Verdi, Rossini, and Puccini set to resound over Deer Lake at Opera in the Park, July 19
Conducted by Jacques Lacombe, free outdoor concert goes Italian with a team of strong soloists
Symphony in the Park
Conductor and VO music director Jacques Lacombe. Photos courtesy City of Burnaby
Vancouver Opera and the City of Burnaby present Opera in the Park at 7:30 pm at Deer Lake Park, preceded by Voices Rising: Pre-Concert Celebration at 5:15 pm
VANCOUVER OPERA IS about to pull out big-time Italian arias and overtures for this year’s free concert at the Festival Lawn in Deer Lake Park.
The summer tradition, under the baton of music director Jacques Lacombe, will feature highlights from the company’s upcoming 2026–27 season of Italian warhorses—and that means lush, impassioned highlights from Puccini’s Tosca, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Verdi’s La Traviata.
Big music requires powerful voices, and the singers here include standout Canadian baritone and VO favourite Gregory Dahl, who’s made a splash on the Queen E. stage in such memorable productions as The Flying Dutchman and La Bohème. Joining him are fast-rising Canadian-American tenor Isaiah Bell (who’s also a writer and composer); Ottawa-born mezzo Rachael McAuley, who has appeared on stages with companies like Edmonton Opera, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir; and soprano Mikayla Sager, a specialist in Italian repertoire who has taken the stage with San Francisco Opera. Backing them up is the acclaimed Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
The main action starts at 7:30 pm, but earlier, at 5:15 pm, concertgoers can take in the Voices Rising preconcert, an eclectic mix of music by Tzo’kam, the family-based Stl’atl’imx group led by Russell Wallace, and Sarabande, the chamber choir that’s part of the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs, directed by rising conductor Shane Raman. There will also be a speech on the power of the arts by Sam Armas Gough, a Guatemalan-born, Vancouver-based arts leader of Guatemalan Indigenous and Canadian heritage.
What to bring? A blanket or chair to settle in for the evening out on the grass. And we suggest a picnic of antipasto e salumi, and maybe some formaggio e olive, to set the mood. 
Mikayla Sager. Photo by Andres Hernandez
Gregory Dahl
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