10 Questions for Guillermo Silva-Marin

Posted on March 29, 2013 by barczablog

The most influential man on the Toronto opera scene?  That would be Guillermo Silva-Marin.  His biographer and collaborator Henry Ingram put it this way:

Singer, teacher, director, producer, impresario, musician…each of these words describes Guillermo Silva-Marin and sometimes he is all these in a single day.
(complete biography)

A youthful Guillermo Silva-Marin, in a Harbourfront incarnation of Tales of Hoffmann with the COC

It’s hard to hit a moving target, but I managed to persuade Silva-Marin, or “Bill” as he’s known to his friends, to consent to an interview, because I believe people need to know more about this self-effacing powerhouse.  He’s an oxymoron, because he’s dynamic without being an egomaniac, effective without cracking a whip or raising his voice (except perhaps when he sings).  I was fortunate to meet him relatively early on, when he was an up and coming baritone, then later a tenor.  I recall his charming presence as Scaramuccio in Lotfi Mansouri’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the COC, a role which he would also cover at the Met.

Stuart Hamilton chose to pass the torch — leadership of Opera in Concert (OiC), one of the artistic treasures of this city– to Silva-Marin.  It’s scary to imagine what this city might be like if he hadn’t chosen to settle here, as Bill went on to found another important company in this city, namely Toronto Operetta Theatre(TOT); and he’s the driving force behind Summer Opera Lyric Theatre (SOLT).  These three institutions are key stepping stones for singers learning their craft, undertaking new roles, and showcasing their talents.

The Opera In Concert season has just ended, and now it’s on to La Vie Parisienne from TOT. And then it’s on to SOLT’s 2013 opera workshop, which culminates in a series of public performances at the Robert Gill Theatre, University of Toronto to showcase the artists and their work.

I ask Guillermo Silva-Marin ten questions: five about himself, and five about his roles as General Director of Opera in Concert, Toronto Operetta Theatre and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre

1) Which one of your parents do you most look like (what is your nationality / ethnic background)?

Guillermo (“Bill”) Silva-Marin (click for more about SOLT)

I look like my father Juan Osvaldo – very Hispanic look with a 50% Spanish blood.

2) What is the best thing or worst thing about being an impresario presenting opera & operetta?

Best thing has always been working with Canadian talent at the height of their powers and young emerging ones with their great enthusiasm and energy.

Worst thing, not having enough time to do it all. I need 24 hours extra a day.

3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?

I listen to music, any kind. I watch documentaries, the news and TVO/PBS (anything)

4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have? –

Foresight, I wish I could tell the future but I am resigned.

5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?

Reading – philosophy, murder mysteries, the classics, religions

~~~~~~~

Five Questions about work with Opera in Concert, Toronto Operetta Theatre and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre (SOLT):

1) How does being the General Director of Opera in Concert challenge you?

The company is small and works under financial restrictions. This spills over into the ability to safeguard the artistic process and complement what the artists bring to the table.

The greatest challenge is to provide a forum that is supportive to the creative process within a limited time span. We solve this with accurate timetables, tight schedules and open discussion of objectives. We try to make sure everyone understands the challenge, artistic, musical, dramatic, financial and managerial.

2) What do you love about presenting operas & operettas in Toronto? 

We deal in innovation and daring artistic programming. Every day there is discovery, a Pandora’s box environment – surprises. I thrive and love the challenges and so do the artists working under my guidance.

3) Out of the complex planning and development cycle, what’s your favourite moment when you mount an opera or operetta? 

There are no specific moments but a process that evolves as you face new and fresh developments. The process is organic and unpredictable to a point but never inflexible or static.

4) How do you relate to the opera community as a 21st century man? 

I have the privilege to introduce new works to our community and our artists. There lies the beauty of my position among the tapestry of arts organizations in Canada.  I wish there were more resources to do more.

The late Dixie Ross-Neill with one of her famous students.

5) Is there a teacher, singer, or an influence that you especially admire?

There are many teachers but Stuart Hamilton comes to mind and the late Dixie Ross Neill.

~~~~~~~

Upcoming:

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Matched set

Posted on March 28, 2013 by barczablog

It’s the most curious symmetry.

Soup Can Theatre have paired Samuel Barber’s brief opera A Hand Of Bridge with Jean Paul Sartre’s play No Exit.  The opera is ten minutes, while the play is roughly one hundred minutes.

Symmetry?

But whereas the play employs four people, the opera not only has four singers, but an orchestra of fourteen, plus conductor Pratik Gandhi.

Although both stories address existential angst in different ways –Barber (and his librettist Gian Carlo Menotti) in the banalities of couples playing cards, Sartre in a more detailed examination of a hypothetical hell—there is a lovely balance.  With the jazzy Barber and the card-playing foursome we have a strong presence, to counter-balance the chief characteristic of Sartre’s afterlife, namely absence.  In the ten minutes of the opera we’re given a face-full of life, a vivid splash still echoing in our ears when the Sartre begins.  The boisterous young orchestra pack up and leave; and in so doing we experience a genuine sense of the void.   And at the same time, having heard real acoustic music, genuine voices singing, the ear is whetted for almost anything.  The silence of the space aches with their departure.

In other words, bravo, for the brilliant pairing.  Barber’s lark of an opera will never seem so deep as in this kind of pairing, and it serves as a wonderful appetizer for what’s to come.

