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Photo by Bruce Zinger.

APR. 19 – 28, ��18

Featuring Krešimir Špicer (Ulysses), Mireille Lebel (Penelope), with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Artists of Atelier Ballet

“ a masterpiece … visually stunning and profoundly moving” — Stage Door

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Elisa Citterio, Music Director

Violin 1Elisa CitterioStephen MarvinChristopher VerretteJulia WedmanCristina Zacharias

Violin 2Patricia Ahern Thomas GeorgiGeneviève GilardeauElizabeth Loewen Andrews

ViolaPatrick G. Jordan Brandon ChuiEmily EngShannon Knights

VioloncelloMime Yamahiro Brinkmann Margaret GayKeiran Campbell

Double Bass Alison MackayPierre Cartier

FluteSandra MillerAlison Melville

OboeJohn AbbergerMarco Cera

ClarinetJean-François NormandColin Savage

BassoonDominic TeresiFrançois Viault

HornScott WeversAiden Kleer

TrumpetNorman EngelShawn Spicer

TimpaniRichard Moore

HarpsichordCharlotte Nediger

Opera Atelier Chorus

Veronika AnissimovaHélène BrunetMaciej Bujnowicz Julie EkkerLydia LeeMatthew LiCaitlin Martin

Robert RawlinsZachary RiouxCamille RogersSara SchabasJordan SchollShayan Shaffie

Artists of Atelier Ballet

Tyler GledhillDayton HillJuri HiraokaElizabeth KalashnikovaKevin LawJeremy NasmithJennifer NicholsJulia SedwickEdward TraczMagdalena VaskoDominic WhoJeannette Lajeunesse Zingg

PRESENTS

David FALLIS Conductor Marshall PYNKOSKI Director Jeannette LAJEUNESSE ZINGG Choreographer Gerard GAUCI Set Designer Martha MANN Costume Designer Michelle RAMSAY Lighting Designer Jennifer PARR Resident Fight Director Kat CHIN Production Stage Manager

THE CAST

Gustav ANDREASSEN Bartolo Mireille ASSELIN Susanna Peggy KRIHA DYE Countess Almaviva Christopher ENNS Basilio/Don Curzio Stephen HEGEDUS Count Almaviva Olivier LAQUERRE Antonio Mireille LEBEL Cherubino Grace LEE Barbarina Laura PUDWELL Marcellina Douglas WILLIAMS Figaro

Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

Sung in English with English surtitles. Translation from Italian by Jeremy Sams.

Performance runs approximately three hours including one 15-minute intermission.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

MARSHALL PYNKOSKI & JEANNETTE LAJEUNESSE ZINGG CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

an Ontario government agencyun organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

Season Presenting Sponsor

Season Underwriter

The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Edited for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe by Ludwig Finscher.

Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, U.S. and Canadian agent for Baerenreiter-Verlag, publisher and copyright owner.

oftheMARRIAGE FIGARO

4 5

Message froM artistic directors

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to Opera Atelier’s 17-18 season, which kicks off with our much loved production of Mozart’s comic masterpiece, The Marriage of Figaro. Love is the driving force in this dark, ironic comedy and Love continues to take centre stage in our season’s second offering, Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience this rarely performed masterpiece starring tenor Krešimir Špicer — the world’s greatest interpreter of the title role.

We are also offering a one-night-only opportunity to attend the staged and choreographed concert that Opera Atelier performed to great acclaim in the Royal Chapel at Versailles. Seating is limited for this celebration of some of Henry Purcell’s finest music for singing and dancing, entitled Harmonia Sacra. This special event, which will take place in Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery in the Royal Ontario Museum on February 15, will also include Opera Atelier’s first commission for solo baroque violin and contemporary dancing.

All told, we are looking forward to a rich and rewarding year, and we invite you to share it with us.

Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg and Marshall Pynkoski photographed by Bruce Zinger in the Palace of Versailles.

Gown by Reem Acra, courtesy of The Room at Hudson’s Bay.

Sincerely Marshall & Jeannette

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WelcoMe froM the chairMan of the Board

Welcome to our 2017 production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro!

We are thrilled to introduce bass-baritone Douglas Williams, mak-ing his Opera Atelier debut as Figaro. We also have a number of artists making their Opera Atelier role debuts: Mireille Asselin, Mireille Lebel, Stephen Hegedus, Christopher Enns, Olivier Laquerre, Gustav Andreassen, and Grace Lee. We are very proud to be pre-senting Mozart’s masterpiece in the wonderful English translation by Jeremy Sams, which ensures that you won’t miss a comic beat!

I would like to extend thanks on behalf of the whole company to our wonderful audience and generous funders. Your continued support is fundamental to our success. Special thanks go to our incredible season supporters BMO Financial Group and Michael Wekerle of El Mocambo Productions as well as our invaluable government funders, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council.

Cheers to another fabulous night at the opera!

• John MacKinlay, Chair, Opera Atelier Board of Directors

Opera Atelier’s creative team has been commissioned to create a new production of Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide to open the Rossini Opera Festival’s 2018 season.

Marshall Pynkoski will direct a star-studded cast, including two of opera’s greatest talents, tenor Juan Diego Flórez and soprano Pretty Yende. He is joined by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg (choreography), Gerard Gauci (sets), Michael Gianfrancesco (costumes), and Michelle Ramsay (lighting). Jennifer Parr’s original fight choreography will also be used in the production.

The Rossini Opera Festival is the leading Rossini festival in the world, taking place in August of each year on Italy’s Adriatic Coast, in Rossini’s birthplace Pesaro. The 2018 Festival commemorates the 150th anniversary of Rossini’s death.

Join us on a very special VIP Patron Tour to Pesaro, Italy August 16-26, 2018.

See the production of Rossini's Ricciardo e Zoraide at the Rossini Festival, and stroll through the charming streets of Pesaro to discover the artistic riches and intrinsic allure of this beautiful Italian coastal town.

Tour highlights include: La Traviata at La Fenice and Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Rossini Festival, Tours of Venice and Florence, and Day Trips to Ravenna, Urbino and Padua.

Don’t miss out, call Aria Tours today!

ITALIAN OPERA TOUR:

FLORENCE, PESARO, VENICE AUGUST 2018

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Featuring Mireille Asselin (soprano), Jesse Blumberg (baritone)

and Artists of Atelier Ballet Juri Hiraoka, Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg & Tyler Gledhill.

With members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and violinist/composer Edwin Huizinga.

One Night Only at the ROM!Don’t miss the Toronto premiere of this gorgeous staged presentation, which

created a sensation in France – featuring the music of Henry Purcell plus Opera

Atelier’s first Canadian commission for solo violin and contemporary dance.

Thu Feb 15, 2018, 7:00pm Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery,

Royal Ontario Museum

Tickets: $69

OPERA ATELIER PRESENTS

HARMONIA SACRA

BOOK NOW – LIMITED SEATING! EVENTBRITE.CAFor more information on how to participate in this exclusive opportunity, contact David Merritt at Aria Tours at (866) 686-1288 or david@ariatours.com.

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Basilio/Don Curzio Christopher Enns, Tenor

For Opera Atelier: Persée in Lully’s Persée, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, La Jalousie & Un Corinthian in Medea.

Elsewhere: Christopher is an alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. Other career highlights include Jonathan Dale in Opera de

Montréal’s production of Silent Night, Candide in Berstein’s Candide, and regular appearances with The Bicycle Opera Project.

Upcoming: Telemachus in Opera Atelier’s The Return of Ulysses (April 19-28, 2018).

Et cetera: The Manitoba native holds a degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Manitoba and an Opera Diploma from the University of Toronto.

Count Almaviva Stephen Hegedus, Bass-Baritone

For Opera Atelier: Medea, Armide and Persée.

Elsewhere: Alidoro in La Cenerentola (Edmonton Opera); Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Bohème, Angelotti in Tosca (Vancouver Opera); Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro (Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile); Talbot in Maria Stuarda

(Pacific Opera Victoria); Albert in Werther (L’Opéra de Montréal); Figaro in Figaro’s Wedding (Against the Grain Theatre). He has been heard with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, The Oratorio Society of New York (Carnegie Hall), the Grant Park (Chicago) and Lanaudière festivals and with the symphonies of Houston, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Minnesota Orchestra, Edmonton, Québec and Winnipeg.

Et cetera: An alumnus of L’Atelier Lyrique and St. Michael’s Choir School, Stephen holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Operatic Performance from the University of Toronto. He speaks Hungarian, French and English.

Antonio Olivier Laquerre, Bass-Baritone

For Opera Atelier: Médée, Iphigénie en Tauride, Don Giovanni, Persée, Armide, Orfeo, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Idomeneo, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Magic Flute.

Elsewhere: Canadian Opera Company, Cleveland Opera, Boston Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Opéra de Québec, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Symphony Nova Scotia, etc.

Et cetera: Olivier Laquerre is a laureate of the Paris and the Verviers (Belgium) international voice competitions, and has been in great demand as a soloist since winning the Joseph-Rouleau Award (First Prize) at the Jeunesses Musicales national voice competition. He performed with some of the best orchestras and vocal ensembles in North America. He is a regular guest soloist at the Boston Early Music Festival, with whom he has recorded four CDs under the CPO label (Germany).

artist Biographies

Bartolo Gustav Andreassen, Bass

For Opera Atelier: The Hermit in Der Freischütz (The Marksman), Osmin in Abduction from the Seraglio.

Elsewhere: Philippe in Don Carlos (Hamburgishe Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin (San Francisco Opera, The National

Symphony), Osmin in Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera Atelier, Boston Lyric Opera, Vlammse Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Wolftrap Opera), 50th Anniversary performance of Blitch in Susannah (Orlando Opera), Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress (Toledo Opera), Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (New York City Opera), Commendatore in Don Giovanni (Florida Grand, Cincinnati Opera, Deutsche Oper, Boston Baroque, Oper Graz), Sparafucile in Rigoletto (Deutsche Oper, Cincinnati Opera), Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony Babi Yar (Seattle Symphony), Mozart Requiem (Atlanta Symphony), Ghost of Hector in Les Troyens (Boston Symphony Orchestra), Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress (Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra), Ramphis in Aïda (Anton Coppola’s final performance with Opera Tampa).

