Ainsworth said he was motivated by a desire to help audiences overcome the hurdles of the past year. “I wanted to have this theme of coming through darkness, like a phoenix coming out of the ashes, in a sense,” he said from Toronto, where he was rehearsing for Opera Atelier’s filmed production of Handel’s The Resurrection.
“I wanted something that conveyed giving back, after either physical or emotional loss.”
The Ontario-born tenor created the program with help from Pacific Opera, which is producing a series of recitals filmed at the Wingate Studio of the Baumann Centre.
He was joined during the taping, which will air Friday on the Pacific Opera website, by violinist Terence Tam and pianist Kimberley-Ann Bartczak. The program includes the world première of The Length of Day, a new composition with poems by Victoria’s Michelle Poirier Brown and music by local composer Jeffrey Ryan.