Tapestry Opera has announced new artist residencies with Cultureland and OperaQ at the Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Center.

Cultureland is an opera collective with the mission of making opera more accessible and offers new operatic productions with a primary focus on Middle Eastern culture and companies.

Meanwhile OperaQ is an indepedent opera company that amplifies queer and trans voices in opera.

“Our residency at Tapestry Opera is a transformative step for Cultureland: a safe space where voices meet, cultures intertwine, and new stories come to life through music. As a forerunner in breaking norms and bringing innovative musical storytelling to the world, Tapestry Opera provides the perfect home for us to grow, experiment, and expand our vision, where we can weave Middle Eastern poetry, music, and narratives into a dynamic artistic landscape, bridging traditions and reimagining storytelling without borders,” said Dr Afarin Mansouri, Founder and Artistic Director of Cultureland, per an official press release.

“OperaQ is thrilled to be in residency with Tapestry Opera at the Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre!  We’ve already spent some time in the beautiful rehearsal studio, workshopping our current project, “La Maupin,” we look forward to rehearsing and eventually recording this piece and future exciting projects in the Performance Hall. As any performing artist will know, space is at a premium in Toronto, so this residency offers invaluable support to our creative processes,” added Camille Rogers, Co-founder of OperaQ.