Vancouver Opera is getting ready to kick off its 2022-2023 season with the first annual Opera in the Park. On Sunday, July 17 the free, family-friendly, opera concert takes place at Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park. The afternoon will be filled with fun outdoor activities followed by an evening concert featuring a sampling of opera’s greatest hits and preview Vancouver Opera’s upcoming season.
Not just for opera enthusiasts, bring your family and friends to take in the all-day activities. The park will have food trucks available all day, as well as costume stations, face painting, crafts, an instrument ‘petting zoo’, as well as roving artists, and dress rehearsals on the Amphitheatre stage. Moving on to the evening concert, Maestro Jonathan Darlington conducts Vancouver Opera through a program of arias, duets and ensembles featuring selections familiar to many people from all around pop-culture and teases selections from the upcoming season’s shows.
“We are thrilled to announce Vancouver Opera’s 2022–2023 season which will include three full-scale productions, all centred on the theme of love,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director. “The 2022–2023 season will see the return of two beloved operas for our Vancouver Opera patrons along with an incredible, fantastical company premiere which is sure to entice a new audience who loves theatrical magic.”
The first annual Opera in the Park sets the stage for Vancouver Opera’s 2022-2023 season which will include:
The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet,
October 22, 27 & 30, 2022 Directed by Rachel Peake with Conductor Kamna Gupta.
Last seen on the Vancouver Opera stage 28 years ago, this opera focuses on the love of friendship set against lush orchestrations and melodies.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten, based on the play by William Shakespeare.
February 11, 16 & 19, 2023 Directed by Aria Umezawa with Conductor Jacques Lacombe.
A company premiere is an evening of magic filled with the ethereal beauty of Britten’s atmospheric score and Shakespeare’s fantastical story of love triangles and mistaken identities.
The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner
April 29, May 4 & 7, 2023 Directed by Brian Deedrick with Conductor Leslie Dala.
Wagner’s first work returns to Vancouver Opera for the first time since 2000, the tragic tale of love and sacrifice is based on European maritime legend and tells the haunting story of a sailor and his daughter who encounter a ghost during a storm on the sea.
Adds Wright, “we have chosen these three works to celebrate and honour our audiences’ love of opera. These productions will feature world class directors and conductors working alongside our amazing orchestra, chorus and celebrated vocal talent. It is the perfect season to fall in love with opera all over again.”
For more information about Opera in the Park, the 2022–2023 Vancouver Opera Season at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, and to subscribe, visit vancouveropera.ca. Single show tickets go on sale August 15, 2022.