Admin

Tapestry Opera

Stage director

Michael Hidetoshi Mori

Conductor

Kamna Gupta

Singer

Midori Marsh

The House

Alex Hetherington

Anika Venkatesh

Korin Thomas-Smith

Asitha Tennekoon

Paul

Lucia Cesaroni

Peter McGillivray

Bassett

Tenor

Keith Klassen

Oscar

Assistant Directors

Steven Hao

Costume designer

Ming Wong

Lighting designer

Echo Zhou

Set designer

JAWON KANG

Instrumentalist

Aysel Taghi-Zada

Violin I

Tanya Charles Iveniuk

Violin II

Brenna Mclane

Viola

Sybil Shanahan

Cello

Repetiteur

Stéphane Mayer

Pianist

Rocking Horse Winner

Toronto

Canada

Streetcar Crowsnest

Rocking Horse Winner: Rocking Horse Winner Williams, Gareth

Public

Private

Simon Samuel

Approved

A Tapestry Opera Production in association with Crow’s Theatre.November 1 - 12, 2023 | The Guloien Theatre at Streetcar CrowsnestA dark horse returns!Tapestr...

Rocking Horse Winner director Michael Hidetoshi Mori takes us behind the scenes with insights into the creative processes that bring this powerful one-act opera to life.
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A Tapestry Opera Production in association with Crow’s Theatre.
November 1 - 12, 2023 | The Guloien Theatre at Streetcar Crowsnest

A dark horse returns!

Tapestry Opera’s award-winning smash hit Rocking Horse Winner returns this November.

New operas rarely make a splash like Rocking Horse Winner did when it debuted in 2016, beating much bigger budget shows by the COC and Mirvish’s Come From Away in Toronto Awards Season. After postponing the 2020 production, it’s finally back!! Tapestry Opera presents the triumphant return of this critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning production.

https://tapestryopera.com/performance...

The 2017 Dora Mavor Moore Winner for Outstanding Production, Rocking Horse Winner, reunites much of the original cast and creative team that made audiences feel all the feels. Tenor Asitha Tennekoon, winner of the Dora for Outstanding Male Performance, reprises his role as the childlike Paul, while tenor Keith Klassen and baritone Peter McGillivray return to recreate their roles as Oscar and Bassett. Celebrating his 10th anniversary with Tapestry Opera, Michael Hidetoshi Mori returns to direct the production that kickstarted his successful career with the company. Acclaimed Canadian soprano Lucia Cesaroni returns to her hometown for this company debut, joining the original cast as Ava. Also marking her first engagement with Tapestry Opera is the New York-based, French-born conductor Kamna Gupta.

Based on a short story of the same title by D.H. Lawrence, this powerful one-act opera combines magical realism and lyrical minimalism to tell the story of a woman, Ava, and her son, Paul. Their house and a rocking horse whisper words that only Paul can hear. When the voice of the house grows more urgent in whispering, “There must be more money,” Paul enlists his lucky rocking horse to tell him the names of live horse race winners. He begins betting with great success, but each win comes at an enormous cost. 

Featuring a score by Irish composer Gareth Williams “so evocative and beautiful” (Globe and Mail) and a libretto by Canadian playwright Anna Chatterton that “packs an emotional wallop” (Musical Toronto), this intimate, psychologically insightful look at love, luck, and greed received 9 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations and 5 awards in 2017, including Outstanding Male Performance by Asitha Tennekoon, Outstanding Lighting Design by Michelle Ramsay, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Direction by Michael Hidetoshi Mori, and Outstanding Production.

In association with Crow’s Theatre, Tapestry Opera presents a reimagined production of the 2016 world-premiere Rocking Horse Winner. Winner of five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, including Outstanding Production and Outstanding Direction, Rocking Horse Winner is a modern adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s masterful short story. 

This powerful one-act opera combines magical realism and lyrical minimalism to offer an intimate, psychological look at love, luck, greed, and obsession.

English

Rocking Horse Winner by Williams, Gareth, From (2023/2023), Directed by Michael Hidetoshi Mori,, Conductor Kamna Gupta, Streetcar Crowsnest, Toronto, Canada

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

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Instrumentation

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Program, About & Synopsis

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Further reading

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