More often than not, conventional opera relies on some degree of maximalism to tell its stories: several singers, accompanied by some combination of instruments (usually an orchestra), performing on elaborate sets, with extravagant costumes. What happens when all of that is taken away? 

This question is asked and answered in Tapestry Opera’s remount of Jaqueline, an opera by GRAMMY-nominated composer Luna Pearl Woolf, with text by Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek. Jaqueline tells the tragic story of English cellist Jaqueline du Pré, a child prodigy who won the Queen’s Prize at 15 years old, and began playing as a soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra before she turned twenty. At age 24, she developed symptoms of multiple sclerosis. du Pré was diagnosed at 28, and died of the disease when she was just 42. 

du Pré’s 1965 recording of the Elgar concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra was regarded as near-perfect, and has gone down in history as a definitive version of the work. It is from Elgar’s work that Pearl Woolf drew inspiration for Jaqueline’s structure, mirroring the four-movements of the concerto in her depiction of the virtuoso’s brief, wonderfully musical life. Pearl Woolf and Vavrek, along with Director and Dramaturg Michael Mori, chose to say more with less in this show. Sparse staging, simple set and costumes, and intimate lighting design assist the single soprano voice (Marnie Breckenridge) and cellist (Matt Haimovitz) in telling du Pré’s story. Haimovitz, who knew du Pré at the end of her life when he was a teenager, brings a unique emotional connection to the work, and echoes of du Pré herself into his playing. 

The opera was premiered by Tapestry Opera during their 40th anniversary season. Almost five years later to the day, the company is bringing it back for a second run in Toronto, fresh off of its American premiere in the summer of 2024. Breckenridge and Haimovitz will return to their performance of this emotionally and musically challenging piece, this time having grown with and through the music since they first presented it to the public in 2020.

Jacqueline has a number of things working in its favour at this particular social and cultural moment. In terms of its subject, it attends to the current wave of interest in iconic figures of classical music (made evident by such films as Maestro, about Leondard Berstein; and the recently released Maria, based on the life of Maria Callas). What’s more, the salience of one of the opera’s guiding themes, the relationship between illness and music-making, is particularly evident in the long wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As explored in Jaqueline, one of du Pré’s first symptoms of MS was persistent brain-fog — what was once an obscure medical symptom will now resonate with many in the audience, either directly or indirectly. Arts organisations and individuals alike have faced the challenges of making art while suffering debilitating physical ailments and illness in recent years, giving a whole new level of universal weight to this very personal story.  

The second run of Jacqueline comes at an interesting time for the company, which, having survived a difficult five years, is about to launch their 2025/2026 season and will soon move into a new space, at 877 Yonge Street. In some ways, it marks the end of a chapter, and the beginning of something new. Jaqueline will run at the Betty Oliphant Theatre from February 20-23, before the company launches their next season, in concert, on March 22.