Ever since Toronto’s new opera house was completed earlier this summer, critic William Littler has been scanning the globe for cities that make the best use of their performing arts facilities, and could serve as a model for Toronto. In Munich, he may have found the ideal comparative. “Munich itself is considerably smaller than Toronto, and yet its principal opera house (there are three others) routinely maintains an average attendance of upwards of 90 per cent… Will the Four Seasons Centre have as powerful a catalytic effect in Toronto? If it does, there is room to hope that the Canadian Opera Company can expand beyond its usual seven productions.”