As I take up my position of General Director of the Canadian Opera Company, one of the first things to strike me is the quality of singers in this autumn’s operas. I wasn’t involved with the casting of these singers, but I’m delighted with the talent displayed on stage as we open our 2008/2009 season.

Don Giovanni has a nearly all-Canadian cast, many of whom have either graduated from the Ensemble Studio, like Virginia Hatfield and Jessica Muirhead, or have had a long association with the company, like Brett Polegato, Robert Pomakov and Gordon Gietz. Contrary to popular belief, there’s nothing more difficult than casting a Mozart opera, and our singers are doing a wonderful job with the challenging material.

War and Peace also features an exceptional cast of Canadian and international artists, but I must begin with Russell Braun.

Russell is quite simply one of the most gifted artists on the world scene today. Opera tells us about the human condition. When you have an artist like Russell, you don’t need to explain anything, because you have real life on stage. It’s not somebody singing a role—it’s a transformation so total that you don’t think about anything else. The emotion gets right to you.

I must also mention other Canadians in this cast, many of whom are also graduates of our wonderful Ensemble Studio. Lauren Segal in particular is a very sympathetic Sonya, and I will make a special mention of another Sonya: Sonya Gosse. We regret very much that Judith Forst was unable to be with us as planned to perform the role of Madame Akhrossimova, but we’re very fortunate that we have singers of such a high calibre in our chorus who can jump in at a moment’s notice.

Complementing the many talented Canadians in the cast is a broad array of very distinguished Russian singers. Elena Semanova is a wonderful performer, really embodying all of Natasha’s many passions. I don’t know if she was ever a dancer, but she just seems to float around the stage. Mikhail Agafonov is just a perfect Pierre. When I read the book, he is how I see Pierre. And we’re delighted to have singers like Vassily Gerello as Napoleon and Mikhail Kit as Kutuzov, who have performed these roles all over the world.

It makes a difference to be singing a role that is written in your native tongue—especially when the piece has a complex libretto. The opera is of course based on a very famous work of literature, so it’s a huge advantage to know exactly what you’re saying and singing. The Russian singers in War and Peace have a love of the repertoire that Europeans and Americans just can’t have, because they’ve grown up with the works and have a personal history with it.

All in all, we are very lucky to have two exceptional casts performing with us this fall.