OpéraFest 2024 La Cenerentola Finale “non più mesta…” – Full Company on stage at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Toronto
MARCH 9-28, 2026
STUART GRAHAM, Artistic Director
NARMINA AFANDIYEVA, Pianist & Music Director
JEANNETTE ASTER, Artistic Adviser & Stage Director
OpéraFest is a 4-week intensive role-study residency (tuition-free) for emerging and established artists; offering a non-critical environment to develop new repertoire that culminates in a lyric showcase in the renowned Jeanne Lamon Hall. Originally, OpéraFest was a collaborative project amongst a few colleagues that had the common need to record video demos required for audition submissions. As any performing artist knows this is a costly proposition once one rents a suitable venue, engages the pianist, rehearses and hires a quality videographer with the right kind of equipment. Our solution was “why not create a public concert, stage our repertoire, present and record said performance. This formula quickly proved successful in its product (suitable video clips of live performances) and in the audience enthusiasm. Our principal objective of the OpéraFest showcase concert remains providing the professional recording (UHD video/audio) offering the artists premium demo recordings of their individual performances for their digital audition portfolios.
In the beginning, our showcase programming had been a concert of assorted arias and ensemble excerpts of the operatic repertoire. We upped our game for the 2023 edition and presented 2 complete one-act operas (A Hand of Bridge & Il Tabarro) in addition to a selection of arias and ensembles to complete the evening celebrating the talented cast and the lyric arts. For our 2024 edition, OpéraFest focused on the Italian Bel Canto style and celebrated the repertoire featuring excerpts from Bellini’s NORMA & I CAPULETTI E I MONTECCHI, Donizetti’s DON PASQUALE, Rossini’s LA CENERENTOLA and Verdi’s UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, underlining the contrast of compositional styles, the composer’s distinct “signatures”, demonstrating the technical and aesthetic distinctions of each composer within the scope of Bel Canto and the theatrical conventions from Commedia dell’Arte into the more romantic realism. The 2025 edition celebrated l’Opéra Française presenting major scenes and acts from Bizet’s CARMEN, Massenet’s WERTHER and Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
OpéraFest 2026 – The Musical Dramas of the Richards, Wagner & Strauss!
In this, our 12th edition, our scene-study proposition is the juxtaposition and exploration of the distinct compositional signatures and temperaments that define each of these composers and their works as well as the unique demands of the German language, its cultural temperament, and how it imposes subtle technical and interpretive shifts from the artist.
PROPOSED WORKS & CASTING:
R. Strauss – ARIADNE AUF NAXOS (Vorspiel/Prologue & various excerpts)
- Haushofmeister (speaker)
- Musiklehrer (baritone)
- Komponist (mezzo)
- Tenor/Bacchus (tenor)
- Offizier (tenor)
- Tanzmeister (tenor)
- Perükenmacher (bass baritone)
- Lakai (bass)
- Zerbinetta (coloratura soprano)
- Primadonna/Ariadne (soprano)
- Harlekin (baritone)
- Scaramuccio (tenor)
- Truffaldin (bass)
- Brighella (tenor)
R. Strauss – DER ROSENKAVALIER (various excerpts)
R. Wagner – DIE WALKÜRE (Act II, sc i & ii)
- Wotan (baritone)
- Brünnhilde (soprano)
- Fricka (mezzo/contralto)
R. Wagner – DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG (Act III, sc iii & iv)
- Beckmesser (bass/bass-baritone)
- Hans Sachs (baritone)
- Eva (soprano)
- Walther (tenor)
- Magdalene (soprano)
- David (tenor)
CLOSING CONCERT: MARCH 28, 2026 7PM JEANNE LAMON HALL
ADMISSIBILITY:
- This artistic residency is open to emerging and professional level singers
- NO AGE LIMIT
AUDITION: (DEADLINE – December 15, 2025)
- Live Auditions
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- TORONTO (CAN): September 18 – December 15, 2025
- MONTRÉAL (CAN): November 28-29, 2025
- MEXICO CITY/CDMX (MEX): November 5 – 18, 2025
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Require more information? Please send inquiries to Mr. Stuart Graham at:
SCROLL DOWN FOR ONLINE APPLICATION FORM:
Previous Editions:
Some photo highlights from OpéraFest 2024
Our venue Jeanne Lamon Hall
