Thanks to you, your support, and your belief in chamber opera, this has been a great year for our company. In calendar 2011, we:

• Received $250,000 USD from the Annenberg Foundation / Explore of Los Angeles. This supports the creation of a remarkable new opera set at Fallujah and NYC in 2004. Music by Canadian Tobin Stokes, libretto by American Heather Raffo, based on a scenario by Christian Ellis, USMC (ret’d).
• It is the largest commissioning grant in Canadian history. There have been three workshops to date: 15 and 16 May, actors only, text only; 13 and 14 September, singers and piano, Act 1; 13 and 14 November, singers and piano, Act 1 (revised) and Act 2. Coming: April 2012, first rehearsal of 11-piece orchestra. May 2012, final workshop, with orchestra, at Frederic Wood Theatre.
• It was the subject of a half-page feature by Marsha Lederman in the Globe & Mail.
• Signed an agreement to bring the world premiere of Brokeback Mountain as chamber opera, this to Vancouver in the spring of 2015. This is, of course, based on the eponymous short story (1997) and film (2005), both of which earned enormous praise.
• Continued work on Margaret Atwood’s first opera, Pauline, set at Vancouver in March 1913, and starring the great Judith Forst as Pauline Johnson. The text workshops have been concluded. Johnson was an important Canadian artist whose life ended in a rooming house at Bute x Alberni, where our opera is set. Pauline Johnson named Lost Lagoon, and is buried in Stanley Park.
• Saw the formal launch of Canadian Classics. It is a new series first proposed by City Opera and is now managed and distributed by Naxos, the world’s largest classical recording company. The first recording, Jeff Ryan’s Fugitive Colours, was released with Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in September.
• Gave concerts and recitals at Minoru Chapel in Richmond (twice; November 2 concert pictured above), Roedde House, the DTES, Carnegie Centre, Italian Days on Commercial Drive, MacMillan Planetarium, Granville Island (three times), and more. These many concerts and recitals derive from our mission statement: “Our goal is to bring chamber opera to a wide audience.”
• Launched a project to expand — carefully and meticulously — our extraordinary Board of Directors. Building from strength, and taking the long view.

Above: ‘Fallujah’ workshop No. 3 at the Tom Lee Music Hall,
and the Carnegie Centre, November 13 and 14

Supporting City Opera

Gifts to City Opera are tax-deductible in Canada, and in the United States. We are now able to receive tax-deductible gifts of bonds and securities in Canada.

If you like what we do, we ask your help.

To produce the operas we create, and re-create, and to continue to bring opera in concert across Metro, we ask your help.

We have also created a Commissioning Fund, and a Production Fund, to allow supporters to nominate gifts for work that you may feel particularly important. Anything you might contribute would be incredibly helpful.

• ONLINE THROUGH CANADA HELPS
  Donate any time via the City Opera page at CanadaHelps.org.
• DONATING SECURITIES THROUGH CANADA HELPS
  http://mycharityconnects.org/donatingsecurities
• BY CHEQUE
  City Opera Vancouver
  PO Box 88393
  Vancouver BC V6A 4A6
  CANADA
• IN THE UNITED STATES
  We are now able to issue valid tax receipts for gifts originating in the United States. How? Please contact City Opera Treasurer Hazel Currie: info@cityoperavancouver.com.

2012 will be an exciting year for chamber opera in Metro Vancouver. Your help makes it possible. Thanks for considering us.

Khaos In Nelson

We believe in mutual aid. City Opera was delighted this year to be asked to serve as outside advisor in the creation of an important new opera, KHAOS, being produced by our colleagues at Nelson Community Opera and the Amy Ferguson Institute.

The Nelson premiere will be given at the Capitol Theatre on 8, 9 and 10 March 2012, with a possible held-over performance on March 13. KHAOS will tour thereafter. Music by Don Macdonald, and libretto by Nicola Harwood. www.khaosopera.com Contact: mar-lena@shaw.ca.

