Edmonton Opera: Fiscally-responsible innovation

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Now that opera companies across Canada have announced their 2025-26 seasons, a clear pattern emerges. Programming is mostly centred around Top 10 titles like Barber of Seville, La bohème, Rigoletto and Carmen. The outlier in this regard is Edmonton Opera (EO). The 62-year-old organization flaunts tradition with an innovative season centred around a new, Indigenous-themed opera, Indians on Vacation, the continuation of their Ring Cycle with Siegfried and a grand, opening concert.

Now in his fourth year as artistic director, Joel Ivany is frank about the challenges currently faced by North American arts organizations. When planning future seasons, his thoughts go something like this: “What you can’t predict is things that are unknown … like (how) Trump’s impact affects people and how they think they should spend their money. …So I think we were able to react to immediate challenges in order to say ‘Let’s aim for a very sustainable, responsible season in order to have realistic goals.’”

Edmonton Opera’s Das Rheingold, 2024. Photo: Nanc Price

At first, it might seem counterintuitive to aim for fiscal responsibility by forsaking opera titles with the greatest audience recognition. As Ivany points out, the company tried that with its 2023 Carmen to reasonable success, but he quickly adds that opera’s Top 10 weren’t selling out before the pandemic either. “We can’t expect to sell out show after show by just doing the same operas time after time,” he says. “It’s like when people watch a movie, they’re like: ‘Oh, I’ve seen that movie.’ So even if it’s a new production, they’re like: ‘Oh, I’ve seen Carmen. I don’t want to see it again.’”

In April, the company had great success with a concert at the city’s Zeidler Dome planetarium. “We announced five (shows), but had to add two,” says Ivany. “They all sold out and for the team at Edmonton Opera (it) was so satisfying to say we have a sold-out run as opposed to saying this run is half full and boy, there were a lot of empty seats.”

EO is hoping this kind of buzz will continue next season. Composer Ian Cusson and librettist Royce Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation got its start at EO as a video project during the pandemic. Based on Thomas King’s novel about a contemporary middle-aged Indigenous couple on a European trip, it will receive a full-fledged production in February 2026.

Since 2024, EO has been presenting Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle in Jonathan Dove’s arrangement for a smaller, 18-member orchestra. In 2026, they continue the cycle with Siegfried performed in a 700-seat space used by the city’s Citadel Theatre. The season opens with Bravi!, a concert of opera’s greatest hits at the acoustically-superb Winspear Centre. “My goal is that all the singers will memorize (their scores) and we’ll have lighting and they’ll move around,” says Ivany. “It won’t be like a full opera, but it’ll be more than just a concert. It’ll sound incredible, which is kind of the goal as well.”