To mark its 50th anniversary, Vancouver Opera is looking ahead to a full year of celebration. Canada’s second largest opera company will host a Golden Anniversary Concert and Gala on Nov. 6, and the party continues through the year with main stage productions of Norma, Nixon in China, The Marriage of Figaro, and Madama Butterfly.
Although Vancouver Opera has had its ups and downs over the years, it has always maintained a solid fan base of opera goers eager to take in a show. Balancing classics such as Carmen and The Marriage of Figaro with modern operas like Nixon in China has kept the crowds coming.
However, keeping people interested in a 16th century art form in today’s fast-paced multi-media existence “is always a marketing challenge,” says VO general director James Wright.
“There’s just so many options people have that all of us—whether it’s opera companies or symphonies or dance companies—we have to keep on our toes and we need to keep ahead of what’s happening and know how to reach people and get them to understand the value of what we bring.”
One way VO does this is with its interactive website and an opera manga comic series that tells the story of each opera in the Japanese picture board style.
“We’ve been using manga for four or five years and won some awards with it,” says Wright. “It’s reaching a different group of people in an art form that’s obviously really, really popular with people of all ages around the world, and we get amazing feedback.”
Choosing productions in which modern subject matter is given the operatic treatment is something VO will be doing more of in the future, Wright says, and Nixon in China fits that bill. The opera follows Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972.
“I think that what we'll see is more and more attention to newer work. We have a responsibility and a desire to broaden the kind of opera we produce with new work, more 20th century work. What we want to do is find a balance in our season year-to-year.”
In tune with the Olympic fever gripping Vancouver, Rodriguez autographed a limited number of snowboards bearing his Vancouver Opera designs which will be auctioned off on VO’s eBay Charity Auctions website.
Wright says VOs long-running education program has reached more students than any other opera company in Canada. There are plans to greatly expand the program in the coming years.
“We want [to have] 140 performances a year for young people in schools throughout the province, and we want to increase that. Our plan is to develop a young artist program, a training of young professional singers, and having a residency program here that moves them along in their professional endeavors. That’s something we hope to start in the next couple of years.”
To commemorate the golden anniversary Vancouver Opera will donate 10,000 hours to charities and non-profits in surrounding communities.
