Pre-Show Talks

Opera Atelier’s Pre-Show Talks provide the perfect inspiration before attending a mainstage performance! World-class lecturers and artists share their expertise to bring the stories and themes of our operas to life.

Join us at the beautiful Leslie & Anna Dan Galleria and Atrium at the entrance to Koerner Hall an hour before the performance for these interesting and engaging presentations.

See below for more information about this season’s presenters!

 

Pre-Show Talks Schedule for Pelléas et Mélisande

Wednesday, April 15 @ 6:30pm – Professor John Zilcoksy
Thursday, April 16 @ 6:30pm – Dr. Christopher Bagan
Saturday, April 18 @ 6:30pm – Dr. Christopher Bagan
Sunday, April 19 @ 1:30pm – Dr. Christopher Bagan

John Zilcosky
– April 15 @ 6:30pm

Professor Zilcosky will lecture on the historical, cultural, and philosophical context of European modernism and the avant-garde around 1900.

John Zilcosky is professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. He has won the MLA’s Scaglione Book Award and the Humboldt Foundation’s Bessel Research Prize. Zilcosky is a 2013 fellow of the US National Endowment for the Humanities and a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow. His books include Kafka’s Travels, Uncanny Encounters, and The Language of Trauma.

 

Christopher Bagan
– April 16, 18 @ 6:30pm
– April 19 @ 1:30pm

Dr. Christopher Bagan will be discussing his arrangement of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande which you will hear in our production.

Christopher Bagan is an in-demand collaborator, celebrated for his versatility and virtuosity as a conductor, chamber musician, and basso continuo specialist. He has served as Opera Atelier’s Assistant Conductor since 2021, joining the company for over a dozen productions, including tours to the Royal Opera of Versailles and Chicago’s Harris Theatre. Bagan will conduct OA’s upcoming Acis and Galatea with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. His work spans Handel, Charpentier, Lully, Monteverdi, Rameau, and Purcell. A meticulous editor, he has published new score editions used by OA, including Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Handel’s Acis and Galatea.

Pre Show Talks are included with your Ticket!