THE MAGIC FLUTE - REVIEW OF 2006 MET PRODUCTION STREAMED IN 2025

 Reviewed by James Karas

On December 30. 2006 The Metropolitan Opera filmed  Julie Taymor’s production of The Magic Flute for PBS. That recording was transmitted worldwide Live in HD From the Met. But on December 20, 2025. we were supposed to get the current revival of Julie Taymor’s shortened version of the opera with Paul Aplebu, Michael Samuel and Alexander Kppeczi conducted by Steven White. The Met’s program said so. 

But the one-page program that we got at Cineplex stated that we were about to see The Magic Flute that was transmitted Live on December 20, 2006. Something went wrong but I don’t know what. The broadcast on CBC radio was of the current performance with the cast noted above.

Julie Taynor has her own take of the opera with a version thar lasts only 1 hour and 50 minutes, sung in English and geared toward entertaining children as well as adults.  A highly laudable ambition.

She uses various methods of entertaining children and I don’t know if all were successful. She takes a dark view of the opera and much of the performance is done on a black background. The Three Ladies, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Kate Lindsey and Tamara Mumford are dressed in black, with white puppet heads that are worn on their heads or held in their hands.

The Queen of the Night (Erika Miklosa) has a seriously painted face (like most of the cast) and she has huge banners waved behind her. She is a remarkable figure as is Miklosa a remarkable singer. Tenor Matthew Polenzani as Tamino and soprano Ying Huand are handsome and beautiful and we see their faces clearly. The hero and heroine sing brightly and gorgeously and we root for them. 

 A scene from Mozart's "The Magic Flute." Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera 

of the 2025 production and not the one under review.

Rene Pape is outfitted like a pagoda or some grand structure but he sings a marvelous Sarastro. Monostatos wears lots of colourful makeup, sports a big, hooked nose and is appropriately nasty but Greg Fedderly is very effective as the would-be sexual predator against our Pamina. Nathan Gunn as Papageno, is fleet of foot and superb of voice as the cowardly bird catcher. The stage is full of papier mache birds, flying bears and thunder and lightning to keep everything moving and everyone entertained and we hope that includes the youngsters.

The production is sung in English which does not mean that everything was comprehensible but I think it was appropriate. Youngsters do not need subtitles in their first or one of their first exposures to opera.

Taymor, in addition to directing, also designed the costumes and, with Michael Curry, she designed the puppets. In other words, this is a Julie Taymor production through and through.

The late James Levine conducted the Met Orchestra in the broadcast of the 2006 production which launched the rightly heralded Live in HD transmissions. It was interesting to see it in the 40th year of opera in a local movie theatre but seeing the current revival live would have been even more interesting.
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The 2006 recording of The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder was transmitted from the Metropolitan Opera on December 20, 2025, at the Cineplex VIP, Shops at Don Mills, 12 Marie Labatte Road, Toronto Ontario M3C 0H9 and other theatres. For more information including encores see: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Geek Press, Toronto.

ANDREA CHENIER – REVIEW OF 2025 LIVE FROM THE MET IN HD TRANSMISSION

 Reviewed by James Karas 

Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chenier gets a heroic production from New York’s Metropolitan opera which it shared with us by transmission Live in HD in a local cinema. It is a revival of Nicolas Joël’s 1996 production with star power and stunning production values.

The opera takes place during the French Revolution and it is based on a real person, the poet Andrea Chenier, but the rest is fictional. Librettist Luigi Illica provides a script with love, passion and unbelievable sacrifice. It starts in 1786, just before the revolution broke out to the bloodbath and the reign of terror in 1794. It is verismo opera at its best.

In the first scene we witness the aristocracy enjoying its wealth and treatment of the lower classes. The Met provides a scene of men and women in splendid, one would say, decadent attire who treat the servants with contempt. The poet Andrea Chenier (Piotr Beczala) arrives. He is a democrat who displays his contempt for the greedy clergy and the corrupt aristocrats.

