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Toronto – Ruthless ambition, supernatural forces, and cold-blooded violence collide in the Canadian Opera Company’s thrilling new Macbeth featuring epic sets and costumes, and the powerhouse vocals of Quinn Kelsey and Sondra Radvanovsky. Verdi’s operatic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy sets the timeless cautionary tale to a relentlessly paced score that thrills to the very last note. Macbeth runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 28, 30, and May 6, 12, 14, 17, and 20, 2023.

Quinn Kelsey, “one of the most compelling sounds to be heard on the opera stage today,” (Opera News) stars in the iconic title role. Kelsey was last featured in the COC’s 2015 Rigoletto, with the American baritone returning to Toronto last spring to step in as Giorgio Germont for a performance of Verdi’s La Traviata. Renowned Canadian-American soprano and COC favourite Sondra Radvanovsky takes on the role of master manipulator Lady Macbeth; the Chicago Sun-Times has hailed her performance in this production as “spell-binding” with New City Stage wondering “if Verdi knew [Radvanovsky] would be along eventually and wrote it just for her.”Turkish bass Önay Köse is Banquo, Macbeth’s confidante-turned-victim, and returns to Toronto following the COC’s 2019 production of Otello that “exceed[ed] all expectations” (Aesthetic Magazine). Macbeth’s eventual nemesis Macduff is performed by Canadian tenor and Ensemble Studio graduate Matthew Cairns, “one of the most promising dramatic voices of his generation” (Opera Canada). Canadian tenor and Ensemble Studio graduate Adam Luther sings the role of Malcolm, heir to the King of Scotland; Ensemble Studio graduate and bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian takes on the role of Doctor, and Canadian soprano Tracy Cantin brings her “full gleaming sound” (Chicago Tribune) to the much-acclaimed ensemble cast as Lady-in-Waiting.

Visionary Scottish director Sir David McVicar returns to the COC following his “must-see” (Opera Canada) Rusalka in 2019, and is joined by many of the creative team members who brought that acclaimed production to life. Here, set designer John Macfarlane sets the action within a crumbling Presbyterian chapel, underscoring good and evil at odds throughout the opera. An austere colour palette of black and maroon from costume designer Moritz Junge plays up the broody atmosphere while lighting designer David Finn creates a shadowy underworld of betrayal, punctuated by a fiery moment of drama. Choreographer Andrew George and award-winning fight director Nick Sandys lead the opera’s most action-packed scenes.

The COC welcomes back Italian conductor Speranza Scappucci, “one of classical music’s biggest stars,” (Opera News) after she dazzled Toronto audiences in 2020 with her work in The Barber of Seville. In Macbeth, Scappucci conducts the COC Orchestra through what many consider a watershed moment in Verdi’s composing career: his first Shakespearean opera, but one that shows tremendous maturity and complexity. Price Family Chorus Master Sandra Horst leads the COC Chorus through some of opera’s most powerful and haunting choral numbers.

Macbeth is sung in Italian and presented by the COC with English SURTITLES™.

Cast and Creative Team

Macbeth	Quinn Kelsey
Lady Macbeth	Sondra Radvanovsky
Banquo	Önay Köse
Macduff	Matthew Cairns
Malcolm	Adam Luther
Lady-in-Waiting	Tracy Cantin
A Doctor	Vartan Gabrielian
Murderer	Clarence Frazer
Fleance	Roland Piers
Duncan	Jim Vanderlip
First Apparition	Giles Tomkins
Second Apparition	Charlotte Siegel
Third Apparition	Midori Marsh
Conductor	Speranza Scappucci
Assistant Conductor	Derek Bate
Director	Sir David McVicar
Assistant Director	Andrew Adridge
Set Designer	John Macfarlane
Costume Designer	Moritz Junge
Lighting Designer	David Finn
Choreographer	Andrew George
Assistant Choreographer	Julia Aplin
Fight Director	Nick Sandys
Price Family Chorus Master	Sandra Horst
Stage Manager	Jenifer Kowal

With the COC Orchestra and COC Chorus

TICKET INFORMATION

Single tickets for Macbeth range from $35 – $250 for adults, with Grand Ring seats available at $290 and $350, and $22 tickets available for guests between the ages of 16 and 29 through the COC’s Opera Under 30 program. Tickets can be purchased online at coc.ca or by calling the Four Seasons Centre Box Office at 416-363-8231. For more information on booking student groups, standing room, and rush tickets, as well as other specially priced tickets available to young people under the age of 15, please visit coc.ca.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Season Sponsor: BMO Financial Group

Production Sponsor: Power Corporation of Canada

Speranza Scappucci is generously sponsored by Kristine Vikmanis & Denton Creighton

Sondra Radvanovsky is generously sponsored by an anonymous donor

Quinn Kelsey is generously sponsored by Sadhisha Ambagahawita, Melissa & Barry Avrich, and Al Ramsay & Michael Daniels

Charlotte Siegel is generously sponsored by Catherine Fauquier and Joy Levine

Midori Marsh is generously sponsored by Marcia Lewis Brown

Sandra Horst and the COC Chorus are generously underwritten by Tim & Frances Price

The COC Orchestra is generously sponsored, in part, by W. Bruce C. Bailey, in honour of Christie Darville, COC Deputy General Director, and Johannes Debus, COC Music Director, and in part by The Schulich Foundation

Thank you to the entire COC community, including our COC Board of Directors, our Corporate Sponsors and Foundation Supporters, generous public funders, union partners, and — most critically — our audience. Your inspiring support ensures that opera flourishes, uniting global audiences and paving the way for a vibrant future.

ABOUT THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY
Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. General Director Perryn Leech joined the company in 2021, forming a leadership team with Music Director Johannes Debus and Deputy General Director Christie Darville. The COC enjoys a loyal audience, including a dedicated base of subscribers, and has an international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation. Its diverse repertoire includes new commissions and productions, local and international collaborations with leading opera companies and festivals, and attracts the world’s foremost Canadian and international artists. The company is an incubator for the future of the art form, nurturing Canada’s new wave of opera performers and creators with customized training and support. The COC’s purpose-built opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, is hailed internationally as one of the finest in the world. For more information, visit coc.ca. 

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For more information, please contact:
Avril Sequeira, Director of Public Relations, email: [email protected]
Davin Leivonen-Fok, Communications Coordinator, email: [email protected]