09/10. Celebrating the Past. Creating the Future.

“At every stage of our history Tapestry has been truly blessed with extraordinary artists. At Tapestry we are extremely fortunate to have so much to look forward to – never have we had such a burgeoning number of works in preparation for the stage. So as we celebrate our past, we are creating our future at the same time.”

…Wayne Strongman
Managing Artistic Director

The 2009/2010 Season begins with Tapestry’s first International Composer-Librettist Laboratory. With support from the INCUBATE program at the Toronto Arts Council, Tapestry will has partnered with Scottish Opera and paired 3 UK artists (composers John Harris and Gareth Williams and writer Bernard MacLaverty) with 3 returning LibLab alumni, composer Stephen Andrew Taylor (Opera to Go: My Mother’s Ring) and writers Anna Chatterton (Opera to Go: See Saw; Swoon for Canadian Opera Company) and Marjorie Chan (Opera to Go: Mother Everest and Sanctuary Song).

The 5-minute scenes produced in the Lab will be presented at Tapestry’s annual season opener Opera Briefs, September 25, 26, 27, 2009 in the Ernest Balmer Studio at Tapestry.

March 24, 25, 26, 2010 in the Fermenting Cellar, Distillery District, Tapestry will revive some the critical and audience favourites from past Opera to Go productions (5 productions since 2002).

In June 2010, the world premiere of Dark Star Requiem by Jill Battson & Andrew Staniland – an operatic oratorio on the history of HIV-AIDS – will feature an outstanding cast of soloists and the Elmer Iseler Singers.

In addition, Tapestry will  honour its 30th anniversary with a special one-night celebration headlined by the 3 Divas – Patricia O’Callaghan, Jean Stilwell and Theresa Tova – and featuring a number of company alumni, in concert December 2, 2009 at the Fermenting Cellar.

“It is wonderfully gratifying to enter Tapestry’s 30th Anniversary Year and my 4th season as Resident Director/Dramaturg having experienced so much critical and popular success in our 29th! At this year’s Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Tapestry led the Best New Musical/Opera category with Sanctuary Song winning the award and competing against 3 of the works we developed for Opera to Go. After 7 years in development The Shadow proved to be the best reviewed new opera seen in Canada last season. This outstanding community acknowledgment is gratifying and we shall continue striving to make our development wing the finest of it’s kind in the world.”

…Tom Diamond
Resident Studio Company Director