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Canadian Opera Resource
Canadian Opera Resource
COR
Operas
a little rain must fall
Rain and Simone are in the kitchen, prepping dinner. Things are weirdly tense. Suddenly, Rain snaps and accuses Simone of killing his ex-girlfriend, Sally. Of course, Rain doesn’t really have proof of this (other than the time Simone killed a Yorkie for biting her - but they’re an aggressive breed). Simone tries to placate Rain. She’s always bee...
Composer: Chris Thornborrow
Librettist: David Yee

a little rain must fall
a little rain must fall
A More Intimate Screening
A security screening at an airport takes on a somewhat more intimate frame; written verbatim from actual security language.
Composer: Benton Roark
Librettist: Daniel Solon

A More Intimate Screening
A More Intimate Screening
Bandits in the Valley
The Don Valley. 1880, Toronto.

Join George Taylor and the travelling Gilbert & Sullivan theatrical troupe The Vagabonds in a twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the birth of his papermill. Unbeknownst to him, Jeremiah - the leader of a local small-potatoes bandit group called The Rift Rafters - just discovered a long-hidden secret abo...
Composer: Benton Roark
Librettist: Julie Tepperman

Bandits in the Valley
Betty Box Office
A box office worker longs to be on the stage. When the lead of the production is injured, she begs for her chance in the spotlight.
Composer: Jack Perla
Librettist: Ken Gass

Betty Box Office
Betty Box Office
Chicken or Beef?
Each of two brother bulls attempts to convince the other to enter the barn. Neither wants to go, knowing their lives are at stake. The two flatter, dare, and challenge one another, until a race finally settles it: first one to the barn wins. Sort of.
Composer: Justine F. Chen
Librettist: David James Brock

Chicken or Beef?
Chicken or Beef?
Get Stuffed
Get Stuffed is a comic opera about serious decisions, featuring vocalizing vegetables and a big helping of other opinionated edible characters, all competing to influence one child's daily diet. Written for 5 singing actors and 2 musicians, this opera is intended for family audiences and touring to schools with a focus on encouraging youth to ma...
Composer: Richard Payne
Librettist: Alexis Diamond

Get Stuffed
Harper’s Floe
A historical reenactment: Prime Minister Stephen Harper sets off to the Arctic to claim dominion over a particular ice floe. Mr. Valernikov, a Russian seal, mistakes Harper for a full-figured female seal and propositions him. After sorting out the misunderstanding, Valernikov claims Harper is in Russian waters. Harper, chagrined, tries to make h...
Composer: Norbert Palej
Librettist: Charles Hayter

Harper’s Floe
Harper’s Floe
Hotel Lobby
Two exes, each with their new partner, run into each other in a hotel lobby. Unresolved tension and suppressed emotions resurface in an awkward encounter no one will forget.
Composer: Gareth Williams
Librettist: Maja Ardal

Hotel Lobby
Hotel Lobby
Hydrophis Expedition
"My real voice is my cry: OPEN YOUR EYES."

The Hydrophis is a Deep Sea Submergence Vehicle (DSV) that takes scientists on extreme-depth expeditions to research and explore. During a recent expedition, a rare jellyfish, Stygiomedus Gigantea, has been captured on film. It is rarely seen but thought to be one of the largest invertebrate predator...
Composer: Benton Roark
Librettist: Colleen Murphy

Hydrophis Expedition
Ice Time
The scene takes place at a national figure-skating competition. The coach is in the “kiss and cry” section reacting to her protegée’s performance.

The orchestra prelude details a sweeping skate dance routine that ends badly for the skater (she falls, tries to regain momentum, but falls again). The skater limps onto the stage (in her guard-cov...
Composer: Ka Nin Chan
Librettist: Mark Brownell

Ice Time
Ice Time
Jacqueline
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...
Composer: Luna Pearl Woolf
Librettist: Royce Vavrek

Jacqueline
Little Miss All Canadian
Content warning: murder

Two women, Eunice Rose and Samantha, sit in the audience during the semifinals of a junior “Miss All-Canadian” Pageant. Eunice’s daughter is on stage doing a dance routine Eunice choreographed herself. She holds a diet coke and eats chocolate while eying her daughter and criticizing her performance. Samantha, meanwhile...
Composer: Lembit Beecher
Librettist: Liza Balkan

