It's Ninja Time!

Ready for more Opera Ninja? Watch the Twitter feed (on the right! over there ----->
for an exclusive play-by-play of tonight's dress rehearsal!!

You can also follow along here!

Blogger Night at the Opera!

It's almost Blogger Night!

Our bloggers for La Traviata are the lovely and talented Natasha Belonio, Gwendolyn Floyd, Stacey Robinsmith and Frances Sprout.

Follow along as they live-blog opening night, starting at 6:30pm on Saturday, April 30!

Traffic Advisory for April 30 and May 7!

Coming to opening night? How about the Saturday, May 7th performance? Of course you are! Make sure you leave some extra time to get around downtown.

Upcoming Canucks home games:
Saturday, April 30th - 6:00pm
Saturday, May 7th - 5:00pm

Please allow plenty of time to get parked and get to the theatre. Again, the curtain goes up on La Traviata at 7:30 pm!

Where to park? Where to eat? What to wear?? Check out our handy guide to Your Night At The Opera!

La Traviata Previews!

People are getting excited about La Traviata! Check out these previews in today's Sun and Straight.

Acclaimed director applies psychology to a classic - in today's Vancouver Sun

Verdi without vulgarity - in this week's Straight

20 Questions with James Westman

What do Elvis, Socrates and Willy Wonka have in common? They've all influenced baritone James Westman in some way! Before you come and hear James perform one of his signature roles in La Traviata, take a minute to learn a bit about him as he answers 20 Questions.

1. Guilty musical pleasure? Cuban music to escape with and cook to (figure out my definition of cookin'!!) Jim Reeves (what a voice!) and Eminem - a modern day Shakespeare!

2. Where do you love to sing?
On the home heritage farm at the back of the bush.

3. What is your idea of earthly happiness?
Watching my boys play hockey or listen to them play violin and cello!

4. To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
That's a secret...but a well enjoyed one at that!

5. Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?
Jesus Christ

6. Who are your favourite characters in history?
Albert Einstein for his mind, Gandhi for his patience, and Socrates, the greatest teacher.

7. Who are your favourite heroes/heroines in real life?
Jesus Christ

8. Who is your favourite author?
Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and Melville

9. Your favourite musician?
Glenn Gould

10. Your favourite composer?
Bach

11. What quality do you most admire in a person?
Grace

12. Your favourite virtue?
Humility

13. Your favourite occupation?
To have a successful chocolate store - just like Willy Wonka!

14. What did you want to be as a child?
Hockey player. No - hockey superstar!

15. Your most marked characteristic?
Hard-working

16. What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty

17. For what would you like to be remembered?
I gave society the best of me and the most of me!

18. What natural gift would you most like to possess?
Senior division body builder champion! (Ha, good luck!)

19. What is your motto?
Life is too short - live each day like it is your last!

20. What non-opera song do you rock?
All Elvis tunes! Thang ya very much!!

Jonathan Miller at Opera Speaks

Here are some audio clips for anyone who wasn't able to make it to Opera Speaks (and there were very few of you - what a crowd!).

Sir Jonathan Miller spoke on several subjects, guided by the affable and eloquent Christopher Gaze.

Jonathan Miller on his theatrical beginnings. Click to listen!

Jonathan Miller on the negligible details. Click to listen!

Jonathan Miller on updating opera. Click to listen!

Jonathan Miller's favourite line from Beyond the Fringe. Click to listen!

Watch video with Jonathan Miller here.

Who were the winners for the Operabot 2.0 competition?

This year's Operabot winner is Rachael Freedman !

Here's Rachael's video, and a link to a bit more about her.

Ask me anything

Jonathan Miller's Approach to a Beautiful Traviata Moment

Here's another behind-the-scenes video from La Traviata rehearsals! In it, stage director Jonathan Miller talks about his approach to a particular scene.

Operabot Winner!

Rachael Freedman is this year's Operabot winner! Here's her animation.




You can check out Rachael's other work here.
And you can find out more about the Operabot contest here.

Rachael is a freelance animator and artist living and working in Vancouver. She was trained in animation at Vancouver Film School and has a BFA specializing in photography and textiles design from NSCAD University. She often draws from her BFA training when designing her animations.

Rachael enjoys working with colour and collaging together different styles and mediums. Animation is her favourite medium because it allows her to combine other artistic mediums.

