Toronto, Ontario � The Canadian Opera Company's Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour returns to elementary schools across Ontario this fall introducing children to the world of opera. For over 20 years, the COC's renowned school tour has brought opera to local schools and communities across Ontario, in the last two years adding northern Ontario to the list of destinations with performances in Sudbury and Timmins. This year the COC presents its acclaimed operas, Isis and the Seven Scorpions, by Canadian composer Dean Burry, and Cinderella, a combination of Jules Massenet's and Rossini's musical scores, from November 8 to December 5, 2010.
The annual Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour reaches over 16,000 students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 and displays the talents of professional singers from the renowned COC Ensemble Studio training program. The tour features a 50-minute performance sung in English, which is adapted for a younger audience, concluding with a post-show question-and-answer period with members from the cast and crew. A complete tour schedule is available upon request.
Xstrata, a major global diversified mining group, is the Title Sponsor of the school tour. �We are extremely pleased at how well the Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour has been received by communities across Ontario,� says Peter Fuchs, Director of Corporate Affairs for Xstrata Nickel. �We are especially happy to see the tour continue to travel to northern Ontario, in particular to Sudbury and Timmins as part of our mission to bring unique cultural experiences to some of the communities in which we work.�
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Toronto, Ontario � The Canadian Opera Company is pleased to announce that its entire 2010/2011 mainstage season will be broadcast across Canada in conjunction with broadcast partner CBC Radio 2. For the second year in a row, all COC mainstage operas will be aired nationally on CBC Radio 2 and on Radio-Canada's Espace Musique over the course of the season. This agreement further strengthens the COC's presence on Canadian airwaves, enabling the company's season to be heard coast to coast as well as internationally via CBC Radio 2's, Radio-Canada's and the COC's websites.
The COC's 2010/2011 mainstage operas will be broadcast across Canada twice on CBC Radio 2's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera hosted by Bill Richardson, beginning with the COC's new production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida on Saturday, December 4, 2010, and followed by Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice on Saturday, December 11, 2010. CBC Radio 2's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera airs Saturdays from 1 � 5 p.m. EST (2 � 6 AT; 2:30 � 6:30 NT). Air dates for Espace Musique are yet to be confirmed.
Future broadcast dates, including Mozart's The Magic Flute, John Adams' Nixon in China, Rossini's La Cenerentola, Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, are yet to be confirmed.
The complete season of operas from the 2010/2011 season will be available for internet streaming through CBC Radio 2's Concerts on Demand and Espace Musique with select operas available on the COC website for a period of 12 months after the initial streaming date.
The repeat broadcasts of the COC's 2009/2010 season are scheduled for: October 30, 2010 for Idomeneo; November 6, 2010 for Maria Stuarda; November 13, 2010 for The Flying Dutchman; November 20, 2010 for Carmen; and November 27, 2010 for Otello.
In fall 2009, the COC reached an agreement with the artists of the company and their unions and associations to record all seven operas in its 2009/2010 season. Last season's broadcasts marked the first time the COC's complete season aired on the radio in its entirety in almost 20 years.
The Canadian Opera Company would like to thank the artists of the company and their representatives: the American Federation of Musicians, Canada; Canadian Actors' Equity Association; Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists; the Toronto Musicians' Association, Neil Crory, CBC Radio's Senior Music Producer; Doug Doctor, CBC Radio's Senior Recording Engineer, and Steve Sweeney, CBC Radio's Associate Recording Engineer.
Aida has been generously underwritten in part by Tim and Frances Price.
Death in Venice has been generously underwritten in part by David Stanley-Porter
Nixon in China Production Co-sponsors: CIBC and CIBC Mellon
The Magic Flute has been generously underwritten by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation.
The Magic Flute Production Sponsor: RBC
This production of Orfeo ed Euridice is owned by the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was made possible by generous gifts from an Anonymous Donor, The Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust/The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, Stephen A. Kaplan and Alyce K. Sigler, Sidley Austin LLP, and Howard A. Stotler with additional funding by AT&T.
Broadcast Partner: CBC Radio 2
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Toronto, Ontario � Today at the Canadian Opera Company's (COC) Annual General Meeting, COC Board President Paul Spafford announced that the COC enjoyed another record-breaking season in 2009/2010, and achieved a modest surplus of $21,000. The COC reached a season ticket revenue record of $13,422,000, a 6.2% increase over the previous season, and also broke its own record of the most single tickets sold in one mainstage season � over 50,000. The company's average season attendance was 97.6%.
In the fall of 2009, the sold-out combination of Madama Butterfly and The Nightingale and Other Short Fables alone drew in 49,000 audience members, with the remainder of the season playing to great critical acclaim and full houses. In total, 137,000 audience members attended the 09/10 mainstage season.
�Artistically and creatively we had a very satisfying 60th anniversary season. I am happy to report that financially, it's been a good one as well,� said President Paul Spafford. �While last year's economic crisis still loomed over our fundraising efforts, the company worked extremely hard to mitigate its overall effects by saving wherever possible, finding advantageous partnerships, and through successful fundraising. Everyone worked very hard to achieve this positive result and I am exceedingly proud to be associated with a company that shows such fiscal responsibility to its subscribers, donors, volunteers and staff.