Pyramus & Thisbe – Early Rehearsal – Canadian Opera Company

Recently I was invited to the Canadian Opera Company’s building at Front and Parliament to photograph an early rehearsal for the Canadian world premiere of Pyramus & Thisbe, opening on October 20th. I was there with members of the press, bloggers and other media, and I was glad to be part of the event. It was something I’d indicated an interest in some time ago as a personal project, and I think it’s a terrific idea.

It’s a pretty bare-bones event. An open space, a wall of production personnel, and some marks indicate where set furnishings will be. No orchestra, just a piano and harpsichord. We saw sketches of costumes and a model of the stage as well. We heard a rehearsal of some of the music from the performance, and then observed the work involved in staging a particular segment.

I love shooting this kind of work. It’s interesting to watch something take shape, and also to see the amount of work that goes into preparing a relatively small part of at the overall performance. I’m looking forward to see how it all comes together in the final work.

The images I gave the COC as part of this project were all in colour. From my perspective, though, they work better in black and white, and so the selections you see below are all in that format.

Click on any image to see larger versions and a slideshow.