I am getting into the bad habit of weekly blog entries.

But what a week it has been again, culminating in yesterday's opening of our new production The Nightingale and Other Short Fables with music by Igor Stravinsky, directed by Robert Lepage and conducted by Jonathan Darlington. It was very moving to see the whole audience stand up when Robert came on stage to take his curtain call after the performance.

I am very proud that we were able to create this production before it goes to Aix-en-Provence and Lyon (and hopefully to many other places) and that the work of this great Canadian director and his team was so enthusiastically received by our audience. The success was shared by the brilliant COC Orchestra (sounding wonderful on stage in the concert shell specially built for this project) and Chorus and our magnificent cast, many of them members or former members of our Ensemble Studio.

An illustrious group of guests had made their way up north from New York: Peter Gelb, the General Manager of the Metroplitan Opera, George Steel, General Manager and Artistic Director of New York City Opera, Heidi Waleson from the Wall Street Journal and Matthew Epstein, the former Artistic Director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, now the director of Columbia Artists Vocal and above all a wonderful personal and professional friend.

There are many more visitors from all over the world coming for the remaining performances and they all will spread the word of the great work the COC is doing here—and about our wonderful theatre, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Getting The Nightingale ready for opening night put us through an intense week of rehearsals and changeovers as we alternate the piece with our other fall opera Madama Butterfly. Putting this production on stage has been a huge company effort and I am proud and grateful to everybody at the COC for this fantastic success.

While I am writing this the first reviews are coming out, wonderful articles in the Star and the Sun. Very much appreciated on a beautiful Sunday morning.