Carlos Kleiber

Our artistic director knew and studied with the legendary conductor Carlos Kleiber for 15 years. He has written a book about him. Corresponding With Carlos: A Biography of Carlos Kleiber, was released in NYC on 25 November.

Here, a small exemplar of unsurpassed elegance and phrase: Carlos Kleiber leading the Vienna Philharmonic in 1989.

And A Final Thanks…

to our wonderful Board, advisors, staff, stage and creative artists, our production partners, our business and community partners, our coaches and singers – and above all to you, whose generosity is helping build Canada’s leading chamber opera company.

Happy Holidays to all, and thanks for all. A great year lies ahead.

Back on 15 April 2007, City Opera proposed the creation of a new recording series, Canadian Classics. Klaus Heymann (the owner of Naxos, the world’s largest classical recording company) said “yes”. Work began.

On 24 September, we launched Canadian Classics right here in Vancouver. This is a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra release of an all-Jeff Ryan album, Fugitive Colours, conducted by Bramwell Tovey. It is quite brilliant. We thank the Canadian Federation of Musicians for making it possible.

Canadian Classics will continue with music from 1800 to the present. This repertoire will be in vocal, piano, small ensemble, wind band, symphonic and — ultimately — operatic literature. We thank the many scholars and musicians who have recommended repertoire for this new series — and especially thank manager Raymond Bisha, the Director of Media Relations for Naxos in North America.

This new series will take Canadian music to the world. The distribution reach of Naxos is enormous. City Opera Vancouver is proud to have proposed Canadian Classics, and grateful for Naxos’ willingness to take it on.

Second Annenberg / Explore Chamber Opera Workshop

The $250,000 grant we received from the Annenberg Foundation is being put to good use. On 18 and 19 September we spent another two days in workshop. Composer Tobin Stokes and librettist Heather Raffo were joined by our cast, director John Wright, story consultant Christian Ellis, staff pianist Dr Greg Caisley, and the Board and friends of the company. Charles Annenberg Weingarten and Tom Pollak flew in from LA to see how we were doing with their opera. Dr Hilde Binford flew in from Pennsylvania to help. We focused on Act 1 only. Many thanks to Canadian Actors Equity.

It was magical. Wonderful. Deeply moving. Here’s our workshop cast…

Ken Lavigne, Phillip; Christopher Mayell, Taylor and Lucas van Lierop, cover; Marc St Pierre, Wissam; Daniel Foltz-Morrison, corpsman; Willy Miles-Grenzberg, Lalo; Nickolas Meyer, Rocks; Megan Morrison, Colleen; Arianna Sovernigo, Shatha; and Stephen Aberle, Kassim. They are superb. Next workshop in November.

More pictures on our Facebook page.

How To Make An Opera

On Monday 14 November, from 7:30 – 9pm, we present ‘how we make an opera’ to the good people of the Carnegie Centre in the DTES. We’ll be joined by members of the Annenberg-Explore cast.

CACV Tea Party

The Community Arts Council of Vancouver began life 65 years ago. Five years ago, we became an affiliate. They helped us get off to a speedy start.

On Sunday 2 October, at the Museum of Vancouver in Vanier Park, they’re having a tea party in celebration of their refusal to retire. City Opera artists Kathleen Morrison (soprano), Andrew Greenwood (baritone) and David Boothroyd (piano) will be performing. Max Wyman hosts. Please join us, and meet good friends.

Pauline & Brokeback Mountain

Steady work continues on our two other chamber commissions. We plan to make a major announcement about casting, funding, and dates in the near future. These are both great projects. You will be proud.

Opera At Minoru Chapel

We’ve been asked back. Twice in one day.

At Richmond’s heritage Minoru Chapel, 6540 Gilbert Road, we’ll be appearing at 2 and 7pm on Wednesday 2 November. This is another of our many outreach concerts, and will feature Gina McLellan Morel, soprano; Willy Miles-Grenzberg, baritone; Richard Epp, pianist, and narrator Tom Durrie. All proceeds to our Production Fund.

