COR
Operas
Content warning: political indoctrination, interrogation
Winston Smith is interrogated by a member of The Party about some of his journal entries. In this scene, Smith struggles to differentiate his reality from the reality of The Party.
Winston Smith is interrogated by a member of The Party about some of his journal entries. In this scene, Smith struggles to differentiate his reality from the reality of The Party.
Composer: Chris Thornborrow
Librettist: Nicolas Billon
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
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
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...
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
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
Content warning: war
In a shack surrounded by barren fields, a dying father and his son drink their last bowl of water. They need oil for the machines that will keep them alive and purify their water. A truck rolls past with a huge barrel of oil in the back. The son flags it down, only to discover the person driving the truck is a monstrous c...
In a shack surrounded by barren fields, a dying father and his son drink their last bowl of water. They need oil for the machines that will keep them alive and purify their water. A truck rolls past with a huge barrel of oil in the back. The son flags it down, only to discover the person driving the truck is a monstrous c...
Composer: Christiaan Venter
Librettist: Norman Yeung
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
An entire relationship in microcosm, from first meeting to last sunset together. This piece uses a couple’s dancing together as a metaphor for their time passing.
Composer: Gareth Williams
Librettist: Marjorie Chan
In a schoolyard full of kids, nine-year-old Elijah still feels alone. He’s had a lot of trouble from Big Billy Brett, who takes every opportunity to bully and tease Elijah and his friends. For comfort, Elijah brings his favourite kite to school. One day, they meet a strong new girl called Miriam. Miriam isn’t afraid of Billy and stands up to him...
Composer: James Rolfe
Librettist: Camyar Chai
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
Elvet is struck with grief over the death of his newborn child, not yet named.
Composer: August Murphy-King
Librettist: Kanika Ambrose
A son gets caught sleeping with his father's girlfriend, Eva. A three-way fight erupts, the son professing his love for Eva and vice versa, while the father warns they’ll betray each other soon enough. They leave, and the father grieves the loss of them both.
Composer: Stephen Andrew Taylor
Librettist: Anna Chatterton
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
Charlie and Robert stand over a toilet examining Charlie's poo and reflecting on lost loved ones.
Composer: Rene Orth
Librettist: Daniel Solon
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
It’s “gotcha day” – the term used for the first meeting between birth parents and adopted children – and Adam is about to meet his birth mother, Eileen. The reunion goes awry and they begin to wonder who has got whom.
Composer: Darren Fung
Librettist: Betty-Jane Wylie
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
Content warning: explicit language, sexual violence, sexual content, alcohol, blackout drinking
Hook Up tells the story of three friends who have made it to university, each with their own unique desires and inner conflicts. Mindy is just excited to keep her high school friend circle together and finally get some privacy with her boyfriend. T...
Hook Up tells the story of three friends who have made it to university, each with their own unique desires and inner conflicts. Mindy is just excited to keep her high school friend circle together and finally get some privacy with her boyfriend. T...
Composer: Chris Thornborrow
Librettist: Julie Tepperman
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
"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...
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
Content warning: illness, memory loss
A mother and son have dinner. The mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and her son has increasing difficulty coping with that fact.
A mother and son have dinner. The mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and her son has increasing difficulty coping with that fact.
Composer: Benton Roark
Librettist: Liza Balkan
Content warning: racism, colonialism, violence, death
In 1880’s China, Lai Gwan, a young impoverished woman, stands on the brink of momentous change. Her dying mother urges her to respect and honour the memory of her father, Manli, whose disappearance to the New World haunts them both.
Armed with the hope that she will find her father aliv...
In 1880’s China, Lai Gwan, a young impoverished woman, stands on the brink of momentous change. Her dying mother urges her to respect and honour the memory of her father, Manli, whose disappearance to the New World haunts them both.
Armed with the hope that she will find her father aliv...
Composer: Ka Nin Chan
Librettist: Mark Brownell
Content warning: death, murder, mention of child sexual abuse
Lisa is a twelve-year-old student at an all-girls school, where she is best friends with Annie and Caroline. Together they form a group called the Teacher's Angels, made up of girls who score perfect on their tests.
When Lisa scores a nine out of ten on a math test, she is kicke...
Lisa is a twelve-year-old student at an all-girls school, where she is best friends with Annie and Caroline. Together they form a group called the Teacher's Angels, made up of girls who score perfect on their tests.
When Lisa scores a nine out of ten on a math test, she is kicke...
Composer: Omar Daniel
Librettist: Alex Poch-Goldin
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
A modern retelling of the famous love story of Helen and Paris. In a hotel room, some time into their relationship, Helen and Paris’s ardour seems to be fluctuating.
