Canadian Opera Company opens new house to the public

The Canadian Opera Companywill throw open the doorsat its new downtown Torontohome Wednesday evening for a housewarming gala.

The inaugural concert at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Artswill feature conductor and general director Richard Bradshaw, the COC orchestra and chorus, and international opera stars such as Canadian Ben Heppner.

The concert will be broadcast on CBC Radio Two's In Performance and simulcast to nearby Nathan Phillips Square, where entertainer David Gale and Toronto Mayor David Miller will host afree outdoor celebration.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place last weekend, but several other events will showcase the new opera house this month. Concerts are scheduled for Friday and Saturday,and a public open house is setfor June 24 and 25.

New house among world's best: Bradshaw

For more than a decade, Bradshaw has been working towards building Canada's first venue specifically designed for opera. Hesays he's proud of the final product.

"I think we have one of the two or three really great opera houses in the world," he told CBC News.

Getting the acoustics as close to perfect as possible in the five-tier, 2,043-seat, horseshoe-shaped hall was "king" of the design and building process, Bradshaw said.

"I've always thought that 15 per cent of acoustics is black magic and you're lucky or you're not lucky. Well, we're lucky," he said.

"There's lots of things you can do now with acoustical sound, where you test models to see how sound reflects and you get the proportions right and the reflecting surfaces right. We've got much more than I ever dreamed."

Fans say it's what's inside that counts

Much of the attention to the opera house'sdesign was reserved for the interior auditorium, reflecting Bradshaw's priority on acoustics and the intentions of architect Jack Diamond, who toured the world's best concert halls as part of his research.

As a result,the building's straightforward, grey-brick exterior has promptedcriticism ofthe highly anticipated new venue, which the opera company will share withthe National Ballet of Canada.

"As a building, it's a big disappointment," said Toronto Star architecturecritic Christopher Hume.

"An opera house is an occasion to celebrate. It's an occasion for spectacle. It's occasion to do something fantastic and I think this building fails on all those accounts."

But Hume'scolleague, Star columnistMartin Knelman, says the opera house's designers were right to place the emphasis on the building's interior.

"The Sydney Opera House, which is a great icon to the world, is not particularly good place to see an opera. They've never had the acoustic and the sightlines worked out," Knelmansaid.

"This is going to be a great place to see an opera."

The COC's debut season in its new home opens with the much-anticipated Ring Cycle in September, marking thefirst time the company has attempted to stage Richard Wagner's epic four-opera opus as a consecutive series.

The regular season opens in mid-October with Mozart's Cos fan tutte.