COR
Operas
Noor Over Afghan is set in Afghanistan, and tells the story of two young Afghani sisters, Noor and Jaan. But Jaan is dying, and begs Noor to take her place in the marriage and have her child. By the time the groom finds out, Jaan will have died. They swap places, Noor disguised by the veil.
Composer: Christiaan Venter
Librettist: Anusree Roy
Content warning: illness, death, HIV/AIDS
Dark Star Requiem is a poetic chronicle of the 25 years (as of 2010) of HIV-AIDS, reflecting the many faces of the disease and those affected by the pandemic.
Dark Star Requiem is a poetic chronicle of the 25 years (as of 2010) of HIV-AIDS, reflecting the many faces of the disease and those affected by the pandemic.
Composer: Andrew Staniland
Librettist: Jill Battson
Content warning: gun violence, strong language, terminal illness, attempted assisted suicide
A father and son argue in a dark alley. The father, sick with a tumour "the size of a fig" in his brain, begs his son to end his life. When the gun they're using fails and the son panics, the father offers comfort and encouragement in the form of a ...
A father and son argue in a dark alley. The father, sick with a tumour "the size of a fig" in his brain, begs his son to end his life. When the gun they're using fails and the son panics, the father offers comfort and encouragement in the form of a ...
Composer: Cecilia Livingston
Librettist: David Yee
Content warning: AIDS, death, illness
The interior of a thumping, vibrating gay nightclub with obligatory disco ball and coloured strobe lights. A middle-aged gentleman is sitting at the bar, back to the audience, lost in his thoughts and seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. The truth is he isn't used to going to clubs, or hasn't since th...
The interior of a thumping, vibrating gay nightclub with obligatory disco ball and coloured strobe lights. A middle-aged gentleman is sitting at the bar, back to the audience, lost in his thoughts and seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. The truth is he isn't used to going to clubs, or hasn't since th...
Composer: Andrew Staniland
Librettist: Jill Battson
Content warning: death, suicide
Dragon’s Tale is the story of a young Chinese-Canadian woman (Xiao Lian) and her ailing father, both living in Toronto. Xiao Lian wakes up in the ancient past and witnesses the last days of one of China’s greatest poets, Qu Yuan. In doing so, she begins to understand her father and herself as she returns to a c...
Dragon’s Tale is the story of a young Chinese-Canadian woman (Xiao Lian) and her ailing father, both living in Toronto. Xiao Lian wakes up in the ancient past and witnesses the last days of one of China’s greatest poets, Qu Yuan. In doing so, she begins to understand her father and herself as she returns to a c...
Composer: Ka Nin Chan
Librettist: Mark Brownell
Content warning: terminal illness
This is not a biographical opera, it is an exploration of an emotional journey. At age 5, Jacqueline has instant chemistry and sparks fly when she meets her cello. Their relationship grows stronger and closer, and Jacqueline matures into a charismatic and likeable teen, powerful on major stages. Soon she is a...
This is not a biographical opera, it is an exploration of an emotional journey. At age 5, Jacqueline has instant chemistry and sparks fly when she meets her cello. Their relationship grows stronger and closer, and Jacqueline matures into a charismatic and likeable teen, powerful on major stages. Soon she is a...
Composer: Luna Pearl Woolf
Librettist: Royce Vavrek
Content warning: genocide, colonialism, death, gun violence, death of a child, violence against animals
“Nothing is as comforting as captivity.”
Beth, a young diplomat, and her husband Andrew are stationed at a Canadian Embassy in Africa. They are troubled by news of political upheaval, forced migrations and indiscriminate slaughter. They ...
“Nothing is as comforting as captivity.”
Beth, a young diplomat, and her husband Andrew are stationed at a Canadian Embassy in Africa. They are troubled by news of political upheaval, forced migrations and indiscriminate slaughter. They ...
Composer: Rodney Sharman
Librettist: Atom Egoyan
Content warning: colonial violence, colonialsm, death, illness
1828, Notre Dame Bay, on the northeast shore of Newfoundland. William Cormack, an explorer and anthropologist, has recently created the Beothuk Institute: an organization designed to prevent the extinction of the original inhabitants of the island. After learning that a Beothuk wo...
1828, Notre Dame Bay, on the northeast shore of Newfoundland. William Cormack, an explorer and anthropologist, has recently created the Beothuk Institute: an organization designed to prevent the extinction of the original inhabitants of the island. After learning that a Beothuk wo...
Composer: Dean Burry
Librettist: Yvette Nolan
Content warning: illness, death, colonialism
Facing South is inspired by the life story of American Arctic explorer, Rear Admiral Robert Edwin Peary, and his contested discovery of the North Pole in 1909. The opera takes place in the inner landscape of Peary’s mind during the last hours of his life in February 1920, as he lies dying of pernic...
