With their new production of Iphigenie en Tauride, Opera Atelier is asking students and young people throughout the city: “Aria ready for a little opera?”
Their new Student Initiatives program is aimed at attracting a young audience to a medium that is not always frequented by, or marketed to, youth.
Opera Atelier is a well-established Canadian company that is mounting two Toronto-based shows this season-the first opera, which opened this past Friday and runs to Nov. 2, is Iphigenie en Tauride, by famed Baroque composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. Normal ticket prices range from $25 to $99, but the company, through a sponsorship agreement with Scotiabank, is offering student tickets for as little as $15.
Why this new focus on students? General Manager David Baile explains: “Youth is the market of tomorrow. Given that in the past few years we have seen a slashing of arts programs in schools, we feel it is critical to encourage youth to become aware of the rich cultural scene in Toronto and throughout Canada.”
Baile and the company noticed that despite the good reviews their shows were garnering, they were “not seeing the number of young adults in our audiences that (they) would like.”
The new program helps out in the cost department, always a factor for students when choosing entertainment, but additionally Gaile hopes that students will come away from the opera realizing that many of the assumptions they’d held about it were wrong, and will then spread the word to their friends.
“The old notion of ‘stand and scream at the audience’ is certainly not the case with Opera Atelier, or, for that matter, our colleague companies,” says Gaile.
If you’re not up to date with the opera scene and need some help getting oriented, the director and members of the production team hold a one-hour chat with the audience before the show to give them a little introduction to what they are about to see and clue them into things to watch for. Iphigenie en Tauride is being billed as the perfect introduction to opera, and these “lectures” are a key part of that initiation.
This is a great opportunity for students to experience a rich musical form at a price that most anyone can afford. So instead of going to see another stupid movie, head down to the Elgin Theatre on Yonge Street to witness the emotionally-charged story of the abandonment and return of Iphigenie, daughter of Agamemnon, on the island of Tauride during the Trojan War. Toronto’s own Krisztina Szabo performs the title role, accompanied by U of T neighbours Tafelmusik (they are based out of Trinity-St.Paul Centre), a truly delightful Baroque orchestral group that has a long partnership with the company, under the direction of Andrew Parrot.
Gluck’s opera is unlike the conventional, somewhat overbearing fare of stereotypical operas past. Written just before the French Revolution at the request of Marie Antoinette, Gluck’s haunting, engaging music and the talent of the ensemble will make you glad you bypassed the TV for one night and took in an opera. And don’t worry, there won’t be one iron-lunged lady with a two-horned cap in sight.
Tickets for Iphgenie en Tauride and Lully’s Perseé, Opera Atelier’s other production running in April, are available by calling Ticketmaster at 416-872-5555, or online at www.operaatelier.com.
