Vancouver Opera Festival will get an infusion of Pink Floyd next year.

In its season announcement for 2019-20, the VO announced it would kick off the fourth annual celebration in spring 2020 with Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera. Written by composer Julien Bilodeau and librettist Roger Waters, it's based on the concept album The Wall, and the plot is taken almost directly from the 1982 movie. Amped up with spectacular video projections, it premiered at Opéra de Montréal in March 2017 as part of the city's 375th-anniversary celebration.

General director Kim Gaynor offsets that contemporary work with two classics during the regular season. 

A "sumptuous new version" of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata kicks off next season in October, and it's the result of five Canadian opera companies joining forces to pro­duce the lavish, 1920s-Paris sets and costumes. The production is directed by Alain Gauthier and designed by Christina Poddubiuk, and features Canadian Emily Dorn as Violetta and tenor Andrew Haji as Alfredo.

February 2020 brings Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville, with new Arts Club Theatre artistic director Ashlie Corcoran making her VO directing debut at the helm of the production; Corcoran was assistant director on the same opera at the VO seven years ago. (She's directed such other operas as Canadian Opera Company 's The Magic Flute.) The role of Rosina will be sung by French-Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, with tenor Isaiah Bell taking on Count Almaviva. Local favourite Ken MacDonald, now based in Toronto, designed the sets.

The 2020 Vancouver Opera Festival is scheduled to run April 23 to May 3, 2020, opening with Another Brick in the Wall at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage, alternating with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Meanwhile, Vancouver Opera is creating a new opera for young audiences that will tour the province's school's next year. The Flight of the Hummingbird, based on the graphic novel of the same name by renowned Haida artist Michael Nicoll Yahugulanaas, addresses climate change and personal responsi­bility. The libretto and creative design are by Yahugulanaas and Barry Gilson, with original music composed by French-Canadian composer Maxime Goulet. Glynis Leyshon directs.

For the immediate future, La Boheme is set to open Thursday night [February 14] at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre).

Current subscribers can lock in their reserved seats for the upcoming season from now until April 26 at vancouveropera.ca, while new subscriptions will be available beginning May 14. Single tickets will be available beginning July 2.