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I’ve been waiting for 2016 to arrive for some time.

Creatively you love having different sized canvases to use. I’m lucky enough that several projects this coming calendar year are not like each other. I’m lucky to work with The Toronto Symphony Orchestra for the first time in their big venue, Roy Thomson Hall. Then I make my Main Stage debut at the Four Season Centre for the Arts, directing Carmen for the Canadian Opera Company. Before the summer hits, we’re planning on presenting A Little Too Cozy which will be in a much smaller venue for a much smaller capacity.

The very cool aspect of all of these projects is that they all happen in Toronto. Anyone who works in opera, and if they’re working in opera, knows that your career will take you all over the world. To have three unique projects line up in your hometown is a treat.

The Toronto Star picked up on this and I was honoured to be considered for their list of Torontonians who are set to have big 2016’s.

Very thankful for the people around me who have made these opportunities possible. Toronto is a great city for the arts and for opera.

Joel Ivany

Toronto’s arts and culture scene should be as vibrant as ever in the new year. But for five city residents in particular — representing a range of disciplines from pop music and literature to art, opera and film — 2016 will present an opportunity to test their skills and creativity to the max.

JOEL IVANY
Joel Ivany’s long apprenticeship is paying off.

After studying opera at the University of the Toronto, Ivany, 35, did further study in Norway, Ireland, Washington and Minnesota before coming back to Toronto and founding his own independent company, Against the Grain Theatre, which he calls a “small and scrappy company which is growing with each production.”

His Dora-winning work has not gone unnoticed by two of the biggest players in the Toronto cultural landscape.
On Jan. 21, Ivany’s production of Mozart’s Requiem with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will debut at Roy Thomson Hall.

On April 12, Ivany will oversee a production of Carmen for the Canadian Opera Company.

“In North America, let alone the world, (the COC) is increasingly becoming known as a landing spot for top artists, for singers, for directors, for productions. So to be included in that company is very humbling, especially for someone who is Canadian, and grew up and trained in Canada,” Ivany said.