The Sunday Edition With Michael Enright

Were you listening to CBC's Sunday Edition this past holiday weekend? If you were, you would've heard librettist John Murrell talk about Lillian Alling with host Michael Enright.

If you missed it (being Thanksgiving weekend and all), here's your chance to listen again. Click here to go to The Sunday Edition's website. Under hour three, press play and fast forward to the 26 minute mark for soprano Frédérique Vézina singing The Land is Large and the interview with John Murrell.

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Lillian Alling: The Cast

Internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano Judith Forst joins a stellar cast for Vancouver Opera’s world premiere production of Lillian Alling, the new VO commissioned opera by Canada’s foremost opera-creation team: composer John Estacio and librettist John Murrell.

Joining Ms.Forst will be Quebecoise soprano Frédérique Vézina, a singer of “ravishing sensuousness” (The Toronto Star), and “golden-toned Canadian tenor” Roger Honeywell (Opera News). Baritone Aaron St.Clair Nicholson brings his “manly, rolling expressive voice and wonderful stage instincts” (Classical 96.3FM) to the cast.

The opera features four major characters: Lillian Alling, telegraph man Scotty Macdonald, and the present-day characters Irene and her son Jimmy. Here's a look at the players.



Quebecoise soprano Frédérique Vézina will create the title role. Praised for her “dark mahogany tone” (The Globe and Mail), Ms. Vézina has been a First Prize winner at the Concours International de Chant and a finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She returns to VO for the first time since her moving performances as Mimí in 2008’s La Bohème.




International Vancouver-based superstar Judith Forst, OC will create the role of Irene. Ms. Forst’s long and illustrious career includes regular performances with The Metropolitan Opera and the Canadian Opera Company. She has been called “one of the few truly world-class coloratura mezzo sopranos on the operatic stage” (COC Magazine). Ms. Forst is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Order of British Columbia and was last seen in Vancouver in VO’s 2009 production of Salome.




Roger Honeywell returns to Vancouver Opera to create the role of Jimmy. The Toronto-based tenor “with the right kind of heroic mettle to his voice” (Opera Now) returns to Vancouver Opera for this world premiere, having last sung here in 2008’s La Bohème.




Baritone Aaron St.Clair Nicholson, last seen on the VO stage earlier this year as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, creates the role of Scotty Macdonald. The Abbotsford-based Mr. Nicholson is noted for the dramatic integrity he brings to his performances. He has been highly praised for his signature role, Papageno, which he recently sang at The Metropolitan Opera.




Bass-baritone Thomas Goerz (also seen last year in The Marriage of Figaro as Dr. Bartolo) creates the roles of Constable Wyman, Sergei and the mysterious Jozéf.

Tenor Colin Ainsworth creates the roles of Bobby, Kristian and Billy; baritone Gregory Dahl sings Sam and Karl; Calvin Powell sings Charlie and The Drifter.


Left to right: Colin Ainsworth, Gregory Dahl & Calvin Powell

Lillian Alling is a sweeping and dramatic work in the tradition of operas on a grand scale. It is VO’s most ambitious commission yet, with over two hours of music, 8 principal singers, a chorus of 40, a 60-piece orchestra and more than 175 costumes created for this world premiere.

Get your tickets now!

Single tickets starting at $29 (plus handling fee) are available from the Vancouver Opera Ticket Centre, online at www.vancouveropera.ca, or by phone at 604-683-0222.

Spring workshop cast announced

We are holding the next workshop of Lillian Alling leading up to a private presentation on May 8. Here's our cast:

Lillian – Robyn Driedger-Klassen website

Irene – Lynne McMurtry website

Jimmy/Bobby/Kristian/Charlie – Tom Macleay

Scotty – Ben Covey website

Sergei/Wyman/Sam – Willy Miles-Grenzberg

Drifter/Karl/Bill – Calvin Powell

SM – Theresa Tsang

Dramatus Personae

LILLIAN ALLING

An Opera in Two Acts (Fourteen Scenes)

Music by John Estacio
Libretto by John Murrell


CHARACTERS IN THE OPERA (in order of their appearance):

IRENE, 78 years old in 1980
JIMMY, her son, 50 years old in 1980

All other Characters are in 1927-1928 or earlier:
LILLIAN ALLING, in her 20s
ITALIAN, GERMAN, SPANISH, and GREEK IMMIGRANTS,
who arrive with Lillian at Ellis Island, both genders, various ages
A MAN IN A DARK SUIT, who follows Lillian briefly (non-singing)

SERGEI NIKITICH LAZINSKY, in his late 30s
NORA, his Irish wife, in her 20s
THEIR THREE CHILDREN, all very young

STREET CORNER BOYS (8 or more) in Brooklyn, all young
BOBBY, one of the Boys
A FEMALE PASSERBY, in Brooklyn, any age

SHADOWY FIGURES from Lillian’s past: A MAN, A WOMAN,
A YOUNG BOY (Lillian’s father, mother, and brother);
SOLDIERS; a DARK MAN (Jozéf) – (non-singing)
A DRIFTER on the American prairies, in his 40s

NORWEGIAN MEN and WOMEN, immigrant farmers in North Dakota,
various ages
KARL, one of them, in his 50s
KRISTIAN, his son, in his 20s

SCOTTY MACDONALD, a young telegraph operator, in his 20s
BILL, another telegraph operator, in his 30s
CHARLIE, the same, in his 20s
SAM, the same, in his 40s
CONSTABLE WYMAN, a policeman, in his 40s

MALE and FEMALE PRISONERS at Oakalla Prison farm,
various ages

VANCOUVERITES, both genders, various ages

JOZÉF NIKITICH LAZINSKY, for real, in his 30s



The action of the opera takes place in 1980, in 1927 and 1928, and several years earlier (in flashback) – in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada, in several locales in the United States, and in rural Russia (in flashback).