Composer: Benjamin Pesetsky
Librettist: Hannah Moscovitch
Content warning: xenophobia, migration
A young child wakes up alone on the beach. They call for their mother. The sound of the waves muffles the voices of people who worry about newcomers and the effect that they will have on their society. Other voices take over - other children declaring that the child belongs with them now.
Inspired by ...
A young child wakes up alone on the beach. They call for their mother. The sound of the waves muffles the voices of people who worry about newcomers and the effect that they will have on their society. Other voices take over - other children declaring that the child belongs with them now.
Inspired by ...
Composer: Afarin Mansouri
Librettist: Marcia Johnson
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...
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
Content warning: violence, death, murder
Based on a 1960s film by the same name, this story follows two doctors, James and Sam, when an argument turns deadly.
Based on a 1960s film by the same name, this story follows two doctors, James and Sam, when an argument turns deadly.
Composer: Chris Thornborrow
Librettist: Morris Panych
Content warning: death, ableism
Old Merk feels his age. He will die soon. He tries to prepare Pauline, his mentally disabled adult daughter, for the inevitable. What, if anything, will she remember of him? Of the house they share? Of their life together? Will she remember her father’s love? Will she remember the embrace of home? Will she unde...
Old Merk feels his age. He will die soon. He tries to prepare Pauline, his mentally disabled adult daughter, for the inevitable. What, if anything, will she remember of him? Of the house they share? Of their life together? Will she remember her father’s love? Will she remember the embrace of home? Will she unde...
Composer: Elisabeth Mehl Greene
Librettist: Nick Carpenter
Punk and operatic virtuosity collide in Tapestry’s third installment of the Tapestry Explorations (TAP:EX) series. Metallurgy is a collaboration between Jonah Falco and Mike Haliechuk of F*cked Up, the Polaris Prize-winning punk provocateurs, and two of Canada’s most masterful and versatile opera singers, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó and tenor ...
Librettist: David James Brock
An Iranian man sits in a hotel room in Canada, writing his morning prayers.
Composer: Afarin Mansouri
Librettist: Jessica Murphy Moo
“Hate your stupid earrings, hate your ugly shoes.” Stephanie is getting ready to go out on a date, but she begins to unravel when she checks herself in the mirror. The voices she hears in her head are variations of her own critical voice. She sees herself the way she imagines her date will see her. Nothing is right – everything is wrong. It is a...
Composer: Rene Orth
Librettist: Colleen Murphy
Content warning: murder, violence, mental illness
The story begins with a distressed Paul being interviewed about his missing parents. It switches to two weeks earlier with Harold and Julia in the airport after sending him off. Julia worries that something is wrong with their son. Harold is sure that he'll be back to his old self after the tr...
The story begins with a distressed Paul being interviewed about his missing parents. It switches to two weeks earlier with Harold and Julia in the airport after sending him off. Julia worries that something is wrong with their son. Harold is sure that he'll be back to his old self after the tr...
Composer: Stephen Andrew Taylor
Librettist: Marcia Johnson
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: captivity, sex trafficking, sex work, sexual violence, violence, death
The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G. is a fictional dramatic opera built on extensive factual research. Set in Ukraine in 1997, it is the story of Oksana, a young woman lured into the world of sex trafficking by a Russian recruiter, Konstantin, who ...
The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G. is a fictional dramatic opera built on extensive factual research. Set in Ukraine in 1997, it is the story of Oksana, a young woman lured into the world of sex trafficking by a Russian recruiter, Konstantin, who ...
Composer: Aaron Gervais
Librettist: Colleen Murphy
Across eight brief vignettes, couples experience small moments of frustration, miscommunication, and attraction.
Composer: Iman Habibi
Librettist: Phoebe Tsang
Two miners are making their way into the heart of the mountain. There, they discover another world.
Composer: Norbert Palej
Librettist: Bobby Theodore
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
An estranged father and daughter re-establish their relationship after he has suffered a stroke and can no longer speak. He tries to convey to her that he loves her and is sorry for the harm he caused her. She is still too hurt from their past to see what he is trying to say. Instead, she passes the time by reading a book. He finds another way o...
Composer: Norbert Palej
Librettist: Marcia Johnson
Content warning: murder, death, corpse
Composer Gareth Williams and librettist David James Brock created a site-specific promenade opera inspired by Glasgow's oldest pub, Sloans. The audience moves through the 250-year-old pub and encounters a series of scenes telling stories of love, loss, revenge and forgiveness.
Composer Gareth Williams and librettist David James Brock created a site-specific promenade opera inspired by Glasgow's oldest pub, Sloans. The audience moves through the 250-year-old pub and encounters a series of scenes telling stories of love, loss, revenge and forgiveness.
