act Four, I was surprised to find an image as simple as the pair peacefully spooning in bed struck a sympathetic chord with me.