Little Miss All Canadian
Lost and Found
Lost and Found is a sexy tango encounter between two lost travelers who don’t share a common language, but bond over the serendipitous lexical delight of learning that the word “mango” is gloriously, sensuously, mutually intelligible. Jubilant over their shared discovery, the man asks the woman about returning to his place posthaste. The travele...
Composer: Elisabeth Mehl Greene
Librettist: Sharon Bajer

Mousetrap
In a video game, two mice are navigating through a house when suddenly they encounter a giant squirrel.
Composer: Rene Orth
Librettist: Lila Palmer

Mousetrap
Mousetrap
Opposites Attract
Across eight brief vignettes, couples experience small moments of frustration, miscommunication, and attraction.
Composer: Iman Habibi
Librettist: Phoebe Tsang

Opposites Attract
Opposites Attract
Perfect Night
A Woman and Man in bed.  Naked.  Or nearly.  The Man reads to the Woman.  Poetry by Irving Layton.  They have the house to themselves.  They are reconnecting, finally, after their youngest kid has headed off to college.  It’s a perfect night.  Until the mosquito shows up.
Composer: Jana Skarecky
Librettist: Nick Carpenter

Perfect Night
Perfect Night
Pursuit
Content warning: stalking

A young barista seems to know a surprising amount about one of the customers at her cafe.
Composer: Iman Habibi
Librettist: Jessica Murphy Moo

Pursuit
Pursuit
See Saw
Content warning: suicidal thoughts

A comedy. Trish laments her breakup with Ralph. She is desolate and considers suicide. Gina scolds Trish for over-dramatization and urges her to move on in her life. She succeeds in getting Trish to agree to go out for a drink at a bar nearby. They are intercepted by Ralph (on his bicycle) carrying a box of ...
Composer: Andrew Staniland
Librettist: Anna Chatterton

See Saw
See Saw
She Sees Her Lover
Agnieska and Sumana share a night together after meeting in a bar. The night, however intimate, has vastly different meanings to each woman. While Sumana is brimming with the excitement of a first chance at love, Agnieska is haunted by memories of her romantic past.

The next morning, Agnieska wakes early and admires her new lover Sumana as sh...
Composer: Craig Galbraith
Librettist: Leanna Brodie

She Sees Her Lover
She Sees Her Lover
The Perfect Match
Two sock puppets long for something more than their dreary lives. They bump into each other on the street, and it doesn’t take long for them to recognize they’re each other’s perfect match!
Composer: Anthony Young
Librettist: Krista Dalby

The Perfect Match
The Perfect Screw
Nominated for a 2009 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Musical/Opera, this 40-minute tragi-comedy about creative integrity, autonomy, and the right fit is an allegorical tale that dismantles the ironies of capitalism; a parody of cross-border relations; a romance.

Due to the all-powerful Ford selecting the American Phillips screw for...
Composer: Abigail Richardson
Librettist: Alexis Diamond

The Perfect Screw
The Perfect Screw
The Sermon
A boy is sitting through the longest sermon ever on the most boring subject ever: purity. He didn’t sleep well the night before, and so convinces himself that he can close his eyes during the sermon without much trouble. But it doesn’t take long for the priest’s longwinded comparison of venial sins to tablecloth stations to blur and distort as t...
Composer: John Harris
Librettist: Bernard MacLaverty

The Sermon
The Sermon
The Two Graces
The night before her birthday, an aging Queen Elizabeth I catches an intruder in her boudoir. It turns out to be none other than her arch-nemesis Grace O’Malley, Irish pirate and chieftain, come to reclaim her seized ship and her trampled rights. A comedic opera about power and politics, destiny and desire, and how hard it is to be a woman at th...
Composer: Sean Ferguson
Librettist: Alexis Diamond

The Two Graces
The Two Graces
The Virgin Charlie
Charlie is performing in a show, and while backstage receives an unexpected visit from the Virgin Mary. Mary has news for Charlie: he is pregnant with the son of God. The little messiah has come to fulfill a prophecy - will armageddon strike the earth, or will forgiveness once again save it all?
Composer: William Rowson
Librettist: Taylor Graham

The Virgin Charlie
You and Meme
An awkward first date seems destined for failure, until the two bond over a mutual love of memes. The result? A hot, steamy connection over goats.
Composer: Dean Burry
Librettist: Nicolas Billon

You and Meme
You and Meme
La Maupin
Content warning: contains depictions of gun violence, mentions of homophobia, transphobia, self-harm, attempted suicide, memory loss, illness, death, and violence

