Government

COR

Operas

Naomi’s Road, which details a young Japanese-Canadian girl’s experiences as her family is interned during World War II, is a coming-of-age story that celebrates the power of hope, cultural understanding and compassion. This compelling and emotional story is taken from one of our country’s most painful and complex social periods, a time that for ...

The Defining Moment

Content warning: infidelity

An ambitious politician gleefully shares with his mistress the news that his party may soon be back in power. The mistress shares her own news: she is pregnant.

Composer: Jana Skarecky

Librettist: Norman Yeung

The Translator

Content warning: death, incarceration, interrogation, suicide, torture

A translator at a secret prison for suspected terrorists witnesses extreme torture and death of detainees. She leaks the information to news broadcasters, but the government covers it up as a hoax. Her supervisor begs her to say nothing more about the things she has seen -...

Composer: David Ogborn

Librettist: Leanna Brodie

The Call of the Light

Content warning: gun violence, death, mass shooting

In the Blue Room of the Quebec National Assembly, Denis Lortie kills and wounds people with a submachine gun as a protest against Quebec sovereignty.

Composer: Iman Habibi

Librettist: Bobby Theodore

M’dea Undone

Content warning: death, murder, suicide, xenophobia

Jason, an army captain and now war-hero, is returning home after years of war and an uncertain future. His interpreter and lover M’dea and their son Chase accompany him to a new life in the West. Jason begins a political career, working alongside the President and Dahlia, the President’s bea...

Composer: John Harris

Librettist: Marjorie Chan

COR

Excerpts

M’dea Undone – Act 2, Scene 7

The President gives an election victory speech.

The Translator – The Translator

2003: After leaking torture photos to the internet, American army translator Alessandra Jenson refuses to be hushed up, and live streams her suicide in protest.

The Translator – “You can understand all you want” (aria)

Colonel Crane, Alessandra's supervisor, tersely tells her to lose what her perceives as her naive sense of morality: "We are just here to win."

The Translator – “America died in that cell” (aria)

Traumatized by her experiences, Alessandra reflects on her work as a translator in an American military prison.

The Call of the Light – The Call of the Light

In the Blue Room of the Quebec National Assembly, Denis Lortie kills and wounds people with a submachine gun as a protest against Quebec sovereignty.

M’dea Undone – Act 2, Scene 2: The President’s Office

The President threatens M'dea with prison or the loss of her son if she doesn't do as he wants. He warns her not to cause trouble for Jason.

M’dea Undone – Act 2, Scene 1

Jason and Dahlia are getting married. The citizens gossip.

M’dea Undone – Act 1, Scene 11: The Ballroom

The party is about to announce Jason's candidacy. Jason and Dahlia dance together, oblivious to all the others. Enraged, M'dea smashes a glass wall, showering fragments over the party guests.

M’dea Undone – Act 1, Scene 10: Dahlia’s Bedroom (duet)

Dahlia's father encourages her to seduce Jason, and promises her she can have anything she wants.

M’dea Undone – Act 1, Scene 8 – A Dinner Party

The President invites Jason to be his running mate, and begins to remake him. This process sidelines M'dea and Chase. Dahlia and Jason are attracted to one other.

M’dea Undone – Act 1, Scene 5: President Calling

At the President's office, Jason and the President discuss family, how to be a good father, and a possible future for Jason in politics.

M’dea Undone – Act 1, Scene 1

Jason, M'dea, and the soldiers return from war to a celebratory crowd. Some do not trust the new foreigner, M'dea.

M’dea Undone – Act 1, Scene 10 (duet)

Dahlia's father encourages her to seduce Jason, and promises her she can have anything she wants.