COR
Operas
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
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: 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
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
Content warning: sexual violence
Based on the testimony of the 17th-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi on her rapist and instructor Agostino Tassi, we are given a snapshot of violation, confusion, and the oppression of women.
Based on the testimony of the 17th-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi on her rapist and instructor Agostino Tassi, we are given a snapshot of violation, confusion, and the oppression of women.
Composer: Ivan Barbotin
Librettist: Hannah Moscovitch
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: death, murder, violence
This opera explores the interior realm of a woman’s response to a crisis. The Laurels plays with audience assumptions and expectations; it is well into the piece before we realize the stranger is not the person he appears to be. While it is important that Laurel’s understanding of the Stranger is consi...
This opera explores the interior realm of a woman’s response to a crisis. The Laurels plays with audience assumptions and expectations; it is well into the piece before we realize the stranger is not the person he appears to be. While it is important that Laurel’s understanding of the Stranger is consi...
Composer: Jeffrey Ryan
Librettist: Michael Lewis MacLennan
Content warning: antisemitism, genocide, Holocaust, infanticide, murder, Nazis, sexual violence, sex work, violence, war
Still the Night tells the fictional story of two Jewish Polish cousins, both named Bryna, who have escaped from the Nazis and joined the Partisans. Along the way they are hung on crosses, raped, almost shot and forced to tu...
Still the Night tells the fictional story of two Jewish Polish cousins, both named Bryna, who have escaped from the Nazis and joined the Partisans. Along the way they are hung on crosses, raped, almost shot and forced to tu...
Composer: John Alcorn
Librettist: Theresa Tova
Content warning: fire, death
Janna and her grandpa are in Toronto’s distillery district. Before she has to leave, Janna asks him to tell the story of how he and Grandma met. Both were fighting a fire, and met as part of the bucket brigade. Janna proudly reminds him he saved everyone that night, but this isn’t true. Grandpa confesses that a wo...
Janna and her grandpa are in Toronto’s distillery district. Before she has to leave, Janna asks him to tell the story of how he and Grandma met. Both were fighting a fire, and met as part of the bucket brigade. Janna proudly reminds him he saved everyone that night, but this isn’t true. Grandpa confesses that a wo...
Composer: Lembit Beecher
Librettist: Katherine Koller
COR
Excerpts
The taking of Demasduit weighs heavy on Shanawdithit’s heart. Cormack, unsure of what to do, tries to comfort her, saying Demasduit was treated well. Shawnadithit asks if white people actually care about her people, her story, because Cormack’s words are betrayed by the actions of his fellows, and indeed, his own. Cormack insists he will ensure ...
Janna and her grandpa are in Toronto’s distillery district. Before she has to leave, Janna asks him to tell the story of how he and Grandma met.
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 collapse...
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 partic...
A young woman, Laurel, runs through a dark forest, filled with anxiety and haunted by disturbing memories.
Laurel stabs the Stranger, killing him. As his body slides to the ground to rest at her feet, she begins to feel a new sense of freedom, not realising that it is at the cost of her conscience and her humanity. The aria should be performed with an improvisational blues quality over the regular pulse of the accompaniment, to convey both this sense...
In a wooded park at night, it seems like Laurel is running for her life- but it turns out she is running from the memory of the murder she committed that night.
In pain after being raped by Tassi, Artemisia tries to understand what just happened, while Tassi justifies himself.
Cormack’s study in St. John’s, now Shanawdithit’s room. “Nancy April” reveals she can speak English quite well, and tells Cormack her real name: Shanawdithit. Cormack asks her where the rest of her people are, where her home is. Shanawdithit says simply: they are no more. Shanawdithit reflects on the loss of her people and the taking of her aunt...
Cormack meets Shanawdithit for the first time. She’s been working as a servant for Peyton for five years under the colonial name of Nancy April. Cormack is awed; he believes this woman is the last of the Beothuk. Peyton gives her to him, saying she’s useless.
Shanawdithit reprimands Cormack for his saviour complex.
Cormack presents his findings about Shanawdithit to the members of the Beothuk institute.
Konstantin breaks into Oksana's room and tries to convince her to leave with him. When this fails, he tries to rape her again but she stabs him. He gets the knife and stabs her before he dies. Father Alexander returns and Oksana dies of her wound, dreaming of home.
On the eve of Oksana's departure, Father Alexander has to go to pick up another woman in distress. He leaves his knife with Oksana because she is afraid Konstantin will show up. Lyuba and Oksana say their goodbyes.
Refugees are trying on clothes, when Dima and Konstantin enter looking for Oksana. Konstantin offers Father Alexander money for Oksana and Clara calls the police; Konstantin and Dima leave before the police arrive.
Father Alexander and Oksana realize they share an attraction for each other, but Oksana is determined to go home and tell her parents what has happened. Konstantin phones the refuge to get Oksana back.
Screaming, Oksana awakens from a nightmare; Father Alexander comes to her and she admits she may have let Natalyia drown to save herself. The Father counsels forgiveness of herself and others, but Oksana is not convinced that is possible.
Brindisi refugee shelter: Father Alexander and social worker Clara work with the refugees. An injured Oksana arrives and asks for help; Lyubia, who escaped when the boat docked, is among the refugees and recognizes Oksana.
On the Albanian coast the women captives wait for the boat to Italy. Oksana is still defiant, trying to figure out an escape for herself and others. The boat and Konstantin arrive, and Oksana fails to convince him to free her and Natalyia.
In Greece at a bar, three women are held captive: Konstantin sends Lyubia with a businessman, Natalyia with the Immigration officer who cuts her, and Oksana is bought by Konstantin at auction. Konstantin then offers to the crowd a gang rape just as the police arrive to raid the bar. Instead, he escapes with Oksana and Natalyia.
Heather and Mindy share a moment of intimacy as they discuss their experiences of sexual violence.
Someone has posted pictures of Mindy at the party with different men. Mindy, Cindy, and Tyler argue about who is to blame. Cindy and Tyler depart angry, leaving Mindy sitting alone on her bed.
Hungover, walking home the morning after the party, Mindy remembers disturbing images from the night before - she isn't sure exactly what happened.
English 
French