Essential Opera's December
your favourite queer holiday opera

We’re re-releasing your favourite queer holiday opera, December! 

Buy a ticket and watch as many times as you like until December 31, 2023. 

This is a fundraiser for an upcoming workshop of a new* opera by Fiona Ryan.

*also queer, also seasonal (just not this season)

Your ticket purchase goes toward the creation of In Her Hands, Fiona’s reimagining of Macbeth, a project dear to our hearts that we’ve been working on since 2020.

Thank you for supporting Essential Opera and new, Canadian, queer works and artists!

Join us for Monica Pearce’s opera “December”

a one-act opera for three sopranos and string quartet

December is a lighthearted story about travel, family, holiday stress, relationships, and remembering not to wrap your presents before you fly.

The Team:

Cast: Erin Bardua, Maureen Batt, and Danielle Buonaiuto, sopranos

Music Director/Conductor: Tara Scott

String Quartet: Jennifer Jones, violin; Anne Simons, violin; Alexandra Bates, viola; Hilary Brown, cello

Video director: Halley Davies

Video editor: Claire Fraser

Videographer NYC: Elizabeth van Os

Audio engineering NS: Leaf Music; Ben B. Creelman, producer

Audio engineering NYC: Jennifer Nulsen, Swan Studios NYC

Graphic design: Tom Belding

Production assistant: Laura Thornton, Thornton Communications

Lighting assistant: Kwasi Asare

Background extras: Kwasi Asare, Erin Bardua, Halley Davies, Claire Fraser

Video trailers: Anna Shepard

Program Note:

December is about two women (Julia and Natasha) in the first year of their relationship who are preparing to meet Julia’s parents for the first time. They are taking a trip to Julia’s family home for the holidays and the opera follows them as they prepare and pack for the trip, and Julia’s time waiting/stressing at the airport security line. Their trip is with Top Priority Air, represented by a Top Priority Air spokesperson, a customer service representative, and a security officer.

December was written for Essential Opera with support from the SOCAN Foundation commissioning matching program and private donors.

This film production is funded by Arts Nova Scotia and the Canada Council for the Arts. 

You can subscribe to Essential Opera on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/c/EssentialOpera

And you can find us on all the socials here: https://linktr.ee/essential_opera

Read more about the team here: www.essentialopera.com/december