Opera for Young People
PremiereD: April 26, 2001
THE BROTHERS GRIMM
In 1999, The Canadian Opera Company and Nicholas Goldschmidt’s Music Canada 2000 Inc. commissioned Burry to write a new opera for the COC’s Ensemble Studio School Tour. The resulting work, The Brothers Grimm, has been performed for over 90,000 school children and adults across Canada and passed its 450th performance mark in Spring 2011. It is believed to be the most performed Canadian opera in history.
Premiered iN toronto, May 2004
tHE hOBBIT
In June 2000, Ann Cooper Gay asked Burry to seek out a subject for a commission and following the summer, J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Hobbit was chosen. This was, of course one of the hottest properties at the time as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy was to hit movie theatres a year later. The rights were obtained from The Saul Zaentz Company and Burry’s The Hobbit became the first opera based on a work by Tolkien.
