This spring, a tragedy about impossible love and dangerous obsession makes its first COC appearance in 30 years in a new production from director Alain Gauthier.

Tenor Russell Thomas stars as the sensitive young poet Werther, whose love for the unattainable Charlotte (mezzo-soprano Victoria Karkacheva) drives him to seize control of his fate in the only way he knows how—to devastating consequences.

Massenet’s opera draws heavily on the story of a young man who decides his only recourse in the face of impossible love is death. However, his version breaks audiences out of Werther's personal experience of love and heartbreak and situates his character in a social context—with Werther and Charlotte sharing several powerful duets that highlight their struggle to acknowledge an impossible love that flies in the face of social convention, and Werther’s aria, “Pourquoi me réveiller, ô souffle du printemps?” (“Why awaken me, O breath of spring?”), now a standard of the operatic tenor repertoire.

A leading composer of the Belle Époque, Massenet had risen to stardom with the premiere of Manon in 1884. First performed on February 16, 1892 at the Court Opera in Vienna (today the Vienna State Opera), Werther was not immediately greeted with the same enthusiasm. It would only be after a revival by the Opéra-Comique in 1902 that the work became widely popular—and ultimately canonized as one of the major works of the French Romantic period. As one Le Monde reviewer raved, “Goethe has said somewhere that ‘where words leave off, music begins’; in the score of Werther words and music are so closely allied as to seem born of one and the same inspiration.”

An ardent admirer of Wagner, Massenet experimented with several musical novelties in this opera, such as adding the saxophone as a solo instrument to the orchestration. In 1902, he also adjusted the role of Werther—originally composed for a tenor—so that it could be sung by baritone Mattia Battistini in St. Petersburg. This version, which only altered the vocal line of one character, is sometimes performed to this day—although in our production, we’re delighted to have the role of Werther sung by acclaimed American tenor Russell Thomas.

Don’t miss this rare gem of French opera, based on Goethe’s groundbreaking novel and explosive international literary phenomenon, The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Werther appears at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts from May 7 - 23, 2026. COC co-production with Opéra de Montréal and Vancouver Opera.

Performances: 

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 7:30p.m.

Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7:30p.m.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 7:30p.m.

Friday, May 15, 2026 at 7:30p.m.

Sunday, May 17, 2026 at 2p.m.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 7:30p.m.

Saturday, May 23, 2026 at 4:30p.m.

Cast:

Russell Thomas - Werther

Victoria Karkacheva - Charlotte

Simone Osborne - Sophie

Gordon Bintner - Albert

Robert Pomakov - La Bailli

Schmidt - Alain Coulombe

Johann - Ben Wallace

Emma Pennell - Kätchen

Creative Team:

Johannes Debus - Conductor

Alain Gauthier - Director

Olivier Landreville - Set Designer

Lëilah Dufour Forget - Costume Designer

Mikael Kangas - Lighting Designer

For tickets visit www.coc.ca