City Opera Vancouver is a professional chamber opera company under the leadership of Artistic Director Gordon Gerrard. We believe in the power of great operatic storytelling, and we see the potential for extraordinary impact in the presentation of opera in smaller spaces. We strive to maintain our focus on community, and we aspire to be seen as a resource for anyone who wants to engage with us.
Our mission is to connect audiences, artists and communities through music, telling honest stories about issues that matter.
Chamber opera’s history spans four hundred years. City Opera Vancouver produces work from this abundant and varied repertoire and has enriched it with landmark works such as Pauline, Missing, Fallujah, and Chinatown. This ongoing commitment to the creation of new works is a hallmark of City Opera Vancouver’s creative output, and we are proud to be a vital contributor to the shared Canadian experience.
Founded in 2006 by Dr. Charles Barber, City Opera Vancouver has remained committed to its connection to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Through extensive community programming, we continually seek to expand opera’s reach to those who may assume it’s out of theirs.
What is Chamber Opera?
Sure, it’s pretty cool to see live elephants onstage in Verdi’s Aida, but not all operas are so grand. Chamber operas use fewer singers and a smaller orchestra and are usually done in smaller spaces. Without a doubt, they can pack just as much punch as the big ones, with all the emotional depth and beautiful music.
Chamber operas have been around for centuries, like Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, but they really took off in the 20th Century, with works like Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring or The Turn of the Screw. The best part is that fantastic new chamber operas are being written all the time!
Janet Lea, President
A love of music and storytelling, and enthusiasm for working with creative people led to a career with CBC Music as a producer, as Head of Music for CBC English Radio, and as Director of Cultural Programming for CBC Radio in British Columbia. Janet also served on the boards of several arts organizations and was drawn to to City Opera for its focus on small scale productions that speak of contemporary issues and diverse cultures.
Ian Luo, Treasurer
Ian brings a wealth of financial expertise and dedication to extending the reach of chamber opera to a wider audience throughout the Greater Vancouver Area. By channeling his skills, knowledge, and passion, Ian contributes to the various ongoing productions and projects hosted by City Opera Vancouver. Professionally, as a designated Chartered Professional Accountant, Ian currently works in mid-market investment banking at KPMG Corporate Finance, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and financing.
Daniel Cairns
Bio coming soon!
Douglas Berg
Bio coming soon!
Nora Kelly
Nora Kelly joined the board of City Opera Vancouver in 2006 as its founding president and continued to serve in this position until 2014. She co-produced City Opera’s major productions from 2009 though 2018, including Emperor of Atlantis, Sumidagawa/Curlew River, Fallujah, Pauline, Lost Operas of Mozart, Missing, and Nigredo Hotel.
Helen Song
Helen is a principal of O’Dea Song & Associates, a development management corporation based in Vancouver BC that specializes in social purpose real estate projects namely affordable housing.
Her foray into social purpose real estate began with efforts to redevelop the heart of Vancouver’s downtown eastside into a vibrant mixed-use block with affordable housing units, new commercial street front, and restoration of the oldest surviving Pantages Theatre envisioned to be the home of City Opera Vancouver. Despite public support for these efforts, the original project vision did not ensue which resulted in the development of one of the only affordable home ownership projects in Vancouver and sadly, the demolition of the historic theatre.
Helen is a long-standing board member of City Opera and continues to seek opportunities to build a theatre for City of Opera Vancouver.
Ronnie Tessler
A supporter of City Opera since its inception, Ronnie Tessler was a fine art photographer with works in national collections. She is an honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Interdisciplinary Studies and holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University. The first Executive Director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), her most recent project was co-researcher, writer and curator of the exhibition, “Canada Responds to the Holocaust: 1944-1945” with UBC historian Richard Menkis for the VHEC. Plans are in place for a book.
Leah Alfred-Olmedo
Leah Alfred-Olmedo (she/her) is a half-Kwakwaka’wakw half-settler scholar from Northern Vancouver Island, currently living and studying on the territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ peoples. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music (UBC) and dual master’s degrees in music (UVic) and in anglophone literatures (UBC). She is currently in the first year of the PhD program in anglophone literatures at the University of British Columbia. Her proposed dissertation research examines the intersections of monster studies with Indigenous story and the ways in which they both complement and complicate one another.
Nora Kelly
Nora Kelly joined the board of City Opera Vancouver in 2006 as its founding president and continued to serve in this position until 2014. She co-produced City Opera’s major productions from 2009 though 2018, including Emperor of Atlantis, Sumidagawa/Curlew River, Fallujah, Pauline, Lost Operas of Mozart, Missing, and Nigredo Hotel.
Janet Lea
A love of music and storytelling, and enthusiasm for working with creative people led to a career with CBC Music as a producer, as Head of Music for CBC English Radio, and as Director of Cultural Programming for CBC Radio in British Columbia. Janet also served on the boards of several arts organizations and was drawn to to City Opera for its focus on small scale productions that speak of contemporary issues and diverse cultures.
Marion Newman
A critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations with English, Irish and Scottish heritage, Marion Newman was born in Bella Coola and grew up in Sooke, BC. She is one of Canada’s most accomplished singers in repertoire from Charpentier to Cusson.
Concert Highlights for the 2023/24 season include the premiere of “Songs from the House of Death” (Cusson) with Regina Symphony and Beethoven’s Ninth with Symphony Nova Scotia.
Recently, Marion created the role of Dawn in the world premiere of Migrations with Welsh National Opera. In 2024, Marion stars in Missy Mazzoli’s “Song from the Uproar” with City Opera Vancouver and curates a concert with Musica Intima.
A driving force for truth and reconciliation within the context of classical music and host of CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, Marion brings her talented and inspiring colleagues to the attention of listeners across Canada and beyond.
Asitha Tennekoon
Asitha Tennekoon is an award-winning Sri Lankan tenor, arts administrator, and cultural consultant. He maintains a busy performance schedule with many of Canada’s leading opera and concert organizations. Asitha is a Co-Founder of Amplified Opera, an indie Opera company committed to placing artists at the centre of public discourse. He is grateful to live and work on the stolen lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-WaututhNations, and is looking forward to this journey with City Opera.
City Opera Vancouver is grateful and honoured to work, create and perform on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Xwməθkwəyə̓ m (Musqueam), Sḵwxw̱ ú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl ̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