Susanna Mireille Asselin, Soprano

For Opera Atelier: Créuse in Medea, Celia in Lucio Silla, Morgana in Alcina, Andromède in Persée, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, Galatea in Acis and Galatea, First Witch in Dido and Aeneas (Seoul, South Korea), Phénice and Lucinde in Armide (Glimmerglass Festival, 2012).

Elsewhere: In 2015, Ms. Asselin made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Poussette in Manon where she later went on to perform the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus under the baton of James Levine. In concert, she has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue (NYC), Calgary Philharmonic, Les Violins du Roy, and at Carnegie Hall. Her oper-atic credits include Minerva (Ulisse) and Euridice (Orfeo) with Boston Early Music Festival; Servilia (Clemenza), Adele (Fledermaus) and Semele at the Canadian Opera Company; as well as Nannetta (Falstaff), Thérèse/Tiresias (Mamelles de Tiresias) and Frasquita (Carmen) at Wolf Trap Opera. Ms. Asselin first joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in 2013, and later that season her debut album, Ash Roses, was released on the Centrediscs label to great acclaim.

Et cetera: A native of Ottawa, ON, she holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio.

Countess Almaviva Peggy Kriha Dye, Soprano

For Opera Atelier: Many roles including Medea in Medea, Armide in Armide (Toronto, Versailles, Glimmerglass Festival), Poppea in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Ilia in Idomeneo, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.

Elsewhere: Peggy created the role of Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire written and conducted by André Previn at the San Francisco Opera, repeating the role with the Pittsburgh Symphony and again with The Washington National Opera. Over the course of her career, she has also performed with the Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Shanghai Opera, and many others. She worked with Opera Atelier’s Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg on their production of Lucio Silla at the Salzburg Festival.

Et cetera: She has been reviewed as “heart-rending”, “sympathetic”, “sexy”, “hilarious” and “com-plex”. Currently, Peggy is the Artistic Director of Opera Columbus.

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Marcellina Laura Pudwell, Mezzo-Soprano

For Opera Atelier: Many productions, including the company’s original produc-tion of The Marriage of Figaro.

Elsewhere: Grammy-nominated Ms. Pudwell is equally at home on the opera, oratorio or recital stage, and has received international acclaim for her record-

ings. On the opera stage, Ms Pudwell has performed across Canada with such companies as Opera Atelier, Calgary Opera, Vancouver Early Music and Festival Vancouver, as well as with Houston Grand Opera and Cleveland Opera.

She is a regular participant in many festivals, appears regularly with the Toronto Consort, and is a frequent guest soloist with Tafelmusik, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Chamber Choir, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the St. Lawrence Choir, to name a few.

Figaro Douglas Williams, Bass-Baritone

For Opera Atelier: Debut.

Elsewhere: Recent performance highlights include the American premiere of Scarlatti’s La gloria di primavera at Carnegie Hall and California’s Orange County and Bay Area with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and conductor

Nicholas McGegan. He is featured on a recording of the work released on the Orchestra’s label in April 2016. He has performed the role of Caronte in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Sasha Waltz and Guests and conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and was also highly acclaimed as “Polyphemus” in the world premiere Mark Morris Dance Group production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, (he recorded the work in 2015 with Boston Early Music Festival). His recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with BEMF won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

Upcoming: Highlights include Opera Atelier’s The Return of Ulysses (April 19-28, 2018), a Messiah with Nashville Symphony, selections from Tosca with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, and baroque programs with Les Talens Lyriques in Paris, Versailles, and Oslo.

Et cetera: Mr. Williams trained at the New England Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. Raised in Farmington, Connecticut, he now lives in Berlin.

Cherubino Mireille Lebel, Mezzo-Soprano

For Opera Atelier: Orpheus and Eurydice (Orpheus), 2015; La Clemenza di Tito (Annio), 2012.

Elsewhere: Werther (Charlotte) at Opera de Metz, Opera de Reims, and Opera de Massy; Idomeneo (Idamante) at Opéra de Tours, Theater Basel, and Theater

Erfurt; Carmen (Title role) at the Prague State Opera; Svadba (Ljubica) at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Opera de Nantes, and Ljubljana Festival; La Clemenza di Tito (Sesto), Carmen (title role), Orfeo ed Euridice (Orfeo), La Cenerentola (title role), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone), Haensel und Gretel (Haensel), Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino), Die Fledermaus (Orlovsky), World premiere: Die Frauen der Toten (Margaret), Eugene Onegin (Olga), Nabucco (Fenena) all at Theater Erfurt; Il Tigrane (Dorilla) at Opéra de Nice; The Indian Queen at Opéra Theatre de Metz, Schwetzingen SWR Festival, and Theater Basel; Vanessa (Erika) at Opéra Théatre de Metz; World Premiere: Wilde (Angela) at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, Lakmé (Mallika) at Opéra de Montréal.

Upcoming: Penelope (The Return of Ulysses) with Opera Atelier; Carmen (title role) at Opera de Metz; Le Paradis Perdu (L'archange) with L'Atelier lyrique de Tourcoing; Messiah with The Calgary Philharmonic; Faust (Siebel) with the OSTR.

Et cetera: Grammy Award Winner 2015 for Boston Early Music Festival’s recording of La descente d’Orphée aux enfers et La couronne de fleurs (Charpentier) CPO label. Grammy nominations for Thésée and Psyché (Lully) with the Boston Early Music Festival, CPO label. Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal. Laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques competition. Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation Scholarship. Master of Music from the University of Montreal and Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto.

Barbarina Grace Lee, Soprano

For Opera Atelier: Der Freischütz, First Spirit in The Magic Flute, Abduction from the Seraglio.

Elsewhere: Hailed as “a promising rising star” by The Korea Times, Korean-Canadian soprano Grace Lee is known for her compelling stage presence in

productions such as Julius Caesar with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre (2016) in the role of Sesto, Cunning Little Vixen with The Royal Conservatory Orchestra (2014) in the role of Rooster, and Pandora in Pandora’s Locker with The Royal Conservatory. She has been a featured soloist in con-cert with several orchestras such as the Yemel Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (2014), Korean Canadian Symphony Orchestra (2012) and Markham Symphony Orchestra (2012).

Et cetera: Some notable accolades include “Most Promising Singer” at the Senior College and University division of the provincial-wide NATS Ontario Chapter Auditions (2013) and “Honorable Mention” in the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition (2011). Lee has completed her Performance Diploma under the tutelage of Donna Sherman and Jennifer Tung at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

artist Biographies (continued)

HOST AN ARTIST!Opera Atelier is always looking for accommodations for our out-of-town artists. If you have a downtown pied-à-terre or condo that you would be willing to loan to a singer for six weeks in the spring, please do get in touch with Director of Development Dan Hickey at 416-703-3767 x226.

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Director Marshall Pynkoski

Marshall Pynkoski’s fasci-nation with music, theatre and dance of the 17th and

18th centuries began in classes with the late Leonard Crainford and John Marshall, respec-tively Chairman and Major Examiner, Royal Academy of Dancing in London. His further studies with Florentina Lojekova (Master Artist of Czech Republic) and David Moroni (the Royal Winnipeg Ballet) were pivotal in his decision to pursue a career in ballet.

Early in Mr. Pynkoski’s professional career, he had the opportunity to undertake in-depth studies of Baroque opera and ballet in Paris. His studies continued with renowned Baroque dramaturge Professor Dene Barnett at Flinders University in South Australia.

In 1985 he founded Opera Atelier with his partner Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg and he has since directed a wide range of period productions of Baroque and early Classical opera and ballet in close collaboration with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. He has acted as guest instructor at the Centre for Baroque Studies, Versailles under conductor Marc Minkowski with whom he pre-miered North America’s first period productions of The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Mr. Pynkoski has collaborated with many of the fin-est artists in the world of early music and his productions of opera and ballet have toured throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

He is a recipient of numerous awards including the Toronto Arts Award, the Ruby Award for out-standing contribution to opera in Canada, and the TIME Magazine award for Classical music. He has been named Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France. In 2013 Mr. Pynkoski had his Salzburg Festival debut with Mozart’s Lucio Silla and he recently made his directorial debut at La Scala in Milan. In August 2018, he will be joined by OA’s entire creative team to direct and open a new production of Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide for the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival in Italy.

Choreographer Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg

Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg has performed and cho-reographed internationally

for more than two decades. She received her training in London, Copenhagen and Paris. She credits her teachers (including her most impor-tant teacher/mentors — John Marshall and Florentina Lojekova) with instilling in her a love for dance history.

As a young dancer, she relocated to Paris where she undertook in-depth studies of Baroque danc-ing from original source material. These studies were supplemented by intensive training in North America by Wendy Hilton and Sandra Caverly — experts in Baroque dancing and Bournonville technique respectively. Since then, Ms Zingg has choreographed and performed in more than 70 productions for Opera Atelier, which she founded in 1985 with her partner, Marshall Pynkoski.

Opera Atelier productions have been performed in Versailles, at the BBC Proms, Houston Grand Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival. Opera Atelier has also introduced period productions of Mozart to audiences in Japan, Singapore and Korea.

Ms Zingg has received numerous awards includ-ing the prestigious Toronto Arts Award, the Opera Canada Ruby Award for outstanding achieve-ment in the field of opera in Canada in addition to having been named by TIME Magazine as one of Canada’s most influential artists in the field of Classical music. She has collaborated with con-ductors Marc Minkowski, Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Parrott, David Fallis and Stefano Montanari and choreographed for dancers from the National Ballet of Canada, The Scapino Ballet, The Dutch National Ballet, La Scala Ballet, and Opera Atelier. She has also choreographed and performed in numerous film projects includ-ing Rhombus Media’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show, Romeos and Juliets and The Sorceress opposite Dame Kiri te Kanawa. In 2013 Ms Zingg had her Salzburg Festival debut with Mozart’s Lucio Silla, and most recently she made her choreographic debut at La Scala in Milan. In August 2018, she will choreograph the opening production for the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival featuring dancers from La Scala.