Director Sarah Thorpe frequently takes No Exit in a comical direction, riding the hyper-kinetic energies of Daniel Pagett’s Garcin.  He keeps the pace going, delivering his lines at a wonderful clip, and thereby alleviating some of the darkness that sometimes overwhelms this play.  Sometimes at least, his glass is half full, and that means finding the wit and making it your own with a sense of authority.

Tennille Read’s Inez was Garcin’s nemesis, a dark and deliberate reading, with a physical solidity counter-balancing Pagett’s quicksilver body-language.  Carolyn Hall’s Estelle is perhaps the strongest catalyst, sexually provoking both Inez & Garcin.  Hall is wonderfully vulnerable, a portrayal that was like a match igniting each of the others onstage.  And Ryan Anning’s Valet floats through, a strong suggestion of something other-worldly.

The short Barber opera makes a powerful impression.

Alvaro Vazquez Robles had lyrical moments as Bill, dreaming of another woman named Cymbaline.  Keith O’Brien as David is the archetypal unhappy businessman, whose life is all about money.  Taylor Strande as Geraldine has the nicest music, singing sadly about her mother.  Shilpa Sharma has perhaps the biggest challenge as Sally –chirping repeatedly about the hat she wants to buy—while singing a few feet away from the audience.  Our eyes met on one occasion, as I wondered how she could help bursting out laughing.

Both pieces are played in the middle of the performance space.  The spare set is on a square pedestal just above the audience, who surround the players.  As my eyes went from one to another of the singers or actors, I’d regularly encounter the faces of the auditors on the other side.

Perhaps the cast are fully exposed, surrounded as they are by the viewers, although –as the Thorpe jokes in her program note—we’re trapped in a room together.

If this is hell, I like it.

Soup Can Theatre’s double bill of A Hand of Bridge and No Exit continues at Ernest Balmer Studio, in the Distillery District.   Further information

Carolyn Hall, Daniel Pagett, Tennille Read in No Exit (click for more photos)

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Whose skin?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by barczablog

I just watched Written on Skin via youtube.  I won’t include the url, as this likely will only lead to its being taken down due to the traffic.  Anyone serious about seeing it, can go to youtube and search for “Benjamin Written on Skin”.  It’s an hour and 42 minutes, with over five minutes of applause at the end.  That doesn’t sound long, but I don’t think I will watch it again.

Look at the title of the work AND my headline, then imagine that i mean my own skin, and ask yourself if that sounds like something pleasant (at first glance i thought the tale might refer to tattoos, but no…).  Perhaps the creators would laugh at me and say that’s precisely what they sought to achieve.  Maybe.

There is much to admire, much that is clever and new, yet I am perturbed by what’s familiar.

Chief among these is something a family member regularly lambasts me with, the fact that opera is a collection of horrible tales.  Must it continue? I have trouble watching Carmen because I feel it’s a story of such misogyny that we’re watching a powerful woman getting put down –the way a mad dog is put down– for the sin of being too strong for the man she was with.  It makes me furious just to think of it, so I avoid this opera like the plague that it records, a plague that’s with us still.  Sure, it’s as universal as stalkers and rape.  Do I need this in my life?  Not if I can help it.  I find myself embarrassed by and for my gender watching this opera, needing to explain that some men aren’t like Jose. Yet some, clearly ARE, G*dd*mm*t.

Written on Skin boasts a libretto from Martin Crimp, a playwright whom I admire a great deal.  The score composed by George Benjamin is subtle, full of original touches, and still echoing in my head.   But the opera makes Carmen look like Hansel und Gretel.  Ha, as I look for an analogy (Magic Flute and Rigoletto popped into my head), everything is nasty, even the kids’ opera by Humperdinck.  No I’m not going soft, quite the contrary.  I am thinking about opera composition, and what I’d undertake to write if I had the cojones.  Yet must one show one’s cojones in violating everyone?

I feel violated, I guess.  The story is opera’s bread and butter, a love triangle, just like Tristan or Pelléas.  Or Otello.  Or Il tabarro.  Hmm, brutal as Puccini’s entry into the infidelity sweepstakes may be, at least the wife is still alive at the end, which is more than you can say for any of the others.

When is someone going to write an opera that’s relevant to our own morality?  Bill Clinton or Tiger Woods or –probably– the guy who lives right next door to you all screwed around, and nobody has to die, because it’s actually very funny. Just ask Pagliaccio (whoops… bad example i suspect).  No I shouldn’t issue the blanket condemnation.  There are lots of operas that I embrace, including some I complain about above.  Neither Tristan nor Pelléas is misogynistic.

In any case, you can find it for yourself if you like.  The singing is really good.  Barbara Hannigan is quite a bold performer, likely undertaking this because of the bravery of her character Agnès, in standing up to her tyrannical husband.  She reminds me of a line from ee cummings “I sing of Olaf”, namely “there is some shit I will not eat.”  Near the end of the opera, she’s being forced to consume the heart of her dead lover (she didn’t know what was on her plate), and boldly….. kills herself?

Sorry that’s not much of a rebellion in my books, even if the music and the slow-motion enactment try to lend some dignity to the proceedings.   No Pollyanna doesn’t normally lambast something this way, but then again, I also don’t want to send people innocently to see something that is –in my books—so horrific.  Musically? Wonderful.  Dramaturgically?wonderful.  But politically? Inexcusable.