But we also meet the beautiful aristocrat Maddalena (Sonya Yoncheva) who does not like pretentious clothes. We also meet the servant Gerard (Igor Golovatenko), a revolutionary firebrand who is secretly in love with Maddalena. The real love story is between her and Chenier as Giordano mixes the political with the personal in tandem. The act finishes with Gerard leading the ordinary people and on with the revolution and down with the aristocrat.   

Sonya Yoncheva, Piotr Beczała and Igor Golovatenko (far right) in
 "Andrea Chénier." Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

Three years later, the revolution is in full swing and Maddalena and Chenier are in Paris,  a city full of informers, spies and terror. On the positive side, they declare their love. But Chenier is arrested and in the next act he is before a Revolutionary Tribunal which has the right to sentence him to death which of course it does. In the meantime, we learn that Gerard is in love with Maddalena and is a leader in the revolution. The slave of the aristocrats has become the slave of passion. The climactic scene arrives and Chenier is about to be executed but Maddalena loves him so much that she decides to take the place of another convict and accompany him to the guillotine. The is truly dramatic.

This is an outstanding production. Beczala handles the midrange vocals superbly and soars to his upper register with ease and beauty. He sings  “Un dì, all'azzurro spazio” about the beauty and his love of nature with splendor and power as he also trashes the cleric who mistreated the poor. He is heroic in his rendering of the idealistic poet.  She sings beautifully and the two have the perfect chemistry for outstanding performances. She renders the haunting “La mamma morta” with serene beauty as she recounts the killing of her mother and the vision she has of love giving solace and rescuing her from despair.

Golovatenko makes an effective, angry Gerard. Gerard goes from servant to rebel leader, from a brute to a man disillusioned with his unrequited love for Maddalena and life. He sings with splendid resonance throughout. In his grand aria “Nemico della patria” he gives a mirthless laugh as he takes stock of his life.

Under the baton of Daniele Rustioni, the Met Opera Orchestra and Chorus do superb work with Giordano’s score. Andrea Chenier gets mixed reviews as an opera but it maintains its position in the repertoire. This production provides  the reason for its continuing popularity.
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Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano was transmitted Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera on December 13, 2025 at the Cineplex VIP Shops at Don Mills, 12 Marie Labatte Road, Toronto Ontario and other theatres. Encores will be shown on February 7, 2026 at various theatres. For more information: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto

LA BOHEME – REVIEW OF 2025 LIVE FROM THE MET IN HD TRANSMISSION

 Reviewed by James Karas 

Puccini’s La Bohème is back on a theatre screen near you. If you do not see it, it is your loss. It is a gorgeous production and streamed for us who do not live in New York and probably could not afford the hefty ticket prices.

A few numbers. The performance on Saturday, November 8, 2025, was the 1415^th at the Metropolitan opera. That makes it the most produced opera at the Met. Franco Zeffirelli’s production has been performed more than 500 times since its first performance in 1981. The most of any production.  And it has been played in all but nine of the Met’s seasons since  its first production at the Met in 1900.                         

How is that for stats?

The current production has the same sets designed by Zeffirelli, costumes by Peter J. Hall, lighting by Gil Wechsler and is done by revival director Mirabelle Ordinaire.

Our beloved Mimi is sung by soprano Juliana Grigoryan and she has all the attributes of a superb heroine. She appears petite, innocent, virginal and lovable. She has a lovely voice and holds those notes with ease and beauty. Of course, she is clever enough to blow out her candle when she sees in Rodolfo someone that she likes and pretends that she lost her key. She may be a flirt and may have some shortcomings but we don’t care. We love her and are with her all along. 

Heidi Stober as Musetta (centre) and the crowd in La Boheme. 
Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

Tenor Freddie De Tommaso has a beautiful, light, Pavarottiesque voice ideal for Rodolfo. He hits the high notes right at his entry on stage and maintains gorgeous tones throughout. When he cries at Mini’s death there is not a dry eye in the house.

