COC's 2009/10 Fall Run Closes with 99.6% Attendance

Toronto, Ontario ’Äì The Canadian Opera Company is proud to announce that the fall run of its 2009/10 Diamond Anniversary season, Madama Butterfly and The Nightingale and Other Short Fables, closed to 99.6% capacity. A total of 22 of the total 24 performances in the fall run played to 100% capacity with over 49,000 people attending. Madama Butterfly ran for 15 performances and the world premiere of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables ran for nine performances ’Äì one more than originally scheduled due to an unprecedented demand for tickets. This statistic continues a sustained series of record attendance numbers for the COC, averaging at least 99% since the opening of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in 2006.

The COC’Äôs Madama Butterfly will air on CBC Radio 2’Äôs Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on November 28, 2009; The Nightingale and Other Short Fables will air on December 5, 2009. Concerts on Demand and future broadcast dates are yet to be confirmed.

The COC’Äôs Diamond Anniversary season continues in January with Georges Bizet’Äôs popular Carmen, opening January 27, 2010 and running for 12 performances, and Giuseppe Verdi’Äôs powerful Otello, opening on February 3, 2010 with nine performances. Single tickets for the winter run go on sale Monday, November 16, 2009 and can be purchased online at coc.ca, by calling 416-363-8231, or in person at the Four Seasons Centre Box Office (145 Queen St. W., Toronto).’Ä®
COC Fall Run Ticket Facts and Figures:

¬… 124,000: number of Madama Butterfly tickets sold since this production was first staged in 1990

¬… 30,117: number of Madama Butterfly tickets sold for the 2009/10 season
¬ß 30,780: highest number of tickets sold for a single COC production (Carmen in 1990)’Ä®
¬… 575: record number of single-day calls fielded by the COC’Äôs Box Office following The Nightingale and Other Short Fables opening night reviews
¬ß 505: previous single-day call record (2007/08 fall season single-ticket onsale)’Ä®
¬… 24: number of hours it took for the October 20 performance of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables to sell-out following the opening night reviews

The world premiere of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables was a technically challenging production which incorporated singers, acrobats, and Asian puppetry, dramatically transforming the conventional theatre landscape. It featured the COC Orchestra and conductors Jonathan Darlington and Jayce Ogren (November 2 and 5) on stage with the singers performing and manipulating puppets in the orchestra pit which was filled with 67 tonnes of water.


Fall Run Production Facts and Figures:

¬… 21: number of set changeovers between Madama Butterfly and The Nightingale and Other Short Fables
¬… 32: number of crew members to changeover the set from Madama Butterfly to The Nightingale and Other Short Fables
¬… 4: average number of hours to changeover from Madama Butterfly to The Nightingale and Other Short Fables and vice-versa
¬… 75: minutes to fill the pool for The Nightingale and Other Short Fables
¬… 80: minutes to drain the pool for The Nightingale and Other Short Fables

Production Sponsor of Madama Butterfly: RBC Financial Group’Ä®’Ä®The Nightingale and Other Short Fables and the additional performances of Madama Butterfly have been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Culture, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.

The Nightingale and Other Short Fables has been generously underwritten in part by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation.

Carmen Production Co-sponsors: CIBC and CIBC Mellon
’Ä®Otello Production Sponsor: National Bank Financial Group

Broadcast Partner: CBC Radio 2

About the Canadian Opera Company’Ä®Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and fifth largest in North America, and celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2009/10. Under its new leadership of General Director Alexander Neef and Music Director Johannes Debus, the COC continues its international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation. The COC currently enjoys a remarkable 99% attendance rate and one of the highest subscription rates in North America. The COC performs in its new opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc. From its inauguration in 2006, the Four Seasons Centre has been internationally hailed as one of the finest opera houses in the world.

The Four Seasons Centre is also the performance venue for The National Ballet of Canada. ’Ä®