City Opera of Vancouver is a professional chamber opera company in Vancouver, Canada, founded in 2006. Its past productions include the Vancouver premiere of Nigredo Hotel by Ann-Marie MacDonald and Nic Gotham; commission and premiere of 'Missing', by librettist Marie Clements and composer Brian Current, given in co-production with Pacific Opera Victoria; the premiere of a 'new' Mozart chamber opera, 'The Lost Operas of Mozart'; the world premiere of Pauline, a chamber opera with an original libretto by Margaret Atwood; the commission and workshop premiere of 'Fallujah', with music by Tobin Stokes and libretto by Heather Raffo, and supported by the Annenberg Foundation of Los Angeles; the Canadian event premiere of Sumidagawa and Curlew River in double bill; and, the British Columbia premiere of Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis.
Performance venues
City Opera of Vancouver led efforts to restore Vancouver's Pantages Theatre as a home for the company as well as the Vancouver Cantonese Opera and Vancouver Moving Theatre. Built by Alexander Pantages in 1907, the building was considered to be the oldest remaining vaudeville theatre in Western Canada and was listed as one of Vancouver's heritage buildings. However, after Vancouver City Council voted to refuse restoration in 2011, the structure was demolished, and the company now uses other proscenium houses in Metro Vancouver as its performing venues.
Board and advisors
City Opera is managed by an incorporated non-profit Board of Directors, headed by President Janet Lea. It is a member of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, and a Community Partner of the Canadian Music Centre. Its staff includes Conductor and Artistic Director Dr Charles Barber, and General Manager Victoria Wilcott. Roger Parton serves as Staff Coache and accompanist, and David Kerr as Production Manager. The company's musical advisors were the late Sir Charles Mackerras, and remain Sean Bickerton, Robert Baker, and Colin Miles of the Canadian Music Centre. City Opera's honorary patron is Evgeny Kissin.
Productions
Der Kaiser von Atlantis
On 1 February 2009, City Opera gave the British Columbia premiere of Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis (Der Kaiser von Atlantis). It was attended and addressed by the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, the Honourable Steven Point. Subsequent remarks and analysis were provided by Dr Jaap Hamburger, a child of Auschwitz survivors. This chamber opera, professionally produced, was undertaken in partnership with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. It was written at Theresienstadt in 1944, and has been recorded by Decca.
Sumidagawa and Curlew River
Opening 26 May 2010, City Opera (together with co-producers UBC Drama and Film, and Blackbird Theatre) gave the Canadian premiere of Sumidagawa together with the opera it inspired, Benjamin Britten's Curlew River. The first, drawn from the 15th-century Japanese noh play, starred Butoh artist Denise Fujiwara as Madwoman in a choreography by Natsu Nakajima. The second starred tenor Isaiah Bell as Madwoman, together with John Minágro, Sam Marcacinni, Joel Klein, and members of the Vancouver Cantata Singers. It was directed by John Wright of Blackbird Theatre, with scenography by Robert Gardiner of UBC Theatre and Film.