Opera Atelier is delighted to announce its greatly anticipated return to live performance with All Is Love - a fully-staged production celebrating love in all its splendor at Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning - on stage Saturday, February 19, 2022 at 8pm and Sunday, February 20, 2022 at 2:30pm, in strict compliance with provincial health orders. All Is Love features the music Opera Atelier loves most and includes repertoire by J.P. Rameau, M.A. Charpentier, and Renaldo Hahn - culminating in Act 1 of Debussy’s operatic masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande - played on 19th century period instruments by Tafelmusik. All Is Love also includes additional excerpts by Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, and G.F. Handel.

“All Is Love explores the different ways love and desire impact our lives and relationships,” says Marshall Pynkoski, Founding Co-Artistic Director. “The character of Love, as portrayed by Artist of Atelier Ballet Eric Da Silva, will literally appear on stage - propelling the action and emotions of all of the performers.”

The 75-minute program includes:

All Is Love - a mix of Henry Purcell and Renaldo Hahn, created specifically for Measha Brueggergosman-Lee by Christopher Bagan

La Nuit - M.A. Charpentier

Nuit d’étoiles - Claude Debussy

Pelléas et Mélisande opening scene - Claude Debussy

L’heure Exquise - Reynaldo Hahn

Mi Lusinga - G.F. Handel

O Sleep, Why dost thou leave me? - G.F. Handel

Where’er you walk - G.F. Handel

Lay your doubts and fears aside - G.F. Handel

Inception - Edwin Huizinga

Curtain Tune - Matthew Locke

Music for a While - Henry Purcell

Entrance of Swans - Henry Purcell

Two Daughters - Henry Purcell

Passacaille from King Arthur - Henry Purcell

Entrance of Mercury - J.P. Rameau

Plus J’observe - J.P. Rameau

Enchantment of Renaud - J.P. Rameau

Minuets from Les Indes Galantes - J.P. Rameau

All Is Love includes stage direction by Founding Co-Artistic Director Marshall Pynkoski C.M., the full corps of Artists of Atelier Ballet, featuring dancer Eric César De Mello Da Silva, formerly of the Royal Danish Ballet, with choreography by Founding Co-Artistic Director Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg C.M., and additional solo contemporary choreography created and performed by Artist of Atelier Ballet Tyler Gledhill. All Is Love also features Composer/Violinist Edwin Huizinga, and the renowned Tafelmusik - Elisa Citterio, Music Director - under the baton of Opera Atelier Music Director David Fallis.

Alongside soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, All Is Love includes Opera Atelier audience favourites: tenor Colin Ainsworth, soprano Mireille Asselin, soprano Meghan Lindsay, mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan, soprano Cynthia Smithers, bass-baritone Douglas Williams, and French tenor Rémy Mathieu, who makes his Opera Atelier debut after starring as Blondel in Pynkoski and Lajeunesse Zingg’s critically lauded production of Grétry’s Richard Coeur-de-Lion at the Royal Opera House Versailles.

The production is designed by Opera Atelier Resident Set Designer Gerard Gauci with costumes by Michael Legouffe.

“Opera Atelier’s artistic team have long wished to explore the links between French Baroque composers such as Lully and Rameau, and their late 19th / early 20th century compatriots,” says Lajeunesse Zingg, Opera Atelier Founding Co-Artistic Director. “All Is Love showcases the latest repertoire ever explored by Tafelmusik or Opera Atelier, and broadens our perceptions of the very definition of ‘period performance.’”

Adds Pynkoski: “We want All Is Love to lighten the atmosphere we are currently living in. We intend to welcome our audience back to the theatre with an atmosphere of celebration. It is our hope that All Is Love acts as a new beginning for Opera Atelier’s artists and audiences alike.”

In the summer, Opera Atelier will make their long-awaited debut alongside Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt at the Trasimeno Music Festival in Perugia, Italy on July 6, 2022. Ms. Hewitt has invited Lajeunesse Zingg to choreograph and perform along with Artists of Atelier Ballet. Lajeunesse Zingg will be joined by Canadian Soprano Mireille Asselin singing music by Purcell that demonstrates the influence of Baroque dancing on 17th and 18th century vocal music.

“It will be wonderful to explore the connection between dance and music in the Baroque Keyboard Suites, which have played such an important part in my career,” explains Hewitt. “For the audience to see these dances performed live and choreographed by an expert in Baroque dance, will be an event unique in the history of the Trasimeno Music Festival. The inclusion of Canadian Soprano Mireille Asselin will allow us to also explore how dance rhythms are exploited in the vocal music of the Baroque era. This program will be a unique opportunity to experience the interpretation of Baroque dance suites between three distinct performance disciplines.”

Single tickets for All Is Love are on sale now with a limited amount of $20 Operatix available for patrons under 30. Capacity restrictions with distanced seating will be in effect; please note that seating is limited. Tickets and information at: www.operaatelier.com. In the event of extended pandemic restrictions precluding an in-person audience, Opera Atelier will offer audiences a live streamed performance and ticket prices will be adjusted and/or refunded accordingly.

Photo: Artists of the Atelier Ballet. © 2022 Bruce Zinger.