Baritone Lucas Meacham is a virile and sympathetic Marcello who must endure and enjoy the tempestuous Musetta. But he sings with beautiful sonority and is a he-man who can take care of himself.

Soprano Heidi Stober’s Musetta is of course tempestuous, enjoys teasing and perhaps making Marcello’s life hell at times but she is also extremely decent when she sells her jewel to buy medication for Mimi. She does Musetta’s Waltz superbly as becomes a teaser of the male organ.

Women conductors have become highly desirable (it’s about time) and the Met Orchestra was conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson. Excellent work.

Zeffirelli’s sets with the garret on the top floor of a tenement in the Latin Quarter, a snow-covered area near the toll-gate on the outskirts of Paris and a terrific scene for  the parade that includes a donkey and a horse are splendid and spectacular as needs be. Peter J. Hall’s costumes are perfect and Gil Wechslet’s lighting adds feature to this superb production.   

Seeing a performance at the Met is wonderful but catching a performance on a large screen has its benefits. You can examine faces and reactions in detail and see things that you may not witness if you sat in the best seats in Lincoln Center. 

This was the sixth time that I saw the Zeffirelli production and I confess to enjoying it thoroughly. Go see it.
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La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini was transmitted Live in HD from New York’s Metropolitan Opera at select Cineplex theatres across Canada on November 8, 2025. There will be an encore showing on December 6, 2025. For more information go to: www.cineplex.com/events.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto

LA SONNAMBULA – REVIEW OF 2025 TRANSMISSION LIVE IN HD FROM THE MET

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Met Live in HD is back with nine operas to be streamed by the Metropolitan Opera from New York’s Lincoln Center to a movie theatre near you. The opening production is Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula that was shown on October 18, 2025,  to be followed by La Boheme on November 8, 2025.

It is a new production directed by tenor Rolando Villazon. There are some eyebrow-raisers but overall, it is a stunning production. It follows the 2009 production by Mary Zimmerman which was roundly booed because of her setting the opera in New York as if it were being rehearsed. The singing was outstanding with Natalie Dessay and Juan Dieo Florez in the lead roles but that did not discourage the pronounced disapproval of the audience.

The plot of La Sonnambula is thin and silly but Bellin’s music and bel canto arias raise it to a level of its own in the repertoire. We are in a Swiss village in the past and Amina and Elvino are in love and about to get married tomorrow. Count Rodolfo, a perfect gentleman, arrives in the village and Amina sleepwalks into his room and is found wearing his robe. The conservative villagers go into shock and Elvino goes into an apoplexy of jealousy. The wedding is off and the villagers turn on Amina.

Several scenes later and a lot of gorgeous singing, Amina’s innocence is established and she and Elvino get married and live happily ever after.  

La Sonnambula is a bel canto opera which means that it makes extraordinary demands on the singers. They must sing beautifully, of course, and be able to reach high notes and go to low notes effortlessly. The vocal beaty must be pronounced and it is a style of singing that few singers can accomplish.

 Deborah Nansteel as Teresa, Nadine Sierra as Amina, 

Nicholas Newton as Alessio, and Sydney Mancasola as Lisa 

in Bellini's "La Sonnambula." Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera

This production has singers that meet and surpass those criteria. Soprano Nadine Sierra sings Amina, the sleepwalker, who goes from bliss to despair on being accused of infidelity. She has a surpassingly beautiful voice and can reach the highest soprano notes and sing with sustained emotion be it of joy or pain. Her tone, her expression and the beauty of her singing place her in the highest category of sopranos. A thrilling performance.

Tenor Xabier Anduaga is the ardent lover Elvino who goes into a fit of jealousy at the thought that Amina spent time in Count Rodolfo’s room. He has a supple voice that combines beauty and flexibility, allowing him to sing gorgeously and appear to be doing it effortlessly. Sierra and Anduaga have some magnificent duets that make you forget the silliness of the plot.

