Our latest Inside Opera video goes behind the scenes of the COC premiere of Don Quichotte with director Linda Brovsky, our Sancho Panza, baritone Quinn Kelsey, and the two furry co-stars who have very significant non-singing roles! Discover why it is important to have real animals on stage in this production and how the staging reflects their importance in the story, as well as their relationships with the main characters.

By Gianmarco Segato, Adult Programs Manager

It’s simply impossible for an opera company to present Massenet’s Don Quichotte without an artist who possesses the requisite gravitas, charisma and noble vocalism necessary to master the title role’s considerable musical and histrionic demands. In Ferruccio Furlanetto, who makes his greatly anticipated COC debut in the title role, the COC not only has the world’s leading Don Quichotte but a singer whose legendary 40-year career has established him as one of the greatest singing actors of his generation. His vocal pedigree is impeccable – his rich, velvety, espresso-hued timbre marks him as the natural successor to his idol, the great Italian bass, Cesare Siepi, one of the finest singers of the post-war period. As Furlanetto notes, “For me, [Siepi] had the most beautiful voice there has ever been, the most Latin, the most beautiful colour, so I wanted to follow the same path as him. He was an extraordinary Figaro, the best Giovanni, so I worked and worked in preparation for these roles.”