Stage Door News

Toronto: Tapestry Opera announces an innovative Fall 2020 programme

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Following 74 live performances across the GTA this summer with Box Concerts, Tapestry Opera’s Fall 2020 program pioneers to push the boundary of the genre. Comprising live, livestreamed, and digital collaborations, Tapestry is building new platforms for artists to enrich the diversity of Canada’s artistic landscape against the destabilizing effects of the global pandemic. With the goal of breaking down barriers to opera, the season offers audiences locally, nationally and internationally the opportunity to access world-class artistic performances for free. 

  • Improvisation as Life: Toronto’s beloved jazz pianist Robi Botos improvises live with an Art Battle Canada painter
  • S.O.S. Sketch Opera Singers - Episode One: Operatic comedy sketches, the first in the world of its kind, in the spirit of Baroness von Sketch
  • Love Songs - A Saxophony: Xin Wang and Wallace Halladay perform Ana Sokolovic’s haunting score

“This season is unlike any before and unlike any to come. We have adapted, pivoted, changed and re-changed to make sense of what was possible. Through it all, we've been committed to staying positive and finding solutions that would be exciting for audiences and support as many artists as possible.”- General and Artistic Director Michael Mori 

“This fall we’re filled with energy and ambition as we livestream two concerts with dynamic, cinematic storytelling from our Ernest Balmer Studio, plus we’re launching our own sketch opera series which was created in Canada's first Opera Writers' Room. We’re approaching the coming months with resilience, vigour and an unflagging appetite for creativity.”- Executive Director Jaime Martino

Hailed as one of the most diverse multi-instrumentalists of this generation, Improvisation As Life sees Toronto’s most beloved jazz pianist Robi Botos illustrate the power of Tapestry’s 'B.I.G.' Bösendorfer Imperial Grand piano whilst collaborating live with a competitive artist-painter in partnership with Art Battle Canada. Improvising together to create something new and entirely unique, this performance will be streamed live on October 24 hosted on Tapestry Opera’s Youtube channel.

The first of its kind in the world, Tapestry Opera presents S.O.S. Sketch Opera Singers: Episode One on November 7, a series of absurd, tragic and hilarious operatic short-shorts. Episode One was created in August 2020 in Tapestry's socially distanced Opera Writers' Room by opera creators, filmmakers and performers. Featuring directors Michael Hidetoshi Mori and Debi Wong; music director Jennifer Tung; librettists Kanika Ambrose and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard; composers Ivan Barbotin and Rene Orth; videographers Cassandra Rudolph and Cameron Davis; and soprano Teiya Kasahara, mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, tenor Keith Klassen, and baritone Korin Thomas-Smith.

Love Songs - A Saxophony, a Tapestry Opera and New Music Concerts co-production, closes Tapestry’s Fall 2020 season on November 28. Starring soprano Xin Wang and saxophonist Wallace Halladay, the wife and husband duo bring the emotive and evocative music of award-winning composer Ana Sokolovic to life in a stirring performance flinging the door open to all scopes of love. Directed by Tapestry Opera’s Michael Hidetoshi Mori, co-developed with Xin Wang. Livestreamed on Tapestry Opera’s Youtube channel

Visit tapestryopera.com.