Vancouver Opera

Vancouver Opera is the second largest opera company in Canada. It is regarded worldwide for its fine mainstage productions; for its country-leading education programs, which have reached more than 1.6 million children and their families in more than 40 years; for its innovative and award-winning community programs; and for forging groundbreaking cross-cultural creative partnerships that have brought opera to new generations of Canadians in recent history.

Vancouver Opera was founded in 1958 by a group of visionary community leaders who believed in the essential value of the performing arts to the life of a great city and who recognized the power of opera to connect people to the universal human drama. In their view, a resident professional opera company was vital to the future of Vancouver.

Vancouver Opera leads the community and the country in its Education programs. Vancouver Opera In Schools (VOIS), which began in 1972 as an initiative of the Vancouver Opera Guild, is the largest touring program of its kind in Canada. Each season, VOIS introduces the power and beauty of opera to about 50,000 school children and their families across B.C. and beyond. More than 1,600,000 children have enjoyed specially adapted short operas, sung in English, and performed by an energetic cast of professional young singers.

Over the decades, VO has achieved an enviable level of consistency in its productions. One of the company’s main strengths is its capacity for continually enhancing the quality of physical productions to match and support the high musical values. In recent years, the company has dramatically increased its investment in the look of its shows, in direct proportion to its increased investment in top-level international singers and conductors.