Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company's (COC) 2008/09 season features seven mainstage operas, including three COC premieres and a new production of an Italian masterpiece. All are performed in the company’s home, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and feature the critically acclaimed COC Orchestra and Chorus.

“Although we are keenly aware of Richard Bradshaw’s absence today, especially as we announce a season he was responsible for programming, the company is a strong one and the show, as it were, must go on,” said David Ferguson, COC Board President. “We have an exceptional 2008/2009 season, balanced between much-loved favourites and new, cutting-edge productions including three COC premieres.”

The season opens with a revival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s timeless masterpiece Don Giovanni, a comic drama in its most perfect form. It is a wry and insightful portrait of literature’s most famous womanizer and those in his life: those drawn to him, those repulsed by him, and those who are determined to bring this libertine to his knees. Every page of Mozart’s score seethes with music of passion, wit and elegance. The production features a largely Canadian cast led by baritone Brett Polegato as the notorious lover.

Mr. Polegato can be seen later this season as Eugene Onegin. COC favorite Robert Pomakov, who was in the COC productions of Tosca and From the House of the Dead in the past season, is Leporello, Don Giovanni’s faithful servant. Former COC Ensemble Studio soprano Jessica Muirhead who appeared in this season’s The Marriage of Figaro as the Countess, returns to sing Donna Anna, victim of Don Giovanni’s forced advances. Tenor Gordon Gietz, the Steuermann in the COC’s popular production of Der fliegende Holländer in 2000, sings the role of Donna Anna’s fiancé, Don Ottavio. Last with the COC for her company debut in the internationally acclaimed Ring Cycle, American soprano Julie Makerov is Donna Elvira, one of Don Giovanni’s conquests. Former Ensemble soprano Virginia Hatfield is Zerlina, a peasant girl who is Don Giovanni’s latest exploit. American director Robin Guarino and British conductor William Lacey make their COC debuts. Jorge Jara designs the sets and costumes while Robert Wierzel lights this production.

Don Giovanni runs October 5, 8, 11, 15, 18, 20, 23, 26, 28, and 31, 2008 and is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™.

The fall season continues with the COC premiere and the first fully-staged Canadian production of Sergei Prokofiev’s powerful drama, War and Peace. A co-production with English National Opera (ENO), this “superior” (The Sunday Telegraph) and “must-see” (The Independent) piece is about the Russian people and their defiance and hard-won victory over Napoleon’s devastating military force.

From the ballroom to the battlefield, stirring choruses and a huge ensemble cast bring Tolstoy’s novel to epic, heart-breaking life. With over 60 named roles, this production features a cast that is truly international.

One of the most sought-after lyric baritones on the international stage today, Canada’s Russell Braun, is Prince Andrei. Russian soprano Elena Semenova makes her COC debut singing the role of Andrei’s fiancée, Natasha. Count Anatole, infatuated with Natasha, is sung by Moscow-born tenor Oleg Balashov, who made his COC debut last season in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Russian bass Mikhail Kit makes his company debut as Field Marshal Kutuzov. Singing the role of Count Anatole’s sister, Hélène, is mezzo-soprano Laryssa Kostiuk. Ms Kostyuk returns after singing Federica in Luisa Miller. COC favourite Mikhail Agafonov, who appeared this season as Don Carlos, returns as Pierre, Hélène’s husband. Russian baritone Vassily Gerello, Eugene Onegin in the COC’s 1995 production, returns as Napoleon. Last with the COC as the Countess in The Queen of Spades, Canadian Judith Forst returns as Madame Akhrosimova, Natasha’s protective godmother. Ensemble graduate Lauren Segal is Sonya, Natasha’s loyal cousin. Canadian mezzo-soprano Jean Stilwell is Madame Peronskaya and Gregory Dahl is Balaga and General Yermolov.

Tim Albery returns after directing Götterdämmerung to restage this production he originally directed for ENO. Set designer Hildegard Bechtler and costume designer Ana Jebens, depict the contrast of a peaceful St. Petersburg with a war-ravaged Russian countryside set in the early 19th century. Thomas C. Hase returns to light this production.

