COR
Operas
A summer evening. A writer is experiencing a bit of writer’s block as she is sitting in an outdoor cafe in an historic area of town. She looks around for inspiration and happens to see a man looking at the stars with binoculars. Clouds block his view, and when he looks around he catches her glance and smiles. Is he really there? Or is he just in...
Composer: Ivan Barbotin
Librettist: Liza Balkan
At 4 a.m., a composer stands looking out the window, his tools nearby. Across town, a librettist is doing the same. Both are just slightly panicking about their latest work: an opera about a dog named Harley. This work is a meditation on the personal doubt, collegial suspicion, and sudden inspiration that can keep artists awake until the wee hours.
Composer: Iman Habibi
Librettist: Maja Ardal
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, 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
COR
Excerpts
A man and woman meet for the first time on a summer's evening.
At 4 a.m., a composer stands looking out the window, his tools nearby. Across town, a librettist is doing the same. Both are just slightly panicking about their latest work: an opera about a dog named Harley.
At a restaurant, a man flirts with a woman he thinks he recognizes. She is emotionally frank with him, but it turns out she isn't who he thinks she is.
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...
Xiao Lian vows to look to the past and summons the great spirit of Qu Yuan. His spirit rises and assumes the form of Xiao Lian’s father.
Xiao Lian is transported back to the ancient royal court, where she witnesses the majestic entrance of King Huai of Chu. Qu Yuan is at the peak of his power but is soon outfoxed by rival minister Zhang Yi. Qu Yuan is cast down and banished by his beloved king.
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.
Years later, Qu Yuan has earned the honour and respect of the people in a little fishing village on the river Miluo. Xiao Lian and a local villager strike up a conversation with Qu Yuan, and it is soon revealed that The Kingdom of Chu has been destroyed by its enemies. After learning this news, Qu Yuan’s heart breaks, and he drowns...
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...
The combined spirits of Qu Yuan and Father return and ask the audience to release them from their servitude. That freedom granted, they ascend into the heavens triumphantly.
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