Tapestry Opera

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SCRUTINY | 10 Days In A Madhouse Is Bold, Thought Provoking New Opera 10 Days in a Madhouse is a bold and thought-provoking work, delivering a compelling exploration of memory, trauma, and institutional power.

10 Days in a Madhouse is officially open! We can’t wait to see you here.

The Canadian premiere of 10 Days in a Madhouse opens tonight!

Only four performances of the award-winning psychological thriller that exposes a world where power decides whom we believe.

Highlight reel videography by Hoffworks Productions

10 Days in a Madhouse is a Tapestry Opera and Opera Philadelphia production & commission. Co-presented by the Luminato Festival and the Canadian Opera Company (COC) in association with TO Live.

Special thanks to Kris Vikmanis and Denny Creighton and for supporting the commissioning of 10 Days in a Madhouse.

10 Days in a Madhouse | Highlight Reel Orth and Moscovitch's 10 DAYS IN A MADHOUSE is on stage from June 1...

Captured in the moment. ✨
We are thrilled to share these breathtaking dress rehearsal images from 10 Days in a Madhouse, beautifully captured by Eric Forget Photography Eric Forget

Experience the production live starting tomorrow night, Tuesday, June 16th, at the Bluma Appel Theatre.

🎫 Tickets are selling fast. Secure yours today! Link in bio.

Thanks for the Critic's Pick!

Luminato Festival / Tapestry Opera / Canadian Opera Company: 10 Days in a Madhouse Tuesday, June 16, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, June 18, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 20, 3:30 p.m., Sunday, June 21 1:30 p.m.
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts — Bluma Appel Theatre TO Live, $69+

Ah, Luminato. This super-chill cross-discipline summer festival always brings a few provocative things. This new opera project, a collaboration of Tapestry and Opera Philadelphia, treads in the long subject of mad women. As a child, I wondered why Salem had so many witches, and no-one really could explain. As I learned more, read more, and paid attention a little more to the world we live in, I realized that being labeled ‘crazy woman’ usually meant something else — including strong-willed, non-passive, curious and rights-seeking. Journalist Nellie Bly’s adventure into the infamous Blackwell’s Asylum in New York City in 1887, a place also described as a ‘penitentiary, institution for people with disability or in need of welfare’, covers many feminist issues as well as socioeconomical, and human right issues of women, the sick, immigrants, and the poor. With continuous budget cuts in long term social and health care everywhere in the world, and the never ending warmongering by the patriarchy, seeing this subject cast in new light by René Orth with libretto by Hannah Moscovitch is not a surprise, but certainly a curiosity. Come and see where this production will take you — who is mad, and who will believe it? When we say we understand sanity and insanity, do we? Read our Interview with Hannah Moscovitch here, and our Interview with René Orth here. Info here. - Hye Won Cecilia Lee Ludwig van Toronto

CRITIC’S PICKS | Classical Music Events You Absolutely Need To See This Week: June 15 – June 21 2026 Classical music and opera events in Toronto for the week of June 15 to 21, 2026.

Learn more about 10 Days in a Madhouse on Canadian Opera Resource. Then join us this week to see the incredible story of Nellie Bly come to life!

Is she insane — or just pretending?

10 Days in a Madhouse (Rene Orth & Hannah Moscovitch) is a gripping psychological opera based on true events from 1887. Trailblazing reporter Nellie Bly fakes madness to expose the truth from inside New York’s notorious Blackwell’s Asylum. What she discovers is a world where women are silenced, sanity is questioned, and power decides who is believed.

Premiered in 2023 in Philadelphia (Opera Philadelphia and Tapestry Opera), 10 Days in a Madhouse now makes its Canadian premiere June 16-21 with a Tapestry Opera production co-presented with and the in association with .

Explore 10 Days in a Madhouse and other exciting pieces on the Canadian Opera Resource!

COR main page: https://canadianoperaresource.com/

10 Days in a Madhouse on COR: https://canadianoperaresource.com/content/10-days-in-a-madhouse/

10 Days on Tapestry site: https://tapestryopera.com/performances/10-days-in-a-madhouse/

Photo elements by Dahlia Katz, featuring Mireille Asselin.

Image description: A woman in a cream blouse and grey skirt smiling against a grey background. Blurred pictures of herself are behind her on either side. Yellow text at top of image reads 10 Days in a Madhouse by Rene Orth & Hannah Moskovitch.

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Artist of the Week 17 Qs for Sandra Horst The Artist of the Week is Canadian conductor Sandra Horst. She will be conducting the Canadian premiere of Rene Orth and Hannah Moscovitch's 10 Days in a Madhouse, co-presented by Tapestry Opera, the Canadian Opera Company and Luminato Festival, from June 16th to 21st. This week, Sandra chats with u...

Hannah Moscovitch talks with Tom Power on CBC's Q about the inspiration for 10 Days in a Madhouse and her "secret" opera career: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7cvxF265If1Lx1fxjojCxl?si=9fe2ee5221cf4185

10 Days in a Madhouse is a Tapestry Opera and Opera Philadelphia production & commission. Co-presented by Luminato Festival and the Canadian Opera Company in association with TO Live.

Special thanks to Kris Vikmanis and Denny Creighton and for supporting the commissioning of 10 Days in a Madhouse.

In the 1880s, journalist Nellie Bly faked insanity to reveal the treatment of women in an American asylum, and how many of the patients were not sick at all, but just trapped in a misogynist system. Now, a new opera is bringing that story to the stage and Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Hannah Moscovitch is the librettist. She joins Tom Power to talk about the Luminato Festival production, and why Nellie Bly’s story still resonates in the 21st century.

What happens when women are called crazy? Q with Tom Power · Episode