Swashbuckling, swordfighting, melodrama and leitmotif - it's all part of Canada's very first outdoor summer opera festival, to be held right here in East Village.
Opera connoisseurs, festival fans and Saturday morning cartoon lovers - those who once warbled along with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd - leapt to their feet for a standing ovation on March 27 when Calgary Opera announced the launch of Canada's very first outdoor summer opera festival.
Opera in the Village - a four day extravaganza on the banks of the Bow River - will feature six performances under a 10,000 square foot open air tent, with swashbuckling action bursting out all across RiverWalk Plaza. Best of all, those swords will be clashed and those arias will be sung right here in East Village.
From August 22 - 25, 2013, RiverWalk will be transformed into a Cornish beach, complete with pirates and scallywags, as Opera in the Village presents The Pirates of Penzance for the festival's maiden voyage. An all-star cast of Canadian opera royalty will bring Gilbert & Sullivan's beloved pirate romp to life under the big white tent. Along the banks of the Bow, an intermezzo of sword-fighting demonstrations, pop-up opera performances and pirate movies projected onto the wall of the Simmons Building will provide a libretto sure to shiver the timbers of buccaneers and landlubbers alike. And avast ye - thar'll be food trucks.
There's even a two-week opera camp for mini privateers, aged 9-14. Budding sopranos and baritones will give the pros a run for their money by performing their own free public production of The Pirates of Penzance at the culmination of opera camp.
Whether or not Johnny Depp shows up, Canada's first outdoor summer opera festival is destined to become a bucket list destination for opera aficionados from around the world. So perch that parrot on your shoulder, slap on an eye patch and some eyeliner, and strut your pirate stuff down to East Village this August for Opera in the Village's flagship production of The Pirates of Penzance. Ahoy!
Tickets go on sale April 22. To get them, go to www.calgaryopera.com/arghh
