October upcoming

Music – concerts and opera

  • 2nd October – UoT Opera perform at noon in the RBA
  • 3rd October – Mozart’s Così fan tutte opens at the COC. Seven performances to October 18th
  • 6th October – Soundstreams present Steve Reich at 80 at Koerner Hall
  • 13th October – Tracy Dahl gives a recital at noon in the RBA
  • 15th October – Opera Atelier preview their upcoming Charpentier show in the RBA
  • 16th October – Toronto Operetta Theatre present La Grande-Duchess de Gérolstein in the Jane Mallett Theatre
  • 22nd October – Opera Atelier open The Death of Orpheus at Koerner Hall. Further shows on the 23rd and 24th
  • 29th October – Emma Nikolovska is in recital at Koerner Hall
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Opera Atelier’s Pelléas et Mélisande is a very mixed bag

Opera Atelier opened a production of Debussy’s symbolist opera Pelléas et Mélisande at Koerner Hall on Wednesday evening with direction by Marshall Pynkoski and choreography by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg.  Let’s start by making it clear that this is not an attempt to present the opera as it was seen or heard when it premiered in 1902 or even to try and reproduce that aesthetic with more modern technology which, I think, is what’s usually meant by “Historically Informed Performance” (HIP).  The extent to which any recent Opera Atelier production is HIP is a discussion perhaps left for another day.

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More season announcements

Following on from yesterday’s COC announcement we now have the TSO’s 2026/27 season announcement.  It’s the usual mix of Classics, Pops, Films and Young People’s concerts.  The Classics section is heavy on standard rep with lots of Beethoven and some big name soloists.  There are, however, three concerts with significant vocal content:

  • November 12th and 14th 2026 Rachel Willis-Sørensen is performing Strauss’ Four Last Songs.  There’s also a Beethoven 4th on that programme.
  • June 17th and 19th 2027 we get Mahler’s monumental 8th Symphony.  If you were impressed by Sarah Dufresne (pictured above) in Rigoletto, she’s one of the soloists for the Mahler.
  • And, speaking of COC stars this year’s Messiah features Deepa Johnny along with Louise Alder, Paul Appleby and Joshua Hopkins (December 15th to 20th 2026).

Here’s the full season brochure.TSO 2026_27 Subscription Brochure

Also recently announced, Opera Atelier’s 2026/27 offering.  They have two shows; both at Koerner Hall.

  • October 22nd to 25th they are performing Charpentier’s The Descent of Orpheus featuring Mireilles Asselin and Lebel, among others.  Chris Bagan conducts which is welcome.
  • April 15th to 18th 2027 there’s a remount of Handel’s The Resurrection.  Carla Huhtanen and Meghan Lindsay reprise their roles but the rest of the cast is new.

Full details of casts and creative teams are here.

Rainelle Krause’s Queen of the Night

In my review of Opera Atelier’s production of The Magic Flute I had this t say about Rainelle Krause’s Queen of the Night… “Her coloratura was powerful and pinpoint, and as the applause died down she reappeared and reprised the most spectacular section with additional stratospheric high notes.”

Now you can see the reprise for yourself on Instagram.  I wasn’t kidding.

Magic Flute preview

Opera Atelier’s fall offering this year is a remount of the Magic Flute in essentially the version that first appeared in 1991.  It’s sung in English and we got a preview in the RBA on Thursday.  It was basically a working rehearsal of the opera’s opening plus a few other scenes with Chris Bagan at the piano.

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Opera Atelier 2025/26

Opera Atelier has announced its 2025/26 season and while it’s not especially surprising it is intriguing.  As usual it’s two shows.  The first show is pretty conventional.  It’s a revival of OA’s production of The Magic Flute at the Elgin Theatre on October 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th 2025.  Nice cast though with Colin Ainsworth as Tamino, Meghan Lindsey as Pamina, Douglas Williams as Papageno, Karine White as Papagena and Stephen Hegedus as Sarastro.

Soprano Meghan Lindsay as Mélisande and bass baritone Douglas Williams as Golaud in Act One of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in Opera Atelier’s fully-staged production of ALL IS LOVE. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

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