Facing South is inspired by the life story of American Arctic explorer, Rear Admiral Robert Edwin Peary, and his contested discovery of the North Pole in 1909. The opera takes place in the inner landscape of Peary’s mind during the last hours of his life in February 1920, as he lies dying of pernic...
Composer: Linda Catlin Smith
Librettist: Don Hannah
COR
Excerpts
Shanawdithit describes the last days of her family as they were pushed from their land and then hunted. She asks Cormack not to speak of their death, but of their life. Cormack is ecstatic and gets lost in the memories Shanawdithit paints. She breaks his reverie with the cold fact that the life she speaks of will never happen again. She colla...
Jaan, who is dying, asks her sister Noor to secretely take her place on her wedding day. Noor reluctantly agrees.
The wedding ceremony. Noor hesitates, then marries Rafique.
Jaan meets group of tribal women in the desert who convince her to stay with them while she dies. Noor takes Jaan's place in the circle.
Noor tells the lie Jaan asked of her to Rafique. Rafique sends her away and tries to figure out what he should do.
Jaan remains alive. The tribal women suggest she should write to Noor to know what has happen and ease her mind.
Shanawdithit, dying, speaks to her ancestors. She is ready to leave this world.
Jackie tells us how she can blur the lines between fantasy and reality at will. She can escape the confines of her chair by dreaming of bathing in the sea. She wonders where Daniel is, and who he’s seeing.
Cormack tries to raise funds for Shanawdithit’s care without success. James Simms offers to care for her while Cormack is away.
Her health fading, Shanawdithit wonders if she’ll be welcomed into the spirit world after so much time with the colonists. Cormack tells her he must leave, and Shanawdithit gives him a sketch of his house to carry with him. He leaves the room to pack. Shanawdithit hears the spirits of her people calling her name. It is time. One spirit in par...
Maupin remembers her romance with the Countess de Florensac.
Xiao Lian’s father bitterly reveals that he will die soon. Xiao Lian’s mother appears in spirit form and asks her to forgive her father. She speaks of their happiness together as a family in earlier times. As a child, Xiao Lian had a close connection with the Dragon Boat Festival, known as Duanwu and its hero, the ancient poet Qu Y...
Qu Yuan wanders into the southern wilderness. As he travels, he composes a lament for himself and his lost position in court. In the present, Xiao Lian’s Father senses his end is near. Summoning up his strength, he joins with the spirit of Qu Yuan to tell the final chapter.
All hope is lost as the villagers return and collect Qu Yuan’s possessions. They take the scrolls containing his famous poetry to the Daoist temple, where they will be preserved forever. Xiao Lian returns to the present at the bedside of her dying father. With his encouragement and love, she finally recognizes the value of honourin...
A father comforts his son as he encourages him to end his life, rather than waiting for him to die of a terminal illness.
The soloists describe AIDS as a black lion and a pack of hyenas, while the chorus continues listing medications.
Two male lovers come to terms with the fact that one of them is dying of AIDS.
Soloists and chorus sing the numbers attributed to HIV-1 and HIV-2 by the International Comitte of Taxonomy of Viruses.
Recounts the presumed origin of the HIV virus, initially as SIV non-human primates in Central Africa.
As the Democratic Republic of Congo fights for its independence, patients are being hospitalized and dying from AIDS-related illness.
From the perspective of a beauty mark that progresses into a serious medical complication.
A spoken monologue about the arrival of HIV to North America and Gaetan Dugas, the presumed patient-0.
Soloists list conspiracy theories about the origin and spread of HIV, while the chorus laughs in the background.
A solo by the mezzo-soprano about nuns sex-shaming in hospitals, while the chorus repeatedly sings "sanctus".
Angry and frustrated at her physical inability to play, Jacqueline cancels her remaining performances.
Malcolm works on his university application; Eugene is sick. Antoine arrives telling them he has been promoted to ambassador, but that they will remain in the country they are currently stationed in.
Eugene is dying. He has left some of his and Antoine's things for Malcolm, but Malcolm is growing angrier at Antoine who still will not write him a letter of recommendation.
An ill and delirious Peary reminisces about his polar days; his wife remembers their early love.
Josephine asks for Henson's help, despite Peary's past bad treatment of him.
In her prime. At a post-gala cocktail party, Jackie ironically confesses she has a terrible disease: glissando-itis.
Delirious, Jackie envisions running to the ocean again through the fields, this time with her sister, Hilary. She asks that Hilary not tell Daniel about the disease.
Jacqueline experiences symptoms, but her physical illness is undiagnosed, and she is instead told it is hysterical or psychosomatic.
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