Composer: Gareth Williams
Librettist: David James Brock
Content warning: stalking
A young barista seems to know a surprising amount about one of the customers at her cafe.
A young barista seems to know a surprising amount about one of the customers at her cafe.
Composer: Iman Habibi
Librettist: Jessica Murphy Moo
Content warning: illness, death
Rocking Horse Winner primarily explores the relationship between Paul, a young adult, and his emotionally distant mother, Ava.
Paul is driven to bridge the relationship with his mother, but Ava s...
Rocking Horse Winner primarily explores the relationship between Paul, a young adult, and his emotionally distant mother, Ava.
Paul is driven to bridge the relationship with his mother, but Ava s...
Composer: Gareth Williams
Librettist: Anna Chatterton
Content warning: death, sex work
After the tragic death of her first child, a baby daughter, Isabelle has run away to another town in Spain to escape the grief, leaving her husband Hector with a double loss. They are a working-class couple. The scene opens with Isabelle expecting a client in a seedy bordello. Hector has found her. He entreats...
After the tragic death of her first child, a baby daughter, Isabelle has run away to another town in Spain to escape the grief, leaving her husband Hector with a double loss. They are a working-class couple. The scene opens with Isabelle expecting a client in a seedy bordello. Hector has found her. He entreats...
Composer: James Rolfe
Librettist: Camyar Chai
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 ...
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
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: birth
A nuclear family adrift in the atomic age. Since Prometheus stole fire from the gods, we have flirted with the dangerous beauty of science. In this cartoon fable, a father protects his family at any cost.
Thomas and Claire fall madly in love at a fundraising party. Thomas has decided to “find a wife, get a life,” whi...
A nuclear family adrift in the atomic age. Since Prometheus stole fire from the gods, we have flirted with the dangerous beauty of science. In this cartoon fable, a father protects his family at any cost.
Thomas and Claire fall madly in love at a fundraising party. Thomas has decided to “find a wife, get a life,” whi...
Composer: Juliet Palmer
Librettist: Julie Salverson
A woman and her grown son are leaving their home. It’s time for bed, but the boy insists they play his favourite game one last time. Begrudgingly, the mother agrees. They make up ways of killing an unnamed woman.
When the game is over, the boy asks what would happen if they killed the woman “for real,” if it would make his father love them ag...
When the game is over, the boy asks what would happen if they killed the woman “for real,” if it would make his father love them ag...
Composer: John Harris
Librettist: Marjorie Chan
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.
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
Content warning: child sexual abuse, incest, death, murder
Judith and Daniel, long estranged siblings, are brought together by the passing of their father. Time has passed, but it seems like Judith hasn't changed at all. Daniel kills his sister when she wants to resume their childhood sexual relationship.
Judith and Daniel, long estranged siblings, are brought together by the passing of their father. Time has passed, but it seems like Judith hasn't changed at all. Daniel kills his sister when she wants to resume their childhood sexual relationship.
Composer: Melissa Hui
Librettist: Jovanni Sy
While out on a hunt for a new mate, The Queen of the Amazon Ants and one of her subjects find themselves under attack.
The Queen wears low cut, tight-fitting army fatigues that accentuate her shapely thorax and abdomen, and a pair of black calf-high combat boots. The Queen also has two large antennae growing out of her head because she is an ...
The Queen wears low cut, tight-fitting army fatigues that accentuate her shapely thorax and abdomen, and a pair of black calf-high combat boots. The Queen also has two large antennae growing out of her head because she is an ...
Composer: Kevin Morse
Librettist: Lisa Codrington
A farmer lovingly takes care of his brown cow, not knowing he and the cow have met before in past lives, once in the 18th century and again in the 20th.
Composer: Katya Pine
Librettist: Sharon Bajer
As the waves crash against the shore, two religious brothers go for a walk. The conversation is dominated by the older brother, and heavy with implication. The younger one announces his wish to leave the order, and is asked if his father’s death has something to do with this decision. The younger brother is furious; he could have spoken to his f...
Composer: Stephen Andrew Taylor
Librettist: Bernard MacLaverty
Content warning: mental illness, alcohol use, incarceration due to mental illness
Is it the clothes that make a man, or is it something other than?
Based on the satirical Nikolai Gogol story of the same name, The Overcoat centres on Akakiy Akakiyevich, a diligent man no one likes, who works the numbers best he can. But he can barely pay th...
Is it the clothes that make a man, or is it something other than?
Based on the satirical Nikolai Gogol story of the same name, The Overcoat centres on Akakiy Akakiyevich, a diligent man no one likes, who works the numbers best he can. But he can barely pay th...