Tickets $20. INFO: 604.276.4300, local 2.

David Y.H. Lui, CM

A great friend of our company, impresario David YH Lui has passed away at age 67. This was 200 years too soon for a man of his gifts, vitality and imagination. David was also Advisor to our original Pantages Theatre Project, and to a dozen other groups in Vancouver. He was helping us raise money for Brokeback. This was a life of amazing accomplishment in the arts. Bravo and well done, David.

Corresponding With Carlos

In 1989, our artistic director wrote a letter to the legendary, and famously reclusive, conductor Carlos Kleiber. He asked to study with him. The great maestro replied, and so began a 15-year correspondence, friendship and apprenticeship. On 16 November, a new book will be published in NYC about their unique connection, and the stunning musical genius that was Kleiber. Corresponding With Carlos: A Biography of Carlos Kleiber. ISBN-10: 0810881438. It has many good jokes.

CK was, perhaps, the most eloquent conductor who ever lived. If you’ve never seen him, here, one of his many small miracles – with the Vienna Philharmonic.

City Opera Vancouver Online

Website: www.cityoperavancouver.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/City-Opera-Vancouver/297764267658
Blog: http://cityoperavancouver.com/blog/

This project, City Opera’s second commission, is rolling ahead. Based on the real-life experiences of Christian Ellis (USMC, ret’d), who fought at the Battle of Fallujah in 2004, this is one of our most unusual and powerful creations. It is funded by a landmark $250,000 grant from the Los Angeles-based Annenberg Foundation, and its Explore organization.

Our first of four workshops was held on 15 and 16 May, and saw nine professional actors road-testing the libretto. This workshop was led by director John Wright, together with librettist Heather Raffo, composer Tobin Stokes, story consultant Christian Ellis and City Opera Artistic Committee members Harvey De Roo, Nora Kelly, and Janet Lea.

Table read with actors, Canadian Music Centre, 15 May 2011

Director John Wright, story consultant Christian Ellis, Russian Hall, 16 May 2011

On 29 and 30 May, we held auditions for the professional singers who will take the nine roles over the next year. These auditions attracted three dozen fine artists. It is always difficult to cast for an opera that doesn’t yet exist, but we will be announcing our choices very shortly. All thanks to Auditions Manager Sonia Stastny, pianist Greg Caisley, our Board members and volunteers, and our friends at Dunbar Heights United Church. More information on our website.

Board director Janet Lea, staff pianist Greg Caisley, workshop director John Wright

Workshop Two (focusing on Act 1) is set for 18 and 19 September, and Workshop Three (focusing on Act 2) for 13 and 14 November. The final workshop, with a 12-piece orchestra in the theatre, concludes on Sunday 13 May 2012.

Brokeback Mountain

The famed short story by Annie Proulx, and the Academy Award-winning film by Ang Lee, is becoming an opera. Its composer is Charles Wuorinen, and its librettist Annie Proulx herself. On 5 April 2011 we signed an agreement that gives City Opera its world premiere as a chamber opera.

This is a deeply moving story, and will be a wonderful event: intimate, powerful, engaging, memorable. We expect to present it in early 2015. More information here.

Pauline

Our first commission is now scheduled for world premiere in 2013. This coincides with the passing of Pauline Johnson, in Vancouver, a century before. It is another wonderful story in music.

City Opera At Italian Day

Every year, City Opera Vancouver offers concerts and recitals across Metro. Regularly in the DTES, and recently in Richmond, we present wonderful young singers in great repertoire. Again this year we were honoured to headline at Italian Day on Commercial Drive.

Richard Epp, Andrey Andreychik, Rachel Fenlon, and hundreds in the crowd

On 5 June soprano Rachel Fenlon, baritone Andrey Andreychik, pianist Richard Epp, led by narrator and producer Tom Durrie, charmed the crowd. No wonder. Immediately after, we got an e-mail from someone attending asking to take voice lessons. She’s fallen in love with opera. Rightly so!

