Parlando: The COC Blog

There are only a handful of mainstage performances remaining in the 2010/2011 season (and what a season it's been) but there will be plenty of chances to hear, if not see, the action a second time. Each opera in our 10/11 season—plus a few from 2009/2010—will be featured in an upcoming broadcast on CBC Radio 2's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. 

Also, the broadcasts will feature interviews with the season's artists, including Sondra Radvanovsky, Alan Oke, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Robert Orth, Lawrence Brownlee, and Sir Andrew Davis. 

The first COC opera to be broadcast in 2011 will be The Magic Flute on May 28, featuring Isabel Bayrakdarian (whom you can see on stage now as Euridice) and Michael Schade. 

The full list of upcoming broadcast dates and scheduled interviews is available on our website.

For the twitter-inclined: Follow Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on twitter at cbcr2opera. 

Photo: Rodion Pogossov as Papageno in a scene from the COC production of The Magic Flute. Photo © 2011 Michael Cooper

Did you follow the COC's 2011/2012 season announcement closely and page through the brochure . . . and find yourself wanting more? More visuals, more music, more of a sense of what the next season at the COC is going to look, feel, and sound like? Fortunately for you, we have YouTube. YouTube is overflowing with opera clips, including clips of the productions and artists taking the stage next season. Here are clips relating to five of the operas we're preparing for 11/12. 

Iphigenia in Tauris

The production (by Robert Carsen) is very well-travelled, and audiences in Chicago, Madrid, San Francisco, and London have had a chance to see it. Of course, there is video evidence. Here's a trailer for the production as it was performed at Teatro Real in Madrid. Famed mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who will be making her COC debut in the title role, is featured here (our Orestes will be Russell Braun).

More videos inside! Click "Read More" to see the rest of the post.

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This morning we announced our 2011/2012 season at a press conference that was streamed live over the internet (if you missed it, don't worry: you can watch the whole thing here).

Some highlights: 

• Susan Graham, superstar American mezzo-soprano, will be singing the title role in Iphigenia in Tauris.
• A new production of Rigoletto, directed by Christopher Alden, will be set in the 19th century. Check out some of the costume sketches here.
• Phenomenal soprano Adrianne Pieczonka will sing the title role in Tosca. If you can't wait that long to hear her (or need proof of her powers), catch her a few months from now in Ariadne auf Naxos.
• Love from Afar will be visually stunning. If you don't believe me, check out this YouTube video of the production as it was performed by the English National Opera in 2009. 
• The Tales of Hoffmann will feature the COC debut of John Relyea.
• The legendary Catherine Malfitano will be directing a double-bill: Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Both have beautiful music: have a listen here.
• Semele will be performed at the COC for the very first time. The set will feature a Ming Dynasty ancestral temple. Take a look at the production photos here.

We also unveiled a new brand this morning (you may notice that the website looks a little different) as well as a new subscription series, Weekday Rush, that automatically upgrades you to the best available seats on the day of the performance.