So let me concentrate on what I like.

The stage contains modern and medieval spaces, people in modern dress in two quadrants, while people in antique garb occupy other parts of the stage picture.  It’s jarring, and surprisingly effective, something I’ve never seen.  This is from the Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Provence performance on youtube from July 2012.  We see figures from our own time cheek-by-jowl with those from the middle ages, and in the process it powerfully authorizes what we’re seeing.  The frameworks are metatheatre, matching the text itself, which is a story about making a book and making stories.  The characters sometimes speak in the third person, as though exploring the new notion of identity; I read somewhere that in the middle ages our modern notion of individuality didn’t exist, or wasn’t intelligible, so I am hoping that’s why we have the third person narration.

Here's what an illuminated book can look like. This is from the AGO show of early Renaissance art that just opened. (photo: Leslie Barcza)

Here’s what an illuminated book can look like. This is from the AGO show of early Renaissance art that just opened. (photo: Leslie Barcza)

The boy is creating an illuminated book, yet in opening up Agnès to the life of the flesh that had previously been missing from her existence, he also writes on skin.  When the Protector –as Agnès’s tyrannical husband is called—kills the boy it’s with a knife, another –nasty—sense of the title.  In a time when we seem to be witnessing the end of books and coincidentally, a month when I wrote about the magic of illuminated texts at the AGO, the title has a powerful set of implications.  I was so sad to see where the story went, even as I recognize that the opera works like clockwork, the music powerfully enacting and signifiying the characters.

Christopher Purves is powerful, as you’d expect, in the role of the Protector, enacting and abusing his power.  This is the sort of thing you’d hear sung in a baritone voice –like Prospero in the Tempest come to think of it—rather than a tenor or bass.  Purves manages to be very likeable, perhaps a tribute to the writing, but also surely due to his performance, the depths he manages to convey in the harsh glare of high-def close-up.

Multi-talented Barbara Hannigan, shown here conducting (click for more)

Barbara Hannigan is as always, unstoppable, wonderfully subtle for the first part of the work, understated and self-effacing, as she gradually discovers herself.  As a portrayal showing a change in a character, this is a wonderfully impressive piece of work.  I have to remind myself that this is an opera watching her, and get over my horror at what happens.

Bejun Mehta is the boy, a counter-tenor whose mysterious presence animates and electrifies the world of the Protector & his wife Agnès.  He is the artist –writing and drawing—and as such must perhaps be expected to suffer.  Oh dear, another cliché…?  But again, Mehta is wonderful, every note beautiful and every moment hypnotic.  I hope to see him again.

Benjamin’s score is really good.  The only really massively loud parts come when the action calls for it.  Most of the time we hear the singers easily enough, although one of the singers I didn’t name was all but unintelligible (that is although sung in English, I needed the French subtitles to understand what this person was singing…everytime they appeared).

I wonder if I’d be happier with this viewed from a distance?  In close-up, where I can be seduced by the faces of the cast, it’s very hard to endure such extreme violence enacted.  Perhaps from a distance, bathed in Benjamin’s music, it might move me differently.

You’ve been warned.

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Esprit’s McPhee

Posted on March 26, 2013 by barczablog

I picked up Esprit Orchestra’s CBC recording of Colin McPhee in the lobby at one of their concerts earlier this year.  I’d reviewed their live performance in October of Tabuh-tabuhan (1936) a reading of such playful energy that there was no mistaking their enjoyment, right down to the beatific smiles back and forth between the members of the orchestra.  They love this piece, and it shows in their performance.

Ditto on the CD.

Alex Pauk

Alex Pauk

Alex Pauk leads readings of great clarity, energetic yet as tranquil as leaves flickering in sunlight.

McPhee should be better known, a composer one might be tempted to call a minimalist . There’s the same de-emphasis on harmonic development, in favour of rhythmic activity that one finds in such composers as Philip Glass.  McPhee spent time transcribing Balinese music, going on to write works influenced by their style while using a modern orchestra rather than instruments from the East.  If Glass or Reich or any of their peers had heard McPhee he’d surely be understood as an influence, and thereby recognized as a hugely important composer, certainly the most influential of all Canadian composers.  McPhee did influence Benjamin Britten, but as far as the minimalist movement is concerned, they seemed to find their idiom without any help from the Canadian.  Does influence matter? perhaps in some circles of musicology.  All i know is that McPhee is one of my favourite composers.

The CD (all compositions by Colin McPhee) includes

  • Symphony #2 (1967) 
  • Concerto for Wind Orchestra (1960) 
  • Transitions for Orchestra (1954)
  • Tabuh-tabuhan (1936): the work that gives its name to the CD
  • Nocturne (1958)

It’s one of the most delightfully relaxing CDs I own, meditative and oozing charm.

One of the things I especially admire about Pauk & Esprit are the way they program music.  This week they’ll be offering orchestrated versions of Jimi Hendrix and Marius Constant’s theme from The Twilight Zone, on the occasion of Esprit’s 30th Anniversary.  Pauk is a man with a mission, as captured on the occasion of an interview he gave last year:

Esprit’s relevance to modern man has to do with keeping us abreast of recent trends in music and the relationships of that music to how we think about our present condition. By way of comparison, we don’t expect doctors to use medical equipment from the 1800s in their practices today, so why should we expect musicians to only perform music from the past? I enter into my work with Esprit with a sense of adventure and discovery and I want my artistic colleagues, as well as audiences, to share in that experience. While there is sometimes a degree of entertainment value in what we do, the idea of moving music forward in a pure sense is important. We aim to provide a sensual experience as well as an intellectual one – one that relates to life in a meaningful way today.

~~~~~~~

Esprit Esprit Orchestra end their 30th Anniversary Season with a concert Thursday March 28th Esprit Orchestra, 30 and Counting!, at Koerner Hall, March 28, 8 p.m.

