Opera Atelier set for 2024-25

Opera Atelier, the Toronto opera and ballet company known for its productions of Baroque works, will mount shows by George Frideric Handel and Marc-Antoine Charpentier as part of its 2024-25 season.

The lineup will open in October with a fully staged production of “Acis and Galatea,” Handel’s 1718 opera that is based on Ovid’s “Metamorphosis” and follows the doomed love story of a water nymph and an Arcadian shepherd.

The opera, sung in English, will mark the North American debut of French tenor Antonin Rondepierre, who will play the shepherd Acis. Canadian soprano Meghan Lindsay, a regular with Opera Atelier, will star as the water nymph Galatea.

The production will run from Oct. 24 to 27 at the Elgin Theatre.

In spring 2025, Opera Atelier will close the season with its acclaimed production of “David and Jonathan,” the 1688 opera by French composer Charpen- tier. The biblically inspired tale dramatizes the relationship be- tween David, who slayed the gi- ant Goliath, and Jonathan, son of Saul, the King of Israel.

Atelier’s production, directed by Marshall Pynkoski and cho- reographed by Jeannette La- jeunesse Zingg, co-artistic di- rectors of the company, pre- miered in 2022 at the Royal Chapel in Versailles. It was a critical success and later toured to Germany. The production will return to Versailles in 2025 after its run in Toronto, which is to play Koerner Hall from April 9 to 13, 2025.

Canadian tenor Colin Ains- worth will star as David, oppo- site soprano Mireille Asselin as Jonathan.

Opera Atelier’s current season is to conclude in April with “All is Love,” a thematic program featuring a variety of French classical music focused on the theme of love.