The CBC Opera Company (CBCOC) was a Canadian

opera company Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

established by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

with the purposes of performing operas for live broadcast on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. Established in 1948, Charles Jennings served as chairman of the company's board of directors and conductor

Nicholas Goldschmidt Nicholas Goldschmidt, (December 6, 1908 – February 8, 2004) was a Canadian conducting, conductor, administrator, teacher, performer, music festival entrepreneur and artistic director. He was the grand-nephew of famed composer Adalbert von Goldsc ...

was the music director of the company with Geoffrey Waddington and

Arnold Walter Arnold Maria Walter, OC (August 30, 1902 – October 6, 1973) was a Canadian musicologist, educator, composer and writer. He founded the Canadian Opera Company, and was Director of Music at University of Toronto. Early years Arnold Maria Walter wa ...

also serving as music advisors. The broadcasts of the company were produced by

Harry J. Boyle Harry Joseph Boyle (October 7, 1915 – January 22, 2005) was a Canadians, Canadian broadcaster and writer. He began his career in media working for a local radio station during the 1930s and later as district editor for the ''Stratford Beacon Her ...

and Terence Gibbs, and Herman Geiger-Torel worked as

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often al ...

and stage director for the company. The CBOC presented its inaugural broadcast on October 20, 1948; performing

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...

's ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...

'' with Mary Morrison as Mimì, Jimmie Shields as Rodolfo, Beth Corrigan as Musetta, and

Edmund Hockridge Edmund James Arthur Hockridge (9 August 1919 – 15 March 2009) was a Canadian baritone and actor who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, concerts, plays and on radio. According to his obituary in ''The Guardian'', his li ...

as Marcello. The company presented three more operas that first season: ''

Orfeo ed Euridice ' (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on Orpheus, the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the ''azione teatrale'', mea ...

'', ''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'', and ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

''. The CBOC continued to present an annual season of operas through 1955; with the 1954–1955 season being its last regular season. However, the company still broadcast with less frequency through 1959.

References

{{reflist Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canadian opera companies