Composer: James Rolfe
Librettist: Morris Panych
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
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...
Due to the all-powerful Ford selecting the American Phillips screw for...
Composer: Abigail Richardson
Librettist: Alexis Diamond
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
Barcelona, 1900. Against the backdrop of Gaudi’s surrealist Parc Guell, Raoul, a humble postman, falls for the beautiful Allegra, whose father is a wealthy aristocrat on his mail route. To impress Allegra, Raoul disguises himself as Hernando, a “wealthy suitor,” and borrows money from the local mafia to impress the girl. Raoul goes deeply into d...
Composer: Omar Daniel
Librettist: Alex Poch-Goldin
A man at a restaurant thinks he recognizes a woman seated alone at the next table. Could she be a famous author he just read? As the pieces of this miscalculation come together for the woman, we find that she is surprised to be noticed, and taken aback that she’s assumed to be a string theory expert. The scene flips an expected script of expecta...
Composer: Elisabeth Mehl Greene
Librettist: Sheldon Rosen
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 -...
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
Content warning: sexual harassment, violence, fire
A northern land, the end of winter. A cold, dusky pre-dawn on the edge of a mountain; across the valley roars a mighty waterfall. In this valley there are two farms, one poor - owned by Runa, a single woman - and one rich, owned by Olaf, who wishes Runa for his bride.
Olaf proposes to Runa...
A northern land, the end of winter. A cold, dusky pre-dawn on the edge of a mountain; across the valley roars a mighty waterfall. In this valley there are two farms, one poor - owned by Runa, a single woman - and one rich, owned by Olaf, who wishes Runa for his bride.
Olaf proposes to Runa...
Composer: Norbert Palej
Librettist: Maja Ardal
Content warning: black-out drinking
A night out celebrating midterms takes a turn when Jamie doesn't return.
A night out celebrating midterms takes a turn when Jamie doesn't return.
Composer: Darren Fung
Librettist: Dave Deveau
Based on "The Handless Maiden," a mythic story found in cultures around the world, and a continuation of the events in Me and You (Madonna of the Wilderness).
After seven years of wandering, the girl (now known as Madonna) has regained her hands through loving self-sacrifice. She’s returned to the cabin of her childhood, where her journey beg...
After seven years of wandering, the girl (now known as Madonna) has regained her hands through loving self-sacrifice. She’s returned to the cabin of her childhood, where her journey beg...
Composer: Benton Roark
Librettist: Katherine Koller
Content warning: misgendering, intersex discrimination
A meditation on the discrimination intersex athletes face from their peers. A woman wins a gold medal, but her struggles to get there mean nothing to the organization and the other athletes. She’s disqualified and shamed.
A meditation on the discrimination intersex athletes face from their peers. A woman wins a gold medal, but her struggles to get there mean nothing to the organization and the other athletes. She’s disqualified and shamed.
Composer: John Harris
Librettist: Anna Chatterton
Chloe and Eddie are in the throes of love when they’re interrupted by Matt, Chloe’s athlete ex-husband. Matt asks where their daughter Ava is, and criticizes Chloe for abandoning Ava for some man.
Composer: Ivan Barbotin
Librettist: Katherine Koller
A businessman is waiting for a streetcar, with his back to an unhoused woman. The two silently judge each other. The man is annoyed at seeing someone who wants something for nothing, and the woman is feeling judged for a situation she has no control over. The two finally acknowledge each other, and we discover their shared experience.
Composer: Iman Habibi
Librettist: Michael Pollard
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
Content warning: descriptions of enslavement, violence, sexual violence, death
A father will do anything to save his daughter. Of the Sea follows the story of Maduka, his daughter Binyelum, and fellow Africans thrown overboard during the Middle Passage who now populate mythical underwater kingdoms that span the ocean floor. Amidst the waves, ...
A father will do anything to save his daughter. Of the Sea follows the story of Maduka, his daughter Binyelum, and fellow Africans thrown overboard during the Middle Passage who now populate mythical underwater kingdoms that span the ocean floor. Amidst the waves, ...
Composer: Ian Cusson
Librettist: Kanika Ambrose
A young, extraordinarily talented musician is striving for perfection in her art. Her path to greatness? A magnificent wall.
Bursting with the compulsion to reach the top, she invokes Canadian icon, classical pianist Glenn Gould to guide her towards dizzying heights – but the path isn’t easy. Each brick represents her art, her rigour, and her...
Bursting with the compulsion to reach the top, she invokes Canadian icon, classical pianist Glenn Gould to guide her towards dizzying heights – but the path isn’t easy. Each brick represents her art, her rigour, and her...