Marshall pynkoski & Jeannette laJeunesse Zingg

Conductor David Fallis

For Opera Atelier: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Lucio Silla, La Clemenza di Tito; Charpentier’s Medea, Actéon; Handel’s Alcina, Acis and Galatea, Il pastor fido, La Resurrezione; Lully’s Armide, Persée; Monteverdi’s Orfeo, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Il ritorno

d’Ulisse; Weber’s Der Freischütz (The Marksman); Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas; Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice; Rameau’s Pygmalion.

Elsewhere: Fallis is the Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort, Canada’s leading ensemble specializ-ing in Medieval and Renaissance music, with whom he has toured across Canada, the US and Europe, and led the ensemble in many recordings and special projects. He has led major productions of works by Murray Schafer for the Luminato Festival, and is a frequent collaborator with Soundstreams Canada. He has conducted for Early Music Vancouver, the Glimmerglass Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Columbus, Wolftrap Theater, Elora Festival, Orchestra London, Symphony Nova Scotia, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Symphony New Brunswick, and more.

Upcoming: Renaissance Splendours with the Toronto Consort, with dancers from the School of Atelier Ballet; Praetorius Lutheran Vespers with TENET (New York City); Water Passion by Tan Dun, with Soundstreams; The Return of Ulysses with Opera Atelier; Monteverdi’s Orfeo with the Toronto Consort.

Et cetera: Historical Music Producer for two Showtime TV series: The Tudors, and The Borgias. Directs Soundstreams Choir 21, dedicated to contemporary choral music. Teaches in the Graduate Faculty, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.

Set Designer Gerard Gauci

For Opera Atelier: Resident set designer Gerard Gauci has worked with the com-pany since its inception. Over the years he has designed sets for all of Opera Atelier’s repertoire including Alcina, Orfeo, The Coronation of Poppea, Médée, Iphigénie en Tauride, Idomeneo, The Marriage of Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, Don

Giovanni, Armide and Der Freischütz (The Marksman). Gauci has received Dora Award nominations for outstanding scenic design for his productions of Persée and Lucio Silla.

Elsewhere: In 2010 Gauci designed the exhibition Drama and Desire at the Art Gallery of Ontario featuring theatrically inspired works by Ingres, David, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. In 2015 he exhib-ited his designs for Armide at the Aga Khan Museum and most recently he designed the exhibition Arts of the East, Highlights of Islamic Art from the Bruschettini Collection at the Aga Khan Museum and running now through Jan. 21, 2018.

Et cetera: Gauci has an extensive history of exhibiting his paintings in public and private galleries in Toronto, Montréal and across Canada. He currently exhibits his work at the Galerie de Bellefeuille in Montréal. In August 2018, Gauci will make his Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival debut designing the Festival’s opening production of Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide. (Photo by Jim Allen.)

creatiVe teaM

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Production Stage Manager Kat Chin

For Opera Atelier: Lucio Silla, Orpheus and Eurydice, The Magic Flute, Der Freischütz (The Marksman), Don Giovanni, Iphigenie en Tauride, The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Elsewhere: acquiesce (Factory); Kim’s Convenience (New York off-Broadway, Canadian National Tour, Soulpepper, Fringe Festival); Cowboy Versus Samurai,

Death of a Salesman, The Sunshine Boys, The Aleph, Double Bill: (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings In Song & Window On Toronto, Glengarry Glen Ross, Uncle Vanya, Black Comedy & The Real Inspector Hound, The Odd Couple, As You Like It (Soulpepper); The Invisible Girl, The Monster Under The Bed (YPT).

Upcoming: Opera Atelier’s The Return of Ulysses (April 19-28, 2018).

Et cetera: TIFF since 2004, The National Ballet of Canada, The Stratford Festival.

Assistant Stage Manager Lucia Corak

For Opera Atelier: Medea and Armide, both of which toured to the Château de Versailles.

Elsewhere: The new musicals Prom Queen and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Segal Centre); My Name Is Asher Lev (Segal Centre & Royal Manitoba

Theatre Centre); The Secret Garden (Podium Concert Productions); and Harry the King (Repercussion Theatre). She studied at the National Theatre School of Canada and Concordia University.

Upcoming: Idomeneus (Soulpepper).

Assistant Stage Manager Jane Honek

For Opera Atelier: Apprentice Stage Manager for Dido & Aeneas.

Elsewhere: Stage Manager: Will You Be My Friend (Green Light Arts); Agamemnon (Next Stage Theatre Festival); L’Homme et le Ciel (Fawn Chamber Creative); El Gato Con Botas/Folk Songs by Berio (The Glenn Gould School); Gimme That

Prime Time Religion (4th Line Theatre). Apprentice Stage Manager: Twelfth Night (Stratford Festival); Sequence (Tarragon Theatre); Apocalypsis (Luminato Festival); Death & Desire (Against the Grain Theatre); La Bohème (Centre for Opera Studies in Italy). Production Assistant at the Stratford Festival (2016) and the Canadian Opera Company (2015/2016).

Et cetera: Jean A. Chalmers Apprentice Achievement Award (Stratford 2016). Education: University of Waterloo

Costume Designer Martha Mann

For Opera Atelier: The Marriage of Figaro (Dora Award winner, 2010); Don Giovanni (2011), Der Freischütz (The Marksman) (2012).

Elsewhere: Intermezzo (New York City Opera); Macbeth, Julius Caesar (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Sullivan And Gilbert (National Arts Centre/ Kennedy

Centre); Glenn, The Road to Mecca (Soulpepper). Television credits include: Anne of Green Gables Parts 1 and 2; Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning; Salem Witch Trials (CBS); Sound and the Silence (CBC/PBS); Road to Avonlea; Glory Enough for All; six of these are Gemini winners. Feature Film: One Tough Cop; Entries in a Diary.

Et cetera: Ms. Mann is a founding member of the Associated Designers of Canada and the Canadian Alliance of Film and Television — Costume Arts & Design.

Lighting Designer Michelle Ramsay

For Opera Atelier: Medea, Dido and Aeneas, Lucio Silla, Orpheus and Eurydice.

Elsewhere: Bearing (Signal Theatre/Luminato); for colored girls… (Soulpepper); Our Town (Theatre Rusticle); The Magic Hour — co-designed with Jennifer Tipton (Jess Dobkin); huff (Native Earth Performing Arts); acquiesce (Factory Theatre/

fu-GEN); Body Politic (lemonTree); Rocking Horse Winner (Tapestry Opera); Scarberia (Young People’s Theatre); Arcadia (Mirvish Productions/Shaw Festival); Gertrude and Alice (Independent Aunties/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre); dead reckoning (Blue Ceiling Dance); Lukumi (Watah Theatre); trace (Factory Theatre).

Et cetera: Michelle is the 2008 winner of the prestigious Pauline McGibbon award, seven Dora Mavor Moore Awards and a SAT Award.

Resident Fight Director Jennifer Parr

For Opera Atelier: Opera Atelier’s Resident Fight Director since 1989: The Loves of Mars & Venus, Venus & Adonis, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Medée, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Persée (also on Film). With OA’s artistic directors, she has also taught at Le Centre de la Musique Baroque de

Versailles in Paris.

Elsewhere: MA in Renaissance Theatre (Warwick). Resident director & production stage manager for the Chicago Symphony’s Beyond The Score productions in Canada since 2011 (including the Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras). Also as a stage director: acclaimed all-female production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, Canadian pre-miere (in concert) Brian Current’s opera Airline Icarus. World premieres: Dean Burry’s Pandora’s Locker, Dunleavy & Alexander’s The Last Wife. Other directing credits include: Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte (Royal Conservatory); Richard 3, Queens 4 (Richard III Project); and many more.

Et cetera: Film and television credits include Fight Director for Le Mozart Noir, and appearing on the Discovery Channel as the famous female pirate captain Anne Bonny.

creatiVe teaM (continued)

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Elisa CitterioThe brilliant violinist Elisa Citterio joins Tafelmusik as Music Director this season. She has moved to Toronto from her native Italy, where she divided her artistic life between orchestral work and an intense schedule as a chamber musician. She has recorded and toured, often as leader, with such ensembles as Dolce & Tempesta, Europa Galante, Accademia Bizantina, Accordone, Zefiro, la Venexiana, La Risonanza, Ensemble 415, Concerto Italiano, Orquestra del Monsalvat,

Il Giardino Armonico, and Orchestra Academia 1750. From 2004 she was a member of the Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano. Elisa studied violin and viola at the L. Marenzio Conservatory in her hometown of Brescia. Post-graduate work included baroque violin studies with Enrico Onofri, Luigi Mangiocavallo, and Chiara Banchini. Her discography includes more than 35 recordings of Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Corelli, Monteverdi, and Haydn.

tafelMusik Baroque orchestra

Renowned for its dynamic, engaging, and soulful performances, Tafelmusik is one of the world’s leading period-instrument ensembles, performing on instruments and in styles appro-priate for the era of the music. We are excited to welcome new Music Director Elisa Citterio: only the second Music Director in Tafelmusik’s his-tory, she takes over from Music Director Emerita Jeanne Lamon. We are Canada’s most toured orchestra, having performed in over 350 cities in 32 countries, and are proud to call Toronto our home. Here we perform some 80 concerts each year for a loyal and enthusiastic audience in diverse venues across the city. The orches-tra is joined in performances by the critically acclaimed Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and its director Ivars Taurins.

Tafelmusik seeks to transport audiences to the baroque and classical periods through adventurous cross-cultural collaborations, on stage with Toronto’s Opera Atelier, and under-ground at our new Haus Musik series. Our musicians share their knowledge and experi-ence through artist training initiatives such as the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer and Winter Institutes. Tafelmusik’s recordings on the Sony, CBC Records, Analekta, and Tafelmusik Media labels have garnered nine JUNOs and numer-ous other recording prizes.

