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Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals, welcomes four new artists for the 2019/2020 season: tenor Matthew Cairns, bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian, mezzo-soprano Jamie Groote, and Alex Soloway as a pianist and intern coach. The four will join the Ensemble Studio in August 2019 and become part of a program that has launched the careers of over 230 Canadian opera professionals.

This past November, Cairns, Gabrielian, and Groote won the top prizes at the 2018 Centre Stage Ensemble Studio Competition, where young artists also vied for acceptance into the Ensemble Studio program. Cairns won First Prize and the new CBC Music Young Artist Development Prize, while Gabrielian and Groote claimed the Second and Third Prizes, respectively. Soloway has performed across North America and Europe and recently served as apprentice collaborative pianist at the Lachine International Vocal Academy and the Highlands Opera Studio.
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Three new productions to appear at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

Toronto –The Canadian Opera Company offers three bold new productions in 2019/2020 that hone in on the stories and myths that shape our perceptions – and the ones that offer escape from all things ordinary. This 69th season features new productions of Puccini’s Turandot, Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel, as well as COC revivals of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Verdi’s Aida, and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman.

“The need to hear and share stories is essential to the human experience,” says COC General Director Alexander Neef. “It begins with the fairy tales told to us as children, is developed through the history and literature learned as students, and later inspires the art we seek and create as adults. Stories can entertain, but they are also a powerful way to inform and give voice to important topics and perspectives. This season, we have curated a selection of operas that are magnetic for their extraordinary scores and vivid storytelling – and remarkable for their ability to tap into the emotions and motivations that unite us.”
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Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra Academy welcomes five student musicians to join its sixth annual training intensive, taking place January 6 – 26, 2019. Led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus, and in collaboration with The Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Schulich School of Music of McGill University and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, the program offers its student musicians one-on-one mentorship and practical experience in their pursuit of a career in an opera orchestra. 
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