La Reine-garçon
Bilodeau/Bouchard
Queen Christine of Sweden was raised as a boy by her father during a period of extraordinary change. At the height of the Scientific Revolution, she employed the philosopher René Descartes as her tutor, sparking an intellectual and spiritual transformation of massive historical significance.
The first-ever co-commission between the Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal, La Reine-garçon marks an important chapter in Canadian operatic storytelling. Sopranos Kirsten MacKinnon and Kirsten LeBlanc star as the Swedish queen who navigated a course between faith and knowledge, love and duty.
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Synopsis in a Minute
Uppsala Castle, 1649. Queen Christine, more masculine than her men of war, more erudite than her scholars, brings René Descartes to her kingdom to teach her the mechanism of the passions that inhabit the soul. Torn between the masculine and the feminine, between faith and knowledge, between her love for a woman and the State which demands an heir, she seeks the truth, her truth–despite the rapacity of the nobles, the ardour of the suitors, her mother's madness, and, above all, despite the outbursts of her own passions.
Performance Information
- Performance time is approximately two hours and 45 minutes, including one 25-minute intermission
- Sung in French with English SURTITLES™
Composed By Julien Bilodeau
Libretto by Michel Marc Bouchard
Cast
Kirsten MacKinnon
Kirsten LeBlanc
Philippe Sly
Isaiah Bell
Daniel Okulitch
Owen McCausland
Aline Kutan
Alain Coulombe
Creative
Johannes Debus
Angela Konrad
Anick La Bissonnière
Sebastien Dionne
With the COC Orchestra and Chorus
A co-production with Opéra de Montréal
The COC Orchestra is generously sponsored by The Schulich Foundation and by W. Bruce C. Bailey