Toronto the highbrow? Canadian Opera Company announces record-breaking sales

Torontonians may love the over-the-top, big-budget musicals, but it seems we’re patrons of highbrow culture, too: the Canadian Opera Company has announced a record-breaking 2009–2010 season, with excellent ticket sales and near-capacity crowds at each of its 70 shows. Two of its seven operas had sold-out runs—Robert Lepage‘s The Nightingale and Other Short Fables and Madama Butterfly—and overall, the season’s performances were at 97.6 per cent capacity (in August, it even introduced standing-room only “seats”).