There are familiar elements and some less familiar ones in Tapestry’s announcement of their 40th anniversary season.  Tap:Ex, Songbook and the LibLab are all there and there are also four new commissions.  The innovation lies in the fact that the LibLab will be a bilingual collaboration with Opéra de Montréal and in the return of two previously performed works which, I think, is a first for the company.

So, roughly chronologically we are going to get:

• November 2019: Tap:Ex: Augmented Opera where opera and augmented reality intersect.  It’s a partnership with Sidewalk Labs and will take place at their Queens Quay venue.
• February 2020: The world premiere of Jacqueline, a new full-length opera by composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Royce Vavrek. Starring soprano Marnie Breckenridge and cellist Matt Haimovitz, Jacqueline tells the tragic story of British cellist Jacqueline du Pré.
• March 2020: Songbook X featuring Krisztina Szabo and pianist Chris Foley.
• April 2020: The return of Rocking Horse Winner, featuring several members of the original 2016 cast, including tenor Asitha Tennekoon.
• July 2020: The return of Iron Road; a landmark in Tapestry’s historycombining western opera and Chinese opera and not seen since 2001.

In the works but with no dates announced are:

• R.U.R. – A torrent of light; a new full-length opera by composers Nicole Lizée and librettist Nicolas Billon in venue and design partnership with OCAD U. R.U.R. follows the story of Helen and Dominique, founding partners of a major tech and robotics company, as they grapple with their next innovation and the rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence.
• A new co-commission with Opera Philadelphia
• A new site-specific opera by the creators of Iron Road, Ka Nin Chan and Mark Brownell in partnership with Luminato.
• A new site-specific opera by composer Brian Current and librettist Liza Balkan.  This may feature Glenn Gould, Geoff Sirett and a wall but that’s strictly off the record!