MAZEPPA by Tchaikovsky
"If it at first it seemed a little foolhardy to mount such a big work on a small scale, any doubts were quickly laid to rest right from the opening women's chorus. You could just sit back, forget the spectacle and concentrate on Tchaikovsky's luscious vocal writing."

Wayne Gooding, OPERA CANADA

2025 SEASON
DIVERSITY THROUGH THE AGES

(Trinity St. Paul's Centre
427 Bloor St W, Toronto)


CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK

Alceste
Sunday, January 12, 2025
2:30 pm


GIACOMO PUCCINI
La Rondine
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Friday, March 21, 2025
8 pm


GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Robert Le Diable
Friday, April 25, 2025
8 pm


VOICEBOX: Opera Salon Series
(at The Edward Jackman Centre - 947 Queen Street East, Toronto)

A flight of Fancy – Puccini's Swallow
February 8, 2025 4 pm

Grand Opera in Paris
April 12, 2025 4 pm


 

 

GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Robert Le Diable
A French Opera with English Surtitles

Friday, April 25, 2025 8 pm
at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul's Centre

Running Time: TBA

Premiered in Paris in 1831, Meyerbeer's opera took Europe by storm and made its composer the most important musician in the world. It is about the moral redemption of the sensualist son of a mortal woman and a demon.


Robert Cooper, Chorus Director
Helen Becqué, Music Director and Pianist

Featuring
Scott Rumble as Robert

SYNOPSIS

Robert, Duke of Normandy, is really the son of the Devil by a mortal woman, the chaste Princess Bertha of Normandy. Disguised and under the name of Bertram, the fiend follows his son about, constantly leading him into temptation in hope of winning his soul for Hell. The mother's good influence clings to Robert in the form of a foster-sister, Alice. Banished from Normandy because of evil deeds inspired by Bertram, Robert has come to Sicily where he has fallen in love with the beautiful princess Isabella, and she with him. Bertram does his best to interfere with the match, and by his wiles keeps Robert from attending the tournament, the winner of which is supposed to have the right to claim Isabella's hand. Having thus seemingly lost his chance to win her honestly, Robert is led by Bertram to a ruined convent at midnight. There Bertram summons the ghosts of faithless nuns, singing the impressive invocation: "Nonnes, qui reposez.

The ghosts dance about Robert in wild diabolical revelry. With a magical branch he obtains here, Robert puts to sleep Isabella's guards and tries to force her to his will, but she pleads with him so earnestly that he breaks the branch and thus loses its supernatural power. Once more Bertram tempts Robert and tries to induce him to sign a contract yielding his soul; he reveals himself as his father and the young man, overcome by emotion, is about to sign. But Alice repeats the last words of his mother, warning him against the fiend and thus delays the signing of the pact until the clock strikes twelve. The spell is broken, Bertram disappears to the nether regions, and Isabella is revealed in her bridal robes waiting at the altar for the redeemed Robert.