City Opera Vancouver Online

Our Website

Facebook Page

City Opera Blog

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WHAT WE’RE DOING: If you can give, or help us find, auctionable works, we will convert those donations into our Production Fund. Art work in storage is our primary target, but artists have agreed to donate and, already, we know that some supporters are taking works down from their walls in aid of this project!

Donors get a charitable tax receipt for the appraised amount in addition to the spine-tingling feeling that accompanies knowing they’ve helped us continue to bring new chamber opera performances to Vancouver audiences. (Plus an invitation-only recital for donors after the auctions.)

The works will be handled by Heffel’s, Vancouver’s well-known art auctioneers. Works appraised at $50,000 or more will be placed in their seasonal live auction, and other works in an on-line auction. We hope to collect at least fifty works by mid-August to be auctioned this fall.

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Our goal is to raise $250,000. A small portion will pay our immediate bills. The rest will create a solid foundation for the work of the next two years, including preparations for the opera Pauline, based on the life of the poet Pauline Johnson, with a libretto by Margaret Atwood and music by Christos Hatzis. Your support now will help us access grants that will make the company sustainable in the long term.

The auction work is being assembled by Bill Jeffries, Director of the Simon Fraser University Gallery – he is happy to answer any questions you may have and may be contacted at: bjeffries@telus.net or 604-253-2550.

CITY OPERA VANCOUVER: a professional chamber opera company

Nora Kelly
President

www.cityoperavancouver.com

This has been such a great quarter for City Opera Vancouver, and its many artistic and community partners. We gave the Canadian event premiere of Sumidagawa & Curlew River, co-produced with UBC Theatre and Film, and Blackbird Theatre. It received remarkable reviews, and an overwhelming audience response.

Like to download the actual programme book? Here it is.

Our thanks also to the many groups that helped us present this double bill: explorASIAN, Nikkei Place, the Japanese Language School and Hall, The Bulletin of the Japanese-Canadian Citizens’ Association, the Powell Street Festival, UBC Asian Studies, the UBC Alumni Association, and the Vancouver International Song Institute / VISI. A special thanks to Accent Inns for providing artist accommodation.

Sumidagawa and Curlew River Photos

View many more on our Facebook page, which features plenty of inside information. Not on Facebook? Now you have an excellent reason to join!

Opera Prevents Drowning…

On June 6 we appeared in Italian Day on Commercial Drive, with soprano Mariana Valdés and tenor Nicolas Rhind, joined by City Opera staff pianist Greg Caisley. This free set was organized by Tom Durrie. Two hundred people stayed and cheered in the downpour. Amazing.

Italian Week Opening Celebrations

We were then asked to participate in a major event at the Italian Cultural Centre. On June 20 City Opera Vancouver presented soprano Mariana Valdés and tenor Andrzej Jeziorski, accompanied by our staff pianist Greg Caisley, in a programme of Italian operatic highlights at the ICC on Slocan Street. Tom Durrie was our producer and narrator.

News Flash!

And because these events were so successful, we were just asked by the City of Richmond to participate in an opera series at their beautiful Minoru Chapel this fall. Yes, of course. Opera belongs everywhere.

Membership in City Opera Vancouver Society

Are you a City Opera member? Current memberships in the City Opera of Vancouver Society expire June 30^th. Please consider renewing your membership this month.

Not a member yet?  Please join us.

The modest membership fee of $25.00 per year offers advance information and seating privileges. Membership fees also help support the company’s day-to-day operations as it prepares for new productions. Cheques may be made out to ‘City Opera Vancouver’, PO Box 88393, Vancouver V6A 4A6.

City Opera Vancouver aims to be as affordable as possible. This year, although we presented a double bill at Sumidagawa/Curlew River, we did not raise ticket prices. Please consider making a donation in addition to your membership. Every bit of support helps. We issue tax receipts for gifts over $25.00.

