The Journey to Rheims is conducted by COC General Director Richard Bradshaw, and directed by James Robinson, who previously directed Norma, Elektra and Turandot for the Company. Set designer Allen Moyer last worked with the COC in 2000 as set and costume designer for the astonishing The Flying Dutchman. Costume design is by Anna R. Oliver, also of Turandot and Norma, and the lighting design is by Mimi Jordan Sherin, who last worked with the COC on 1996’s Elektra. COC Chorus Master, Sandra Horst, conducts the January 30 performance.

Composed specifically for the coronation of Charles X of France, The Journey to Rheims premiered in Paris in 1825 and was performed only three times to great public acclaim. Because Rossini wrote the opera for the celebratory festival and not for opera repertory, he made no effort to keep the music together and, in the ensuing years, recycled much of it elsewhere. In fact, the complete opera was not pieced together until the 1970’s, when several musicologists painstakingly reconstructed it. Ironically, it is now considered to be one of Rossini’s finest works.

The Journey to Rheims tells the entertaining tale of a group of European quasi-aristocrats en route to Rheims for the coronation festivities. Unexpectedly waylaid at a hotel in a small spa town, the eclectic group, realizing that it will miss the ceremony, decides to stage a celebratory banquet of its own. The opera, a brazen party piece, offers a hilarious portrait of the farcical antics and foibles of the characters, cleverly devised to symbolically represent a microcosm of 1820’s Europe. The Journey to Rheims also provides an excuse for over-the-top characterisations, spectacular vocal pyrotechnics, and a finale that includes a melee of national songs and a hymn in honour of the new monarch.

Rossini also clearly wanted The Journey to Rheims to be a showcase for the outstanding singers available to him at the time. The opera features three times the number of singers normally required for opera buffa - a total of 14 virtuoso soloists. The COC’s cast lives up to Rossini’s original. It includes the return of renowned Canadian tenor Michael Schade as the Russian Conte di Libenskof, and soprano Henriette Bonde-Hansen as the Roman poet Corinna. Soprano Elena Voznessenskaia makes her COC debut as the proprietor of the hotel, Madama Cortese, as does soprano Ekaterina Morozova as the glamorous widow Contessa di Folleville, and Viktoria Vizin as the Polish Marchesa Melibea.

Further COC debuts are bass Ayk Martirossian as the lovesick English colonel Lord Sidney, bassbaritone Patrick Carfizzi as the peace-loving German Barone di Trombonok, and bass Gustav Belacek as the antiquarian Don Profondo. The COC sees the return of soprano Sonya Gosse as the hotel maid Maddalena and baritone Gregory Dahl as Antonio. Former Ensemble Studio tenor Michael Colvin is the philandering French officer Cavalier Belfiore, and current Ensemble bassbaritone Olivier Laquerre is the Spanish naval officer, Don Alvaro.

Another past Ensemble Studio member includes bass Alain Coulombe as Don Prudenzio. Present Ensemble members are mezzo-soprano Colleen Skull who portrays Modestina, and mezzo-soprano Andrea Ludwig as the Greek orphan Delia. Tenor Roger Honeywell plays Zefirino, tenor David Pomeroy is Don Luigino, and tenor Peter Collins sings Gelsomino.

Single tickets for The Journey to Rheims may be purchased by calling 416-872-2262, online at www.coc.ca or in person at the Hummingbird Centre Box Office or TicketMaster Outlets. Tickets prices for all performances range from $38 to $135. .