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Ambur Braid excels in the title role in the Canadian Opera Company’s starrily cast revival of Atom Egoyan's production.

Despite an abundance of incongruous symbols, this Toronto performance was remarkable for its outstanding singing.

Canadian Opera Company Toronto première of Così hit the trifecta, with strong performances from cast, conductor Johannes Debus, and director Atom Egoyan.

The chamber-opera Feng Yi Ting is a high-grade hybrid. The composer/librettist is Chinese, the director is Armenian-Canadian, and both are outstanding in their fields. Guo Wenjing belongs to the elite 200 students admitted to Beijing’s Central Conservatory in 1978 when it reopened after the Cultural Revolution.

Atom Egoyan’s production of Richard Strauss’ Salome is styled for extreme contrasts. You could think of it as Springtime for Herod in Judea. While patrons spilling out of limos, taxis and Wheel-Trans were gathering on this magnolia blossom-filled May Day evening in the plaza outside the opera house’s glass façade, a parade hedged by bicycle cops was filing by.