Like everything else the 2020 Rubies, Opera Canada‘s awards show, is going virtual this year. It’s going out as a video, produced by Taylor Long of the COC, which will premier at 8pm on November 23rd. Joyce El-Khoury hosts and Ben Heppner narrates the honouree videos, and then Barbara Hannigan, Michael Schade and Yannick Nezet-Seguin contribute ‘acceptance’ speeches. Plus there’s a tribute to this year’s posthumous honouree, tenor Edward Johnson. There are also performances by Russell Braun, Rihab Chaieb, Midori Marsh and Matt Cairns recorded in the studio with pianist and singer co-located. The show will be shown via OC’s Youtube channel.
There’s much more about the honourees and their careers on the Opera Canada website:
The COC had a decent year but two of their shows stood out for me. David McVicar’s production of 
Last evening I attended a session with Barbara Hannigan under the auspices of the IRCPA. The format was an interview with William Littler followed by audience Q & A. In many ways it was typical Hannigan. She came across as smart, incredibly driven, analytical and with quite a wicked sense of humour. This I have seen before and there wasn’t much about her work methods that added to the information in 
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