I’ve had a few conversations with Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg over the years. They are a warm and personable couple who enjoy chatting with theatre lovers, particularly those who appreciate attending the opera and ballet.

Respect is the first thing that comes to mind whenever I speak with them.

Marshall and Jeannette command respect. Additionally, their respect for others and of others professionally can be seen in their love for the fine theatrical art forms of opera and ballet. They also show respect for the audiences who have been loyal to Opera Atelier.

2025 marks a celebratory milestone – forty years.

How are they both feeling about their selfless work with the company?

In a recent email interview, Marshall and Jeannette expressed their overwhelming gratitude for the passion the Opera Atelier community has shown for the company. The years have raced by. Atelier has defined their lives. It is the creative process that gives their lives meaning. The eternal values of truth, beauty, and goodness are not figments of their imagination. These values exist, and Marshall and Jeannette, as artists, are designed to seek them.

The past five years have not always fostered the growth of the artist, nor of opera and ballet, however.

The world we know has changed from Covid, budget concerns and a constantly shifting political landscape. These hard facts have presented Atelier with challenges that could have been insurmountable. Nevertheless, the company’s vision and reality remain constant. By that, Marshall and Jeannette don’t mean their vision is rigid or codified:

“Adhering to the principles that ground our creative process and lives ensure that we have a base that encourages fluidity, change and a constant reassessing of our creative process and a constant re-assessing of [the company’s] mandate.”

As the two of them look at the list of productions Atelier has produced and their international touring schedule over the past four decades, it has little sense of reality. All the component parts are part of a much bigger picture that makes up the very fabric of their lives. Going forward, they say:

“Our belief in the importance of Opera Atelier’s repertoire and the unwavering commitment of our artists carries us through these challenges and ensures that we never lose sight of the ultimate goal – the reaching and striving for excellence and the commitment to productions that remain coherent and life-affirming.”

From April 9 – 13, 2025, Opera Atelier presents Marc Antoine Charpentier’s opera ‘David and Jonathas.’ In Charpentier’s hands, the opera becomes an extraordinary love story—in fact, a love triangle, with the complicated relationships between Saül and his son Jonathas and the extraordinary events that thrust the young shepherd, David, into their lives.

Marshall does not want the audience to forget that a love story does not necessarily romance. It is the ambiguity of the love shared by the three protagonists that make ‘David et Jonathas,’ in Marshall’s mind, a masterpiece of psychological tension. In fact, it is Saul’s love/hate obsession with David that drives the action of the opera, beginning with the Prologue in which Saül compromises his very soul by turning to the Pythonisse in an effort to foresee the future.

Marshall says that it is to OA’s great advantage that Charpentier emerges as a consummate man of the theatre who understands that his job is both to inform and entertain. Charpentier masterfully realizes both responsibilities as he integrates the chorus and dancers as an integral part of the action.

As a retired teacher myself, I wondered if Atelier encourages secondary school students to attend the opera, especially in a twenty-first-century world of gadgets and the internet.

Jeannette and Marshall speak about the Making of an Opera program through the company, which continues to provide students with free arts education led by a diverse group of artists who have learned how to navigate the performing arts scene in Canada – opening doors of opportunity that would otherwise remain closed to underserved young people. Through hands-on workshops, masterclasses, and tickets to mainstage Opera Atelier productions of opera and ballet – all offered free of charge – Opera Atelier is committed to making a real and measurable difference in the lives of young people.

Opera Atelier offers its bi-annual weeks of MOAO Workshops to Toronto area schools and presents a series of in-school workshops directly to students in Toronto's Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs). This season, the company expands its workshops to serve Hamilton and the Halton Region at Theatre Aquarius.

Additionally, Atelier offers ongoing arts opportunities and performance tickets to first-generation Canadians, ensuring they are reaching young and new audiences across a broad spectrum of Toronto with more than 1,000 free tickets offered annually.

What is 25/26's theme for Opera Atelier?

It will be a Season of Magic.

The season begins this Fall when the company presents the best-loved production of its entire repertoire Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute.’ This life-affirming masterpiece seamlessly combines comedy with the profound belief that music has the power to give meaning and purpose to the lives of children, young people and adults alike.

When Opera Atelier’s production of The Magic Flute premiered in 1991, it broke new ground as the first-period production in North America, propelling the company into the international spotlight.

The second offering of the 25/26 season promises to do the same. After decades of planning, Atelier will unveil its production of Debussy’s dream-like masterpiece, ‘Pelléas et Mélisande.’

Both ‘The Magic Flute’ and ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’ represent pivotal moments in Opera Atelier’s continued journey as they reshape the concept of period performance.

Audiences have always stood by Atelier. The company asks its audiences to do so again in going forward.
In concluding our online conversation, Marshall and Jeannette avow that the well-being of Opera Atelier and the creation of new repertoire take up the majority of their time. That being said, their relationship with Château de Versailles Spectacles and the Royal Opera House in Versailles is one of the most fulfilling aspects of their creative lives.

Thanks to the generosity and the vision of Château de Versailles Spectacles Director Laurent Brunner, they have the opportunity to produce in the most beautiful theatre in the world yearly and in an environment in which they have no responsibilities regarding fundraising or ticket sales.

Artists are also dreamers, always looking to the positivity of the future. Marshall concluded our conversation with the following statement:

“The opportunity to focus exclusively on the creation of new repertoire is a luxury we could never have dreamed of when Opera Atelier first began.”

I look forward to saying hello to Marshall and Jeannette again very soon.

To learn more about Opera Atelier, please visit www.operaatelier.com.