Bass Alexander Vinogradov sings the role of Count Rodolfo, an impeccably dressed and mannered aristocrat. He sings with beautiful sonority and being a man of integrity saves Amina’s reputation. He is a pleasure to watch and hear.

Villazon added a solo dancer to the production. Niara Hardister, dressed in ethereal white, appears most of the time on the upper tier or roof of the two-tier set and she could be Amina’s alter ego or sleeping self which means I have no idea what she is doing in the opera.

The set by designer Johannes Leiacker shows a white-painted main stage area with doors in the back and a white roof above it. the roof is covered with snow and beyond we see a dramatic view of the Alps. That part of the background changes to dark and threatening clouds and with projections of designer Renaud Rubiano we get a dramatic set for the production.

Interestingly Rodolfo, Elvino and the dancer descend to the main stage area from the roof using a ladder.

This is a superb production of the opera despite the several quirks that Villazon has added to it. The thin plot is subject to some very odd interpretations and interpolations but Villazon has resisted such directorial self-indulgence and gives us a marvelous production.

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La Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini was shown Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera at select Cineplex theatres across Canada on October 18, 2025. There will be an encore showing on November 1, 2025. For more information including dates for reprises go to: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto

THE MAGIC FLUTE – REVIEW OF 2025 OPERA ATELIER PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

Opera Atelier, the magical organization of Marshall Pynkoski  and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg,  is celebrating its 40th year of productions in Toronto and around the world with a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. They give us a vibrant, exciting, colourful and  enjoyable production that must not be missed.

Anyone who has never seen a production of The Magic Flute is in for a treat. Those who may have seen it many times (23 times for me) will be reminded that you never tire of seeing some works.

If you have never seen the opera, you may want to read some background. It is not really an opera but a singspiel. That means a play with songs, maybe like a traditional musical. It has dialogue and songs and it was written for the popular theatre in 1791 for the purpose of making money. The libretto  was written by Emanuel Schikaneder a man who worked in the popular theatre, the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. It uses common German, has low (make that people’s) comedy and high Masonic wisdom and ambitions. Don’t worry about the latter, you don’t have to know anything about the Masons.

Prince Tamino is lost in the forest and almost devoured by a prehistoric Monster. Tenor Colin Ainsworth has sung this role many times and handles it again with vocal assurance and splendor. Tamino is saved by three beautiful and gorgeously dressed Ladies (Carla Huhtanen, Danielle MacMillan and Laura Pudwell) who work for the Queen of the Night (Rainelle Krause). They go to tell their employer about Tamino and Papageno (Douglas Williams) who arrives to claim credit for saving him. He is funny.

The Queen of the Night is not funny but she has a beautiful daughter called Pamina (Meghan Lindsay) and she can belt out some high Fs to knock your socks off. She wants to kill Sarastro, her husband, and the high notes sound like bullets from an AK-47 Kalashnikov. The shots, I mean high notes, may not have been perfect but the audience went wild over them on opening night.

Scene from The Magic Flute. Opera Atelier

That’s the high-minded stuff. The people’s humour is provided by Papageno, the bird catcher who lives in the forest, knows nothing about the rest of the world, is a bit of a coward and wants to find a pretty maiden to marry. A lovable human being. Williams has  a terrific bass-baritone voice and a well-developed sense of comic acting.

Tamino arrives at the Temple of Wisdom. Pamina’s father Sarastro (a splendidly voiced bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus) is the kind ruler and all will become clear when Tamino qualifies to join the brotherhood of the Temple. We meet the nasty and lustful Monostatos (tenor Blaise Rantoanina) who has a comic side. Pynkoski underplays the evil in Monostatos and emphasizes his clownish part,  

Tamino and Papageno must endure trials to prove their virtues in order to join the temple. We have the serious and the comic in tandem with hilarious results when Papageno cannot keep up. We all know that the two will make it and Tamino and Pamina will show their requisite character traits to join the Temple and marry.

