Just get over those ideas of fat ladies wearing Conan the Barbarian helmets. Opera is taking a cultural front seat in this town for some very big reasons. And hating to miss any great parties, XYYZ makes it easy for you to become conversant in this seemingly arcane art form. Why? So you can dazzle the pants off your lady friends with your knowledge and music appreciation.
But first, why all the fuss?
This month our magnificent new opera house, Four Seasons Centre, opened. And this addition to Toronto’s cultural landscape actually is world-class. Pin-droppingly efficient acoustics are matched by engineering triumphs of glass stairs and glass curtains.
But even bigger news is the inaugural opera for the grand opening in September. Wagner’s The Ring will be performed to kick off the season. Think of it as the Stairway to Heaven of opera. It’s actually 3 separate operas performed over several days (including Die Walkure of Bugs Bunny Kill-the-Wabbit fame). The Ring is so challenging, most opera singers simply can’t perform it and companies won’t stage it. So people will be coming from all over the world to see it here.
