Produced by Opera 5 and Gazelle Automations, Threepenny Submarine Season 1 was selected as a winner in the category of Noteworthy Projects in the 2024 Awards for Digital Excellence.

Stream the video until June 2, 2025

Threepenny Submarine is an exciting new operatic format designed to be a starting point for families and children to interact with the beautiful art form that is opera. Combining practical puppetry, animation, an engaging original story, and the online web series format, Threepenny Submarine tells the story of two junior officers in the Trifecta Fleet — Iona the cockatiel and Lydian the vixen — as they explore the deep sea in Threepenny Submarine near the mysterious Salieri sector. After a scare, they accidentally come across a strange sea creature who sounds like a flute, and their adventure begins. Much like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry, Threepenny Submarine uses opera to allow characters to explore emotions and introduces the sound world of opera to children and families as a seamless part of the storytelling. Threepenny Submarine also embraces new Canadian composition with the final two episodes featuring entirely original music by composers Cecilia Livingston and Ryan Trew.

About the Producers

Opera 5 is passionate about sharing accessible and diverse performances for the Toronto community, creating digital programming across Canada and offering unique training opportunities for the next generation of Canadian opera artists. The company’s dynamic programming aims to seek out and nurture the next generation of opera audiences, ranging from educational shows for children through mainstage works, all of which aim to welcome opera fans and new operagoers. Opera 5’s training programs, specifically the Portfolio Artist Internship (a new program that we intend to expand), support the next generation of artists through varied well-rounded learning and professional opportunities. Opera 5 is led by General Director Rachel Krehm, Artistic Director Jessica Derventzis, Music Director Evan Mitchell, and Programs Manager Jaclyn Grossman. Based in Toronto, Canada, Opera 5 has been producing since 2012. The company’s most recent production was Benjamin Britten and Myfanwy Piper’s The Turn of the Screw (2024), which marked Opera 5’s return to the stage after COVID-19 and the introduction of the Portfolio Artist Internship Program. Opera 5 is known for its web series Opera Cheats, Opera Cats, and Threepenny Submarine, all of which can be viewed on YouTube.

Gazelle Automations is an award-winning film production company specializing in puppets, model miniatures, and animation. They are currently in production on Go Togo, a brand-new preschool TV series for CBC Kids. Wife-and-husband team Lindsay and Justin Lee formed Gazelle Automations to tell stories through the magic of handmade puppets and models. From humble beginnings in the back room of a pizza shop (where pizza orders were literally passing through the shots), Gazelle Automations now sees projects through from concept and fabrication to production, VFX, and finishing. Their clients and production partners include Anderson Entertainment, the BBC, CBC Kids, Century 21 Films, Decently Creative, ITV, Publicis NA, Shaftesbury, TVOKids, and the University of Tokyo.

The Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera are supported by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.