Tafelmusik’s 2017/18 season, the first with Music Director Elisa Citterio, is one full of baroque hits and hidden gems. Choral masterpieces include Handel Alexander’s Feast (Feb 22–25) and Bach B-Minor Mass (Apr 5–8). Fortepianist super-star Kristian Bezuidenhout returns in Mozart’s Piano (Nov 9–12), and the season concludes with Beethoven Pastoral Symphony at Koerner Hall (May 3–6). Safe Haven is the latest multi-media creation from Alison Mackay, portraying the influence of migration on the musical life of Europe — and equally of present-day Canada. And, of course, don’t forget Handel’s Messiah (Dec 13–16) and Sing-Along Messiah (Dec 17)!

tafelmusik.org

Jeremy NasmithFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Monteverdi’s Orfeo, 1986.

Magdalena VaskoFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Lully’s Armide, 2005.

Dominic WhoFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Gluck’s Orpheus and Euridice, 2015.

Dayton HillFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Charpentier’s Medea, 2017.

Julia SedwickFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Handel’s Acis and Galatea, 2010.

Elizabeth KalashnikovaFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, 2013.

artists of atelier Ballet

Kevin LawFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Handel’s Acis and Galatea, 1997.

Jennifer NicholsFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Mozart’s Idomeneo, 2008.

Juri HiraokaFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Charpentier’s Médée, 2002.

Tyler GledhillFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, 2008.

Edward TraczFirst performance with Opera Atelier: Charpentier’s Médée, 2002.

Join us after the show on Friday Nov. 3 for a

mixer in the lower lobby bar! Have a drink and mingle with Opera Atelier artists and your fellow opera enthusiasts. Thanks to our Operatix sponsor, TD! To find out more about our $15 Operatix ticket program, visit operaatelier.com/operatix

ARE YOU AGE 30 OR UNDER?

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aBout opera atelier

Opera Atelier holds a unique place in the North American theatre com-munity, specializing in opera, ballet and drama from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. These productions draw upon the aesthetics and ideals of the period, featuring soloists of international acclaim, period ballet, original

instruments, elaborate stage decor, exquisite costumes, and an imaginative energy that sets Opera Atelier apart.

Opera Atelier is not in the business of “reconstruction,” rather, each production is a new creative effort and takes its own place in history. Opera Atelier strives to create productions that would have been recognized and respected in their own time while providing a thrilling theatrical experi-ence for modern audiences.

Under the direction of founders Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Opera Atelier has been acclaimed throughout Canada, Houston, Cleveland, Columbus, New York, Stuttgart, Halle, Bremen, London (BBC Proms), Paris, Versailles, Montreux, Citta di Castello, Singapore, Japan and Seoul, Korea. Opera Atelier has collaborated with some of early music’s most distinguished artists including Andrew Parrott, Trevor Pinnock, Hervé Niquet, Marc Minkowski and many others.

Opera Atelier is committed to expanding the company’s audience and to making baroque theatre accessible to a wide public through touring, community-based education programs and the cre-ative use of media. Opera Atelier is also committed to training the next generation of Canadian singers, dancers, designers, and technicians in the practices of historically informed production through apprenticeships and extensive singer/dancer workshops.

Opera Atelier’s upcoming 2017-2018 season continues with Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses (Apr. 19-28, 2018) at the Elgin Theatre, Toronto. Tickets are on sale now.

HANDEL MESSIAHDIRECTED BY IVARS TAURINS

DEC 13–16, 2017KOERNER HALL, TELUS CENTRE

Joanne Lunn sopranoJames Laing countertenorRufus Müller tenorBrett Polegato baritone

Tickets start at $30!Group discounts available.(416) 408-0208

tafelmusik.org

“Tafelmusik’s Messiah [is] a masterpiece of urgency and fi re, tension and drama.” – The Globe and Mail

an Ontario government agencyun organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

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Opera Atelier in the Royal Chapel of the Palace of Versailles (2017). Photo by Bruce Zinger.

In May 2017, Opera Atelier brought Charpentier’s Medea to the glorious Royal Opera House at Versailles for three sold-out performances, trav-elling to France with 75 artists and thousands of pounds of sets, costumes and props!

We also had the honour of being invited to make our debut at the Royal Chapel, Versailles, with a choreographed concert titled Harmonia Sacra, featuring theatre and sacred music by Henry Purcell. Harmonia Sacra also included OA’s first Canadian commission, composed and per-formed by violinist Edwin Huizinga with contem-porary choreography by Tyler Gledhill. Don’t miss the Toronto premiere at the ROM on Feb 15 — see page 9 for details.

While at Versailles, the Artistic Director of Italy’s prestigious Rossini Opera Festival flew in expressly to see OA in performance. As a result, Opera Atelier’s entire creative team has been invited to Italy next summer to create a new production of Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide. This production will open the Rossini Opera Festival with superstars Juan Diego Flórez and Pretty Yende in the title roles.

Every season, Opera Atelier offers our Making of an Opera arts education program to Toronto youth free of charge. Last spring, we received additional funding to expand our program to include youth who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Blind and Partially Sighted, and LGBTQ+. This facilitated our first ASL-interpreted opera performance.

Once a year, our students from the School of Atelier Ballet put on a gorgeous display of his-torical dance entitled Dance Through Time — choreographed by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg and hosted by Marshall Pynkoski. Join us for Dance Through Time at the ROM on Family Day, Feb 19, 2018, at 1:30pm and repeated at 3pm - performances are free with museum admission.

Opera IS for everyone! Our Operatix program for opera-lovers ages 15 to 30 is thriving. We offer $15 tickets and social events for young people – including a post-performance mixer with our artists after every Friday night per-formance. An astounding 18% of single tickets sold in 2016/2017 went to our Operatix audience members!

Opera Atelier gives back to the community, offering free tickets to Syrian Refugees, and to new Canadians through the Cultural Access Pass program of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. Opera Atelier recently partnered with the Health Arts Society of Ontario to bring live music to people in health care sites. Last month, soprano Karine White and pianist Christopher Bagan performed for the resi-dents of Seven Oaks Long-Term Care home in Scarborough.

Finally — don’t miss our performance at the Free Concert Series at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre on Thursday March 29, 2018, from 12 to 1pm.

WHAT’S NEW AT OPERA ATELIER?

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the marriage of figaro synopsis

ACT I: THE BRIDAL SUITECount Almaviva’s valet, Figaro, and the Countess’s maid, Susanna, are preparing for their wedding later that day. Susanna considers it suspicious that the Count has chosen to give them a room which adjoins the apartments of both master and mistress, because she knows that the Count wishes to seduce her. A furious Figaro resolves to foil the Count’s plans.

The appearance of Marcellina and her employer Dr. Bartolo introduces another obstacle to Figaro’s happiness. Figaro has never settled a debt to Marcellina which he contracted with the understanding that if he could not pay, he would marry her. Susanna teases Marcellina mercilessly until she leaves.

Cherubino, a page boy, joins Susanna and explains that the Count is angry with him because of his impertinent behaviour regarding the women in the castle. Cherubino confesses

that his latest passion is the Countess herself. The Count arrives and Cherubino hides in order to avoid being caught once again alone with a woman. Believing Susanna is alone, the Count begins to proposition her until interrupted by the arrival of Susanna’s music master (and the Count’s procurer) Don Basilio. The Count hides behind the same chair as Cherubino, who hastily slips around to sit in it, conceal-ing himself under a cloth. Basilio gossips about Cherubino’s infatuation with the Countess. The Count is so furious that he comes out of hid-ing and, while holding forth about the page’s appalling behaviour, he tosses the cover off the chair revealing Cherubino. Aware that the boy has overheard him propositioning Susanna, he hastily dispatches Cherubino to join the army. Figaro enters and mockingly describes the glo-ries of war.

ACT II: THE COUNTESS'S BEDCHAMBERFigaro and Susanna persuade the Countess to teach her husband a lesson and put an end to his ongoing affairs. Basilio is to be sent to the Count with a note stating that the Countess is having an affair with Cherubino. Meanwhile, Susanna will arrange a rendezvous with the Count at which Cherubino, dressed as a woman, will take her place. The Count knocks at the door as the Countess and Susanna are dress-ing Cherubino as a woman and the Countess, in confusion, hides Cherubino in her dressing room. The noise of Cherubino upsetting some furniture awakens the Count’s suspicions and he demands to know who is hiding there. When the Countess refuses to unlock her dressing room

door, the Count compels her to accompany him as he searches for tools to break the door down. Susanna takes advantage of their absence to take Cherubino’s place and the page jumps out of the window.

The Count and Countess return and as he pre-pares to force open the dressing room, he and his wife are astonished to see Susanna emerge. The gardener bursts in complaining that some-one has just jumped out of the window and although Figaro attempts to assume the blame, the Count begins to realize he is being duped. Marcellina and Dr. Bartolo enter and compli-cate matters further with their claims for satis-faction of Figaro’s debt.

INTERMISSION

ACT III: COUNT ALMAVIVA’S APARTMENTSThe Countess dictates to Susanna the letter that arranges the proposed rendezvous with the Count. The Count continues to press Figaro to marry Marcellina. He is thwarted when Marcellina suddenly recognizes Figaro as her long lost son by Dr. Bartolo. A double wedding is proposed: Figaro to Susanna and Dr. Bartolo to Marcellina. Cherubino enters disguised as a vil-lage girl, and along with an entourage of singers and dancers, he offers flowers to the Countess but is unmasked by Antonio. The Count’s fury

is averted when Barbarina reminds him of his late night visits to her bedroom. She now asks to marry Cherubino.

The impending double wedding is celebrated with a series of songs and traditional Spanish dances. The ballet acts as a diversion for Susanna to pass a note to the Count inviting him to meet her that evening in the pine grove. Figaro notices his master reading the love note but cannot guess who gave it to him.

