The countdown to the Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage Gala has kicked off with the naming of committee co-chairs Lucia and Jeffrey Remedios. The pair has long been involved in shaping and supporting the Canadian music industry, with Jeffrey Remedios also serving on the COC Board of Directors, and is now looking forward to lending their creative talents to the COC’s largest annual fundraiser in support of the COC Ensemble Studio.

Lucia Remedios is an accomplished commercial and editorial freelance photographer who is the owner and creative director of Canada's only dedicated music photography gallery, Analogue Gallery in Toronto. Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions all across the country and abroad. For the past nine years, Lucia Remedios has also helped to expose and develop the work of new and emerging talent though her nationwide, annual Sound Image Photo Competition.

Jeffrey Remedios is President and CEO of Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. He volunteers on the boards of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS), Music Canada, and the Toronto International Film Festival; he has also co-chaired the COC’s Operanation fundraiser and is on the board of Arts & Crafts, the award-winning, premiere independent music label he co-founded in 2003, where he served as president until 2015. Jeffrey Remedios is a long-standing champion of trailblazing artists, promoter of independent thinkers, and advocate of distinct voices in our rich culture. Together, the husband-and-wife team has collaborated on a range of charitable initiatives such as the Creative Arts Therapy Program at SickKids Hospital, MusiCounts and, most recently, The Remix Project.

“Jeffrey and I have spent a lot of our careers creating platforms for emerging talent in each of our industries, so this was a perfect collaboration,” says Lucia Remedios. “It's very exciting to support a program that has proven, year after year, to have a meaningful impact on the lives and musical careers of young Canadian talent.”

“The COC’s world-class efforts mentoring and training young artists is important work that closely aligns with the passion that drives both of us: supporting artists and their art,” adds Jeffrey Remedios. “That’s why we’re honoured to be co-chairing the Centre Stage Gala and why we hope you’ll join us this fall. It’s going to be an incredible event!”

This year’s Centre Stage Gala takes place on October 30, 2019 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, immediately following the annual Ensemble Studio Competition. The vocal competition is the culmination of a national audition process where winners walk away with cash prizes and a chance to be invited to join the COC Ensemble Studio. The curtain is then lifted to unveil the Four Seasons Centre stage, transformed for gala guests into a decadent dining space, complete with an unparalleled view of R. Fraser Elliott Hall.

Further details about the Centre Stage Gala will follow at a later date. Tickets go on sale on August 7, 2019.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

BMO Financial Group: Season Sponsor

Volvo Car Canada: Official Automotive Partner of the Canadian Opera Company and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

The COC Academy is underwritten by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation, with additional support by Keith Ambachtsheer & Virginia Atkin.

The Ensemble Studio is underwritten in part by Anne & Tony Arrell, Peter M. Deeb, Marjorie & Roy Linden, Sheila K. Piercey, RBC Foundation, Slaight Family Foundation, Government of Canada, Hal Jackman Foundation, with additional support by: ARIAS: Canadian Opera Student Development Fund, David & Kristin Ferguson, Ethel Harris & the late Milton E. Harris, Peter & Hélène Hunt, Patrick and Barbara Keenan Foundation, Joy Levine, Patricia & Frank Mills, Roger D. Moore, June Shaw, The Stratton Trust, Janet Stubbs, Toronto Wagner Society, Ruth Watts-Gransden, Brian Wilks, Nora Wilson.

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Photo credits (l-r): Lucia and Jeffrey Remedios at Operanation (2016), photo: Ryan Emberley, Centre Stage 2018, photo: Gaetz Photography