City Opera’s Next Production:

An Art Auction

A fundraising art auction to benefit City Opera Vancouver will be held this fall. We are looking for auctionable art. Can you help? Do you know anyone who might? If so, please contact us at info@cityoperavancouver.com. More details to come in a Special Edition of this E-letter.

Pauline rolls ahead…

Pauline, the new chamber opera by Margaret Atwood and Christos Hatzis,  starring Judith Forst as Pauline Johnson, is well underway. Our story is set at Vancouver in March of 1913. An excerpt from Act One is now available on DVD, and online at our website. www.cityoperavancouver.com

VISI / Wonderful concerts ahead

Our friends at VISI are offering one of their strongest public concert lineups in years. We strongly urge City Opera folks to consider enjoying…

TUESDAY 22 June / 10:30 am

Silk Purse, 1570 Argyle Avenue, West Vancouver

Emerging Artists take the Stage!

The next generation of extraordinary Art Song performers.

$12 • 604.925.7292 • silkpurse.ca

More information about the entire VISI Calendar at www.songinstitute.ca

Finally… audience and media reviews for Sumidagawa and Curlew River

“Almost unbearably beautiful.”

“Tenor Isaiah Bell, as the Madwoman, sang fervently with a varied palette and much eloquence.”

Elissa Poole, The Globe and Mail

“Magnificent.”

Hilary Clark, Opera Canada

“Magical, very enriching, captivating, mesmerizing…”

Joy Coghill

“What a fantastic show. A delight to see, a delight to hear. Bravo orchestra. In a way, a grim evening, but so powerful that it didn’t matter… I am hardly a dance enthusiast, but Sumidagawa worked fabulously, too.”

George Zukerman

“Juro Motomasa’s Noh play featured the Toronto butoh artist Denise Fujiwara, whose modern performance was freighted with an intense, ritual, hieratic slowness designed as if to delay time down to speeds and meanings beyond temporal reality.”

“This was a powerful telling of the story with a uniformly strong cast of singers…”

Lloyd Dykk, The Georgia Straight

“I enjoyed the performance last Friday night thoroughly, thoroughly, it was a great treat for me – and such inspiration.  Thank you so much.  Seeing the performances of the two artists performing the madwomen was a deeply moving experience – tremendously sad but of such beauty I wished it would never end.  The images are planted deeply into my heart. I am so glad, glad, glad you are doing the work you are doing.”

Savannah Walling, Vancouver Moving Theatre

“This is an honest production grappling with a complex and enigmatic work.”

…confident playing from flute, horn and percussion made Britten’s detailed, difficult score shine out with all the pathos and power latent in this remarkable fusion of East and West.

Tenor Isaiah Bell is up to almost everything Britten throws at him in the pivotal role of the Madwoman, from stark passages with only a glimpse of instrumental support to extravagant descants floating over complex ensemble numbers that mark critical points in the often austere score.”

David Gordon Duke, The Vancouver Sun

“I almost hesitate to write for fear my words of praise will be inadequate to describe last night’s production. I think I should just say it was one of the most powerful, moving experiences I have ever had in the theatre, and I so admire City Opera Vancouver for its vision and courage in staging a presentation that bridged such an enormous cultural gap so successfully.”

Rosemary Cunningham, author, Bravo! The History of Opera in British Columbia

“Tenor Isaiah Bell as the Madwoman was breathtaking. He sustained an intensity of emotion which never toppled into hysteria. His restrained gestures, like the Madwoman’s simple, haunting curlew motif in the music, slowly built suppressed tension and let Britten’s music work its magic.”

Elizabeth Paterson, Review Vancouver

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SUMIDAGAWA & CURLEW RIVER
OPENING ON MAY 26

This is a double bill, and a first in Canada. The artistic and production teams are in place, support from the Nikkei community has been tremendous, coaching has begun, and in May you will see something utterly unique: Natsu Nakajima & Benjamin Britten. Japanese dance & Western opera. Together.

Two great traditions. One great story.

