COC March listings

FFree Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre

March 3 to March 31, 2009

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

145 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)

The Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre includes concerts, performances and presentations by young artists, Canadian and international opera stars and COC staff. This is an exciting opportunity for Torontonians to experience the artistic excellence and cultural diversity of the city. All performances are free to the public.

Date	Series	Artist
March 3, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Vocal Series	Artists of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music perform Here and There and Everywhere: A Canopy of English Language Song. This program is filled with English language songs from the 19th to 21st centuries.
March 4, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Piano Virtuoso Series	Pianist Su Jeon, recent winner of the prestigious Eckhardt-Gramattˆ© Competition, performs Schumann's masterful Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp Minor and Sophie-Carmen-Eckhardt-Gramattˆ©'s Piano Sonata No. 6 (1928/1952/1953). The first movement is played with only the right hand, the second movement with only the left hand, and the last with both.
March 5, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Piano Virtuoso Series	Pianist Stˆ©phan Sylvestre performs Prokofiev's final and rarely-performed Piano Sonata No. 9. After the epic and emotionally intense "war sonatas," this work, dedicated to the legendary Sviatoslav Richter, is intimate, gentle, simple and, in the end, peaceful.
March 10, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Chamber Music Series	Russian pianists Inna Perkis and Boris Zarankin, co-artistic directors of the Off Centre Music Salon, present Waltzing Through Russian Literary Salons. The program includes 19th-century Russian works featuring mezzo-soprano and COC Ensemble Studio graduate Krisztina Szabˆ„.
March 11, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Dance Series	In the world premiere of Frames, Zata Omm and choreographer William Yong, explore personal stories and perspectives with multimedia design highlights. Zata Omm is a contemporary dance company based in Toronto.
March 17, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Dance Series	The National Ballet of Canada presents Choreographic Explorations, which looks at the choreographic process with an exciting series of newly created works and works-in-progress.
March 19, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Chamber Music Series	Duo Ava, features young award-winning Quebec artists, Vˆ©ronique Matthieu on violin and Andrˆ©e-Anne Perras-Fortin on piano. The Dancing Violin features dances from across the ages, from stately minuets to tantalizing tangos. The program includes works by Mozart, Claude Champagne, William Bolcom and many more.
March 24, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Vocal Series	The young artists of the COC Ensemble Studio present Scenes from Bohemian Life highlights from the world's most popular opera, La Bohˆ®me. This opera tells the heartwrenching tale of impoverished young artists and lovers in the Latin Quarter of Paris.
March 26, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Vocal Series	Led by COC Chorus Master Sandra Horst, the singers of the Opera Division from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music perform, Two by Two by Opera, a concert of duets exploring the operatic aspects of love. The program explores courtship, seduction and celebration including excerpts from Ravel's L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilˆ®ges.
March 31, 2009 12 ’Äì 1 p.m.	Chamber Music Series	The Gryphon Trio, Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin, Roman Borys, cello and Jamie Parker, piano, along with Lynn Kuo and Marianna Humetska, present Nerenberg & Rival: A New Generation of Tonal Music. With music by up-and-coming Toronto composers, Mark Nerenberg and Robert Rival, this program blends minimalism, late Romanticism and popular music with a Classical approach.

Education and Outreach

March Break at the COC

The Canadian Opera Company's March Break at the COC is an interactive arts workshop offering children a fun and exciting way to explore music and art. The one-day workshop takes place on Friday, March 20, 2009, costs $25 per child and is held at the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre in Toronto. Young people ages 7 to 12 discover the world of acting, singing, music and design through interactive workshops led by professional artist-educators. This year, in just one day participants will recreate and perform their own version of Antonˆ‚n Dvo‰ôˆ°k's opera Rusalka, a story derived from Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. No musical experience is required.

	March Break at the COC Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre 227 Front St. E. (Front and Berkeley) Date: Friday, March 20, 2009 Time: 9 a.m. ’Äì 3:30 p.m. Fee: $25 (An additional $5 per participant for early drop¬‚off at 8:30 a.m.) Contact: 416-306-2377

For registration information, please contact the COC's Education and Outreach department at

416-306-2377 or visit www.coc.ca.

After School Opera Program

The Canadian Opera Company's popular After School Opera Program returns. The program introduces young people to the exciting elements that make up an opera. For only $10, children take part in a 10-week session that is held at two convenient locations in Toronto: East York Community Centre and Barbara Frum Community Centre. Under the guidance of Canadian composer Dean Burry, young people ages 7 to 12 create an original operatic work based on their own ideas and improvisations. Mr. Burry has worked closely with the COC over the years, composing several children's operas, including Isis and the Seven Scorpions and The Brothers Grimm. No previous music experience is necessary.

After School Opera Program

$10 per 10-week session

East York Community Centre

1081-1/2 Pape Ave. (Pape and O'Connor)

Spring Session: March 30 ’Äì June 8, 2009

Time: Mondays, 4 ’Äì 6 p.m.

Call 416-396-2896 to register

OR

Barbara Frum Community Centre

20 Covington Rd. (Lawrence and Bathurst)

Spring Session: March 31 ’Äì June 2, 2009

Time: Tuesdays, 4 ’Äì 6 p.m.

Call 416-395-6122 to register

For more information please contact the COC's Education and Outreach department at

416-306-2377 or visit www.coc.ca.

The After School Opera Program is generously supported by the Imperial Oil Foundation and

Kraft Canada.

Opera 101

The Canadian Opera Company presents Opera 101, a FREE event that treats young adults to a friendly, interactive, and informal discussion. On Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. opera neophytes have the chance to enjoy drinks and free munchies while getting the scoop on what opera is all about. Host, CBC Radio's Brent Bambury along with conductor Anne Manson, they discuss the COC's mainstage premiere of Benjamin Britten's transformation of William Shakespeare's enchanting play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ms Manson is recognized throughout the world for her conducting achievements and served as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony from 1999 to 2003.

Topics covered in the past include the design, production and directorial decisions involved in creating an opera. New this season, audience members are invited to stick around following the discussion to enjoy FREE, live musical entertainment.

Opera 101

FREE

The Drake Hotel

1150 Queen St. W. (at Beaconsfield Avenue)

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

at 7:30 p.m.

For more information please visit www.coc.ca