War and Peace runs October 10, 14, 16, 19, 22, 25, 29 and November 1, 2008 and is sung in Russian with English SURTITLES™. Due to the length of the opera, evening performances of War and Peace begin at 7 p.m.

The winter season opens with Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera of triumphant courage and love in the face of oppression. In Beethoven’s only opera, Leonore has disguised herself as the young man Fidelio so she can work at the prison where her husband is unjustly incarcerated. Profound love gives her the courage to rescue him from execution by the tyrannical prison governor.

World-renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka makes her role debut as Leonore and American tenor Jon Villars is her great love, Florestan. Ms Pieczonka returns after her stunning portrayal of Elisabeth de Valois in this season’s Don Carlos. Mr. Villars returns after a 12-year absence, last having sung with the company as Calaf in Turandot in 1997. Gidon Saks sings the villainous Don Pizarro, who unjustly imprisons Florestan. Mats Almgren, a remarkable Hagen in the COC’s Ring Cycle, is the jailer, Rocco and Virginia Hatfield is Marzelline, his daughter. Ensemble tenor Adam Luther sings Jaquino.

This co-production with Opéra national du Rhin (ONR) and Staatstheater Nürnberg continues the COC’s collaboration with ONR begun this season with Eugene Onegin. German conductor Gregor Bühl makes his COC debut leading the COC Orchestra. The creative team from Germany, director Andreas Baesler, set designer Andreas Wilkens, costume designer Gabriele Heimann, and lighting designer Max Keller make their company debuts with this captivating production.

Fidelio runs January 24, 27, 30, February 4, 7, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24, 2009 and is sung in German with English SURTITLES™.

The winter run continues with the COC premiere of Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka. In this adult fairy tale, inspired in part by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, the water nymph Rusalka falls in love with a mortal prince. To be with him, she sacrifices her immortality and her voice. Dvořák’s dreamy and romantic music, which includes the stunning “Song to the Moon,” brings to aching life this beautiful, timeless story.

Julie Makerov returns to sing the title role, and famed Canadian tenor Michael Schade makes his first appearance with the COC in five years as Rusalka’s beloved Prince. Russian powerhouse Irina Mishura, Azucena in Il Trovatore, sings Ježibaba, the malevolent witch. Richard Paul Fink, Alberich in the COC’s Ring Cycle, is Rusalka’s good-natured old friend, the Water Gnome, and former Ensemble soprano Joni Henson is the Foreign Princess vying for the Prince’s heart.

Helikon Opera’s artistic director Dmitri Bertman, who staged last season’s From the House of the Dead, returns to direct this luminous production from Theater Erfurt in Germany. With sets by Hartmut Schörghofer and costumes by Corinna Crome, Rusalka’s worlds, both in water and on land, are recreated in a compelling production lit by Thomas C. Hase. Rusalka was programmed for this season by the late Richard Bradshaw to commemorate the COC’s co-founder Nicholas Goldschmidt’s 100th birthday.

Rusalka runs January 31, February 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, and 23, 2009 and is sung in Czech with English SURTITLES™.

Verdi’s great opera Simon Boccanegra opens the spring season. Simon’s election as the first Doge of Genoa is intended to unite the warring city. For a time, it does, but the return of his long-lost daughter, Amelia, exposes shifting political alliances and conspiracies that threaten to plunge the city back into chaos. Performed only once before by the COC, Simon Boccanegra highlights the political intrigue of 14th-century Italy and the rise and fall of a self-made man.

Soprano Serena Farnocchia, Luisa Miller last season, is Amelia. Tenor Mikhail Agafonov, who can be seen earlier in the season as Pierre in War and Peace, is Gabriele, a young nobleman in love with Amelia. Canadian bass Phillip Ens, Fafner and Hunding in the COC’s Ring Cycle, also returns to menace Simon as Fiesco and Daniel Sutin, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, is the doomed politician, Paolo.

Director José Luis Gómez, Canadian set designer Carl Fillion, who often collaborates with Robert Lepage, costume designer Alejandro Andujaro, and lighting designer Albert Faura make their COC debuts with this production from Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Grand Théâtre de Genève. Marco Guidarini, music director of Opéra de Nice, conducts Verdi’s powerful score.