ACT IV: THE GARDENFigaro discovers that Susanna appears to have suggested a secret meeting with the Count. He is furious, not knowing that the Count is to meet the Countess, who will be dressed in Susanna’s clothes. Figaro conceals himself at the rendez-vous point and watches with increasing jealousy as his master seduces the supposed “Susanna”. The appearance of “the Countess” gives the

Count the opportunity to hurry his supposed “Susanna” away and for the real Susanna to play the Countess to Figaro’s vengeful protesta-tions of adoration. Recognizing Susanna’s voice, Figaro realizes his mistake and they are recon-ciled. He begs her to forgive him as does the Count of his wife when the trick is revealed and all ends in a bittersweet celebration.

Jean- Antoine Watteau / The Italian Comedians

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History abounds with numerous examples of commedia dell’arte-based theatre run-ning afoul of official critics and censors. Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro is no exception. This commedia-based play caused a scandal due to its irreverent critique of the social mores, hierarchy, and political institutions of late 18th century France.

What much of the ruling class found most shocking however was the implication that a female servant could successfully imper-sonate a member of the nobility by simply changing her clothes for those of her mis-tress. Consequently, it seems particularly ironic that just four months after the pre-miere of Beaumarchais’ play, a prostitute named Nicole Leguay d’Oliva successfully impersonated the Queen of France, while meeting the star-struck Cardinal de Rohan in a grove in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, resulting in the infamous “affair of the necklace”.

It would seem that life imitated art in this extraordinary event, which did irreparable damage to Marie Antoinette’s reputation, and that Beaumarchais’ observations were particularly prescient. Small wonder that to its detractors, Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro “smelled of sulfur”.

The idea of assimilating the characters of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro to the stock figures of commedia dell’arte or “Italian Comedy” initially came from view-ing a series of 18th century engravings illus-trating Beaumarchais’ original text. They depicted the characters of the play in a manner astonishingly reminiscent of the familiar personae of the commedia. On examination, Da Ponte’s libretto, based on Beaumarchais’ work, confirmed the initial intuition and there proved to be no dif-ficulty in analogizing the figures of opera with those of commedia. Perhaps this is not surprising. Commedia dell’arte has had a considerable influence on French theatre since the time of Molière. Like so many of the scenarios which have survived from the commedia tradition, The Marriage of Figaro presents a comedy of intrigue, and the diversification of characters in the com-edy closely parallels that of the traditional commedia dell’arte.

• Marshall Pynkoski

director's notes choreographer's notes

“ Madame Mozart told me that great as his genius was, [Mozart] was an enthusiast in dancing, and often said that his taste lay in that art, rather than in music.” – Michael Kelly (the first Don Basilio)

Mozart’s love of dance manifested itself in many ways. He studied ballet with the revered noble style dancer Gaétan Vestris, and was very eager, as a young man, to col-laborate with the famous choreographer, Noverre. His notes regarding the dances in his opera-ballet Idomeneo bear witness to his intense involvement in the choreo-graphic aspect of the production.

Mozart wrote two dances for The Marriage of Figaro (1786): The Hunter’s Dance, and the Fandango — in keeping with the opera’s Spanish setting. There are also incidental opportunities for dancing to further the action of the piece. We learn from the jour-nals of Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, that the Lord Chamberlain of Vienna (who was not kindly disposed towards Mozart) ordered the dances to be removed from the opera just before its première. Mozart was furious and devastated but Da Ponte saved the day by inviting the Emperor himself to the dress rehearsal. Half the aristocracy of Vienna accompanied their Sovereign, who inquired why there were no dances in the opera. The Lord Chamberlain mumbled something about the theatre not having

its own troupe of dancers. “Are there any,” the Emperor asked, “in the other theatres?”. He was told that there were. “Good, then let Da Ponte have as many as he needs!”. The dances were re-inserted in their proper place and much applauded by the audience.

The Hunter’s Dance is choreographed using the step vocabulary of mid to late 18th century theatrical dances. There is added emphasis on virtuosic male dancing as a result of the talents and influence of Auguste Vestris (1760-1842, son of Gaétan). The Fandango belongs to the Bolero School of Spanish dance, which was established in the 18th century, incorporating some tech-niques of the French ballet into Spanish forms. The arm positions should be fluid and rounded, and the castanets played throughout.

The dances are absolutely essential to the plot in Figaro — Mozart brilliantly added recitative for the singers during sections of the ballet — thus further integrating dance with dramatic action.

• Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg

The Marriage of Figaro (2010). Photo by Bruce Zinger

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When Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro finally received its premiere on May 1, 1786 (some writers have remarked on the symbolism of the date, given that the opera revolves around conflicts between working servants and leisured aristocrats) it was an immediate success. By the time of the fourth performance, the Emperor had to order the Burgtheater’s manager to post a notice that “no piece for more than a single voice will be repeated”, in order to “prevent the excessive duration of operas”. Apparently at the third performance seven pieces had been encored, including the little duet between Susanna and Cherubino, which was given three times. (One wonders, did Cherubino jump out the window every time?!)

I say “finally received its premiere” because ever since 1781, when Mozart had broken with his father and the Salzburg religious establishment, and moved on his own to Vienna, he had dreamed of establishing himself in the Italian-dominated opera world of the Hapsburg court. In a 1783 letter to his father, he talked about the new poet-librettist in Vienna, one Lorenzo Da Ponte. Mozart had been looking through “at least a hundred librettos” trying to find something that would fire his imagination and show off his talents. “I should dearly like to show what I can do in an Italian opera.”

According to Da Ponte, it was Mozart’s idea to set Beaumarchais’ shocking play. La folle journée had almost received a performance (in German) in Vienna at Emanuel Schikaneder’s company (where The Magic Flute would be created) only to be

forbidden at the last moment by the Emperor. But by

carefully excising some of the most overtly political material — one of the most famous lines of the original was Figaro’s rhetorical question, “Monsieur le Comte, what have you done to

earn your exalted position? Put yourself to the trouble of

being born, nothing more” — he and Da Ponte escaped the

censors’ wrath, and Figaro has been seen on the world’s stages ever since. In fact, Figaro has the distinction of being the first opera never to need “a revival”.

One can see and hear why. The music is so engaging, so perfectly manifesting and deepening the drama at every moment. Mozart, who loved jokes and comedy, clearly identified with the issues raised by the play: in 1781, long before Figaro, he had written to his father, “It is the heart that ennobles a man. Though I am no count, yet I probably have more honour in me than many a count.”

The libretto is a brilliant setting of what is a great, funny play. Mozart and Da Ponte stuck closely to Beaumarchais, and this is one of the many reasons we have chosen to perform the work in English. By and large, one doesn’t hear untranslated Chekhov, Molière or Ibsen performed to an audience that does not understand the original language! Jeremy Sams’ rhyming translation both brilliantly captures the comic spirit of Da Ponte’s poetry, and illuminates Mozart’s incomparable music.

• David Fallis

conductor's notes set designer's notes

Beaumarchais’ controversial play The Marriage of Figaro was written in 1778 and is often cred-ited with heralding the French Revolution. By ridiculing the accepted rights and privileges of the nobility it called for a social re-ordering that aroused the ire of government censors and hence was not performed in public until 1784 at the Comédie Française.

The play premiered however in 1783 at a private performance supported by Marie Antoinette in the home of aristocrat Joseph Hyacinthe Vaudreuil (Vaudreuil was rumoured to be the lover of the duchesse de Polignac, friend and confidant of the Queen).

For Opera Atelier’s version of Mozart’s oper-atic rendering of the play I have conjured this first performance and set it in the courtyard of a noble country residence within roman-tic parkland. The Elgin Theatre audience takes the place of Vaudreuil and his friends, and witness a travelling band of comme-dia dell’arte performers unpack and set up their show. The naïve artificiality of their sets is meant to contrast with the fully-realized Palladian architecture that encloses their playing space on the Elgin stage.

Beaumarchais’ original succeeded largely because its jibes were masked and softened by its humour. Though politically subversive, The Marriage of Figaro is also supremely funny and I felt that the sets for the opera should reflect its humour. The opera takes place in one day over four acts, three of which happen indoors. Each indoor scene is represented by a large canvas backdrop identifying its loca-tion and each of these backdrops contains an obvious visual joke.

We open in Figaro and Susanna’s sparsely furnished bedroom of pink and white boi-serie, a marble mantelpiece with a mirror above reflecting a bagged chandelier. A closer look at the painted scene reveals a black cat perched on the mantelpiece spying

a tiny mouse on the floorboards below. It is of course a metaphor for the cat and mouse games that are about to be played by all the principal characters throughout the opera.

The action moves to the Countess’s bedroom with its blue and white striped silk bedding, a folding screen and skirted dressing table. A glance through her bed curtains reveals a gilt oval frame that should be reserved for a por-trait of the Countess’s husband but instead houses the likeness of her lover Cherubino dressed as a commedia dell’arte Pierrot.

Act three takes place in the Count’s apart-ments, an unending enfilade of rooms decorated with scores of hunting trophies ref-erencing his love of conquest. Curled on the floor by his master’s chair is the count’s hunt-ing dog, a symbol of fidelity sound asleep and as inactive as the marriage vows once exchanged by the aristocratic couple.

The opera ends in the garden and this is where the jokes end as well. Though the dis-putes are resolved and the couples reunited it is by no means a carefree happy ending and as such I have allowed the final tableau to speak for itself.

• Gerard Gauci

Design by Gerard Gauci.

Drawing of Mozart in silverpoint, made by Dora Stock during Mozart’s visit to Dresden, April 1789.

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Tenor Colin Ainsworth leads a workshop session with ASL interpreters (March 2017). Photo by Bruce Zinger.

education and outreach

Opera Atelier takes the artistic business of producing period productions of opera and ballet very seriously, and we place equal importance on educating community youth and training the per-formers of tomorrow. Opera Atelier offers a robust slate of education, enrichment and outreach opportunities that engage and educate new and existing audience members of all ages, with a particular emphasis on the youth of the GTA.