Julie d'Aubigny (1673-1707), more often known by her stage name "Mademoiselle Maupin," was a queer and gender non-conforming opera singer. She was a mezzo-soprano, and sang some of ...
Composer: Colin McMahon
Librettist: Camille Rogers

La Maupin
Medusa’s Children
Content warning: misgendering, mentions of sexual assault, and implied violence

Chrysaor and Pegasus, children of the gorgon Medusa, have been living with their aunts Euryale and Stheno. They receive a message from their dead mother telling the story of her assault and murder by their father Poseidon. Rejecting his mother’s family, Chrysaor g...
Composer: Colin McMahon
Librettist: Charlie Petch

Medusa’s Children
One Lump or Two?
Content warning: mention of murder, violence, poison

Four Victorian women sit down for a most unusual tea time. The women have two things in common: their dislike of the other women and of their husbands. Each woman refuses to drink tea for one reason or another while brainstorming ideas such as poison, prison, bee-stings or drowning. But who...
Composer: Glenn James
Librettist: Sandy Pool

La pagaille des violons
The story of two clans of little violinists, one that plays only in pizzicato and the other one only with the bow. They each claim to make the most beautiful music, so they argue and try separately to summon the Goddess of Music. She appears only when they play together, and reconciles the two clans, explaining that there is no such thing as the...
Composer: Diana Cotoman
Librettist: Diana Cotoman

La pagaille des violons
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 Defining Moment
The Defining Moment
Glimmer
Glimmer attempts to address the urgent matters and seemingly irreconcilable coexisting realities at the core of queer existence through multiple frames and lenses. Taking full advantage of an all-queer cast of performers, with whom the piece was developed organically through a series of discussions and workshops, this work intertwines the autobi...
Composer: Thierry Tidrow
Librettist: Thierry Tidrow

Glimmer
The Midnight Court
"Bentley’s libretto is based on Frank O’Connor’s translation of the celebrated 1780 Gaelic poem by Brian Merriman (1749-1805), a work surprisingly contemporary in its frank discussion of women’s sexual needs and how men fail to meet them.  In Bentley’s adaptation Merriman himself becomes the opera’s central figure who falls asleep on a midsummer...
Composer: Ana Sokolović
Librettist: Paul Bentley

dawn always begins in the bones
A collection of dramatic musical settings of poetry by twelve different Canadian writers. The poems range from serious to humorous, and touch on subjects including the beauty of nature, to ecology and urban animals, to language and poetry itself.
Composer: Ana Sokolović

Boots
Boots invites you into a boudoir full of guilty pleasures. The performer presents a cast of more than thirty pairs of boots, procured over the last decade from secondhand stores, online auctions and retail outlets. She adds to her obsessive collection weekly. When will it stop?

Lyrics are taken from Emily Dickinson and Gertrude Stein, with ad...
Composer: Juliet Palmer

Boots
Silence
A not-so-pure Maiden is sent to marry a not-so-manly Lord, who is advised by a not-so-celibate Priest, and protected by a not-so-insensitive Thug in an England ruled by a King who won’t get out of bed. Based on the award winning play by Moira Buffini.
Composer: Leslie Uyeda

Silence
COR
Excerpts
a little rain must fall – a little rain must fall

A playful duet between romantic partners that offers a comedic take on a sinister secret.

A More Intimate Screening – A More Intimate Screening

An alarm goes off, triggering a pat-down at airport security.

Au Café Trudeau – Au Cafe Trudeau

A francophile from Toronto walks into a café in downtown Montréal. His coffee order and small talk with the barista turns into a political rift that eventually leaves him lost in translation.

Bandits in the Valley – Opening Scene – voices, percussion, and accordion

George celebrates the 25th anniversary of his paper mill with an important announcement. Lily is introduced. Freddy gets some bad news.

Bandits in the Valley – Group 1, Scene 1: The Buttock Birthmark (duet)

Jeremiah, who is in love with Lily, reveals that he is the illegitimate son of former mill owner, Skinner. He enlists Freddy's help with a scheme.

Bandits in the Valley – Group 1, Scene 2: The Chase

Brigitta is in love with Jeremiah. Jeremiah, Freddy, and Brigitta retrieve Jeremiah's birth certificate from the Taylor house where Brigitta found it. Jeremiah gives Freddy a note for Lily - he and Lily are leaving town when Jeremiah gets his fortune.

Bandits in the Valley – Group 2, Scene 1: Love Me Lily (aria)

Henri wonders how, after all this time, it is possible that Lily doesn't reciprocate her feelings of love.