~~~~~~~

Programme:

DENIS GOUGEON Tutti*
ERIK ROSS Burn* concerto for saxophone, percussion and orchestra
ZOSHA DI CASTRI Alba
MARIUS CONSTANT TW. Z. (The Twilight Zone)
JIMI HENDRIX Purple Haze
*Esprit Commission and World Premiere
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Wallis Giunta Sins

Posted on March 24, 2013 by barczablog

When is a recital not a recital?  Perhaps when its materials and its assembly begin to outgrow that narrow definition, to resemble something bigger and more exciting; so it would seem on the basis of Wallis Giunta’s program Sunday March 24th as part of the Canadian Voices Series, in collaboration with pianist Ken Noda.

Mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta as she appears in re:porter, Porter Airlines magazine (photo: Michael Edwards; costume by Camille Assaf)

Mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta as she appears in re:porter, Porter Airlines magazine (photo: Michael Edwards; costume by Camille Assaf)

Giunta’s choices seem to reflect the same creative breaking-the-mold approach to assembling a concert program seen lately in the area.  It’s not enough to be a brilliant performer in the astonishingly competitive Toronto market, not when small opera companies are laying claim to rep outside their usual purview (something I’ve talked about so much recently that I won’t beat a dead horse by naming names).

It’s handy that we recently saw a version of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins presented in the city, to have some idea of the originality of the concept.  Instead of two Annas and family, we had Giunta singing some of Weill’s songs in a cavalcade of the sins, followed by other materials ranging wildly in an all-out investigation of various aspects of sin, at least as commentaries or echoes of one another.  Without even addressing Giunta’s performance, this is one of the most amazing programs I’ve ever seen, for example,

  • Weill’s languid “Youkali”, Poulenc’s luscious “Hôtel” and then Flanders & Swann’s “The Sloth”
  • Weill’s “Stolz(Pride)” with Britten’s “The Plough Boy”
  • Weill’s “Zorn(Wrath)” with Montsalvage’s “Cuba a Dentro de un Piano” and Monteverdi’s “Addio Roma” from L’Incoronazione di Poppea
  • Weill’s “Unzucht (Lust)” with Chapi’s “Al pensar en el Duno de mis Amores” and Porter’s “Love for Sale”

And that’s just the first part of the concert.

I came expecting something intelligent, having been keenly impressed by her work (last month) as Annio in the COC Clemenza di Tito, channeling Michael Cera’s character in Juno.  The gorgeous red-head was unrecognizable (it took me about 10 minutes to realize who she was, even though i had the cast list and knew the opera well), transformed into the sweet & gormless youth, as instructed by her director.

And so Giunta’s approach was as varied as the compositions.  For “Addio Roma” Giunta sang much of the aria facing into the piano, making both a curious acoustical effect and a fascinating visual.  For Foster’s “Old Folks at home” –a song bundled with Schubert’s “”Der Zwerg” and Weill’s “Neid (Envy)”or in other words, a problematic song laden with potential irony—Giunta gave us the utmost directness & simplicity, sitting at the foot of the stage, and singing half the song unaccompanied.  For John Lennon’s “Imagine” (a song that drew spontaneous applause at its conclusion), she came fully downstage, but looking directly out.  Some songs called for something physically outgoing, as in the lust-set, while the sloth set were matched by a far more low-key movement vocabulary.  Each number wasn’t simply sung, as you’d expect in a recital, but fully realized.

I wish the concert had been video-taped, as there’s much there to unpack and explore, that I am sure I missed on this single encounter.  The program was sufficiently complex that Giunta decided to ask for an introduction, smoothly delivered by Eric Domville, giving us some of the contexts for the works we encountered.

At times, particularly in the two songs that are also on Theresa Stratas’s Weill album, I was aware of the way some other singers come at this material, songs that are as daunting in their way as Everest.  For the mountain, there’s a well-annotated history of people who approach it from the north or the south; for these songs it’s more a matter of whether one comes at them with the direct and intense presentation of text as by a cabaret performer (thinking of Lotte Lenya, or more recently Toronto’s Lindsay Sutherland Boal for instance), or the pathway via pure voice (thinking of Stratas, who in my opinion didn’t always really manage the songs), or some other set of choices entirely.  Giunta’s young voice has all the beauty of Stratas but with a better integration of upper and lower registers, so that one doesn’t suffer (take that literally if you wish) the disconnect between the sounds that Stratas made at the top and bottom of her range.

Let me add a brief parenthetical rant while I am on this topic.  Giunta really gets how to sing popular music without insulting the material or the audience.  While this was not a young crowd, I suppose the oldest among us are still baby-boomers, fluent in rock n roll or jazz.  It’s wasn’t fake that “Imagine” won the applause.  Singing Cole Porter, her line had a fluidity you didn’t hear in the Schubert, a way with pitch that was like a gentle tease, which we also heard in “Youkali”.  This is, in miniature, the issue one often encounters when opera singers take on popular music, the pretentiousness of a Carreras singing West Side Story or Placido Domingo and John  Denver singing an embarrassing duet.  So long as one knows what one’s getting –suspending judgment of a great artist, the way we suspend our judgment of our children or our grand-parents—there’s no harm I suppose.  Giunta’s venture outside classical rep is always clever & brilliantly conceived, with no hazard to anyone’s sense of taste.