Please join us at the Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC, on 26, 27 and 28 May at 7:30pm, and 30 May at 2:30pm. Lots of parking at the nearby Chan Centre.

General admission, $40.00. Students with current ID, $26.00.

We believe this will sell out, as did our Emperor of Atlantis last season. This is rare and special work. It is the simple and universal story of a woman driven mad by the loss of her child. It is the same story told from the vantage of two cultures.

Tickets available in person
Sikora’s Classical Records, 432 West Hastings, 604.685.0625

Tickets available online at www.ticketstonight.ca

Production logo by JADE, www.twentyfourworks.com

A 2011 HEADS UP

In 2011, very early in the New Year, City Opera will be doing our first run-out event. It will take place in White Rock — very special, and much fun. More news to come!

RUSSELL BRAUN RECITAL

City Opera members and supporters were given a unique bargain last month, and many of our friends took full advantage. We’ll be offering more of the same to come – in thanks for your support of our work. And thanks to our friends at the Kay Meek Centre for making it possible.

AND COMMITTED TO THE DTES

City Opera remains deeply committed to bringing our people and our music to Canada’s poorest neighbourhood. We were last there on 19 February, performing at the Homeground Festival at Oppenheimer Park, under the auspices of our friends at the Carnegie Centre.

Caroline Jang, soprano, and Michael Onwood, piano gave a programme of Gounod, Douglas Moore, Schubert, Arlen & Harburg, Gershwin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Puccini and more to an enchanted audience of about 70 people. It was a wonderful hour.

Thank you for reading this.

www.cityoperavancouver.com

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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On May 29, City Opera Vancouver will be holding the first in a series of workshops to develop new Canadian chamber opera.
‘Sea Change’, with music by Constantine Caravassilis and libretto by Nora Kelly, is given in partnership with the Vancouver International Song Institute and Dunbar Heights United Church. It will involve 10 singers, pianist Greg Caisley, numerous volunteers, and the distinguished stage director John Wright, formerly with UBC and now Artistic Director of Blackbird Theatre. Proceedings will be recorded by videographer Sid Chow Tan. Our next? October 2009.

PAULINE DVD
On 26 March we filmed an 11-minute excerpt from our first commissioned chamber opera, ‘Pauline’. This remarkable work has been written by Margaret Atwood, and its music is being composed by Christos Hatzis. The Canada Council has awarded a major grant toward its composition.
Thanks to the Tom Lee Music Hall, and Steinway & Sons, the project was recorded without charge in their splendid facility. Judith Forst stars as Pauline Johnson; Sam Chung as the Doctor; and, as pianist, David Boothroyd. These artists also worked without fee, as did the technicians and editors involved. This DVD will be used for promotional and fund-raising purposes.

CITY OPERA ELECTS NEW DIRECTOR
Jaap Nico Hamburger was born in The Netherlands. He graduated from The Royal Conservatorium of Music in Amsterdam with a Soloist Degree in Piano (1984) and from The University of Amsterdam Medical School in 1986. He completed his cardiology training in 1993 and subsequently became a senior staff member at the prestigious Erasmus University Medical Centre. He received a PhD in Laser Physics and Medicine in 1999. In September 2000 he was appointed Clinical Professor of Medicine at UBC, where he has a practice in Interventional Cardiology at St Paul’s and Vancouver General Hospitals. He has authored many papers in medical journals and co-authored cardiology text books. In addition, he successfully pursues a career as composer of contemporary art music with commissions from chamber music ensembles and orchestras in both Europe and Canada. Dr Hamburger gave the spoken prologue at every performance of our recent Emperor of Atlantis.

