Do we have a bargain for you!

Russell Braun in recital. Half price for friends of City Opera.

Thanks to our friend Paul Gravett at the Kay Meek Centre, and your support of City Opera, you will be able to hear the extraordinary Canadian baritone Russell Braun when you purchase two tickets for the price of one.

HOW TO PURCHASE

~Phone 604.913.3634, the Kay Meek box office

~Identify yourself as a Friend of City Opera Vancouver

~Purchase two adult tickets (regular $80.00) for the price of one ($40.00)

~NB:  this offer is NOT available online

~Young adult (19-37) tickets available at $11.00 each

~Youth (12-18) tickets available at $5.00 each

WHEN

3pm SUNDAY, 7 MARCH 2010

KAY MEEK CENTRE, WEST VANCOUVER

Many of your friends from City Opera Vancouver will be in attendance.

HOW TO GET THERE

Just enter the following in your url bar. It’s easy.

www.kaymeekcentre.com/services/location_and_map

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City Opera is now on FaceBook.

Feel free to visit us at

www.facebook.com/pages/City-Opera-Vancouver/297764267658

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WHO HE IS

Russell Braun
Baritone

“The evening’s one consistently bright spot was the Figaro of Russell Braun, who entered as if shot from a cannon and remained a spry, winning presence throughout. Braun’s elegant, soft-grained timbre and meticulous handling of verbal and musical detail were a joy to hear.” (Opera News)

“Russell Braun’s eagerly awaited account is superb in every way, notable for its smooth legato, a consistent and ravishingly beautiful tone throughout the vocal range, clear enunciation and impeccable pitch.” (Opera Canada review of Winterreise recording)

“A glorious performance in terms of vocal beauty and expressive intensity.” (The Guardian)

Thrilling, manic, glorious, superbly sung and malevolently acted, rich, powerful, elegant, soft-grained, and spine-tingling are but a few of the epithets the media have used to describe Canadian opera sensation Russell Braun. In concert, opera and recital, the international stages of the world are his – whether it be the Metropolitan Opera in New York, l’Opéra de Paris, the State Opera in Vienna, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Salzburg or the Glyndebourne Festival.

His powerful voice and commanding presence have given vigour to such roles as Billy Budd, Prince Andrei, Figaro, Papageno, Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, Pelléas, and Eugene Onegin.

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PS: Tickets for our next mainstage, Sumidagawa & Curlew River, are now on sale at www.ticketstonight.ca. More information on our website.

PPS: Our next DTES recital takes place tomorrow, 4:15 to 5:00pm, in the Homeground Festival at Oppenheimer Park. Caroline Jang, soprano. Michael Onwood, piano. Free. Wonderful. Our thanks to the Carnegie Centre.

www.cityoperavancouver.com

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BENEFIT RECITAL / 2pm / SATURDAY OCTOBER 3

City Opera will soon appear in the West End. Soprano Melanie Kreuger and pianist Greg Caisley will present a concert that could have been heard a century ago at Roedde House, a wonderfully restored Victorian mansion.

You’ll have a chance to sing along in Bless This House and The Holy City – and enjoy much more, including a song written by Pauline Johnson herself. It’s all a benefit for Roedde House and City Opera Vancouver.
1415 Barclay Street.    Tickets $25.00 at the door.  www.roeddehouse.org

Melanie Kreuger, soprano                                     Greg Caisley, pianist

NEXT MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

Beginning on 26 May 2010, partnering with UBC’s Department of Theatre and Film and numerous groups in the Japanese and other communities, City Opera will present a Canadian event premiere.

Sumidagawa and Britten’s Curlew River, which tell an identical story from 16th and 20th century perspectives, will be given in tandem. These are deeply moving works of art, and not to be missed. The extraordinary Denise Fujiwara will give the Sumidagawa element. Her work is spellbinding.

Denise Fujiwara                                          photo courtesy Cylla von Tidemann

JUNE GOLDSMITH JOINS ARTISTIC COMMITTEE

We are proud to announce that June Goldsmith, C.M., O.B.C., founder of  Music in the Morning and first producer of Curlew River in Vancouver, back in 2000, has joined the Artistic Committee of City Opera Vancouver.

PAULINE DVD ONLINE

You can now see a preview from Margaret Atwood and Christos Hatzis’ new chamber opera, Pauline, at www.cityoperavancouver.com. Even the Globe & Mail has run a sneak peek.

Pauline is City Opera’s first commission, generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Tom Lee Music, Steinway & Sons, the late Prof Abraham Rogatnick – and you… via our Support page.

Our DVD features Judith Forst as Pauline Johnson, Sam Chung as the doctor, with David Boothroyd on the piano. It was produced by Douglas Berg and a brilliant team from Vancouver’s film and television industry.

A SPECIAL INVITATION…

City Opera board member Dr Jaap Hamburger trained as a composer and pianist at the Royal Amsterdam Conservatory. On 2 and 4 October, 8pm at Ryerson United Church, you will be able to hear his latest work, Remember to Forget, given in premiere by the Turning Point Ensemble.  www.turningpointensemble.ca

A SAD INVITATION…

Our friend and patron, Prof Abraham Rogatnick, passed away at age 85 on 28 August 2009. A memorial will be held in the Great Hall of the Law Courts buildings, 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver, at 2pm Sunday 25 October.

A SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS…

You may know that the box office hit of the summer has been the remarkable sci-fi morality tale, District 9. You may not know that the film’s editor, Julian Clarke, is the son of City Opera’s president, Dr Nora Kelly.

WHO WAS CARLOS KLEIBER?

On 26 September, from 12:15 – 13:00 GMT, our Artistic Director appears in a Saturday Music Feature documentary on BBC Radio 3, Who Was Carlos Kleiber? This essay includes Placido Domingo, Christine Lemke-Matvey, and Sir Peter Jonas, and examines the art of legendary conductor Carlos Kleiber. It may be heard at www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/weekschedule/. It will be available by podcast for a week thereafter.

STANDING WITH OUR FRIENDS

As many friends of the arts are unhappily aware, there is currently a full-blown funding crisis in British Columbia, unleashed by the provincial government’s sudden withdrawal of gaming funds previously awarded to arts organizations. A few specific cuts have been reversed, but most arts groups must now plug a significant gap in their budgets. City Opera will be asking your support for our new productions. Your donations are now more important than ever. We thank you, more than ever.

www.cityoperavancouver.com

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