Canadian Children’s Opera Company
Executive Director, Katherine Semcesen
Music Director, Teri Dunn
Head of Drama, Chelsea Woolley
Pianist – Principal Chorus, Claire Elise Harris
Since its founding nearly 57 years ago, the CCOC has grown from a single chorus to a company that comprises six ensembles, reaching hundreds of young people and their families annually through its year-long accessible training in music and drama, professional self-produced operas and performances, commissioning new operas for young voices, concerts and collaborations with other renowned artists and leading arts organizations in Canada, and outreach initiatives. The CCOC has performed with Art of Time Ensemble, Soundstreams, Tapestry Opera, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and members of the CCOC appear regularly in the Canadian Opera Company’s productions, most recently in La Bohème and The Cunning Little Vixen.
While we are honoured to work with such esteemed professional institutions and artists, it is our own annual children’s opera productions that set us apart from all other children’s choirs and vocal ensembles in Canada. As the only permanent children’s opera company in Canada, the CCOC has commissioned over a dozen major operatic works for children by Canadian and international composers and librettists including Alice Ping Yee Ho, Marjorie Chan, Serouj Kradjian, Robertson Davies, Harry Somers, and Giancarlo Menotti. This spring, the CCOC presents its DORA-nominated opera, The Monkiest King composed by Alice Ping Yee Ho and libretto by Marjorie Chan at Harbourfront Centre Theatre, May 30 to June 1, 2025.
Learn more at canadianchildrensopera.com
Photos by Peter Lau and Mabel Au, from the performance of The Monkiest King at the Asian Heritage Month Concert 2025.