CITY OPERA APPOINTS FINANCIAL ADVISOR
Eleanor Sleath is Corporate Controller for the Washington Marine Group of North Vancouver, which companies includes Seaspan International, Vancouver and Victoria Shipyards, Seaspan Coastal Intermodal, and Marine Petrobulk. She previously served as Director of Reporting and Planning at Colliers International, a major real estate organization. Prior to that she served as Manager for Audit at BDO Dunwoody, and as Temporary Commissioner at the BC Utilities Commission. She holds a CPA from the University of Illinois, a CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Vancouver, a Master of Arts in Urban Planning from UBC, and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Kinesiology from SFU. Her public service includes work as Director of the Pantages Theatre Arts Society; Governor, Notary Foundation of BC, and Chair of Grants Committee; Honorary Governor, Arthur Erickson House and Garden Foundation; and Governor, Ballet British Columbia Society.

EMPEROR OF ATLANTIS APPEARS AT TEREZÍN EXHIBITION
Our production of Viktor Ullmann and Petr Kien’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis is now on display at the Terezín / Theresienstadt Memorial in the Czech Republic. From May to August 2009, the Memorial will feature the life, times and art of Petr Kien. Our posters, programmes and art will be there. Atlantis was presented with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre in February 2009.

COMING SOON…
Podcasts on the City Opera website, featuring experts on the music, artists and productions we have offered – and will offer – the people of Metro Vancouver.

Dear Friends:

We are pleased to report that the British Columbia premiere of “The Emperor of Atlantis”, which ran in five performances from 1 to 11 February, was an extraordinary success.

Presented in partnership between the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and City Opera Vancouver, “Atlantis” drew stunning reviews, turn-away crowds, met its budgetary goals, and proved a triumph for its singers, orchestra, production team, and all of its supporters.

Opened with a deeply moving address by the Honourable Steven Point, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, attended by Mayor Gregor Robertson and several City councillors, and given a brilliant historical and musical prologue every night by Dr Jaap Hamburger (and in essay form printed by the Vancouver Sun on 10 February), this unique chamber opera will be remembered by all who witnessed it.

“Atlantis” was also attended by people who flew in from Victoria, Friday Harbour, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Pennsylvania. We have received more than 60 letters from audience members since, recounting their own stories, their amazement, their experience with “Atlantis”. One of the most startling may be found at the homepage of City Opera Vancouver.

We would like to thank our dozens of personal backers, 2010 Legacies Now and the Province of British Columbia, the Martha Lou Henley Charitable Foundation, the Schwartz/Reisman Centre, the UBC Department of Drama and Film, Electric Company Theatre, Accent Inns, Tom Lee Music, and Vancity for their generous support of this extraordinary opera. We also thank our friends at the Vancouver Musicians’ Association, Canadian Actor’ Equity, and the Norman Rothstein Theatre for making this production possible.

We gave 46 talks across Metro prior to opening night, discussing the musical, historical and human significance of ‘Atlantis’. Written by Viktor Ullmann and Petr Kien at Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1944, the Nazis killed its creators. They could not kill their creation.

Now we know why.

Frieda Miller, Executive Director, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

Dr Nora Kelly, President, City Opera Vancouver

www.vhec.org / www.cityoperavancouver.com

We are delighted to tell you that the Canada Council today awarded City Opera a music commissioning grant for the creation of ‘Pauline’. The grant is in the amount of $16,000 and will support the work of composer Christos Hatzis.

As you know, ‘Pauline’ is a chamber opera set in Vancouver in March of 1913, in the last week in the life of Pauline Johnson. The libretto is by Margaret Atwood, and is simply brilliant. ‘Pauline’ is designed as a signature vehicle for the great Canadian singer Judith Forst.

The world premiere of ‘Pauline’ will be given at the restored Pantages Theatre, in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – trusting that the City finds merit in our project.

The premiere will be recorded by Naxos, the world’s largest classical recording company, as part of our new series ‘Canadian Classics’.

City Opera’s Director of Development, Tom Durrie, is especially to be congratulated upon the success of this Canada Council grant application, as is the self-evident merit of ANY project created by Margaret Atwood and Christos Hatzis, and starring Judith Forst. This will be a wonderful event for Canadian arts and letters. Our great thanks to the Canada Council, and to all Canadians who support the arts.

Opening night just got a good deal closer.