Stage Door News
Stage Door News
On July 2, 2017, the Canadian Children’s Opera Company (CCOC) will embark on one of it’s most ambitious international tours ever, bringing their celebrated production of Hans Krása’s children’s opera Brundibár and a concert program of Canadian compositions to Prague, Kraków and Budapest.
Brundibár premiered in Prague in an orphanage in 1942. Its second production occurred behind the walls of the Nazi concentration camp of Terezín, where it was performed over fifty times by the children of the camp. Upwards of 155,000 Czech Jews passed through Terezín between 1941-1945, many on their way to a sadder fate in extermination camps “to the East”.
The CCOC’s ten-day July tour will also see them travel to Terezín with Torontonian and Holocaust survivor John Freund, who served as a consultant for the CCOC production. Mr. Freund, who sat in the audience in Terezín as a child, will be travelling with his grandsons.
In March 2017, the CCOC presented a special 75th Anniversary production of Brundibár, which has just been nominated for a Dora Award in the Opera Category for Outstanding Performance, Ensemble. The opera was directed by Joel Ivany, co-founder of the award-winning Against the Grain Theatre, and conducted by CCOC’s Music Director Teri Dun. The opera featured footage from the 2013 Academy Award-winning film, The Lady in No. 6: Music Saved My Life by Malcolm Clarke, which tells the story of concert pianist and Terezín survivor Alice Herz-Sommer. The images served as a poignant complement to Brundibár – an opera in which her own son participated.
Despite its grim purpose, Terezín became a place of hope and inspiration. Remarkably, the arts flourished as painters, musicians and actors were allowed to continue their work. Symphony concerts, plays, and lectures were a regular occurrence, showing not only the resilience of those oppressed, but also the power of the arts to lift the human spirit in the darkest of times.
On recalling the Terezín production of the opera, Mr. Freund states “The greatest hit of all was the opera Brundibár, composed in Prague by the Jewish composer Hans Krása. He was also deported to the Ghetto in Terezín and did not survive the war (sadly, the fate of most of the opera’s young performers). This is the story of a wicked organ grinder who did not allow two children to sing in the streets to raise money for their sick mother. This led to a victory of the children – united, the children could defeat even the wicked. Both the music and the story touched everyone experiencing the opera.”
Presenting this Canadian-inspired production of Brundibár in the city where it premiered 75-years ago will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
In the upcoming 2017/2018 season, the CCOC will celebrate its 50-year anniversary beginning with a gala concert at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on October 26, 2017. There, the CCOC will be joined by host Ben Heppner and Canadian opera superstars Krisztina Szabó, Richard Margison, Andrew Haji and Simone Osborne and will debut a new documentary on the organization. The season concludes with the world premiere of The Monkiest King, a new major operatic adaptation of the Chinese legend by Toronto-based composer and librettist Alice Ping Yee Ho and Marjorie Chan.
About the Canadian Children’s Opera Company
Currently in its 49th season, the CCOC consists of six choruses for ages 3 to 19 and is the only permanent children’s opera company in Canada. Led by newly appointed Artistic Director Dean Burry, Managing Director Ken Hall, and Music Director Teri Dunn, the company engages young people in the vibrant world of opera by offering intensive musical and dramatic training and numerous professional performing experiences. In addition to their own concerts and opera productions, members regularly perform with the Canadian Opera Company and other major professional organizations, record, and tour nationally and internationally.
Illustration: Poster for a performance of Brundibár, Theresienstadt, 1944.
2017-06-02
Toronto: Canadian Children's Opera Company tours "Brundibár" to Europe