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This is the first time since 1997 that the COC has made individual tickets for its entire season available for purchase at one time. “In the past, our single tickets have gone on sale at staggered times throughout the year, but more of our patrons have been indicating their desire to purchase tickets to our performances as soon as possible,” says COC General Director Alexander Neef. “By having all single tickets go on sale at one time, we hope to make it even easier for our audiences to buy a ticket to a COC performance, particularly our out-of-town patrons who are making plans far in advance.”
The COC has enjoyed extremely high attendance levels since the opening of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in 2006, and last season recorded an average attendance of 94%. Of the 127,387 patrons who attended the COC’s 66 performances in the 2010/2011 season, 34% were from outside the Greater Toronto Area.
The COC is offering 67 performances of seven productions for the 11/12 season, which starts Thurs., Sept. 22, 2011 and runs through to Sat., May 26, 2012. To be assured of good seats, the time to reserve is now. Individual ticket prices range from $45 - $318. Specially priced tickets for young people 15 years of age and under, who will be accompanied by and sitting with an adult, are available in most seating sections and are half of the regular price, ranging from $22.50 - $107.50. Subscriptions for the 11/12 season are also still available, offering savings of up to 50% off regular price single tickets.
The COC’s 11/12 season opens with the company premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s masterpiece Iphigenia in Tauris, a tale of survival and sacrifice caused by a tragic twist of fate. Iphigenia in Tauris is sung in French with English SURTITLES™ and runs for eight performances from Sept. 22 – Oct. 15, 2011.
Paired with Iphigenia in Tauris is Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions brought to life by some of opera’s most passionate and heartbreaking melodies. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™, this new COC production of Rigoletto runs for 12 performances from Sept. 29 – Oct. 22, 2011.
The fire and passion of one of the most popular operas of all time, Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, opens the COC’s winter season. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™, Tosca runs for 14 performances from Jan. 21 – Feb. 25, 2012.
Also presented in the 11/12 winter season is the Canadian premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Love from Afar, a haunting and vivid musical creation that has become one of the most performed and successful operas composed in the last 10 years. Featuring an all-Canadian cast in a new COC production, Love from Afar is sung in French with English SURTITLES™ and runs for eight performances from Feb. 2 – 22, 2012.
The opening of the COC’s spring season will truly sparkle when Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann returns to the company for the first time since 1988. Sung in French with English SURTITLES™, the fantastical fables and magical melodies of this beloved opera are presented in nine performances from April 10 – May 14, 2012.
The spring season continues with a double bill of darkly witty, one-act operas: the Canadian premiere of Alexander Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy and Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. A tantalizing combination of satire and tour-de-force comedy, this double bill is presented in a new COC production that runs for eight performances from April 26 – May 25, 2012. A Florentine Tragedy is sung in German and Gianni Schicchi is sung in Italian, both with English SURTITLES™.
The COC’s 11/12 season closes with a production of George Frideric Handel’s Semele. A COC premiere, Semele comes to the opera company in a production the New York Times called “scenically stunning, theatrically absorbing, musically rewarding” and that features an actual Ming Dynasty ancestral temple. Sung in English with English SURTITLES™, Semele runs for eight performances from May 9 – 26, 2012.
The COC’s 11/12 season runs Sept. 22, 2011 through to May 26, 2012 at the Four Seasons Centre. Subscriptions and single tickets may be purchased online at coc.ca, by calling 416-363-8231, or in person at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Box Office, located at 145 Queen St. W.
For more information on the COC’s 11/12 season and other ticket availability closer to performance dates, including $12 Standing Room tickets, $22 Opera for a New Age tickets for young people between the ages of 16 and 29, and rush seating, visit www.coc.ca.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Love from Afar Production Sponsor: BMO Financial Group
The spring 2012 season productions of The Tales of Hoffmann, A Florentine Tragedy, Gianni Schicchi and Semele are supported by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund.
A Florentine Tragedy/Gianni Schicchi Production Co-sponsors: CIBC and CIBC Mellon
Semele Production Sponsor: RBC
Presenting Sponsor of SURTITLES™: Sun Life Financial
Official Automotive Sponsor of the COC at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts: Jaguar Land Rover Canada
Broadcast Partner: CBC Radio 2
Official Media Sponsors: CTV and The Globe and Mail
Digital Marketing Sponsor: Delvinia
Opera for a New Age Sponsor: TD Bank Group
About the Canadian Opera Company Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the five largest in North America. The COC enjoys a loyal audience support-base and one of the highest attendance and subscription rates in North America. The COC celebrates its 62nd anniversary during the 2011/2012 season. Under its leadership team of General Director Alexander Neef and Music Director Johannes Debus, the COC is increasingly capturing the opera world’s attention. The COC maintains its international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation by creating new productions within its diverse repertoire, collaborating with leading opera companies and festivals, and attracting the world’s foremost Canadian and international artists. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, hailed internationally as one of the finest in the world. Designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects, the Four Seasons Centre opened in 2006, and is also the performance venue for The National Ballet of Canada. For more information on the COC, visit its award-winning website, coc.ca.
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