Last Friday, Mercury Opera brought opera to the people – is there any place more democratic than a public transportation platform? Although the show itself was free (transit operators weren’t checking for fare payments), a $25 ticket gave opera revellers access to some pre-show food and drink at four street-level businesses. I really loved the [...]

When I purchased an Edmonton Opera Explorers’ Club membership last year, my intention was to use it to see Stewart Lemoine’s take on HMS Pinafore and nothing else. After thoroughly enjoying that operetta, to really maximize the membership fee, I thought it best to use my discount towards the last opera of the year, Verdi’s [...]

I had heard about Edmonton Opera‘s Explorers’ Club a few years ago, but it didn’t seem economical to join until I read about their 2007/2008 lineup. The venerable Stewart Lemoine would be rewriting Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, and thus, even if I didn’t use my membership to purchase tickets for the other shows that [...]