Opera 101

We are frequently asked questions from “what should I wear to the opera?” to “what is the difference between opera and music theatre?” Opera 101 will feature in-depth answers to questions such as these throughout the season.

Calgary Opera’s first opera commission was Turtle Wakes, a one act opera for young audiences by Allan Gordon Bell and Rick McNair. (pictured: Heidi Breier as Rose and Marc Adolph as Robert) Photo by Trudie Lee.

A History of Canadian Opera

Calgary Opera patrons are certainly aware of new Canadian operas. The commissioning of the one act operas Turtle Wakes and now Hannaraptor for young audiences, and the full scale productions of Filumena and Frobisher have evoked a sense of pride in being Canadian - especially Western Canadian. The themes of these operas reflect our heritage and culture. Among the new Canadian operas made in the last century, too often these operas were performed once and never seen again. This could be because the casts were too large, scenery too cumbersome to travel, lack of arts funding and/or new works being too much of a financial risk for an opera company to undertake. Thankfully opera does continue to be written and performed across Canada, despite the risk.

One of the best-known Canadian operas, Louis Riel premiered at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto in 1967.

Here is a short history. There is evidence of light operas being performed in Canada from 1914 onward, but there was a real outburst of activity in the early 1940s due to the patronage of the burgeoning Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Many operas were written for radio, such as Healy Willan’s Transit Through Fire, which was broadcast in 1942. Canada’s 100th birthday in 1967 marked a high moment of Canadian nationalism, so it is not surprising that opera flourished. Government money through the Canada Council was made available for new commissions and there was an explosion of new operatic productions, such as Murray Adaskin’s Grant, Warden of the Plains, Raymond Pannell’s The Luck of Ginger Coffey, and perhaps the best known, Mavor Moore and Harry Somers’ Louis Riel.

Louis Riel was first performed at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto in 1967 and had a revival as a McGill University student production in 2005. Harry Somers, in collaboration with Rod Anderson, has also written Mario and the Magiciani based on Thomas Mann’s novel of the same name, which was performed by the Canadian Opera Company at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto in 1992. The Golden Ass, written by Randolph Peters and the late Robertson Davies, was performed at the O’Keefe Centre to great acclaim in 1999. Pacific Opera Victoria produced Mavor Moore and Louis Applebaum’s Erewhon in 2000. Tapestry Music Theatre produced Chan Ka Nin’s The Iron Road, an opera about Chinese labourers on the Western Canadian Railway. Another exciting operatic venture about Canada’s little discussed history of slavery is the passionate tale of Beatrice Chancy by James Rolfe and George Elliot Clarke.

The Golden Ass was performed at the O’Keefe Centre to great acclaim in 1999. Photo by Gary Beechey

Who best to receive new Canadian works but children? Theirs is the joy of new works. Dean Burry’s The Hobbitt and The Brothers Grimm have been produced across Canada, and The Brothers Grimm was recently toured by our own Emerging Artists in spring 2007. Vancouver Opera has toured Naomi’s Road and the Canadian Childrens’ Opera chorus has generated Dr. Cannon’s Cure and A Mid-Winter Night’s Dream. New Canadian operas are alive and well. Let’s see and hear more of them.

Further Learning:

OPERA AMERICA's Introduction to Opera: A brief history of Opera