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When considering the current state of indie opera in Canada, an initial observation might be that the scene has shrunk in recent years, particularly in Toronto. But extending our view across the country reveals a different story. The indie opera scene in Canada hasn’t shrunk; it has simply become less concentrated in Canada’s largest cities.
Back in the late 2010s, indie opera in Toronto was in its heyday. Companies like Tapestry Opera, Against the Grain Theatre (AtG), MYOpera, FAWN, Loose Tea Music Theatre, and Bicycle Opera regularly produced innovative works with enthusiastic local followings. They would support one another through social media engagement and non-competition clauses for when they would schedule performances and host communal potlucks for leaders to share plans and get to know one another.
Yet as the pandemic lingered, many of these companies faded away. Joel Ivany, co-founder of AtG, left to become head of Edmonton Opera, leaving AtG in a state of flux. Tapestry Opera faced a shocking eviction notice from their longtime Distillery location, leaving them without a home. Other companies stopped producing due to pandemic-related health regulations and career pivots for company leaders unable to sustain themselves in Canada’s largest city.
Kimberly Barber & Lara Ciekiewicz in The Little Opera Company’s Three Decembers. Photo: Heather Milne
In Montreal, companies like Opera da Camera, Opéra Immédiat, Opéra dans le Parc and le Théâtre d’Art Lyrique de Laval also thrived in the late 2010s. Yet, these four companies have gone mute since the pandemic, citing a loss of revenue from ticket sales, lack of government support, and the difficulties of negotiating Opéra de Montréal’s requisite agreements with the Union des Artistes (UDA) as causes for their demise.
Like the many artists who’ve relocated from the increasingly expensive scenes of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, Canada’s dedicated, shoestring-budget opera scene now finds its home in scattered venues across our wintry nation.
One of the most vibrant centres for indie opera in Canada may be one of our country’s most artistically rich yet often overlooked cities: Winnipeg. Now in its 30th year, Spencer Duncanson’s Little Opera Company of Winnipeg produces Canadian premieres of chamber operas.
Last season, they presented the Canadian premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Walk from the Garden, a biblical allegory for climate change in 12 scenes. Lisa Rumpel and Judith Oatway’s Flipside Opera presents operas in venues such as the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Fort Garry Hotel. Manitoba Underground Opera, founded in 2008, presents three productions every year at unusual venues like the provincial legislature. And just this past summer, Sawyer Craig and Gwendolyn Yearwood’s Good Mess Opera Theatre produced its new commission, Monsters Made, at the University of Manitoba.
Mishael Eusebio (Miles) in Ammolite Opera’s Proving Up
Things are looking up in Calgary, too. While indie mainstay Cowtown Opera may have taken its final curtain call in 2020, new companies like Tayte Mitchell and Maria Fuller’s Ammolite Opera are rising from its ashes. Last summer, Ammolite presented the Canadian premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Proving Up to critical acclaim.
In spite of Vancouver’s reputation for favouring outdoor sports over indoor cultural activities, City Opera Vancouver has found renewed life under conductor Gordon Gerrard and composer Anna Pidgorna. Their 2024-25 season includes the Canadian premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Sophia’s Forest. Another company in Lotusland, re:Naissance Opera, recently premiered its immersive Eurydice Fragments at Vancouver’s 2024 IndieFest. In 2022, Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre, Loose Tea Music Theatre, Array Music and Turning Point Ensemble joined forces for the Canadian premiere of Du Yun’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Angel’s Bone in Vancouver, presenting it again in Toronto in 2024.
And Quebec is still full of indie opera that showcases works both new and old. At the helm, Montreal’s Chants Libres and Musique 3 Femmes have become mainstays for facilitating new works. This season, Musique 3 Femmes, founded by Kristin Hoff, Suzanne Rigden and Jennifer Szeto in 2018, partners with Opéra de Montréal for its Opera Creation Forum, providing platforms for emerging singers, librettists, and conductors.
Chants Libres, founded in 1990, produces full seasons of new works, including an annual Opér’Actuel: Works in Progress event. Between 2020 and 2024, Ensemble Caprice’s Mini-Opéras Santé and Mini-Concerts Santé delivered 13,500 surprise mini concerts and operas around Montreal in diverse and underserved parts of the city. Venturing outside Montreal, those looking for more traditional works can try companies like Opéra de Trois-Rivières, Opéra Bouffe du Québec, Théâtre Lyrique de la Montérégie or the newly founded Opéra du Royaume in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean.
Ammolite Opera’s Proving Up
Even back in Toronto, things are slowly coming back to life. AtG recently announced new leadership under the Pulitzer Prize-winning Canadian librettist Royce Vavrek, and Tapestry Opera has a new performance facility right in the heart of Toronto’s midtown.
Companies like Southern Opera Lyric Theatre and Toronto City Opera (TCO) are coming more and more into their own, with opportunities that include TCO’s new Macina Competition for young singers. Guillermo Silva-Marin’s Opera in Concert and Toronto Operetta Theatre continue to dig up lost gems of the past, Bicycle Opera has resurfaced with the release of its award-winning film Sweat, FAWN Chamber Works recently produced Anna Höstman’s Cells of the Wind, and Rachel Krehm’s Opera Five looks forward to the first-ever Toronto Opera Festival in June this year.
After a long pandemic hiatus, indie opera is once again putting its stamp on the Canadian scene. Let’s hope this renewal continues, keeping opera current, vital, and uniquely Canadian.
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