The Canadian Children's Opera Company (formerly the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, CCOC) is a large choral group based in Toronto. The company consists of five divisions of approximately 240 boys and girls aged 6 to 19. The Principal Chorus has about 50 choristers, and they participate as the children's chorus in productions by the

Canadian Opera Company The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Cent ...

(COC). The current music director is Teri Dunn.

History

The CCOC was founded in 1968 by

Ruby Mercer Ruby Mercer, CM (26 July 1906 – 26 January 1999) was an American-born Canadian writer, broadcaster, soprano and entrepreneur. Mercer was born in Athens, Ohio, and grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1936, she made her debut as a member of ...

and Lloyd Bradshaw. In July 2011, during its European tour, the chorus competed in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna for the first time, and placed 2nd in the treble category. In the summer of 2017, the CCOC toured Prague, Krakow and Budapest with their production of Brundibar by Hans Krasa. The choir visited and performed at the concentration camp where the opera was performed over 50 times. On October 26, 2017, the CCOC celebrated their 50th anniversary with a concert titled "Ruby's Gold" at the

Four Seasons Centre The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a 2,071-seat theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast corner of University Avenue and Queen Street West, across from Osgoode Hall. The land on which it is located was a gif ...

. The evening was hosted by tenor

Ben Heppner Thomas Bernard Heppner (born January 14, 1956) is a Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice. Early life and career Heppner, of Mennonite descent, was born in Mur ...

and featured many Canadian singers including Krisztina Szabó, Simone Osborne,

Measha Brueggergosman Measha Brueggergosman (née Gosman; June 28, 1977) is a Canadian soprano who performs both as an opera singer and concert artist. She has performed internationally and won numerous awards. Her recordings of both classical and popular music ha ...

and Andrew Haji, many of whom are CCOC alumni.

Activities

The company's repertoire consists of a mix of contemporary and traditional pieces. The group explores various genres of music including folk, opera, music theatre, gospel, and jazz. The CCOC performs often; in addition to COC productions, they perform with the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...

Soundstreams Canada Soundstreams is a Toronto-based music presenter that commissions, develops, and showcases the work of contemporary Canadian and international composers. It was established in 1982 by Artistic Director and oboe player Lawrence Cherney, and has comm ...

, the Hannaford Street Silver Band,

Art of Time Ensemble Art of Time Ensemble is a Toronto-based musical collective of leading Canadian musicians from the worlds of jazz and classical music. Composed of classical, jazz and pop musicians, Art of Time Ensemble is known for exploring the intersection of c ...

, and

The Tenors The Tenors (formerly known as The Canadian Tenors) are a vocal group consisting of Victor Micallef, Clifton Murray, Alberto Urso, and Mark Masri. They perform operatic pop music that is a mixture of classical and pop, featuring songs such as ...

as well as in their own shows. The CCOC has toured across Europe and Canada and continues to expand its repertoire of music in various languages including English, French, Italian, Serbian, Russian, Mandarin, Hungarian, German, as well as several African languages. Every few years, the CCOC goes on a tour across Europe with choristers from the CCOC's Principal and Youth Choruses. The tour generally lasts a few weeks, and the CCOC performs many concerts.

Commissioned works

The CCOC has commissioned a number of works in the past, including the following: * Chip and His Dog (1978,

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept ...

) * Dr. Canon's Cure (1982,

Derek Holman Derek Holman, (16 May 1931 – 20 May 2019) was a choral conductor, organist and composer. Life and work Born at Illogan, Cornwall, UK, Holman attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1948 to 1952 and studied with Sir William McKie, E ...

Robertson Davies William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...

) * A Midwinter Night's Dream (1988, 2003,

Harry Somers Harry Stewart Somers, CC (September 11, 1925 – March 9, 1999) was a contemporary Canadian composer. Possessing a charismatic attitude and rather dashing good looks, as well as a genuine talent for his art, Somers earned the unofficial title ...

/ Tim Wynne-Jones) * The Snow Queen (1993, John Greer/ Jeremy James Taylor) * The Star Child (1998, John Greer/ Ned Dickens) * The Hobbit (2004, 2016,

Dean Burry Dean Burry (born 1972 in St. John's, Newfoundland) is a Canadian composer, librettist, and educator. He is known for being one of the composers of ''The Hobbit''. Early life Burry began his passion in music at age 10. He was inspired by a teache ...

) * A Dickens of a Christmas (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, Errol Gay/Michael Patrick Albano) * Dragon in the Rocks (2008, Alexander Rapoport) * The Secret World of Og (2010,

) * Laura's Cow: The Legend of Laura Secord (2012, 2013, Errol Gay/Michael Patrick Albano) * East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon (2014, Norbert Palej/ K.T. Bryski) * Alice in Wonderland (2015, Errol Gay/ Michael Patrick Albano) * The Monkiest King (2018, Alice Ping Yee Ho/ Majorie Chan)

Discography

* ''Dandelion Parachutes'' * ''Creatures Great & Small'' * ''Sir Christëmas'' * ''There and Back Again'' * ''A Midwinter Night's Dream'' * ''Lullabies''

Past artistic/musical directors

* Lloyd Bradshaw (1968–1975) * Donald Kendrick (1974–1975) *

(1975–1985) * John Tuttle (1985–2000) * Ann Cooper Gay (2000–2015) *

(2015–2017) * Teri Dunn (2015–present)

Awards

* National Award for Outstanding Choral Record (1989) for Derek Holman's ''Sir Christëmas'' awarded by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors * First Prize (1992) in the CBC Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs, Children's Choir category * First Prize (1993) in the CBC Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs, Children's Choir category * Second Prize (1998) in the CBC Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs, Children's Choir category * Recording of A Midwinter Night's Dream Nominated for a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

in 2007 * ''Brundibar'' nominated for a

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

in 2017

References

External links

CCOC official web site

{{authority control Musical groups established in 1968 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian opera companies 1968 establishments in Ontario Child-related organizations in Canada