Papageno will get his playful Papagena (Opera Atelier veteran and lovely-voiced soprano Karine White).

This production is spoken and sung in plain English from a translation by Andrew Porter. There are even surtitles for the songs but you may not need to look at them all.

Gerard Gauci designed the colourful and otherworldly sets. The Queen of the Night is lowered from up high to the stage in spectacular fashion. Colors, beauty, spectacle are emphasized and the mythical story is reflected in the costumes of original designer Dora Rust D’Eye and Resident Costume Designer Michael Gianfrancesco.

Ms Zingg has choreographed the dances performed by the Artists of Atelier Ballet with the usual iridescent beauty.

The Tafelmusik Orchestra performed on period  instruments under the baton of David Fallis.   

If this is your first Magic Flute or you need more than your fingers to count the number of times you have seen it, it is all the same. You will be captivated by the magic flute, the magic love story and the magic fun of this production.

I tip my hat once more to our local magicians, the co-artistic directors of Opera Atelier, Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg for their extraordinary contribution to civilized life in Toronto.
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The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder opened on October 15 and will be performed until October 19, 2025, at the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario. www.operaatelier.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto.

ROMÉO ET JULIETTE – REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company has mounted a redoubtable and enjoyable production of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. The production is rented from Malmo Opera and we can blame the Swedes for some of the quirky bits and give credit to the COC for the rest.

Gounod’s opera is of course based on Shakespeare’s  play as adapted for opera by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. It was first performed in Paris in 1867 and is generally received well if not enthusiastically. The last time it was produced by the COC was in 1992 and this production, as I said, was rented from another opera company.

The singing is generally superb. Tenor Stephen Costello delivers a strong and sonorous Romeo. At times he sounded stentorian but that may be in comparison to Kseniia Proshina’s Juliette. Proshina has a beautiful soprano voice and she delivers a highly sympathetic heroine. But she does not have a big voice with its attendant issues in a big opera house. But conductor Yves Abel handled the situation brilliantly. He reduces the volume of the COC Orchestra when Proshina is singing and avoids drowning her. She is capable of some beautiful flourishes at full throttle and with that and Abel’s handling of the orchestra we got splendid performances from Proshina and Costello.

Veteran Toronto bass Robert Pomakov sings Friar Laurence (I use Shakespeare’s names) with apt resonance and becoming humanity. In his first appearance he wears a white lab coat and he appears like anything but a friar. When next time we see him at the Capulet palace instructing Juliette about faking her death, he has found his cassock and perhaps his religious calling. 

A scene from the COC's production of Roméo et Juliette. 

Photo: Michael Cooper

Bass-baritone Gordon Bintner sings the colourful role of Mercutio and he gets Queen Mab’s aria to show his vocal mettle. He does. Tenor Owen McCausland sings the hot-headed Tybalt who is killed by Romeo after he, Tybalt, kills Mercutio.   

There are about half a dozen other characters that do a fine job. The role of Stephano sung by Alex Hetherington is worthy of mention. Alex is a soprano and Stephano is a pants role and I could not immediately tell that Alex is a woman. Stephano gets a very good aria of his own and he sings superbly in the role.

The set by Emma Ryott goes for dark tones, not to say a gloomy atmosphere. It is not always clear what she is after but the story line and the singing keep us too busy  to worry about the sets and the lighting designed by Charlie Morgan Jones. The program notes tell us that the production sets the opera in New York on New Year’s Eve 1889. The Capulets are having a big circus-theme garden party that many Montagues crash. That explains some of the ridiculous costumes designed by Ryott and having the upstanding Count Capulet (Mark Stone) stripped of most of his clothes.  

And speaking of quirky, Lane (or was it the Malmo Opera director?) has Juliette die standing up. I noticed the quirks in passing and they had little effect on my enjoyment of the performances.

Conductor Yves Abel deserves great praise for his lively treatment of the score and especially his sensitivity and adroitness in keeping the balance between pit and stage at all times. The COC Orchestra deserves kudos and the Chorus earned extra praise for their wonderful performance.

