Inspired by the crocheted dress-wearing doll image used in the creative campaign of the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Cinderella, the opera company launches the Cinderella Outfit Challenge. The gauntlet has been thrown to designers, fashionistas and those handy with a needle and thread to create a doll’s hand-crafted costume inspired by this cherished fairytale.
Participants who submit a photo of their homemade doll costume, inspired by Cinderella, will have a chance to win a prize package including four tickets (plus lounge pass and drink tickets) to the opening night of the Canadian Opera Company's production of Cinderella (La Cenerentola), an overnight stay at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Toronto, a gift basket from Cheese Boutique valued at $200, and a chance to meet the members of the cast after the performance.
The general public will vote on the entries until April 6, 2011, and the five entries with the most votes will become contest finalists. A panel of celebrity judges, including Jeanne Beker (Host of CTV’s FashionTelevision), Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman (hosts of Steven & Chris on CBC TV), David McCaffrey (creative director and designer of McCaffrey Haute Couture) and COC General Director Alexander Neef, will select the grand-prize winner from the top five finalists on April 15.
For full contest details, visit the contest page on our website.
To enter and vote, visit our Facebook page.
Prize Details
Promotional Image
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Promotional image for the Canadian Opera Company's production of Cinderella (La Cenerentola), which served as the inspiration for the Cinderella Outfit Challenge.
Video
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts has a diminutive but enthusiastic guest. Inspired by the marketing image for the Canadian Opera Company's upcoming production of Cinderella (La Cenerentola), opening April 23.
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Posted by Cecily Carver / in Cinderella / comments (0) / permalink
More than a year after its groundbreaking premiere by the Canadian Opera Company in November 2009, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables continues to delight and amaze audiences. This spectacular production, directed by Canadian visionary Robert Lepage, is making headlines in New York in its US premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
"The first half of the program employs nimble acrobats and the most affecting and intricate puppetry I have ever seen . . . The Canadian Opera Company’s orchestra and chorus were vibrantly conducted by its accomplished young music director, Johannes Debus . . . Being half-submerged did not seem to inhibit the beguiling singing of Mr. Odinius or any other cast member . . . the effect is more splendid than the Imperial Palace scene in the Met’s popular production of Puccini’s “Turandot,” a Zeffirelli extravaganza . . . The first half of the program was equally amazing . . . that [Robert Lepage] is an enormously gifted director cannot be denied" - The New York Times
"Lepage . . . has packed this "Nightingale" with so many visual delights that it would be entertaining even with less than outstanding singers. But the cast assembled here is terrific . . . The COC orchestra, conducted by Johannes Debus, brings out the delicacy and haunting lyricism in this charming work." - The Associated Press
"the show, which is at BAM until Sunday, did not disappoint last night. Robert Lepage has been in the news this past year for his popular, headline-grabbing new Ring at the Met, and The Nightingale and Other Fables—set to various pieces of music by Igor Stravinsky—confirms why he's one of the most imaginative directors currently active . . . When [the COC Chorus] members simultaneously opened up their Chinese robes to reveal hitherto hidden puppets, it was pure magic—and the show was full of these moments of childlike wonder." - The New York Post
"This night of zesty, folk-inflected songs and one-act operas by Igor Stravinksy . . . is theatrical and operatic bliss. The stage illusions that Lepage and his marvelous cast use are fairly low-tech: beguiling shadow puppets formed by hands and dancers' bodies; Bunraku-style dolls floating across a 12,000-gallon pool of water (set up in the BAM Opera House's orchestra pit); a nightingale taking flight at the end of a long, tensile pole. Mind you, these painterly, delicate tableaux (on Slavic and Chinese themes) require tremendous craft and skill—but not millions of dollars and computer-generated video projections or dangerous stunt equipment . . . we can't recommend it enough—it's ideal for dates or a family night out. It would be a great way to introduce your kid to opera." - Time Out New York
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Posted by Ceciliy Carver / in The Nightingale and Other Short Fables / comments (0) / permalink
The COC Ensemble Studio's Wallis Giunta, a mezzo-soprano who has charmed critics with her creamy voice and charismatic stage presence, is collaborating with noted Canadian couturier McCaffrey Haute Couture. She will be featured modelling David McCaffrey's gowns in print and online ads, and McCaffrey will supply custom-made gowns for her upcoming recitals.
Giunta and McCaffrey connected last October over a mutual love of opera, and McCaffrey offered to loan Giunta dresses for her upcoming recitals. Soon after their meeting, Giunta was scheduled to sing with indie rock celebrities Broken Social Scene at the Canadian Opera Company's fundraising gala Operanation VII. McCaffrey express-shipped a voluminous white wedding gown to Giunta in Toronto, fitting the event's Cinderella theme, and photos and videos of Giunta's performance soon spread all over the music world, including to Pitchfork Media. (Read a Q&A with Wallis Giunta on Parlando)
Their next opportunity to collaborate came in December of that year, with Giunta scheduled to give a special recital for the Governer General in Ottawa. She requested a gown in green with a 1940's silhouette, and she wore the resulting gown in a photo shoot that month for the Ottawa Citizen.
Meanwhile, Giunta was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, firmly establishing her as one of the opera world's most promising young artists. She will make her NYC recital debut in March in a program titled Spanish Gold: Songs of the Iberian Peninsula. For this recital, McCaffrey is making what she describes as "flame coloured raw silk with black ruffles in the back, and an off-the-shoulder bustier top." "I am in heaven," she adds. Giunta is currently playing one of the Three Ladies in the COC's 2011 production of The Magic Flute. She will also travel with the COC Orchestra and Chorus next month to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the U.S.A. premiere of the Robert Lepage-directed production of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables. She will sing the solo alto part in The Nightingale.
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Posted by Cecily Carver / in Ensemble Studio / comments (0) / permalink