So in other words it was one of the greatest vocal recitals I have ever seen, wonderfully eclectic but purposefully so.  Ken Noda brought lots of emphasis with no loss of clarity to his contribution from the piano.  If Giunta plans to repeat this program somewhere, I’d ask her to please capture it on video.

Wallis Giunta, wearing McCaffrey Haute Couture (photo Miv Fournier)

Wallis Giunta, wearing McCaffrey Haute Couture (photo Miv Fournier)

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Serendipitous Poulenc

Posted on March 23, 2013 by barczablog

The mind sometimes makes patterns out of the chaos of the programming around us.  Lately it’s been Francis Poulenc:

  • March 1st Isabel Bayrakdarian programmed the boisterous Le bal masqué, a work I’d studied a very long time ago 
    …look at Poulenc’s face. What a comedian!
  • Wallis Giunta will sing the languid “Hôtel” as part of her concert program this coming Sunday at Glenn Gould studio 
  • The COC are about to present Dialogues des Carmelites (no comedian in sight)

Such variety…!

click for more info about the CD

That’s part of my context coming to Musique de chambre from Pentaèdre, a CD collaboration between the woodwind quintet and pianist David Jalbert, offered in honour of the 50th anniversary of this amazing composer’s death in 1963.  Like Debussy and Stravinsky –likely influences upon him—Poulenc is a composer ranging broadly across the emotional landscape.   While the music of some composers seems to hang together neatly in a single tight statement for posterity, Poulenc’s variety suggests a colourful personality & and an interesting life.  If we think of our exploration of a composer’s music as a journey, Poulenc throws more than a few surprise twists our way.  The disparity may be entirely in my head, given that someone else may easily manage to find harmony in my discord.  Like Debussy & Stravinsky, Poulenc at times pays homage to the past, at other times boldly points to the future, music that may invoke nobility or spirit at one time, while at other moments happily reminding us of popular culture & even jazz.

And voila –courtesy of Pentaèdre, Jalbert and ATMA –we’re presented with Poulenc’s glorious variety.

There’s the “Septuor pour piano, flute, hautbois, clarinette, bassoon et cor”, a kick-off for the CD utilizing all six of the personnel in a bold beginning.  Their reading is pristine yet jarring, fearless and crystalline in its perfection.  In this instance Poulenc shows his allegiance to Les Six, in a clinical score pushing any ensemble to its limit without sentimentality.

Danièle Bourget follows (with Jalbert) in a reading of the well-known flute sonata.  It’s been awhile since I’ve heard the piece, from its haunting opening movement, to the rhythmic vitality of its closing.  Bourget and Jalbert offering is the first of several highlights on this CD.

Then it’s the turn of horn-player Louis-Philippe Marsolais in the “Élégie pour cor et piano”, this time showing a deeper and more soulful side to Poulenc, composed in response to the untimely death of Dennis Brain in the 1940s.  Martin Carpentier & Jalbert follow with Poulenc’s clarinet sonata, one of his final works, written with Benny Goodman in mind.  At times soulful, at other times wildly joyous, the balance is very self-assured and congenial.

And then for something completely different –yet typical of the variegated genius that is Poulenc—we come to the trio for oboe, bassoon and piano.  This elegant neoclassical work –written in the 1920s –points backwards at the 18th century in a manner reminiscent of Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin.  Norman Forget and Armand Lussier join Jalbert in a sparkling reading, a subtle display of delicacy and grace.

They close with an arrangement of the melodious Novelette oozing charm & class.  Here and throughout the CD, Pentaèdre –a Quebecois treasure—show a natural affinity for one of the recent masters of French culture.

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2013 CanAsian International Dance Festival

Posted on March 21, 2013 by barczablog

“Press releases and announcements” are presented verbatim without comment.

2013 CanAsian International Dance Festival
“Lights Up the Stage”
 presented in association with Harbourfront Centre
 April 28 – May 12

 Toronto, ON (March 21, 2013) – The CanAsian International Dance Festival lights up the stage! This year promises an emotionally spectacular line-up that includes some of the best and most memorable performers from past festivals mixed with performances by world-class artists making their Toronto debut. New this year is the introduction of special workshops devoted to contemplative writing, dance and calligraphy; a special Japanese film screening, magical labyrinth walks and the ever-popular noodle night. This year’s festival takes place from April 28 to May 12 with performances at Harbourfront Centre (207 Queens Quay West). Festival passes cost $50 or single tickets are available for $30 or $25 for students|seniors by calling 416-973-4000 or online at HarbourfrontCentre.com.

“If you’ve been meaning to attend the CanAsian International Dance Festival but haven’t as yet, 2013 is the year to remedy that as this year’s festival features new works by some of the best that CanAsian has presented throughout the years,” says Artistic Director Denise Fujiwara.