A production not to be missed, quirks and all.
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Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod opened on September 27 and continues on various dates until October 18, 2025, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto

ORFEO ED EURIDICE - REVIEW OF 2025 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company shied away from Gluck’s masterpiece Orfeo ed Euridice  until 2011 but when it first produced it, the COC hit paydirt. The source was Robert Carsen’s dark and gloomy vision of the opera that proved emotionally captivating and intense. It was a co-production with four other opera companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago and it proved stunningly successful. Fourteen years later, the COC has mounted an equally successful revival of the production with Revival Director Christophe Gayral.

When the performance begins, we see an expanse of dark earth covering the stage of the Four Seasons Centre. The sky at the back is gloomy and darkness is the dominant feature. There is a mound of earth beside an open grave and we hear the somber, funereal singing of the chorus. They are supposed to be shepherds and nymphs but they are all dressed in black and we can’t really see them in the darkness.

They are mourning the death of Euridice (soprano Anna-Sophie Neher), the beautiful, young wife of Orfeo. Euridice’s corpse is lowered into the tomb. Some dirt is shoveled in it. The grief-stricken Orfeo (Iestyn Davies) appears, the chorus leaves and it his turn to express his deeply-felt anguish. He asks for the intercession of the gods and eventually resolves to seek her in the underworld. Countertenor Iestyn Davies expresses his tumultuous emotions with heart-rending poignancy and sonority.    

Lights are placed around the grave by members of the chorus and the funeral gains tragic dimensions and somber beauty.

Amore (Catherine St-Arnaud), the god of love, takes pity on Orfeo and agrees to send him to Hades to recover Euridice but subject to some strict conditions. St-Arnaud does not have a big voice and for a moment was almost overwhelmed by the orchestra but balance was restored and she gave a marvelous performance.

Iestyn Davies and Anna-Sophie Neher in Orfeo ed Euridice. 

Photo: Michael Cooper

In the second act, Orfeo has reached the underworld where we see the stage covered with beings covered by sheets that resemble burial shrouds. They are the Furies, the guardians of Hades who do not allow living beings to enter. Orfeo convinces them with the depth of his sorrow to permit him to pass to Elysium, (think of it as the nice part of hell) to claim his Euridice.

The chorus has become a chorus of heroes and Orfeo meets Euridice but he cannot look at her until they come back to earth. Elysium is a place of beauty but Carsen will not allow the gloomy atmosphere to change. The rest of the journey is unbearable as Euridice fears that Orfeo no longer loves her and they reach the breaking point when she is not sure that she wants to return to earth, He can no longer endure her doubts and looks at her. She dies. 

We have reached the climax of pain and grief and there is nothing left for Orfeo but to commit suicide. He sings the extraordinary aria “Che faro senza Euridice” (What will I do without Euridice.) But love conquers all and the god of love intercedes again and Orfeo and Euridice are united, the lights shine, the nymphs and shepherds still dressed funereally celebrate and they all live happily ever after.

Iestyn Davies occupies the niche of a countertenor voice that has relatively few singers. He has a big, beautifully calibrated voice that can express the anguish, the resolution and the temporary joy of Orfeo to perfection. The COC Chorus is superb in its rendition of its several representations of singing that it delivers.     

The myth of Orpheus and Euridice has proven to be a prime inspiration and challenge for composers. There are almost a hundred operas based on the myth and what composer could resist the challenge of writing music that would sway the guardians of the underworld?
There are many ways of producing Orfeo ed Euridice and Carsen has chosen his own way, emphasizing the dark and solemn aspects. He designed the gloomy lighting with Peter Van Praet, and Tobias Hoheisel designed the sets and costumes. The rest was up to the singers and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Chorus to deliver the extraordinary beauty and emotional power of a great opera.
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Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck opened on October 9 and will be performed seven times on various dates until October 25, 2025, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.coc.ca 

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto