Hh3 — "I'm an overweight white guy who's old"
The Canadian Opera Company's Perryn Leech unloads his vision
This 3-part Hubs & Huddles article takes a deep dive into Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts—one of Canada’s premiere performance hubs. Part 3 concludes the series below in an interview with Perryn Leech, General Director of the Canadian Opera Company, on his mission and vision for the opera hub.
WORDS BY EMILY PITTMAN & ISABELLA ELIAS
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY
Perryn Leech began his role at the COC amidst the roiling waves of the pandemic, tasked with preparing the company to keep the programming momentum going during the lockdowns, and preparing for live performances when the opportunity arose. As audiences continue to march en masse back to concert halls, Leech’s mission pivots to the question of capturing their imaginations — and subscriptions — in an age where traditional media spaces are shrinking at a rate seemingly indexed to decreasing attention spans.
However, Leech believes that what the current cultural moment needs most is the type of connective tissue provided by venues like the FSC, and companies like the COC. He sees the communal experience of live performance as a powerful force for change─an opportunity to leave the theatre a different person than when you arrived. With upcoming programming that shares stories from the LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse communities, as well as stories of imprisonment and freedom — with socially and racially diverse casts — Perryn seemingly walks the talk that opera is for everyone, not just the social elite that can make it down to the FSC on a regular basis. But within an art form that is often seen as expensive and exclusive, how can opera possibly hold relevance to those struggling, even just within a 20-kilometre radius of the Centre?
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