Performances:

  • Susan Lee (Toronto) | Mainstage A
    Commissioned by CanAsian Dance for their 2012 Kick Start Festival, Susan Lee remounts her solo work Trace Elements where she explores the delicate interplay between inner perception and outer representation in the experience and creation of self.
    Date & Time: May 1 & 2 at 8:00 p.m.
    Location: Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, 3rd Floor

 

  • Jocelyne Montpetit Danse (Montreal) | Mainstage A
    Hailed as the Best Performance of 2011 by Montreal’s La Presse newspaper, Jocelyne Montpetit’s riveting solo La danseuse malade (The Ailing Dancer) makes its Toronto debut. Inspired by Tatsumi Hijikata’s book La danseuse malade (The Sick Dancer), Montpetit explores an echo of Hijikata’s universe using her own body, psyche and childhood.
    Date & Time: May 1 & 2 at 8:00 p.m.
    Location: Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, 3rd Floor

  • inDANCE (Toronto|Singapore) | Mainstage A
    inDANCE premieres I, Cyclops, a post-Modern, pan-Asian, multimedia vision that will spellbind audiences  in a dream of seductive eyes and Winnipeg snow; erotic poetry and red silk; marigolds and monsoons; girls’ hips and boys’ chests; fierce multi-armed Goddesses and hottie Super Heroes! This new work, a collaboration with Singapore’s Bhaskar’s Arts Academy sees choreographer Hari Krishnan bringing together exquisite dancers and master musicians from India, Singapore, Canada and the U.K.
    Date & Time: May 1 & 2 at 8:00 p.m.
    Location: Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, 3rd Floor

  • Taketeru Kudo (Tokyo) | Mainstage B
    Taketeru Kudo performs his haunting solo A Vessel of Ruins. From the broken land, from the zones of destruction, from shattered landscapes and from memories, rises the figure of a man, forcing himself to wake-up to a new life. He searches in himself the power to overcome, to make it, to tell people what he saw.
    Date & Time: May 3 & 4 at 8:30 p.m.
    Location: Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, 3rd Floor

  • Ziya Azazi (Vienna) | Late Night – FREE PERFORMANCE
    Winner of the “2011 He Blew Me Out of the Water” by the Globe and Mail’s Paula Citron, whirling dervish Ziya Azazi will literally be on fire at CanAsian’s 2013 edition. Recently performed for the 2012 London Paralympics Opening Ceremony, Ember: Trapped in Fire is a spectacular work based on repetition and experimental whirling. It is particularly concerned with self-destruction, the pain of the awareness of mortality, and the inevitable ending within the continuous cycle of life. The piece depicts the lifelong battle with individual boundaries, leading one to a growing awareness of the diminishing possibility.
    Date & Time: May 2, 3 & 4 at 10:00 p.m.
    Location: WestJet Stage, Harbourfront Centre

Workshops:

All workshop participants receive one free ticket to a mainstage performance; to register, and for more information about any workshops please e-mail outreach@canasiandance.com.

  • Contemplative Writing with Sarah Selecky
    Contemplative writing is practical, radical, and transformative, developing capacities for deep concentration and quieting the mind in the midst of the action and distraction that fills everyday life. Contemplative practices can help develop greater empathy and communication skills, improve focus and attention, reduce stress and enhance creativity, supporting a loving and compassionate approach to life.
    Date & Time: May 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
    Location: Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina Avenue, 4th Floor
    Cost: $125

  • Butoh Workshop with Jocelyne Montpetit
    Based on internalization of mental images developed by Master Tatsumi Hijikata, this workshop will lead the performer to a greater awareness of their external and interior space. This incredibly rich method of working was transmitted to Jocelyne Montpetit by Hijikata himself; a privilege that he accorded to very few foreigners. The workshop will also focus on spatial awareness exercises, which lead to an awareness of movement arising from the interior. This workshop is open to all levels.
    Date & Time: May 3 from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m.
    Location: Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, 509 Parliament Street, Studio C
    Date & Time: May 4 from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00
    Location:  Dovercourt House, 509 Dovercourt Road, 3rd Floor
    Cost: $125

  • Contemplative Dance with Denise Fujiwara
    A workshop in deep, simple, creative dance providing good training for the body and mind. Using Japanese Butoh and creative post-modern dance principles participants will work towards becoming more present and therefore more creative while expanding movement vocabulary and conditioning the body for strength and agility. The work can be done at many levels and challenges both the beginner and professional dancer. If one can walk, one can participate in this dance work.
    Dates & Time: April 28, May 5 & 12 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
    Location: Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, 509 Parliament Street, Studio C
    Cost: $90

  • Contemplative Calligraphy with Noriko Maeda
    This one-day workshop will explore the contemplative art of Japanese and Chinese writing with ink and brush. Through the use of a different media, Sho: Japanese Calligraphy, this workshop will explore different ways to express feelings and scenery, such as wind, heart, and moments based on Japanese characters.
    Date & Time: May 5 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Location: Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court
    Cost: $45 (includes all materials)

Special Opportunities:

  • Labyrinth
 Walks
    Labyrinth walking in an ancient practice used by many different faiths for spiritual centering, contemplation and prayer. Entering the serpentine path of a labyrinth, the walker walks slowly while quieting their mind and focusing on a spiritual question or prayer. Join CanAsian for a free lunch time labyrinth walk led by composer and Shakuhachi musician Debbie Danbrook.
    Dates & Times:
    – April 29 (International Dance Day) from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.
    – May 1 (first day of Asian Heritage Month) from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.
    – May 4 (World Labyrinth Day) from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
    Location: Toronto Public Labyrinth in Trinity Square Park (by the Eaton Centre)
    Cost: Free.  Pre-registration is required.  To register e-mail     outreach@canasiandance.com