Composer: Brian Current
Librettist: Liza Balkan
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: 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...
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
Content warning: death, infanticide, murder
A rumble of hooves. A family is fleeing, but the baby is slowing them down. The mother is forced to choose between her husband and her child. She chooses the husband and tries to get the baby to sleep before letting it go over a waterfall. At the last minute, the baby awakes, and the mother’s grief ...
A rumble of hooves. A family is fleeing, but the baby is slowing them down. The mother is forced to choose between her husband and her child. She chooses the husband and tries to get the baby to sleep before letting it go over a waterfall. At the last minute, the baby awakes, and the mother’s grief ...
Composer: Norbert Palej
Librettist: Maja Ardal
A worker ruminates on the terrifying power of flight as he loads bags. Three passengers board and discover they’re sitting beside each other. During the pre-departure safety demonstration, a flight attendant longs for an escape from her mundane life and job. The three passengers think of their own isolation and lo...
Composer: Brian Current
Librettist: Anton Piatigorsky
"Drawn from an Irish saga of the Red Branch Knights of Ulster in the druidic era, the story tells of the doom of the ruthless Conochar, King of Ullah (Ulster), and the tragic death of Naisi and his brothers, the Princes of Ullah, as a result of the rivalry between Conochar and Naisi for the love of the foundling Deirdre."
- Carl Morey, The Ca...
- Carl Morey, The Ca...
Composer: Healey Willan
Librettist: John Coulter
A 12 minute long opera, it is set during the 1996 Olympics and Paralympics held in Atlanta. A Paralympic athlete with a disability, and a person of color made homeless by the construction of Olympic sites, meet by chance in Piedmont Park in front of a strange statue. “Before the Last Meter” explores and humanizes the themes of ambition, home, ...
Composer: Saman Shahi
Librettist: Isabella Dawis
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
Mark stands with his friends Maryanne and Bob, ready to play a game of baseball. They see their other friend, Kenny, and Carley, Mark's ex-girlfriend, in the distance. Kenny proposes to Carley, and runs to the group to announce triumphantly "She said yes!" Inspired by Maryanne's encouragement, Mark calls his estranged son, who lives far away wit...
Composer: Jana Skarecky
Librettist: Sheldon Rosen
COR
Excerpts
Winston Smith is interrogated by a member of The Party about some of his journal entries. In this scene, Smith struggles to differentiate his reality from the reality of The Party.
An alarm goes off, triggering a pat-down at airport security.
The interior of a thumping, vibrating gay nightclub. A middle-aged gentleman sips his drink and turns to watch the dancers on the dance floor. Under the disco ball a young man, stripped to the waist, is dancing with abandon. The young man approaches and establishes immediate physical contact, which is uncomfortable. The older man needs more p...
An intimate encounter between two gay men.
Two male lovers come to terms with the fact that one of them is dying of AIDS.
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.
George celebrates the 25th anniversary of his paper mill with an important announcement. Lily is introduced. Freddy gets some bad news.
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.
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.
A lament over the disbanding of brotherhood. Freddy wonders what will become of his friendship with Jeremiah.
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.
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.
A dying father and his son drink their last bowl of water. They need oil for the machines that will keep them alive and purify their water. A truck rolls past with a huge barrel of oil in the back. The son flags it down, only to discover the person driving the truck is a monstrous creature from the nation they’re at war with.
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.
An entire relationship in microcosm, from first meeting to last sunset together. This piece uses a couple’s dancing together as a metaphor for their time passing.
Soloists and chorus sing the numbers attributed to HIV-1 and HIV-2 by the International Comitte of Taxonomy of Viruses.
It's lunchtime in the schoolyard.
Three unhappy kids dream of flying away on a kite.
Elijah and Keisha tell Miriam about Billy the bully. Billy bullies Elijah, then Miriam stands up to Billy.
Miriam becomes a bully and destroys Elijah's kite.
The kids all make up and fly Elijah's restored kite.
Some years prior, Eugene and Antoine enter the residence, Malcolm, their new houseboy (who does not speak much English) helps them unpack. Antoine and Eugene ask Malcolm if he is married, and he replies that he wants Eugene to be his girlfriend. Malcolm asks Eugene to teach him words.
Malcolm tells Eugene and Antoine that he wants to go to university and asks for a letter of recommendation. Antoine tells him that he should stay in the house with the people who love him.
The action continues from scene 3. Beth and Andrew are waiting for their guest, Duncan, but Antoine arrives instead and cuts into the live monkey's skullcap without hesitation. He recounts how he almost wrote Malcolm a letter of recommendation.
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