[Updated: January 22, 2015]
This time last year, Opera Hamilton announced that due to a lack of funding, it was closing its doors for good. It wasn’t the first time Hamilton has lost an opera company. Opera Hamilton’s predecessor, Opera Ontario, went bankrupt in 2008, and despite moving from Hamilton Place to the Dofasco Theatre —(a smaller venue designed to cut costs) it just wasn’t enough to balance the books.
And now after a year of wondering what might become of Hamilton’s opera tradition, it seems the wait is over – at least for now.
The Brott Music Festival is launching a new opera initiative, called Brott Opera, which is set to launch this summer between July 12 and 23, in Hamilton, Ontario. The program is designed to offer singers the opportunity to perform in front of an engaged audience and a full orchestra.
“Hamilton deserves a good opera,” said founder Boris Brott from his home in downtown Hamilton, “…and it was time to do something to fill that need for the city.”
Besides his role as Director of one of Canada’s leading Summer music festivals, Brott has had a long association with opera– first in 1977 with the Canadian Opera Company conducting Donizetti’s La fille du regiment, and later in 1980 as founder of Opera Hamilton. In 2010, he made his Italian opera debut with a production of La Traviata, for Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari.
The Brott Opera Program will sit under the umbrella of the Brott Music Festival, which has become one of Canada’s largest annual summer music events. Its success lies with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, a professional orchestral training program that also serves as the festival’s orchestra in residence.
“This year we will bring singers of any age to Hamiton this summer to take on roles in our production of two operas: Rossini’s Il Barbiere Di Siviglia and Popera. Both will be concert productions with a full symphony.” Brott explained.
On January 30th, auditions will be held in Toronto, and in Montreal on the following day. Selected applicants will be offered a full stipend, coaching and training experience from some of today’s top industry professionals, and accommodations through the two-week program.
The program will be led by Boris Brott and program director Taras Kulish, who also works as executive director of the McGill Chamber Orchestra, in Montreal, Quebec.
Brott confessed funding was key to getting things started, but what makes this different from the NAO program, is that students need not be Canadian.
“If all goes well, we can ensure Hamilton gets some of it’s opera back. This will be something worthwhile,” Brott concluded.
For more information on Brott Opera, see here.
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