  • Film Screening: The Space in Back of You and La Femme à la Cafetière
    Filmmaker Richard Rutowski explores the life and artistic journey of Choreographer Suzushi Hanayagi in his 2011 documentary The Space in Back of You. From Noh and Kabuki through to the mesmerizing and sometimes macabre world of butoh, Japanese dance runs the gamut from conservative and courtly to the outer limits of the avant garde. Suzushi Hanayagi bridges these two worlds beautifully and has changed modern theatre and performance in the process. Robert Wilson’s 1989 short film La Femme à la Cafetière also about Suzushi Hanayagi, and based on Paul Cezanne’s 1895 painting of the same name will precede the feature.  
    Date & Time: May 4, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
    Location: Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, 3rd Floor
    Cost: Tickets are $10 and may be purchased through the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at 416-973-4000.

  • Noodle Night
    A casual get together hosted by Artistic Director Denise Fujiwara, CanAsian’s annual Noodle Night offers a rare opportunity to meet some of the Festival artists while enjoying delicious food and intriguing conversation. For details and to R.S.V.P. email outreach@canasiandance.com.
    Date & Time: May 4, 2013 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
    Location: TBD

About CanAsian Dance

CanAsian Dance presents and cultivates exceptional dance inspired by Asian ideas and expressions through the biennial CanAsian International Dance Festival and annual artistic, educational and professional development activities. For more information please visit CanAsianDance.com.

Posted in Press Releases and Announcements | Leave a comment

Talk Is Free Theatre: 12th Season

Posted on March 21, 2013 by barczablog

“Press releases and announcements” are presented verbatim without comment.

An European transfer, a national co-production and a re-imagined classic are on tap for TIFT’s 12th Season.

March 21, 2013. Barrie, ON… A transfer of this season’s production of Possible Worlds to Munich, Germany, a co-production of the haunting musical Floyd Collins and a new conceptual adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in a retirement home are among the highlights. Today Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak announced details of the upcoming season for Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT), which sees the company producing a wide range of new and re-imagined material in Barrie, Ontario and beyond.

The 2013-2014 Season will begin with a transfer of the current season’s production of Possible Worlds by John Mighton, directed by Mitchell Cushman, to BeMe Theatre’s John Mighton Festival in Munich, Germany in October, 2013.

On the home front in Barrie, Ontario, the season will be launched with The Sneeze by Anton Chekhov, translated and adapted by Michael Frayn (Noises Off, Copenhagen). The collage evening will include material Chekhov wrote for the stage, pieces he adapted to the stage himself and Chekhov stories adapted by Michael Frayne for the stage.  These hilarious short “vaudevilles” are the brief glimpses into human folly, adversity, eccentricity, ego and exasperation. Directed by Marti Maraden and starring Lucy Peacock, it will run from November 28 to December 7, 2013.

The Last of Romeo and Juliet, a conceptual adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy will be set in a Canadian retirement home. Romeo & Juliet has become synonymous with the idea of forbidden love, love that is not condoned by society. In Shakespeare’s day, young teenagers may not have been in control of their own sexual destinies, but now today it is our oldest generation for whom new love is taboo. In our version, Romeo and Juliet will be played by actors in their 70s whereas their parents will be played by actors of the biological age to be their children. Through this relocating of Shakespeare’s text, the production will explore the “fated powerlessness” and subject of “old love”, which can feel more impossible and just as star-crossed as that experienced by Romeo and Juliet. Directed by Mitchell Cushman, this production will run from January 9 to 18, 2014.

The Wakowski Brothers – A Canadian Vaudeville with book, lyrics and music by Wesley J. Colford, will be given the world premiere after the pervious version’s successful run at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2012. Eight years after splitting their act, Canadian Vaudeville legends Jimmy and Conrad Wakowski reunite for a one night tribute performance. As the night goes on, original skits and songs bring old demons to the surface. Jimmy’s ex-wife Caitlyn joins them as painful memories and past betrayals conspire to destroy the attempt to rebuild their shattered relationship. Directed by Richard Ouzounian, The Wakowski Brothers will be performed from March 20 to March 29, 2014.

The haunting contemporary musical Floyd Collins, with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book and additional lyrics by Tina Landau and directed by Peter Jorgensen, in co-production with Vancouver’s Patrick Street Productions, will play from April 10-19, 2014.  In 1925, while chasing a dream of fame and fortune by turning a Kentucky cave into a tourist attraction, Floyd Collins himself became the attraction when he got trapped 200 feet underground. One of the most acclaimed in recent years, this revolutionary musical­ tells the transcendent tale of a true American dreamer.

Miss Caledonia, written and performed by Melody A. Johnson, will round off the home season playing between May 23 and 31, 2014. Desperate to escape the stall-cleaning, hay-baling drudgery of 1950’s life on Rural Route 2, Peggy Ann Douglas dreams of becoming a movie star. Can she sing, twirl and pivot her way into the hearts of the pageant judges to set her on her path?

