Christine Goerke poses in this undated handout photo. Grammy Award-winning soprano Christine Goerke will make her Canadian Opera Company debut next season in a production of Wagner's "Die Walkure" from two-time Academy Award nominee Atom Egoyan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Canadian Opera Company, Gary Mulcahey
January 15, 2014 - 3:31 PM
TORONTO - Grammy Award-winning soprano Christine Goerke will make her Canadian Opera Company debut next season in a production of Wagner's "Die Walkure" from two-time Academy Award nominee Atom Egoyan.
American Clifton Forbis and Danish baritone Johan Reuter will also star in the production, which will run for seven performances from Jan. 31 to Feb. 22, 2015, as part of the next COC season, which was announced Wednesday.
Singers Jennifer Holloway, Andrea Care, Cecelia Hall, Amanda Echalaz, Serena Malfi, Stefano Secco, Alek Shrader, Heidi Melton and Patricia Racette will also make their COC debuts during the season, which kicks off Oct. 3 with a performance of Verdi's "Falstaff" from Canadian director Robert Carsen and starring decorated Canadian baritone Gerald Finley.
Conductors Michael Hofstetter and Patrick Lange will also make their COC debuts, along with Moscow-born director Dmitri Tcherniakov, who will steer a production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" featuring Canadian singers Russell Braun, Jane Archibald and Michael Schade. That will debut Jan. 24, 2015.
Celebrated Quebec multi-hyphenate Robert Lepage will direct the COC's season-closing double bill of Bela Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" and Arnold Schoenberg's "Erwartung," with Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea and Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova featuring in the former and Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo starring in the Schoenberg production. Seven performances run May 6-23, 2015.
The fall will also bring a production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" from Canadian Brian Macdonald, with American singers Racette and Kelly Kaduce sharing the feature role of Cio-Cio San. Also featuring American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong, the production will run Oct. 10-31.
And Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" from Spanish theatre troupe Els Comediants — who designed the fire ceremony for the closing of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics — will feature Canadian Joshua Hopkins as Figaro. Shrader will portray Count Almaviva while mezzo-sopranos Malfi and Hall will share the role of Rosina in the production, which will run for 13 performances from April 17 to May 22, 2015.
Six-opera subscriptions for the season run between $169 and $799.
"The 2014/2015 season is one that I'd describe to audiences as an unforgettable journey of musical, sensory and artistic discovery, delivered by some of the most talented emerging and established stars operating on the world stage," said COC general director Alexander Neef in a statement.
"We have made going to the opera next season as affordable to the community as possible. The level of talent coming to our company is extraordinary and we really believe that as many people as possible should be given every opportunity we can give them to experience these artists on our stage."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014