Canadian Opera Company
Site Map | Contact Us | Sign In | My Account | Cart
Skip Navigation Links.
Home > Explore & Learn > New to Opera? > Online Learning Centre > COC Fun Facts

Fun Facts

Did you know:

  • . . . that the COC is a not-for-profit, charitable organization?

  • . . . that the COC is the largest producer of opera in Canada and enjoys an international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation?

  • . . . that the COC is the owner of Canada’s first purpose-built opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, inaugurated in June 2006?

  • . . . that the COC currently produces seven fully staged opera productions and 77 free concerts in the
    Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts?

  • . . . that the COC produced Canada’s first fully staged production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in September 2006?

  • . . . that the COC makes an ongoing effort to bring opera to new audiences through its numerous education and outreach activities such as Opera 101?

  • . . . that the COC reaches over 16,000 young people across Ontario with the Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour?

  • . . . that the COC presents public opera concerts and educational performances in concert halls, schools and community centres throughout Ontario?

  • . . . that the COC started the Ensemble Studio, Canada’s pre-eminent training program for young singers, directors and coaches. World-recognized alumni include Ben Heppner, Wendy Nielsen, Gidon Saks, John Fanning and Isabel Bayrakdarian?

  • . . . that the COC encourages the creation of new operatic works and frequently collaborates with well-known stage and screen directors such as Atom Egoyan, Robert Lepage, François Girard, Robin Phillips and Tim Albery?

  • . . . that COC artists have won Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year for Vocal or Choral Performance: Soirée française (1998) and Mozart: Arie e Duetti (2007)?

  • . . . that COC artists won the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts in 1999?

  • . . . that COC artists have won 38 Dora Mavor Moore Awards since 1997?

  • . . . that COC artists won the 1997 Gabriel Fauré Award from France’s Académie du disque lyrique for Best Recording of Opera Arias: Soirée française?

  • . . . that COC artists won the 1993 Scotsman Hamada Festival Prize (£50,000) and Critics Prize for Music and Drama for Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung at the Edinburgh Festival?

Would you like to:

View Calendar
View Seating Map
Buy Tickets
Subscribe to the 10/11 Season
Donate
Sign up for
eOpera

Join Our eNewsletter List

Sign up to receive news and updates from the COC’s Education and Outreach Department.

Resources

Prepare your students for a night at the opera with our study guides.

Canadian Opera Company © 2010
Privacy | Security | Terms of Use | Ticket Policies