THE CANADIAN CHILDREN’S OPERA COMPANY AT A GLANCE
- The CCOC has a history of over 40 years teaching and inspiring young singers in choral and operatic repertoire.
- Artistic Director Ann Cooper Gay has led the CCOC since 2000, and has commissioned and premiered four new operatic works with the CCOC.
- Five different choruses make up the CCOC: Ruby, Apprentice, Intermediate, Principal and Youth Chorus.
- The CCOC provides a progressive, graduated education program beginning at age 5 with the Ruby Chorus and moving to the late teen years in the Youth Chorus.
CHILDREN’S OPERA BY THE NUMBERS
- The CCOC choruses include 200 young singers. The Principal Chorus alone has over 80 singers ages 10 – 16.
- Since its inception the CCOC has commissioned 11 new opera works written just for children. The latest commissions include The Hobbit (2003), A Dickens of a Christmas (2005) and Dragon in the Rocks (2008) and The Secret World of Og (2010).
- The CCOC had a 2008 annual operating budget of over $450,000. 53% of revenue came from fundraising, grants and performance revenue.
- In a performance season from September to May, the CCOC often participates in over 40 shows.
- In 2002 the CCOC introduced the Canadian Youth Opera Chorus for singers aged 16 to young adult to provide further training and to provide a bridge from the CCOC to university study.
- Artistic Director Ann Cooper Gay has over 30 years experience as an opera singer, conductor, organist, pianist and flutist.
- The CCOC performs with the Canadian Opera Company in productions which involve children. In 2010, CCOC Choristers were featured in both Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s Otello.
- Our annual opera productions feature at least three shows exclusively for schools, enabling us to reach nearly 1,000 young audience members in grades 1 to 8.
- The Canadian Children's Opera Company celebrated 40 years in 2007 - 2008!