Examples include:

Making of an Opera program: Since 1996, Opera Atelier’s Making of an Opera program has annually given more than 1,000 young peo-ple a one-day, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about, participate in, and experience the magic of opera, completely free of charge.

School of Atelier Ballet: A unique ballet school housed in the historic St. Lawrence Hall, the School of Atelier Ballet offers instruction in bal-let, modern dance and historical dance that is affordable and enjoyable for both the aspiring professional and the recreational dancer.

Pre-Performance Chats: For each production, we assemble an exciting roster of guest speak-ers to give patrons background information on our productions, discuss the production, and answer audience questions. Join us in the lower lobby of the Elgin Theatre 45 minutes before each performance!

Period Performance Workshops for Artists: Opera Atelier’s Period Performance Lab allows us to train Canadian artists in repertoire and techniques they would never otherwise encoun-ter, and our singers and dancers are challenged to broaden their technique in new ways.

Visit us at www.operaatelier.com to explore our broad range of education opportunities for youth, opera-lovers, artists and our community.

Period Performance Lab Sponsor:

We have known Michael Wekerle since 2011, when he attended his first Opera

Atelier Versailles Gala and made an extraordinary contribution to our

company that same evening.

Michael loves entrepreneurs, and from the very beginning of our relationship with him he has expressed his interest in a company which has been built from the ground up by a team of visionary, like-minded individuals.

Invariably kind, generous, and genuine — Michael has since acted as Opera

Atelier production sponsor and season underwriter on numerous occasions.

He has played a major role in helping us realize our dreams, but his interest and

support of Opera Atelier extends beyond Toronto! He has been a major supporter of our tours to the Royal Opera House at Versailles — often attending with friends

and family members.

Most recently, Michael was the underwriter for Opera Atelier's Royal Chapel debut at Versailles. When we

opened the house program in France, we took great pleasure in seeing the logo of the El Mocambo (the legendary club that

Michael saved from the wrecker's ball) beside that of the Sun King. Two great

men sharing the same page!

OPERA ATELIER SALUTES

Michael WekerleOUR 2017-18 SEASON UNDERWRITER

Marshall Pynkoski with Michael Wekerle and his mother Hermine at Versailles. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

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corporate & foundation supporters

Young Artist Development SponsorOperatix Sponsor Student Access Program Sponsor

Making of an Opera Sponsor Period Performance Lab Sponsor Archives and Storage Sponsor

Cosmetics Sponsor Lounge Décor SponsorSF_businessCard_CMYKt.indd 1 12-04-21 10:48 AM

Radio Sponsor

17-18 Season Presenting Sponsor Season Underwriter

ARTIST TRAVEL SPONSOR

The Mary-Margaret Webb Foundation

PRODUCTION PARTNERS

The Sharp Foundation

CORPORATE DONORS

Ace Hill

Aksan Pillar Corporation Ltd.

Bespoke Audio Visual

The Colour Field

Mary Macleod’s Shortbread

Nemar Limited

Staff Your Event

St. Lawrence Market Complex at the St. Lawrence Hall

Sunlife Financial

EDUCATION SUPPORTERS

Power Corporation of Canada

FOUNDATION SUPPORT

The Dalglish Family Foundation

The Lloyd & Gladys Fogler Foundation

Patrick Hodgson Family Foundation

The LeGresley Family Foundation

Keith Foundation at the Strategic Charitable Giving Foundation

Barrie D. Rose and Family

Judith Teller Foundation

Twigge-Molecey Family Foundation

The Henry White Kinnear Foundation

PIANO SPONSOR

Robert Lowrey Piano Inc.

2017 VERSAILLES TABLE SPONSORS

BMO Financial Group

Burgundy Asset Management

Capco

CIBC

Delaney Capital Management

Deloitte Canada

El Mocambo Productions

John MacKinlay

Sláinte Holdings Inc. Racheal McCaig Photography

Paragon Inc.

PWC

RBC

Staff Your Event

Ms Katalin Schäfer

James H. Stonehouse

Marshall Pynkoski & Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg

corporate & foundation supporters

Janet Gates and the wonderful staff at the Elgin Theatre

Marcel Canzona of ByeMarcel

Emily Butters

Elena D’Arrisso

Bryan Hayes

Anton Richter

Kevin Vuong

Lauren McCauley

special thanks!

an Ontario government agencyun organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

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THE SUN KING ($200,000)Mr. Michael A. Wekerle*

SUN KING ($20,000+)Mr. & Mrs. Claudine Bailey*Mr. Andrew Curnew & Dr. Rita KilislianThe Patrick Hodgson Family

Foundation*Mr. & Mrs. William Lambert***Mr. Thomas Logan**Mr. & Mrs. Jerry & Joan Lozinski**Mr. John MacKinlay* Vivian Elizabeth Pilar****Mr. Brayton Polka**Ms Katalin Schäfer**

Marshall Pynkoski & Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg***

VICEROY ($10,000 – $19,999)Mr. & Mrs. Robert & Cecily BradshawMr. Greig S. Dunn &

Mr. Robert Maclennan*** Ken & Sharon Giffen**William & Catherine Graham****John & Judith Grant***David Green, Daphne Wagner, Lita

& Mikey Green, Youth Education and Outreach Supporters*

Anna L. Guthrie****Thomas Keirstead and Deidre LynchMr. James H. Stonehouse*** Mr. Lary Willows*Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Zelenczuk***Mr. Bruce Zinger****

MARQUIS ($5,000 – $9,999)Ms Marcia Lewis Brown*Mr. J. Harold Buttle*Mr. Peter M Deeb*In Memory of Michelle DucommunRobert Glover & Martha McOuat*Jennifer Kropac & Kevin Law*Ms Racheal McCaig*Ms Suzanne McCuaig*Ms Laura MoneyJulia Robertson & James Buchanan*Mr. Joe TurkelMr. Jack Whiteside**Anonymous, Youth Education and

Outreach Supporters ****

indiVidual giVing All donor lists as of September 29, 2017

Opera Atelier’s work is generously supported by loyal and dedicated patrons who share our pas-sion and enthusiasm for period productions of opera and ballet. We are deeply appreciative of their commitment to our vision. For information on the Friends or Baroque Court programs, or to make a gift to Opera Atelier, please call Dan Hickey at 416.703.3767 x226.

ARTIST SPONSORSMarshall Pynkoski, Co-Artistic Director and Educator generously sponsored by Jerry & Joan Lozinski.Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Choreographer generously sponsored by Vivian Elizabeth PilarDouglas Williams generously sponsored by Katalin Schäfer

Mireille Lebel generously sponsored by Tom LoganMireille Asselin generously sponsored by Marcia Lewis BrownStephen Hegedus generously sponsored by Vivian Elizabeth Pilar Laura Pudwell generously sponsored by Anna Guthrie

Artists of Atelier Ballet generously sponsored by Vivian Elizabeth Pilar Peggy Kriha Dye generously spon-sored by Camille HodgsonTafelmusik Baroque Orchestra generously sponsored by Brayton Polka

IMPRESARIOS ($2,500 – $4,999)Drs. Glen Bandiera & Jolie Ringash*Ms Anne Baumann**Dr. Thomas Beechy****Ms Alberta G. Cefis****David Allan & Cynthia YoungAl & Jane Forest*Gordon & Pamela Henderson**Ms Lindsay HistropMr. Soheil HomayouniMr. Phillip Khaiat &

Ms Carolynne Hallitt***Mr. Igor KorenzvitAnne MacKay*Mr. & Mrs. Robert & Susan Mathia**

Mr. William MeanySandra Parsons & Al HansenPeter M. Partridge***Mr. & Mrs. John R. & Maire Percy*Nicole Vermond & Andre Langevin**Rick & Virginia Walker*Mr. Frank Whittaker**Anonymous

PATRON ($1,500 – $2,499)Ms Jane Adams *Ms Anna Aksan**Walter M. & Lisa Balfour Bowen***Moira Bartram & Joseph Fantl**Dr. David and Constance Briant*Mr. John Clifford**Mr. & Mrs. Stephen & Linda Cook****Carrol Anne CurryMs Catherine Dunne**Ms Jean Edwards*

Mr. David Fallis & Ms Alison Mackay**Rev. Brian D. Freeland***Dr. Manfred FrenkelMs Margaret GenoveseDan Hickey & Lisa VanderlipMs Candice JayMr. Kazik Jedrzejczak***Alan Lee & Norbert Beilstein*Ms Connie Leon*Dr. Emilie Newell*Ms Sheila Phillips***Valerie Schweitzer &

Christopher Reed****Ms Darla RhyneAlexandra Skoczylas & Shaun Little Ms Ingrid Tanner**Mr. William ThompsonS.K. Upjohn***Aaron & Craig Walker-D’ArvilleMs Linda Young**

indiVidual giVing (continued)

MAESTRO ($1,000 - $1,499)C. Bergeron*Mr. Stephen Bishop*Cambridge ClubMs Elda Fares*Capital Canada Ltd.William & Hiroko Keith***Karen Kitchen*Mr. Arnost Kolin**Mr. Anthony Lisanti****Brian Bucknall &

Mary Jane Mossman*Joan Robinson*Mr. Alex TosheffAlison von Criegern***

SOLOIST ($600 – $999)John Gillies &

Anne-Marie PrendivilleMs Brenda BoltonTim & Carole Dilworth***Alice Fox***Ms Kathleen Fraser***Mr. Donald D. Grant**Prof. Michiel Horn &

Cornelia Schuh***Mr. & Mrs. Peter &

Hélène Hunt*The Kuxdorf-Pescantin

FamilyElaine Ishibashi &

Keith Smithers***Mr. John Kerr***Dixi LambertMr. Michael LawMr. Matthew LightFrank & Patricia MillsAndrew Kropinski &

Peggy Pritchard*Etienne Phaneuf*Mr. Raymond H. PladsenLesley & Mark Robinson*Ms Nan ShepherdMrs. & Mr. Anne &

