Dog Days is a contemporary opera that combines classical vocals with dark ambient noise and amplified electric guitars. Set during a fictional wartime blackout, the story follows a rural working-class family attempting to survive amidst military collapse and severe food shortages. The psychological drama explores human resilience, desperation, and moral breakdown when social structures disintegrate.
Critically acclaimed by The New York Times, this breakthrough work from the writing team of composer David T. Little (Soldier Songs, JFK) and Canadian librettist Royce Vavrek (Angel’s Bone, Listen, Quiet) put them on the map. They have since gone on, both together and in collaboration with others, to revolutionize opera in North America.
Based on Cherie Dimaline’s bestselling novel, Empire of Wild unfolds against the landscape of Georgian Bay, where a woman searches for her missing husband—all the while treading a delicate line between their small-town life and the eerie allure of the spirit world.
Music Director Johannes Debus leads the COC Orchestra through composer Ian Cusson’s electric score, which thrillingly evokes the myth of the Rogarou, a Métis werewolf-like figure that stalks both the forest and the human heart.
