Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 7:00 PM

Roy Thomson Hall
Toronto

Tickets $155 - $75

Call 416-872-4255 or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office at 60 Simcoe Street
Or buy online at www.roythomson.com

Bravissimo! Opera's Greatest Hits! returns for the 3rd consecutive year to Roy Thomson Hall with an all new program of beloved arias, duets and overtures from the world's most popular operas. This year’s showcase of irresistible melodies is on New Year’s Eve, Thursday, December 31at 7:00 p.m., and features an international cast of six opera stars who are joined by the 78-member Opera Canada Symphony under the direction of the eminent Austrian conductor Roberto Paternostro.

The guest artists, all enjoying spectacular careers on major opera stages around the world, are American soprano Sarah Jane McMahon, French soprano Susan Neves, Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Bocharova, Portuguese tenor Bruno Ribeiro, American tenor Carl Tanner, and Serbian baritone Nikola Mijailovic.

Maestro Paternostro, who was an assistant to the late Herbert von Karajan in Berlin, is General Music Director of the Staatstheater Kassel and Musical Adviser to the Israel Chamber Orchestra. He has also guest conducted opera and orchestral performances throughout Europe for more than two decades, beginning with the famed 1985 Opera for Africa gala at the Arena in Verona, Italy.

The enchanting program includes favorite selections from Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Rigoletto, La Traviata, The Magic Flute – and much more. Rick Phillips, well-known Canadian broadcaster, writer and lecturer in the world of opera, will narrate the performance.