Simon Boccanegra runs April 11, 14, 18, 22, 24, 28, May 3, and 7, 2009 and is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™.

The spring run continues with a new production of Giacomo Puccini’s enduringly popular La Bohème. The gritty reality of impoverished life in the Latin Quarter of Paris is no deterrent for Puccini’s young lovers. When the poet Rodolfo falls deeply in love with the gravely ill seamstress Mimì, their intense affair is made all the more touching because of its unavoidable, heartbreaking end.

Former Ensemble Studio members soprano Frédérique Vézina and tenor David Pomeroy sing the roles of the tragic lovers Mimì and Rodolfo. Ms Vézina was last with the company in June 2006 to perform in the Inaugural Celebrations at the Four Seasons Centre. Mr. Pomeroy is currently Skuratov in From the House of the Dead. New Zealand soprano Anna Leese makes her North American debut as Mimì’s sparkling friend, Musetta. Recent Ensemble graduate baritone Peter Barrett returns as Musetta’s lover, the painter Marcello. Present COC Ensemble baritone Jon-Paul Décosse is Schaunard, a musician. This season’s Figaro, former Ensemble bass Robert Gleadow reprises the role he sang with the company in 2005, the philosopher Colline. Bass-baritone Thomas Goerz sings the roles of Benoît, the blustering landlord, and Alcindoro, Musetta’s elderly admirer.

Former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Adrian Noble makes his directorial debut with the company. Conducted by Julian Kovatchev, who lead the COC Orchestra in the 2004 production of Rigoletto, and COC resident conductor Derek Bate, La Bohème’s glorious music sets the stage for this now-classic story of young love and tragic loss.

La Bohème runs April 17, 19, 25, 30, May 4, 9, 12, 14, 17, 20, 22 and 24, 2009 and is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™.

The 2008/09 season closes with the COC mainstage premiere of Benjamin Britten’s transformation of William Shakespeare’s enchanting play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, into a delightful opera, full of great wit and magical, illustrative soundscapes. An Athenian forest during a midsummer’s night is populated by four lovers and a bumbling group of amateur actors who find themselves at the mercy of fairies. Dream-like adventures await them as the fairy and mortal worlds collide.

Singing the role of Oberon, king of the fairies, is renowned countertenor Lawrence Zazzo. Robert Gleadow is Theseus, Duke of Athens. Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, Don Alfonso in the 2006 production of Così fan tutte, and Irish soprano Giselle Allen, Marie in the 2006 production of Wozzeck, return as the mismatched couple Demetrius and Helena. Robert Pomakov is the irresistible Bottom. COC Ensemble baritone Adam Luther is Lysander and American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong makes her COC debut as Hermia, Lysander’s lover.

Anne Manson makes her company debut conducting. Neil Armfield, Dora Mavor Moore Award winner for the COC’s production of Billy Budd, directs this new COC co-production with Houston Grand Opera. Creating the mystical landscape is designer Dale Ferguson with lighting by Damien Cooper who make their company debuts.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs May 5, 8, 10, 13, 16, 19, 21, and 23, 2009 and is sung in English with English SURTITLES™.

The 2008/09 season also features a production showcasing the talents of the COC Ensemble Studio. This season’s production is Mozart’s beloved Così fan tutte, in a special chamber orchestra arrangement. In a wager, two young soldiers use disguises and deceit to test their lovers’ fidelity. Moments of near-farce shift into moments of deep emotion in this comical view of the relationships between men and women. This new production of Mozart’s classic battle of the sexes provides the perfect vehicle to highlight the vocal and dramatic strengths of the Ensemble Studio’s talented young artists.

Così fan tutte is presented at the Imperial Oil Opera Theatre, in the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre, 227 Front St. E., on June 15, 17, 19 and 21, 2009 and is performed in Italian.

With the exception of War and Peace beginning at 7 p.m., all evening performances during the 2008/09 season begin at 7:30 p.m., Saturday matinee performances begin at 4:30 p.m., and Sunday matinee performances are at 2 p.m. Mainstage performances take place at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. All repertoire and casting is subject to change.