HOW IT ALL BEGAN...
Unique in Canada - the only opera company (professional or amateur) presenting a full season of opera in repertory - Opera Pro Cantanti is in our 17th season!
Opera Pro Cantanti began in 2007 when a small group of singers self-produced 4 performances of Verdi's Rigoletto. One year later, after adding Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini's Norma to their list of operas.... OPC became Canada's first and only repertory opera company! At the time, there were no small opera companies in the Lower Mainland performing mainstream serious opera. Opera Pro Cantanti was the FIRST company to take on these serious, major operas. Now, there are several companies following our example, and presenting the great serious operas that have been the backbone of operatic history. Since our first performance back in 2007, OPC has given over 200 performances of more than a dozen operas.
Many, many singers have come and gone over the years, and the size of the company has fluctuated between 12 and 30 singers. The most remarkable thing about OPC is the shocking number of singers who started out as chorus members, but improved quickly enough to take on huge leading roles within a couple of years! No less than seven singers have made that transition over the past 6 seasons!