October 4, 2024 – May 23, 2025
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is thrilled to unveil its 2024-2025 season, promising an exceptional lineup of operatic performances that will captivate audiences and showcase the company’s dedication to artistic excellence. This eagerly anticipated season features a diverse array of productions, including both classic masterpieces and innovative new works, reflecting the COC’s commitment to offering a rich and varied operatic experience. With a focus on compelling storytelling and breathtaking music, the 2024-2025 season is set to enchant opera lovers and introduce new audiences to the transformative power of live performance.
2024-2025 Season
October 4 – 25, 2024
Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco
The opera that launched Verdi’s career, Nabucco is a sweeping saga featuring some of the most passionate music ever written. Never before performed at the COC, this is opera at its most spectacular: a rousing epic of the search for hope amid brutal cruelty and oppression, with a cast of over 120 performers.
October 11 – November 2, 2024
Charles Gounod: Faust
Tenor Long Long is the scholar Faust, whose pact with Méphistophélès (bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen) promises to return him to the innocence of youth—and the love of Marguerite. Murder and madness ensue, with demons, witches, and a chorus of celestial voices rounding out this lavish spectacle directed by Amy Lane.
January 24 – February 16, 2025
Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Soprano Eri Nakamura stars as Butterfly, while tenor Kang Wang portrays the feckless U.S. officer Pinkerton. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts one of Puccini’s greatest scores, which remains unmatched for its beauty and dramatic intensity.
Bilodeau/Bouchard: La Reine-garçon
January 31 – February 15, 2025
The first-ever co-commission between the Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal, La Reine-garçon marks an important chapter in Canadian operatic storytelling. Sopranos Kirsten MacKinnon and Kirsten LeBlanc star as the Swedish queen who navigated a course between faith and knowledge, love and duty.
April 25 – May 16, 2025
Alban Berg: Wozzeck
Tormented by visions and humiliated by his superiors, the soldier Wozzeck (baritone Michael Kupfer-Radecky) discovers that his lover, Marie (soprano Ambur Braid), has entertained the advances of the Drum Major (tenor Matthew Cairns) — a revelation that will culminate in murder, madness, and self-destruction.
May 2 – 24, 2025
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is one of opera’s most romantic masterpieces, an aching meditation on happiness undone. Canadian director Robert Carsen’s stunningly simple staging enjoys an international reputation as “a piece of contemporary operatic history” (The Globe and Mail) and returns to the COC for the first time since 2018.
May 23, 2025
Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana
One of the world’s most successful one-act operas, Mascagni’s gripping thriller about love, jealousy, and betrayal is set in an Italian village where a simmering love triangle reaches boiling point.
About The Canadian Opera Company (COC)
The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is a leading opera institution based in Toronto, celebrated for its high-quality productions and artistic innovation. Established in 1950, the COC offers a diverse repertoire that includes timeless classics, contemporary works, and new commissions, showcasing both international stars and emerging Canadian talent. Beyond its performances, the COC is dedicated to community outreach and education, striving to make opera accessible and engaging for audiences of all ages. Through its commitment to excellence and creativity, the COC plays a pivotal role in shaping the cultural landscape of Canada.
