Transit of Venus is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts by Victor Davies

Victor Davies

Victor Albert Davies is an award winning Canadian composer, pianist, and conductor, best known for his opera Transit of Venus.-Biography:...

. The English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 is by Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 Maureen Hunter

Maureen Hunter

Maureen Hunter is a Canadian playwright who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.She was born in Indian Head, Saskatchewan and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan. Transit of Venus was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and recorded by the BBC...

 based on her play of the same name

Transit of Venus (play)

Transit of Venus is a play by Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter. It was first produced at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in November 1992.The play is based on the life of Guillaume Le Gentil , a gentleman astronomer....

 first produced at the Manitoba Theatre Centre

Manitoba Theatre Centre

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country...

 in November 1992

1992 in Canada

Events from the year 1992 in Canada.-Incumbents:*Monarch: Elizabeth II*Governor General: Ray Hnatyshyn*Prime Minister: Brian Mulroney*Premier of Alberta: Don Getty then Ralph Klein*Premier of British Columbia: Mike Harcourt...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 24 November 2007 (Conductor: James Meena)
Le Gentil, age 35, astronomer	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Russell Braun
Celeste, age 15, his fiancée	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Monica Huisman
Margot, age 36, his mother’s companion	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Jean Stilwell
Demarais, age 18, his assistant	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Colin Ainsworth
Madame Sylvie, age 65, his mother	mezzo-soprano	Judith Forst
Male and female servants chorus Choir A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

Synopsis

The story is based on the expeditions of the 18th-century French astronomer, Guillaume le Gentil de la Galaisière

Guillaume Le Gentil

Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière was a French astronomer.-Biography:...

. He attempted to record the transit of the planet Venus across the sun as a way of estimating the distance between the earth and the sun. Celeste, his fiancée, loves him at first but then turns to his
assistant, Demarais.