2014 was a wonderful year.

Thanks to you we gave the world premiere of PAULINE, the new opera by Margaret Atwood and Tobin Stokes. It sold out all five nights at the York Theatre, and drew international attention.

We gave THE MOZART MIRACLE at the Carnegie Centre — our 25^th event in the Downtown Eastside since 2007. With pianist David Boothroyd and soprano Bahareh Poureslami.

Businessman Charles Kanji donated our first costume shop. Janet, Derwyn and Tom filled it up.

We appeared at the Shadbolt Centre in Burnaby, gave our first concerts at Holt Renfrew, offered PUCCINI A PIACERE at Il Centro, presented our first concert at the Chinese Cultural Centre, appeared once again at Oppenheimer Park DTES, and performed for thousands — our fifth year in a row — at Italian Day on The Drive.

These concerts are wonderful musical events. They also build our brand, widen our audience, and bring more people to the world of opera.

And 2015 will be a year of
growth for City Opera.

• Thanks to support from the BC Arts Council and the City of Vancouver, we will update and strengthen our Strategic Plan, and hire our first General Manager.
• We will expand our concert schedule, with ten projects lined up for 2015.
• We will organize our next mainstage opera, and our next commission.

Coming Next: The Lost Operas of Mozart

Mozart at 21

In another City Opera production premiere, we will give three operas Mozart began but never finished. Two are Italian comedies, and the third a German singspiel. The music is just extraordinary, and virtually unknown.

Our new production will link three incomplete operas in one evening, and rise from inquisitive archaeology into comedy and delight.

Care for an excerpt? Here, one of the most enchanting arias Mozart ever wrote: Ruhe sanft, from Zaïde (video).

Auditions will be announced in the spring of 2015 for performance a year later.

Coming Soon: Missing Women

Set in the Downtown Eastside, Missing Women will tell a story everyone knows, through the life of a woman no one remembers. It will be powerful and unforgettable opera.

We are now planning the commission, and expect to announce in early 2015 our librettist. The composer will be chosen by jury in an anonymized process, one in which we invite three composers to set an excerpt from the new libretto. Missing Women will be given in English.

Many worthy groups ask your help…

Although it has an affordable advantage, even chamber opera is expensive. The budget of PAULINE was $300,000.

But chamber opera is essential to the future of opera. It is in the ascent across North America – and City Opera Vancouver is part of that future, thanks to you.

Can you help? With the Mozart project? With our concerts and special events?

IF SO… ONLINE

Via Canada Helps, you can donate to the company here. They issue tax receipts on our behalf.

IF SO… BY MAIL

If you prefer to use a cheque, it’s just as simple: ‘City Opera Vancouver’, at PO Box 88393, Vancouver BC Canada V6A 4A6. We gladly issue tax receipts directly.

In both cases, please feel free to designate the specific use to which you wish your contribution to be applied. And please accept our deepest thanks, our best wishes for the Holidays ahead – and for a wondrous 2015.

 

THE LOST OPERAS OF MOZART — PAULINE — FALLUJAH — SUMIDAGAWA & CURLEW RIVER — THE EMPEROR OF ATLANTIS — CARMINA BURANA — CONCERTS & RECITALS