Along her climb, cast members from inside the building pop out of windows. We see a young musician on a quest, manoeuvring the wall’s challenges one ledge and finger grip at a time. The libretto from Liza Balkan is inquisitive, with occasional moments of whimsy.

Woodwind enthusiasts in particular will not be disappointed. The site-specific charmer is a meditation on the rigour of artistic creation, set to a nimble, dynamic score by Brian Current that empathizes, dazzles and sometimes threatens vertigo. Welcome to the world of performing arts in 2022. Gould’s Wall was postponed because of COVID-19 some patrons have had tickets since 2019. Other seats (and standing-room space) are offered on a mezzanine that more or less rests level with the climbing singer. Close by, audience members sit in Muskoka chairs that allow them to look up at the action on the wall without craning their necks.

The chamber orchestra and five pianists (including students from the RCM’s Taylor Academy) work on the atrium floor. The aerialist soprano Pearl is held by a harness suspended from the steel beams that connect the original 19th-century exterior of the Royal Conservatory building on one side and the much more recently built Koerner Hall on the other. It is presented in the glass-enclosed atrium of the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, with the original 19th-century exterior of the Royal Conservatory building on one side and the much more recently built Koerner Hall on the other.

Gould’s Wall, from Toronto’s intrepid Tapestry Opera, is the final production of Koerner Hall’s 2021-22 season and the closing event of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s 21C Music Festival. There are scales, and then there are scales. It’s an allusion to the unsteady pursuit of artistic perfection and the mental and physical ascents that come with it. In the new contemporary opera Gould’s Wall, a soprano in climbing gear navigates an 18-metre rock wall while her mentor, the peculiar superstar pianist Glenn Gould, watches and encourages from below. COVID-19 measures: Masks and proof of vaccination not required.Written by: Brian Current (score) and Liza Balkan (libretto).

Pearl opera gloves