So the COC is set to release details of the 2024/25 season some time in late February so in the interests of tradition I’ll have a go at guessing what we will hear.  I have to admit that i have very little confidence in my predictions as the combination of COVID and new management has disrupted old patterns and new ones are not yet very apparent.  Even the sacrificial goat liver (see left) isn’t helping much.  There have been two complete seasons since COVID.  One featured five revivals and the other five “new to Toronto” productions sourced from other houses.  COC commissions, new productions or co-pros were noticeably absent.  It’s probably also fair to say that there was a distinctly conservative vibe to the productions.  I’m not saying horned helmets and crinolines but it’s noticeable that the revivals haven’t included any of the COC’s edgier efforts.

So, moving on to 24/25 there’s only one sure thing.  I don’t think it’s a secret that the season will include Ian Cusson and Cherie Dimaline’s Empire of Wild from her magic realism/fantasy werewolf novel.  So that leaves five more slots and very little to go on!  Presumably with a new opera/new production anything else remotely modern or even a new COC production of something older is not likely.  The only obvious revival would be Barber of Seville.  There’s no reason why the COC wouldn’t bring back a production that’s been positively received twice now.

One would think there has to be some Verdi since there wasn’t any this season.  One option, which was planned for the cancelled COVID season, would be to revive the Albery Aida.  I would love that but it got a very mixed reaction first time out.  I think it’s the kind of production that could help build a younger audience but the PtB seem more intent on not upsetting their dwindling band of traditionalists.  There is a COC co-pro of La forza del destino out there.  It’s an opera that needs to be seen at the COC but co-pros don’t seem to count for much anymore.  Equally though they might bring back the Alden Rigoletto.  I’m going to stick my neck out and say Aida.

The obvious Mozart, and there’s almost always Mozart, would be Così fan tutte since it’s the only one of the popular ones that hasn’t been done very recently.  Surely there has to be something that’s not Italian (other than the Cusson); a German or Slavic language work perhaps?  It’s also been a while since the COC did anything French bar multiple Carmens.  The Carsen Rosenkavalier would tick a lot of boxes.  As for French, a revival of Iphigénie en Tauride wouldn’t be especially expensive and it’s a good production.  On the other hand why not some French comedy?  La Fille du Régiment, one of the Offenbach operettas or even an off-the-wall piece like Saint-Saëns Phryné would do the trick and might well  be a box office winner.

There could be something earlier than Mozart I suppose but I doubt it.  There are some Handel possibilities.  The COC hasn’t done Giulio Cesare for maybe 20 years.  A more likely bet, given that two of three of the COC’s most recent Handel productions have been a staged version of an English language oratorio, would be something like the recent ROH Theodora.  But is Handel in the current management’s wheelhouse?  Time will tell.

That would leave one slot that would likely go to something mainstream; likely bel canto or Puccini.  There’s a bit of a trend to shorter shows pretty much everywhere so I wouldn’t rule out something like Gianni Schicchi perhaps without a mate or perhaps more likely coupled with something very short and light like L’Enfant et les sortilèges.  Just please, please don’t bring back that dreadful ice cream van L’elisir d’amore.

So there’s my list:

Empire of Wild and Barber of Seville (high probability)
Aida and Così fan tutte (educated guesses)
La Fille du Régiment and Gianii Schicchi with or without L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (SWAG)

and possible but not making the cut; La forza del destino, Rigoletto, Iphigénie en Tauride, some Offenbach, Rosenkavalier, Guilio Cesare, Theodora.