For Valentine’s Day 2026 this subscriber attended the Canadian Opera Company’s last performance of Rigoletto in their winter season at the Four Seasons Centre, in Christopher Alden’s rather un-romantic production. The rose petals fall from above as the young girl is seduced by a duke in disguise.

I may be a tad compulsive about dates, observing how Monday’s Family Day holiday falls alongside this celebration of romance, just as we hit the Lunar New Year on Tuesday. The end of the Year of the Snake can also be understood as rebirth & transformation, a time of new beginnings.

The outgoing management of the COC can say “mission accomplished” as they look in the mirror, David Ferguson & his team having avoided the kind of backstage drama seen at the Metropolitan Opera, who were forced to lay off staff and cut some salaries. Speaking as a subscriber, I understood, accepted the revivals of Rigoletto & Barber as prudent measures, and as far as I can tell they made the right choice.

In spring we get the new Canadian co-production of Werther (comparable to last year’s Canadian co-pro of La Reine-Garçon) alongside the much loved pair from Robert Lepage of Bluebeard’s Castle & Erwartung. That balance of new & old got us through. Ferguson has been interim General Director since 2024, after the abrupt departure of Perryn Leech, and continues in his role until July.

And there’s a new General Director on the horizon, namely Ian Derrer, who takes over in July.

I wonder how much input he will have for his first season at the helm (2026-27), that will have largely been planned already I would think. Ian’s first real season will be 2027-28. And excuse me maybe it’s my age talking: as I’ve barely managed to adjust to a year called “2026”. Those numbers feel remote.

My subscription seat in the second row is a treat for the way it surrounds me with orchestral sounds & closeup views of the action.

Andriana Chuchman was our Gilda for the closing performances.

Andriana was at times reflective, as in her approach to “Caro nome”, looking less like the teenager and more like a thoughtful young woman, which made the opera less triggering for me than what I experienced watching Sarah Dufresne earlier in the run (who looked so young & vulnerable).

It was fascinating to watch Ben Bliss up close, as he manoeuvres one of his conquests from off his lap even while singing “questa o quella”: and still made it sound like easy singing. That’s two full performances I saw without a note sung flat. To pull that off in February surrounded by a cast likely running the gauntlet of colds & flu is doubly impressive.

As always I’m torn, conflicted by the two sides of Verdi during this period. Gilda & the Duke are still largely bel canto creations, the voices seducing us with their coloratura & their high notes. And then there are the newer subtler creations, dramatic hybrids such as Rigoletto or Sparafucile. Peixin Chen as Sparafucile gave us a grotesquely comical killer, complete with one of the best sustained low Fs I have ever heard, the role underplayed for maximum effect.

For the last performance Quinn Kelsey as Rigoletto held nothing back, and it was perfection. I was again stunned by how effortless Quinn’s voice is sounding, in a role we heard from him before. But he’s not forcing, he’s letting the sound out and at climactic moments making clear glorious sounds. The Alden production in some ways thwarts some of the usual things one sees from a Rigoletto. Instead of the prancing jester implicit in the music Verdi wrote for the scene with Monterone, Alden sits his baritone on a couch to imitate the Duke himself: an alteration that’s especially fascinating seen up close. Similarly the usual drama of the scene where Rigoletto comes looking for Gilda, the jester teasing his tormenters, is especially dark when Gilda is concealed onstage behind the implacable courtiers.

The great thing about this location is the chance to watch Johannes Debus conducting, while we’re immersed in the full COC Orchestra sound. I was delighted to notice the differences in interpretation, the more thoughtful reading with Andriana than with Sarah, as I wondered at the mysteries of Johannes’ process, pleased with the results either way.

Next week the Saturday 4:30 subscribers get Barber of Seville, in another closing performance to end the COC’s winter season.

And come July, incoming COC General Director Ian Derrer takes over.