Many, many thanks to all of our sponsors - Rainmaker, Toonboom and Wacom - and a big thank you to the Georgia Straight, our Social Media Sponsor! Congrats, Rachael!

La Traviata Rehearsals

Here's a look behind-the-scenes at this week's La Traviata rehearsals!

You want to go to the opera? Get O.U.T!

It's that time again....



If you're between ages 18 - 29, it's time to get yourself some opera for cheap!

Here's what you do:

1. Call the VO Ticket Centre at 604-683-0222
2. Give them promo code 3291
3. Get selected seats for La Traviata for a mere $25! That's a savings of up to 75%!

Limited quantities! Hurry!

Other details and things:
- Ticket limit is 2 per person
- Tickets can by purchased by phone, in person or online
- Tickets are only available for pick-up on the night of the show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- In order to pick up tickets, EACH patron must show valid photo ID that identifies them as between the ages of 18 - 29
- Offer not valid on previously purchased tickets and cannot be combined with any other offer

How do bursary winners get chosen?

Thanks for your question!

The Bursaries all have specific requirements, so members of the Artistic Team each come up with a list of nominees based on the requirements of each award.

We discuss the list and after a consensus has been reached the recommendations are sent to the Vancouver Opera Foundation Board who makes the final decision.

- Adrianne Wurz, Company Manager

Ask me anything

VO is Moving!

VO is movin' on up to the east side!

Right now, VO occupies several different spaces: admin offices downtown, separate costume and prop shops, set storage facilities, not to mention halls for staging and orchestra rehearsals. Suffice it to say, it gets pretty tiring going from one to the other during busy production times.

We've dreamed about an all-inclusive space for many years, and are very happy to finally announce that we'll soon be combining all our artistic and administrative operations to one building! We'll soon be moving to a building at 1945 McLean Avenue, just a few blocks away from Commercial Drive. You can read the press release here. More details to come soon.

So, not only will we be able to hear singers and orchestra rehearsing as we work, but we'll have some really good coffee just around the corner. Yay!

Opera Speaks on Tuesday!

Don't forget! This Tuesday is Opera Speaks!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A Feature Interview With Sir Jonathan Miller

Sir Jonathan Miller is one of the world’s most fascinating and creative polymaths: opera and theatre director, neuropsychologist, writer, television presenter and humourist. He rose to fame 50 years ago as part of the influential British comedy show “Beyond the Fringe”, with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, and Alan Bennett. He is in Vancouver to direct La Traviata.

Bard on the Beach artistic director Christopher Gaze will engage Sir Jonathan in a feature-length interview about his work, his life, and his provocative ideas. An excerpt from La Traviata will be performed. Thanks to Bard on the Beach for their support!



Opera Speaks @ VPL
Tuesday, April 19
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Alice MacKay Room
Central Branch of the VPL

Subscribe or Renew and get FREE CHOCOLATE!

Subscribe or renew your subscription for the 2011-2012 Season at performances of La Traviata and get FREE chocolate from sweet e’s pastries and sweets!

Here's how it works:

1. Come to La Traviata.
2. Look inside your house program for the handy Subscription Form.
3. Fill it in and drop it off at the Subscriber Services table at the theatre. We'll have a table on all three levels.
4. Enjoy your sweet, sweet chocolate!

If you have already renewed or subscribed, you can still get in on the chocolate action. Just drop by one of the tables and let us know.

You can also renew online, or subscribe by calling 604-683-0222, or in person at the VO Ticket Centre, 835 Cambie Street.... but the truffle pops will only be available at the theatre during La Traviata.

20 Questions with David Pomeroy

When he's not breaking hearts with his stunning tenor voice, David Pomeroy (Alfredo in our upcoming La Traviata) can be found rocking out to Queen and crafting delicious meals on the barbecue. Find out more about David in today's 20 Questions.

1. Guilty musical pleasure?
Heavy metal and folk music. A little Iron Maiden with a sprinkling of Stan Rogers.

2. Where do you love to sing?
Vancouver Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Canadian Opera Company and karaoke in my billiards room.

3. What is your idea of earthly happiness?
Being at home in the summer with my wife, daughter, dog and the barbecue sizzling.

4. To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
I have a real love of food and wine and have a difficult time taming the temptations.

5. Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?
Rocky, Josephine Marks, Superman, Wonder Woman, Indiana Jones, Jean Valjean, Robert Langdon.

6. Who are your favourite characters in history?
Gandhi, Jesus, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks….

7. Who are your favourite heroes/heroines in real life?
My grandfather, Dr. Ignatius Aloysius Rumboldt.

8. Who is your favourite author? Shakespeare, Dickens, Rowling, Tolkien, Dan Brown, Stephen King...

9. Your favourite musician?
Jon Vickers, Franco Corelli, Maria Callas, James Levine, Glenn Gould, Stan Rogers, Barenboim, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Joshua Bell, Sinatra, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Yngwie Malmsteen, Christopher Parkening, Freddie Mercury……

10. Your favourite composer?
Verdi, Puccini, Sondheim, Bernstein, Rogers, Chopin, Wagner…….

11. What quality do you most admire in a person?
Loyalty.

12. Your favourite virtue?
Honesty and humour.

13. Your favourite occupation?
I've only ever been a musician but in my next life I'll be a chef.

14. What did you want to be as a child?
Rock star. And all my dreams came true! Ha ha.

15. Your most marked characteristic?
Determination.

16. What do you most value in your friends?
Loyalty.

17. For what would you like to be remembered?
For my love and contribution to my family and the arts.

18. What natural gift would you most like to possess?
I would love to be a great athlete or dancer. Watching either at a professional level is inspiring.

19. What is your motto?
Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone.

20. What non-opera song do you rock?
Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Doug Tuck on Jonathan Miller

When I was a teenager, my family and I listened repeatedly to the Broadway Cast Recording of “Beyond the Fringe,” the devastatingly funny satirical revue that had originated a few years earlier, in 1960, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The four brilliant writer/performers – Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller – skewered politicians, the British class system, traditional views of history, sexual stereotypes, false prophets, and in fact anything skewer-worthy. Many of the sketches remain in my memory today, nearly fifty years later. If pressed, I can recite nearly verbatim Alan Bennett’s send-up of a high-Anglican sermon, which quotes that famous passage from the Old Testament: “My brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man.”

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (both deceased) continued performing, together and separately, and then Dudley Moore, who was also an accomplished jazz musician, became an international movie star with such films as 10 and Arthur. Alan Bennett is a much-praised author and playwright. Jonathan Miller resumed his medical career and, several years later, began directing plays and operas. He now enjoys an international reputation as both an inventive opera director and an authority on medical issues, in particular neuropsychology. In 2002, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

Given my history with Sir Jonathan (a title he does not use), I was delighted when VO announced that he would be here to direct our co-production of La traviata, which originated at Glimmerglass Opera in 2009. I look forward to meeting and talking with this insightful, devastatingly intelligent Renaissance man.

Here is a video of the Beyond the Fringe foursome, in “Aftermyth of War.”

And here is Jonathan Miller talking about the other three and Peter Sellars.

- Doug Tuck, VO's Director of Marketing & Community Programs

Behind the Scenes at VO

Check out this slideshow of behind-the-scenes pics over at The Vancouver Sun!

These photos take you into our Wardrobe department, where Head of Costumes / Costumes Consultant Parvin Mirhady does a fitting with the very talented tenor David Pomeroy, who sings Alfredo in our La Traviata.

20 Questions with Sam Chung

Canadian tenor Sam Chung will sing Gastone de Letorieres ("a young man about town") in our production of La Traviata, opening April 30. What were Sam's other career aspirations? Read on to find out....

1. Guilty musical pleasure?
I love singing along to Les Mis in the car full blast.

2. Where do you love to sing?
I love singing for Vancouver Opera!

3. What is your idea of earthly happiness?
I love riding motorcycles.

4. To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Staying up late. Or eating chips. Or maybe both!

5. Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?
Superman.

6. Who are your favourite characters in history?
People who have brought peace to this world in some way.

7. Who are your favourite heroes/heroines in real life?
My favorite heros in real life are my parents.

8. Who is your favourite author?
Sadly I spend most of my time reading car and motorcycle magazines.

9. Your favourite musician?
There is something amazing about watching Pavarotti sing...

10. Your favourite composer?
Verdi.

11. What quality do you most admire in a person?
Integrity.

12. Your favourite virtue?
Patience… I wish I had more of it myself!

13. Your favourite occupation?
Formula 1 driver.

14. What did you want to be as a child?
I wanted to do the same jobs that all boys dream of - policeman, fireman, professional athlete - you know, something dangerous. But nothing's scarier than singing Verdi in front of 2500 of your closest friends.

