Arts and Entertainment

No Strings Theatre celebrates its 20th anniversary with two operas

July 31, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Returning to the MVL Amphitheatre on Concession 4 in Adjala for the fourth year, No Strings Theatre will open on its two-decade milestone in August.

Denise Williams, the company’s founding artistic director, said she’s excited to announce they are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the theatre company by performing two operas in this outdoor theatre in Adjala.

This year, No Strings Theatre is producing Hansel and Gretel and Cosi Fan Tutte over two weekends in August.

Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is offered for four performances through the weekend of Aug. 8- 10.

A softened version, Hansel and Grete is sung in English, telling the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale about a brother and sister who get lost in the woods, their frightened parents, and the witch living in the forest’s depths.

In this setting, the opera is staged where there is actually a forest in which to tell the tale. Williams said that her cameo is as the Sandman.

No Strings Theatre will bring Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, the grand comedy, deception, Mozart’s own humour and his take moral sensibilities from Aug. 15-17. Once again the weekend includes four performances.

Cosi Van Tutti is sung in Italian with English Recitative.

No String Theatre auditions and brings in emerging singers who are mainly university graduates and post doctorates in the field of performing opera. For the program this time around, singers have come from coast to coast in Canada, as well as some from the United States.

Robert Herriot is back as stage instructor and Cecilia Nyugen Tran is the music director for Cosi. Cary Denby is music director for Hansel and Gretel.

In addition to bringing emerging artists into this magic in a country setting as performers, the program is enriched with vocal masterclasses, an acting workshop and arts management.

The venue for all this delight is on a farm and the stage is at the front of the house. It was a whim on the part of the property owner Maurice Bygraves and Williams who met in 2015 at the Lyons Club in Toronto.

She said, “He came with his wife. He was one of the founders of Carabrama.”

Over time they became friends and one day Williams was at the Bygraves home, standing on a balcony looking down a row of trees.

As she recalled, “I started singing the aria from [Romeo and] Juliet to a long line of trees and discovered the amazing acoustics. I brought a friend from Opera by Request and we realized this was perfect for the Marriage of Figaro. So, we brought opera to this country place. 

“We are stronger than ever on the teams with Brett Polegato Canadian Italian Baritone. It’s his first year with us and he is doing master classes.”

Early on, an opera singer living in the neighbourhood was walking by the farm and heard them singing. She could not resist coming in to buy a ticket and enjoy the performance.

Once she spread the word, others in the neighbourhood were equally glad to come.

They were pleased with the opportunity and thanked Williams for bringing these shows. It meant people did not have to go to Toronto to enjoy the opera.

Such ambitious artistry looks for funding and Williams wanted a make a call out to thank Summer Jobs for supporting them.

“We are looking for sponsors,” she said and looking to collaborate with arts people in Orangeville.

For example, in Orangeville at the library, to do a presentation about these shows and other outreach. Perhaps she would like to do some collaboration at Black Horse Theatre.

Reflecting on the beginning while looking to the future, Williams said, “I didn’t know what would happen after day one. It’s infectious. The directors have to drive up every day from Toronto for two weeks but they never complained.”

What keeps her involved is “meeting amazing people and wonderful artists; that we could possibly change the life of another artist, – open a door because it’s too easy to have a door closed. I love opening doors, collaborating with wonderful people.”

Reflectively, “I could and have been performing on stages for years– stretching myself that way but – guess what – when I’m working with these young people, the shows are so fresh – you put the sun into the work.”

Denise Williams said, “I have learned so much more about arts in performing by looking at it from both sides.”

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