Bandits in the Valley – Group 2, Scene 2: The Dressing Room

George has a proposal for Lily. Henri has a confession. The Great Recorder Smackdown happens, and Lily is caught in the crossfire. Lily sends them all away without answering.

Bandits in the Valley – Freddy’s Song: “So It Goes” (aria)

A lament over the disbanding of brotherhood. Freddy wonders what will become of his friendship with Jeremiah.

Bandits in the Valley – Finale

The Vagabond Theatrical Troupe presents!  Jeremiah gives George an ultimatum but has to prove himself first in more ways than one, and all is wrapped up in the finest paper package.

Betty Box Office – “Box office, may I help you?” (aria)

A box office worker longs to be on the opera stage.

Betty Box Office – Betty Box Office

A box office worker longs to be on the stage. When the lead of the production is injured, she begs for her chance in the spotlight.

Chicken or Beef? – Chicken or Beef?

Each of two brother bulls attempts to convince the other to enter the barn. Neither wants to go, knowing their lives are at stake. The two flatter, dare, and challenge one another, until a race finally settles it: first one to the barn wins. Sort of.

Get Stuffed – Scene 1

Zach's class studies the Canada Food Guide, making Zach's tummy grumble.

Get Stuffed – Scene 2

Zach longs for a lunch of junk food!

Get Stuffed – Scene 3

The Cafeteria Worker sets out orderly rows of premade junk food in her spic-and-span kitchen. Just then, a trio of Chefs show up and toss all of the junk food out!

Get Stuffed – Scene 4

Zach and the Cafeteria Worker are perplexed by the Chefs' new healthy homemade menu. They promise Zach that eating this way will be delicious and good for him, too! Zach passes out from hunger and empty calories. He is so hungry!

Get Stuffed – Scene 5

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 1: A life-size Chocolate Bar entices him... only to turn into a Carrot!

Get Stuffed – Scene 6

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 2: The Garden Trio (Apple, Carrot and Broccoli) treat Zach to a savoury song about vitamins.

Get Stuffed – Scene 7

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 3: Sultry French Fries interrupts the Trio to tempt Zach, but is pulled up short by Big Cheese. There's a new Sheriff in town.

Get Stuffed – Scene 8

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 4: Big Cheese tries to convince Zach to eat healthy by crooning a song oozing with cheesy puns.

Get Stuffed – Scene 9

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 5: Food fight! The healthy and unhealthy foods fight over Zach. In the melee, Apple is struck by an airborne French fry.

Get Stuffed – Scene 10

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 6: Apple expires in true operatic fashion in Zach's arms. Zach grieves.

Get Stuffed – Scene 11

Zach wakes from his hallucination a changed boy. Now open to trying new options, he samples the new menu. Zach's tummy rumbles in appreciation!

Get Stuffed – Finale (with Audience)

A brief anthem to healthy eating.

Harper’s Floe – Harper’s Floe

While claiming sovereignty of an ice floe, Harper meets a seal, then drowns as the floe melts.

Hotel Lobby – Hotel Lobby

Ex-lovers encounter each other in hotel lobby with their new partners and insult each other.

Hydrophis Expedition – Serpent’s Aria

An undersea monster sings to the scientists observing her.

Hydrophis Expedition – Hydrophis Expedition (Close Your Eyes)

In a deep sea submergence vehicle, a crew voyages in search of a sea creature whose gaze can cause burns to the eyes.

Ice Time – “Axel, halfloop, salchow, toe”

A figure skater and coach review a disappointing routine together.

Ice Time – “Once upon a time…” (aria)

A figure skating coach reminisces about her own time in the competition spotlight.

Ice Time – Ice Time

After a disappointing performance a coach chastises the skater, then dreams of her glory days; the skater decides this has been her last performance.

Jacqueline – “Dirty Joke” – voice and cello

Jacqueline enjoys telling a joke about some monks' sexual arousal.

Little Miss All Canadian – Little Miss All Canadian

Two mothers in the audience for a beauty pageant: while Eunice's daughter performs, Samantha reads an article about a murdered 11-year-old girl.

Lost and Found – Lost and Found

Two travellers trying to communicate in English- which neither of them speaks well- find they are attracted to each other.

Mousetrap – Mousetrap

In a video game, two mice are navigating through a house when suddenly they encounter a giant squirrel.

Opposites Attract – Scene 2

At a bar, Erica laments the men she chooses. Jackie looks for a rich man- and a rich man walks into the bar.