Henry SkoczylasMr. Ross Tilley*Ms Gail WoodDr. John Wright

ENSEMBLE ($300 – $599)Urve & Lewis AbbottMs Margaret Ackerman*Mr. Sam Albanese*Mr. & Ms Andre & Morgana

Asselin*

Mr. Anton Bakalic***Mr. David Bernhardt*Ms Sara Blake****Murray BryantMr. Thomas Bryson***Mary Mogford & Tom

Campbell*Ernest CapellacciMr. Manuel Cappel*Patricia ClarkeDon Middleton and

Clayton Wilson*Ms Irene ConableMs Susan Costello**Bram & Beth Costin**Ms Deanna Cyr***Ms Felicity DaviesMs Carol Derk &

Mr. David Giles**Mr. Steven DienerColin R.C. Dobell****Susan Done & Sean Mace*Marga DunhamPatricia A. Elliot**Mr. Thomas Flemming**Lloyd and Gladys FoglerMrs. Mary Gauci***Timothy Gill & Layton DoreyMr. James A. GlazierMs Marion Green**Mr. & Mrs. Chester &

Camilla Gryski*Christopher Guthrie and

Lis WigmoreMs Sherry Hatton*Mr. & Mrs. Robert HeidenryEdward & Jane

Heinemann****Dr. & Mrs. D. Theo

Hofmann***Sandy & Naomi

Horodezky****CR Hunter*Karin & Allan Ireland**Dr. Richard Isaac**Ms Nancy JohnstonMs Susan Johnson*Dr. Elaine Keillor**Ms Elizabeth KoesterMr. John B. Lawson****Mr. Michael James LegouffeMs Susan LindsayMargaret Shatilla &

Myles MacDonald*Dr. & Mrs. Richard

Mackenzie*Mr. Peter Manson*Gary MarcusSusan & Andrew Marshall*Ms Kelly MarshallGeoffrey & Jill Matus**

Mr. Trent Mayers*Ms Susan McCawley**Mr. Antonio Gambini &

Dr. Stephen McQuade*Dr. Ulrich Menzefricke**Ms Stephanie Meredith*Mr. James Milligan*Mr. Trini Mitra*Ms Mary MogfordMs Marilyn Nairn**Ms Paula NieuwstratenNour Private WealthEmile Oliana & Alvin Iu*David & Bernadette PalmerMs Katherine Paterson*Mr. Stephen Phillips***Ann & Gary Posen**Steve & Zora Pozgaj**Mr. Graham ProsserDavid J. Purcell**Ms Irina RichterKarl & Sheila Ruban*Wendy Sanford**Ms Judy Skinner*William Solomon*Angel & Mike SpendloveMs Darlene Stafford*Ms Georgina Steinsky*Ms Patricia Stone***Marc & Marcy StoneMs Rachel TalbotMs Carole Tanenbaum*Brian Telfer and Helena BirtMs Armeda Vanderwoude**Jean and Jim WilsonMeg & Jim Young*Anonymous (4)

CORPS ($125 - $299)Mr. Howard Aitken*Nancy & Arthur Ameis**Ms Gerda Anderson*Ms Tetyana AntimirovaMs Annick AubertMs Marlene Auspitz**Mr. Christopher BaganMr. Richard Balfour*Charles Taylor &

Janet Ballantyne*Mrs. Alyson

Barnett-Cowen***Mr. Donald Barr***Mrs. Nancy Batten*Mr. Ronald Bayne****Dr. Henry A. Becker***J. Merlyn Beeckmans*Mr. Gyuszi Berki*Mr. Michael Beswick***Ms Colette Bevilacqua**

Ms Natalie BidermanMr. Jonathan BlackMr. William Blissett**Ms Dolores BorkowskiMr. Jimmy BrennanMr. David Brierley*Ms Margaret Brock***Ms Barbara BrunsdenMr. Robert Budd*Ms Maria Buisman*Richard Bull & Bryan Pipe***Ms Judith Burrows*Mr. Blair Caines*Ms Iivi Campbell****Mr. Manuel Cappel*Mr. & Mrs. Brian &

Ellen Carr**Mr. Neil Carter &

Ms Monica Murphy*Ms Patricia CashMs & Mr. Margaret &

John CattoVilgi ChapmanMrs. L. S. Cheung-White***Robert Clark &

Allison Barrett*Ms Carole Cohen-PerezMs Betty CorsonMr. & Mrs. Douglas G.

Crowe****Mrs. & Mr. Robert CurranMr. George Dalton**Kate Danter***Shirley & John DaweMr. Michel Desormeaux**Ms Serena Dessen***Ms Arlene DickinsonMs Carol Dorman**Mr. Greg DowdallMr. Richard Earls***Ms Margaret EatonMr. Barry EdwardsMs Katherine EdwardsMs Sue Edworthy*Mr. Ossama El NaggarFriend of Opera AtelierMr. Lorne FarrMs Mary Faziluddin**Mr. Christopher FergusonMurray FinkelsteinMr. Ian FodieMr. John FormusaBruce & Eleanor Frank*Ms Sarah E. FriesenMr. Robert FungBlaise GaetzMr. Joseph GasserDr. Hugh Gayler &

Ms Eileen Martin*Tove Geertsen

32 33

Ms Isabelle Gibb*Ms Ann Gibson***Mr. & Mrs. Bernard &

Ruth GillespieMr. Bruce GillespieDr. Fay Goldstep &

Dr. George Freedman***Nadia & Harold Gomez*Mr. William A. Goodfellow**Mr. & Mrs. George GoodletMichael Goodwin***Robert GouldMr. Laurent Goulet**Charlotte Graham*Mr. George Grant***Mr. John Grant*Thomas Green**Mr. & Mrs. George Haag**Mrs. Barbara Habib****Dr. Brian Hands &

Mrs. Cynthia Hands*Dr. William Hanley**Ms Beth HannaKenneth & Patricia Hanson*Mr. Muslim HassanMs Angela HawaleshkaMs Angelika Heath*Mr. D. Herbert Heine*Mr. Bram Herlich****Ms Pauline HillPeter and Verity Hobbs***Mr. David Holdsworth*Ms Janet Holt**Ms Hannah HoppeMichael & Linda HutcheonCathy Hutchinson***Liz Inman**Robert L. Iveson****Ms Frances Jerry*Mary Jessup*Ms Elisabeth Jocz*Mr. Sunit John**Mr. & Mrs. Derek Jordan*Mr. Francisco Juarez*

Mr. Ali Kashani*Mr. James C. MurphyMr. Harvey KayeDr. Lisa Kellett, M.D.Don & Francie Kendal***Mr. David Kennedy*Mr. Peter KircherDaniel Kmiecik &

Lynn TomkinsMs Susan KnightMs Ingeborg Koch****Ms Carol Koenig*Mr. Jeremy KramerMs Barbara KreverMs Pauline KuglerMr. James Kurliak*Mr. Michael KutrykMr. Duane LedgsterMr. George LennonMr. Tom LeseelleurMr. Peter J. LewisMr. Eric LipkaMs Katharine LochnanMs Mary LofthouseMs Sharon LudlowEva MacDonald &

David RobertsonLinda MacKenzie***Ian MacLennan*Mr. Brian MalcolmMr. Lukas Gillis MalkowskiMr. & Ms Nick & Eva

Mandrapilias**Mr. Paul ManiasMs Manuela MarcheggianiKeith & Chris MastermanMs Helen McGillivrayMs Kandice McKeeMs Hélène McLenaghan**Mr. Duncan McMonagleAlayne MetrickAlec MonroMr. Carl Morey***Ms Margaret Moule**

Mr. & Ms Edmund & Mary Murphy*

Mr. David Murray*Ms Liisa NorthMs Bridget O’Brien***Dr. Darrell Ogilvie-Harris**Mr. Michael O’HaraÖzden & David Dunlop*Mr. Terrence ParisMr. Douglas Parker***Mr. Eric Parker*Edward Parkins**David & Mary Ann PearsonMs Anne Perdue***Felicty PickupMr. Andrew PierceWyley Powell***Ms Barbara Priscus**Mr. Charles Edward Rathe*Mr. Blair ReidMs Denise ReidMr. Hollis RinehartMs Susan RobertsonMs Nancy T RobinsonMs Cecilie Rosairus*Paul RosenbaumYvonne Rosenberg*Mr. & Mrs. Rubisov**Dr. Inda Sabatini***Mr. Manouchehr

Saif-GharaviMr. Keith J SalmonMr. Khachik Sarkissian*D. Schaefer*Ms Sylvia Schmid*Iain Scott*Mr. Stanley ShierMs Nancy SiewMr. & Mrs. Tom & Joanne

SinclairMr. Hume Smith**Ms Rosamunde Sobryan*In Memory of

Myron Sochaniwsky

Norman Soley*Ms G. Pamela Soodeen***In memory of

Gregory Williams***Ms Leslie SorensenRosemary & David

SpendloveMs Margaret Sprague**Mr. Keith Strand*Mr. Robert SullivanMs Joanna Tanner**Mr. Brian Taylor*Ms Dana Tenny**Ms Martha Ter KuileMs Mary Thomas Nagel*Ms S. Anne Todd**Ms Stephanie ToddMr. Michael Tukatsch*Dr. William TweedMs Nathalie VaillancourtMs Gisela Van Steen*Mr. Kees Van WintersGail Vanstone*Mr. David & Mrs. Agnes

Basskin-Vermes***Dr. Sandor Vigh**Mr. & Mrs. Lorne VinebergMr. Robert Wakefield***Ms Sharon WalkerMs Laurie White***Mr. Donald John Whiting*Dr. Blossom Wigdor***Mr. John WilkinsonDr. David & Mrs. Shelagh

Williams*Mr. & Mrs. Jack Wiseman**Ms Jane Witherspoon*David B. & Virginia A.

