Last Friday, we celebrated our second opening night of the 2022/2023 season, as Carmen hit the Four Seasons Centre Stage to much fanfare from our audience.

This production of Bizet's unforgettable masterpiece features two dazzling mezzo-sopranos in the lead role—Grammy Award-winner J'Nai Bridges and COC Ensemble Studio grad Rihab Chaieb—alongside world-class opera artists like Marcelo Puente, Lucas Meachem, and Joyce El-Khoury.

When The Flying Dutchman set sail this season, it was with Johannes Debus leading the COC Orchestra through Wagner’s epic score and, for Johannes, the opera holds a particular special significance: it was the first opera he conducted as COC Music Director after officially joining the Canadian Opera Company in 2010. 

Read on to learn more about Johannes, this signature production, and more!