Opposites Attract – Scene 8

Two couples on a resort patio watch and comment on each other.

Perfect Night – Perfect Night

A middle-aged couple's romantic night: the Man, reading poetry to the Woman, is distracted by the need to hunt down a mosquito in the room.

Pursuit – Pursuit

A female barista is infatuated with a male customer and stalks him. He thinks he recognizes her from his neighbourhood.

She Sees Her Lover – “Oh, it’s beautiful” (aria)

Excited by the possibility of a night with a new lover, Sumana anxiously expresses her anticipation.

She Sees Her Lover – Scene 1 (duet)

Agnieska and Sumana share an intimate night together after meeting in a bar. Memories of past lovers almost make Agnieska give up on this new love, but Sumana convinces her to hold on to hope.

She Sees Her Lover – Scene 2

Waking early, Agnieska admires her new lover Sumana as she is sleeping. When Sumana wakes, the couple share an intimate conversation and eventually descend into fits of laughter.

The Perfect Match – Interior

Two sock puppets wake up alone and lonely.

The Perfect Match – Exterior

Tam and Pal spot each other- the only single socks in the park- speak, and fall in love.

The Perfect Screw – Act 1, Scene 1: “Ladies and Gentlemen” (aria)

Robertson demonstrates the new “automatic spiral ratchet spring-loaded screw driver,” affectionately called the “Yankee.” The demonstration is cut short when the driver slips off the single slot screw, injuring Robertson’s hand.

The Perfect Screw – Act 1, Scene 2: “Fates, I curse you” (aria)

Robertson in his shop, Amalia (present day) in her bathroom with her antique vanity, Phillips in his workshop, also injured by a screw driver slip.

The Perfect Screw – “In my journeys far and wide” (aria)

Phillips sings the praises of his new screwdriver.

The Perfect Screw – “Wandering endlessly” (aria)

Amalia dreams of what can be accomplished with hardware.

The Perfect Screw – “Hmm… he cuts quite a figure” (aria)

In the afterlife, Henry Ford invites Robertson to present his screwdriver.

The Perfect Screw – “Double slit Phillips” (aria)

Amalia critiques the two screwdrivers and chooses the Robertson.

The Perfect Screw – Act 1, Scene 2

Robertson in his shop, Amalia (present day) in her bathroom with her antique vanity, Phillips in his workshop, also injured by a screw driver slip.

The Perfect Screw – Act 1, Scene 3: “Wandering Endlessly” (aria)

Wandering in a big box store, Amalia dreams of what can be accomplished with hardware.

The Perfect Screw – Act 2, Scene 1

In the afterlife, Henry Ford invites Robertson to present his screwdriver. Ford is rapturously impressed, and offers Roberston a deal - but with the catch that Ford would then own the rights to his invention (as Ford puts it, he demands "complete submission"). Phillips reveals himself and makes a sales pitch. Ford is less attracted, but offer...

The Perfect Screw – Act 2, Scene 2

Ford and Phillips celebrate while Robertson is chagrined and depressed by his failure to get the contract. Amalia finally finds the screwdriver aisle in the store.

The Perfect Screw – Act 2, Scene 3

Amalia critiques the two screwdrivers and chooses the Robertson.

The Perfect Screw – Act 3, Scene 1

Phillips realizes he will not get rich in his deal with Ford, but Ford will.

The Perfect Screw – Act 3, Scene 2

Robertson, still sad, hopes his screwdriver will still be of use to others.

The Perfect Screw – Act 3, Scene 3

Amalia at home, mounting her vanity. She praises the Robertson's screwdriver as he observes from heaven.

The Perfect Screw – Act 3, Scene 4

All sing the praises of the Robertson screwdriver.

The Sermon – The Sermon

A Boy slowly falls asleep as a Priest gives sermon on purity, and words go from meaningful to jibberish.

The Two Graces – “Oh, to belong to the sea” (aria)

Queen Liz imagines what it would be like to be free.

The Two Graces – The Two Graces

Irish pirate Chieftain Grace O'Malley sneaks into the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and convinces the Queen to give her back her ship and free her lover. In return Grace will attend the Queen's birthday celebration and cause a sensation - which delights Liz.

The Virgin Charlie – “Step ever so softly now…” (aria)

Drag performer Charlie sings a number in the persona of the Virgin Mary.

The Virgin Charlie – “Charlie, please listen…” (aria)

The Virgin Mary explains to Charlie why he has been chosen to carry the child of God.

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