Chants Libes will present Oper’Actuel – Works in Progress 2022 – 7th edition, comprising five operas in progress on Aug. 27-28, 2022 at Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal’s Théâtre Rouge. The 7th edition will be co-produced by Chants Libres and Ensemble Paramirabo.

The five selected operas, their composers and librettists, are “L’écoute du perdu” by Keiko Devaux and staged by Marie Brassard; “Jailli – mis brujerías” by Marco Antonio Pérez-Ramirez and Laurence Saboye; “L’épaisseur du silence” by Jesse Plessis and Thomas Ayouti; “Future Games” by Nicola Straffelini and Carlo Cenini; and “La Noix & Le Diamant,” by Vytautas Bucionis and Caroline Allard.

Also on the program is a sneak peek of a new opera, “Backstage at Carnegie Hall,” by Tim Brady and Audrey Dyer. Bradyworks will perform the world premiere of the complete opera in collaboration with Chants Libres at Centaur Theatre in late September.

Audiences will hear 15 minutes from each work performed by new music specialists Ensemble Paramirabo and soloists Sarah Albu, Marie-Annick Béliveau, Émilie Daoust-Versailles, Raphaël Laden-Guindon, Frédéricka Petit-Homme, and Brittany Rae.

“This edition brings together an entire community of talent, and I am absolutely thrilled that Ensemble Paramirabo and conductor Jean-Michaël Lavoie are joining us to deliver this top-notch program. Chants Libres one of those rare companies that has a performer as artistic director. I like to think that this will colour our approach during the residency week leading up to the event,” mezzo-soprano Marie-Annick Béliveau, the newly appointed artistic director of Chants Libres, said in a press statement.