15. Your most marked characteristic?
Sometimes I’m too honest. It can also be called lack of a verbal filter. Ha!

16. What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty.

17. For what would you like to be remembered?
Compassion.

18. What natural gift would you most like to possess?
A beautiful voice.

19. What is your motto?
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

20. What non-opera song do you rock?
Just one?

Opera America's Traviata Course

Want to learn more about La Traviata before you come to the show?

Opera America and Vancouver Opera are offering a free online learning course!

The course is self-directed; all you have to do is click through the lessons at your own pace and listen the many exciting audio examples.

Email us to sign up!

Movie Tonight!

The final film in this season's series is tonight!

In partnership with the Vancity Theatre, Vancouver Opera presents a series of films that explore themes and issues related to the season's operas.

CAMILLE

Thursday, April 7, 2011
7:00pm: Introduction 7:20pm: Film

Vancity Theatre, Vancouver International Film Centre
1181 Seymour Street

Regular admission: $11/$9 senior or student
(includes $2 Vancity Film Centre membership).
More about the Vancity Theatre

Directed by: George Cukor
(USA, 1936, 109 mins)
DVD
Starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Daniell, Elizabeth Allan.

Named one of the top 100 movies ever made by Time magazine and based on the same novel and play as Giuseppe Verdi’s great opera La Traviata (La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils), Camille is a tragic love story about a courtesan, Marguerite, and her handsome young suitor, Armand.

Produced in the finest MGM style, and directed by the studio’s most sensitive director of actresses, George Cukor, Camille is remembered above all for Greta Garbo’s expressive and luminous performance. In Marguerite, the iconic 1930s siren finds a vessel for her own ambivalence towards Hollywood. Garbo suggests warmth, sensuality, irony and introspection in gestures of rare delicacy and insight.

Camille will be introduced by national film journalist Katherine Monk. Ms.Monk's writing appears in National Post, The Vancouver Sun and Province, The Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen among others. She is also a regular contributor for CBC Radio’s On the Coast and Global BC’s Early News. Ms. Monk is a voting member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and the Writers’ Union of Canada. In addition to her duties as a film writer, Ms. Monk teaches and lectures at Simon Fraser University, the University of Alaska, McGill University’s Centre for Canadian Studies and Capilano University. Her first book Weird Sex and Snowshoes and Other Canadian Film Phenomena (Raincoast Books, 2001) hit the bestseller list and was adapted to the screen by Omni Film.

Camille is presented in association with Vancouver Opera’s production of La Traviata, April 30 to May 12th. Verdi’s most popular opera is realized in a gorgeous new co-production directed by Sir Jonathan Miller. Sumptuous parties, passionate encounters and intimate scenes of tragic tenderness, together with dramatic and vocal intensity from beginning to end, make this a magnificent opera experience.

Seating is limited. This special event continues a series of co-presentations between Vancouver Opera and the Vancity Theatre.

Shoes, Politics and Rappers

I have always wanted to go to Chicago, and last week my dreams were realized when I attended the annual Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference. As a die hard arts enthusiast and fundraiser I felt like a kid in a candy store.

Architecture and art and jazz oh my! I made sure to explore all the goodies of the Windy City, but the biggest standouts were meeting colleagues passionate for the organizations they work for and listening to these three key note speakers:

His name is Blake Mycoskie. He is the CEO for a shoe company. It’s for profit but is changing capitalism as we know it by its one-to-one business model: for every shoe you buy they donate a pair to a child in need.



His name is Bill Clinton. He used to be the President of the United States. Now he spends his time raising awareness and funds for social and environmental issues.



Her name is Queen Latifah. She is a rapper. And Oscar nominee, artist, philanthropist… She uses her star power to gain support for everything ranging from the arts to education.





What an experience! A tremendous time of storytelling further validating my chosen profession. Great conversations, great food, great city.

And with my sugar high, the plane took off I couldn’t help but hum: “…this is my kind of town, Chicago is…” but really there’s no place like home. Go Canucks!

- Amanda Burrows, Development Coordinator, Vancouver Opera