WortmanMr. Morden Yolles****Ms Trudy YoungMr. Dan Yuzwa*Anonymous (7)

* five to nine years of support ** 10 to 14 years of support *** 15 to 19 years of support **** 20 or more years of support

Despite the staff’s efforts to avoid errors and omissions, mistakes can occur. If your name was omitted, listed incorrectly or misspelled, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We would appreciate being notified of any errors at 416.703.3767 x228.

Donate your Aeroplan miles! Opera Atelier uses Aeroplan miles to book artist travel for our tours overseas. Consider donating miles today through operaatelier.com/donate.

WITH SINCERE GRATITUDE, WE SALUTE

Jerry & Joan LozinskiFOR SUPPORTING MARSHALL PYNKOSKI

AS CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR.

Marshall is actively involved in arts education programs here and within the community, and the Lozinskis are proud to support his work.

Opera Atelier would also like to acknowledge Jerry & Joan’s multi-year commitment to the company. Their pledge will help solidify

a bright and exciting future for Opera Atelier.

THANK YOU!

Royal Opera House of Versailles (2012). Photo by Bruce Zinger.

34

Support the magic of Opera Atelier. Your Gift Matters!• Play your part in our rediscovery and

revitalization of period opera and ballet

• Enrich youth through educational and outreach initiatives

• Reinforce the future of the company and development of talented Canadian artists

Donate online at operaatelier.com/donate or contact Dan Hickey, Director of Development at 416.703.3767 x226

Olivier Laquerre (centre) with Artists of Atelier Ballet In Medea. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Charitable Registration number: 12859 0817 RR0001

Mireille Lebel in Orpheus and Eurydice (2015). Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Opera Atelier applauds Tom Logan for sponsoring Mireille Lebel

Opera Atelier applauds Katalin Schäfer for sponsoring Douglas Williams

䈀夀 䘀䄀刀䌀䄀一䄀䐀䄀ᤠ匀 䰀䄀刀䜀䔀匀吀 匀䔀䰀䔀䌀吀䤀伀一

伀渀氀礀 椀渀 吀漀爀漀渀琀漀

䄀渀搀 愀 氀愀爀最攀 猀攀氀攀挀挀漀渀 漀昀 瘀攀爀礀 愀û漀爀搀愀戀氀攀 爀攀挀漀渀搀椀挀漀渀攀搀 瀀椀愀渀漀猀

䔀甀爀漀瀀攀ᤠ猀 ǻ渀攀猀琀 瀀椀愀渀漀猀 愀渀搀 琀栀攀 瘀攀爀礀 戀攀猀琀 瘀愀氀甀攀 昀漀爀 攀瘀攀爀礀 瀀椀愀渀漀 戀甀搀最攀琀⸀ 䔀渀樀漀礀 氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最Ⰰ 愀猀 礀漀甀 琀漀甀爀 漀甀爀 昀愀洀漀甀猀 瀀椀愀渀漀 眀漀爀欀猀栀漀瀀猀⸀ 䌀漀洀瀀愀爀攀 夀愀洀愀栀愀 ☀ 刀漀氀愀渀搀 搀椀最椀琀愀氀 瀀椀愀渀漀猀Ⰰ 猀椀搀攀ⴀ戀礀ⴀ猀椀搀攀Ⰰ 漀渀氀礀 愀琀 刀漀戀攀爀琀 䰀漀䰀漀眀爀攀礀⸀ 夀漀甀ᤠ氀氀 渀攀瘀攀爀 猀攀攀 洀漀爀攀 瀀椀愀渀漀猀℀ 倀氀攀渀琀礀 漀昀 昀爀攀攀 瀀愀爀欀椀渀最℀

㤀㐀㌀ 䔀最氀椀渀琀漀渀 䄀瘀攀 䔀愀猀琀 簀 吀漀爀漀渀琀漀Ⰰ 伀渀琀愀爀椀漀 簀 㐀㘀⸀㐀㈀㌀⸀　㐀㌀㐀 簀 瀀椀愀渀漀攀砀瀀攀爀琀猀⸀挀漀洀

36

We are working together with Opera Atelier to make a difference in our communities.

® The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Proud to support Operatix.

M05234 (0314)

thank you ViVian!

In addition to her long-standing and continuing sponsorship of

The Artists of Atelier Ballet together with Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Choreographer,Vivian is also sponsoring Stephen Hegedus

in his role as Count Almaviva.

WITH SINCERE GRATITUDE WE SALUTE

Vivian Elizabeth PilarFOR HER GENEROSITY AND DEDICATION

TO OPERA ATELIER.

The Company of Armide (2015). Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Proud Supporter of Opera Atelier

This advertisement is for informational purposes only. © Copyright 2016. Used under license. All rights reserved.

rbccm.com

Mireille Asselin in Medea. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Opera Atelier applauds Marcia Lewis Brown for sponsoring Mireille Asselin

38

Proudly supporting Opera Atelier

2017

Opening young minds to the power of creativity

Peggy Kriha Dye in Medea. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Opera Atelier applauds Camille Hodgson for sponsoring Peggy Kriha Dye

Opera Atelier applauds Brayton Polka for sponsoring Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra at the Royal Opera House of the Palace of Versailles. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

With great admiration and respect I am pleased to continue

my Choreography Sponsorship in support of Co-Artistic Director Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg. Her

dedication and expertise have brought the joy and beauty of dance to the performances of

Opera Atelier and have helped create a unique dimension and

style to the Company’s beautiful presentations.

Thank you Jeannette!

Laura Pudwell in Dido and Aeneas (2016). Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Opera Atelier applauds Anna Guthrie for sponsoring Laura Pudwell

Photo: Lisa Fleischmann

WWW.NBS-ENB.CA #NBSAUDITIONS @NBS_ENB

NATIONAL AUDITION TOURCanada’s National Ballet School

an Ontario government agencyun organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

2017/18 DARE TO DREAM

40 41

Director & General Manager Janet GatesFront of House Manager Lori MacLeanHouse Manager Kelly MudieProduction Manager Dana JohnstonOperations Manager Derek DresserBookings & Events Manager Kevin HarrisMarketing & Communications Manager Ellen FlowersAdministrative Assistant Lena PolyvyannayaProduction & Operations Assistant Carolyn Mykytyshyn

Operations Staff John Kolesnyk Jeff Snow Marc WashingtonUsher Supervisors Arnie Lappin Jason Singh Samantha Serles

Box office services provided by TICKETMASTER.

I.A.T.S.E. DEPT. HEADS LOCAL 58Head Carpenter Jim NuttHead Electrician Lars TilanderHead of Properties Mark FisherHead of Sound Robin Johnston

ONTARIO HERITAGE TRUSTChief Executive Officer Beth HannaDirector, Heritage Programs and Operations Sean FraserActing Director, Corporate Businesses and Services Paul Dempsey

the elgin and Winter garden theatre centre

The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust (OHT), an agency of the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and Culture. The OHT is dedicated to preserv-ing, protecting and promoting Ontario’s diverse heritage. The OHT is financially supported, in part, through generous corporate sponsors and private donors.

Please Note: Latecomers may not be admit-ted until a suitable break in the performance and only at the discretion of management. The use of cameras, cell phone cameras, record-ing equipment, radios or any playback devices is not permitted in the theatres. Patrons are asked to ensure that watch alarms and cell phones do not sound during the performance. No food or beverage allowed in the theatre with the exception of water. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the building.

Hearing Enhancement: The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is equipped with a hearing enhancement system. Please ask an usher for assistance.

Lost and Found Articles: Call 416-314-2885 and leave a message with your name, phone number and article description.

Public Tours: Guided tours of the Centre take place Thursday afternoons at 5 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. No reservation is required. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Cash only. Group tours are available by special arrangement call 416-314-2871 for more information.

EWG Volunteers: The OHT is grateful to the volunteers who donate their time and efforts to the promotion and preservation of the theatres. Volunteers are involved in the tour program, gift shop sales and special events. If you are interested in volunteering go to www.heritagetrust.on.ca/ewg/ for more information.

189 YONGE STREET TORONTO, ON M5B 1M4

(416) 314-2901 www.heritagetrust.on.ca/ewg Like us on facebook.com/elginwintergardentheatres

opera atelier Board & staff

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Resident Music Director David Fallis

Assistant Conductor Peter Tiefenbach

Repetiteurs Nicole Bellamy Christopher Bagan

Apprentice Stage Manager Madison Kalbhenn

Head of Wardrobe Michael Legouffe

Wardrobe Assistant Simge Suzer

Make-up Designer & Artist Barbara Szablowski

Technical Drafters Evan Bonnah-Hawkes

Production Assistant Rene Kimmett

Wig Mistress Jacqueline Robertson-Cull

Custom Footwear Jitterbug Boy

Surtitles Operator Alex Eddington

Scenic Painting Scenic Drop Studios

Weapons Fantastic Creations

Lighting Bespoke Audio Visual

Sound Sound Associates

Special Effects Equipment and Firearms AirMagic Special Effects

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Executive Director Alexandra Skoczylas

Director of Development Dan Hickey

Senior Manager of Communications & Education Bronwen Bradley

Production Manager William H. Zachary Bruman

Manager of Finance & Administration Irina Richter

Audience Services Coordinator Holly Coish

Development Coordinator Nadine Haddad

Marketing, Digital Communications and Office Assistant Ariella Flatt

Resident Photographer Bruce Zinger

Archival Videographer John Kerr

Graphic Design Ted Rouse, Takedanger Design

FOUNDING DIRECTORS

Co-Artistic Director Marshall Pynkoski

Co-Artistic Director Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President and Chair John MacKinlay

Treasurer Sharon Giffen

Secretary Steven Rosenhek

Anne Baumann Eric Dingman Elda Fares Jan Lambert Robert Mathia William Meany Laura Money Janis Peleshok Julia Robertson James Stonehouse Rani Turna Bruce Zinger

Cover image and Opera Atelier production photos throughout by Bruce Zinger.

42 43

Great performances live here.

BMO is proudto be Opera Atelier’s2017/2018 Season Sponsor.