Dragonfly Imagery

05/08/2026

🎵This Week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre🎶

The Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts welcomed a vibrant showcase of Opera 5’s Portfolio Artist Interns, an impressive group of emerging artists already demonstrating remarkable range, presence, and musicality.

From beloved opera favourites to musical theatre gems, the program highlighted both individual voices and the strength of this collaborative ensemble, offering a glimpse into the next generation of Canadian operatic talent.

With Spencer Kryzanowski at the piano, these young performers brought energy, nuance, and storytelling to the stage reminding us that the future of opera is in very good hands.

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Artists this week:

Len Crino, soprano
Elizabeth Fast, soprano
AJ Gauger, soprano
Marissa Lake, soprano
Hannah Mikita, soprano
Paige Robinson, soprano
Patricia Wrigglesworth, soprano
Michal Aloni, mezzo-soprano
Angélique Brown, mezzo-soprano
Brenden Lengsfeld, countertenor
Liam Dooley, baritone
Christopher Pitre-McBride, baritone
Tristan Pritham, bass

Spencer Kryzanowski, piano

📸 Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

05/05/2026

🎵Music in the Museum – Season Opening at Gibson House 🎶

This past Sunday marked the opening of Music in the Museum, a concert series created and produced by Charles Hong of Second Sleep Creations, now in its fifth season at the historic Gibson House Museum.

This first concert brought something new….moving outdoors for the first time, with "Elwood and the All-Stars" delivering a lively Dixieland set in the garden.

There’s something special about hearing this music in a heritage setting as history, community, and live performance meet in one space.

And on a personal note, it was great fun shooting Phil, Bob, John & Larry (The Tuba Guy!)

Looking forward to the rest of the series this May.

Artists appearing:

Bob DeAngelis, clarinet
John MacLeod, trumpet
Larry Shields, tuba
Phil Disera, banjo

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📸 Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

05/03/2026

🎵This Week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre🎶

The Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts welcomed the Nancy Walker Quartet for an afternoon of cinematic jazz….rich, expressive, and beautifully transportive.

Featuring music from Walker’s recent recording 'Deeper Down', the quartet created a sound world that felt both intimate and expansive, drawing the audience in from the very first note.

This performance held a little extra meaning for me, as Nancy Walker, Tara Davidson, and Lauren Falls are friends; artists I’ve admired both on and off the stage. It was also a pleasure to meet Ethan Ardelli for the first time and experience the quartet’s chemistry together.

Artists:
Nancy Walker, piano/ composer
Tara Davidson, saxophones
Lauren Falls, bass
Ethan Ardelli, drums

📷 Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

05/01/2026

🎵This Week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre🎶

A luminous noon hour of Song, Dance, and Fantasy filled the Canadian Opera Company’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, on Tuesday as pianists Megan Chang and Emily Chiang (Duo Esprit) explored the expressive world of piano four hands.

From the playful elegance of Poulenc to the shimmering charm of Debussy’s Petite Suite, with Mel Bonis’ graceful Suite en forme de valses in between, the program moved effortlessly through wit, colour, and lyricism. The concert concluded with Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor, a masterpiece of emotional depth and connection.

A beautiful reminder of the collaborative spirit at the heart of music-making…two artists, one instrument, and a shared voice.

Artists this week:

Duo Esprit
Megan Chang, piano
Emily Chiang, piano

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📷 Dragonfly Imagery
Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community.

04/28/2026

04/28/2026

🎵Hallelujah Sim.: An Evening of Sonic Power at Koerner Hall🎶

An electrifying night with Esprit Orchestra at Koerner Hall this past Thursday, led by Alex Pauk—Canada’s only full orchestra devoted to contemporary music.

From the vivid, shifting landscape of Poul Ruders’ Tundra to the playful energy of Chris Paul Harman’s Coyote Soul, the program moved between colour, humour, and raw sonic power—made all the more special with composers Chris Paul Harman and Ben Nobuto in attendance.

The evening culminated in Nobuto’s Hallelujah Sim., a striking work for massed choirs and orchestra that reimagines familiar traditions into something fluid, immersive, and entirely new.

With the powerful collaboration of the Elmer Iseler Singers, Concreamus Chamber Choir, and Chroma Vocal Ensemble, the stage and the hall felt alive with sound.

Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

04/26/2026

🎵This Week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre🎶

This week’s Free Concert Series at the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre brought together wind and strings in a beautifully intimate program spanning centuries of musical conversation.

Featuring the Rosebud Quartet with oboist Aleh Remezau, the afternoon moved effortlessly from Haydn and Mozart to Britten and Canadian composer Elizabeth Raum, who was in attendance for the performance of her work.

A thoughtful and engaging program, performed in the heart of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Artists the week:

Rosebud Quartet
Sheila Jaffé, violin
Aaron Schwebel, violin
Keith Hamm, viola
Leana Rutt, cello

Aleh Remezau, oboe

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Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

04/24/2026

🎵This Week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre 🎶

Earlier this week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts welcomed Italian pianist Giuseppe Guarrera in Historical Counterpoints & Literature in Music. Known for his virtuosity and expressive depth, Guarrera delivered a richly layered program featuring works by Bach, Shostakovich, Beethoven, and Liszt—tracing connections across time through prelude, fugue, and narrative form.

Artists: Giuseppe Guarrera, piano

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Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

04/21/2026

It’s always a pleasure to work with the Pax Christi Chorale!

04/21/2026

🎵Pax Christi Chorale | Saint Nicholas at Yorkminster Park🎶

A special Saturday evening at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church with Pax Christi Chorale, under the direction of my dear friend Dr. Elaine Choi.

Featuring Britten’s Saint Nicholas alongside an all-Britten program, the performance was both powerful and deeply engaging...made even more memorable by the presence of a gallery choir of young singers, and three wonderful young soloists bringing the story to life.

Moments like these, where artistry, community, and the next generation of musicians come together, are always a joy to witness and document.

The Pax Christi Chorale
Dr. Elaine Choi, conductor

Special guests of the Pax Christi Chorale:
Asitha Tennekoon, tenor
Duo Esprit, piano duo
Josiah Thanjaratnam, young St. Nickolas
Patrick Keys-Ho, Oliver Torbay, Pickled Boys
Pax Gallery of Young Voices

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Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community

04/19/2026

🎵This Week at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre🎶

The Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts continued with Beyond Bluebeard, featuring pianist and performer Adam Sherkin.

Inspired by Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, the program paired keyboard works by Bartók (composed around the same time as the opera) with contemporary reflections. At its centre was Room of Keys, a newly commissioned monodrama written by Canadian playwright David James Brock and performed by Sherkin.

Drawing on the symbolic structure of Bluebeard’s seven doors, Room of Keys reimagines that framework through seven keyboard instruments, each revealing a different facet of a son’s relationship with his late father.

Artists:
Adam Sherkin, piano/ actor

Written by David James Brock
Directed by Tom diamond

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Photographs by Karen E. Reeves | Dragonfly Imagery
Opera • Orchestra • Choir • Community.