Other activities of the organization next season will include the inaugural Barrie Comedy Festival running from September 19 to 21, 2013; a brief one day appearance on October 2, 2013 of Hawk from Halifax’s Onelight Theatre and the US tour of Tales of an Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis, staged on a moving bus, in 2014. Additionally, Richard Ouzounian’s adaptation of Great Expectations, based on the TIFT world premiere production, will be seen around Ontario next season.

New work development initiatives will include an original piece written by Kristen Thompson and directed by Chris Abraham in co-commission with Crow’s Theatre; an adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist’s The Prince of Homburg, directed by James Kudelka; and a musical version of Moll Flanders, written by Leslie Arden.

Early-bird rates for subscriptions and 4-ticket passes for the 2013-2014 season are available until May 31, 2013. Single tickets are available from August 1, 2013. For more information, please visit www.tift.ca or call (705) 792-1949. All performances are held at the Mady Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Dunlop St. West in Barrie, Ontario.

For more information, interviews or photos, please contact:

Arkady Spivak
Artistic Producer
Talk Is Free Theatre
P.O. Box 247
Barrie, ON L4M 4T2
Telephone: (705) 792-1949
Fax: (705) 792-6108
arkady@tift.ca
www.tift.ca

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So far so Cracked

Posted on March 20, 2013 by barczablog

CBC has a new television series called Cracked.  “Cherry Blossoms”, the ninth episode of the new series aired last night, while “The Thump Parade”, episode #8 aired last week.

Over the years, CBC have had regular TV series, some identified as “comedy”, some as “drama”.  When I think of comedy, i cringe a bit.  Sketch programming was practically invented in this country.  Currently we have This Hour Has 22 Minutes, or Rick Mercer Report, building on the down-east heritage of Codco.  The links between SNL and Canadian sketch comedy (Second City being just the most prominent export in the category) are known and acknowledged.  As good as we are at sketch comedy, though, we seem to freeze up doing comedy series.  Yes I know that Little Mosque on the Prairie lasted several years; but that doesn’t mean it was in the same league as the sketch comedy programming i alluded to.

David Sutcliffe as Detective Aidan Black (click the picture for more info about CRACKED characters)

And the series in the “drama” category?  While there are amazing programs further back in time —Street Legal, Quentin Durgens and perhaps best of all, Wojeck, starring John Vernon–it’s been rougher sledding for the CBC since that time.  Being Erika was a very inconsistent series, getting me hooked for a few weeks at a time, then lapsing into periods of writing that seemed gelded, if you’ll excuse me for being blunt.

Compounding the challenge for anyone undertaking a new series on CBC is the low expectations.  While it’s easy to commit to a half-hour comedy sitcom, and ridiculously easy to commit to a portion of a sketch program, drama usually requires more of an investment, not just to get through a single episode, but to learn the characters and the quirks of the series.

I am writing not just because i watched and liked a couple of episodes of Cracked, the new drama series.  I feel i have to write because one of the major dailies took the easy path of taking a shot at the series.  Regular readers of this blog will know that i have little patience for that kind of thing.

No program appeals to everyone.  Some have a bigger slice than others, but there’s always going to be a segmentation of the market.  What part of the market does Cracked seek to capture?  It’s early days, and I am not a typical viewer.

Cracked is a hybrid sort of show.  On the surface it’s a police show, something like CSI. Something happens and the protagonists of Cracked investigate.  But the formula is a bit different, as the two key players are a partnership between a policeman and a psychiatrist. Knowing that i liked Being Erika, a program that was built around the conceit of psycho-therapy as a framework for the dramas of Erika’s life, this shouldn’t be a surprise.  But this is a harsher version of B.E., as though it was given an infusion of testosterone.  There’s a troubled undertone to Cracked, because the police are sometimes as stressed and upset as the people they’re investigating.  Of course there are no clear good guys or bad guys, but the show is refreshingly direct & honest.  See for yourself.

The storyline last week –The Thump Parade– concerned a hockey enforcer getting locked into a life of crime.  I watched parts of it with my mouth open simply because i hadn’t expected the plot-turns, at least until the last few minutes of the episode when the show reverts to a more typical CBC show, and a gentler ending.  But this week’s episode –Cherry Blossoms–blew me away with a strong guest appearance from Lisa Ryder.  One tiny part of the plot was predictable, even as there was a moment that brought me to tears, way beyond what i expected when i tuned in.  But i was totally disoriented, as if i had rented a movie.  In the one hour of Cracked there’s tons going on.  The show has a very sophisticated texture, hopefully one that will appeal to enough viewers so that i don’t end up lamenting the brilliant show that was cancelled before anyone saw it. Yes I have a vested interest: as a fan.

If you’d like to see for yourself the show is available online, or live Tuesday nights.  I was already guaranteed to tune in —22 Minutes is not just my favourite show on TV, but until now the only show i watch–so it’s handy that Cracked is also broadcast on Tuesday nights.

Cracked?  So far so good.

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Two Weddings & a Funeral

Posted on March 16, 2013 by barczablog

2013 is not even one quarter gone yet already I’m sure we’ve seen the cleverest title to promote a pair of one-act operas (partly because they don’t exactly grow on trees).  Essential Opera’s  program is called Two Weddings and a Funeral.

I suppose I am aware of the cleverness of the promotion because suddenly Toronto’s opera market is getting competitive.  Ten years ago?  We had two opera companies, plus the regional wannabes in the suburbs.

And now?  There are so many companies I can honestly say I can’t remember them all even with google’s help.  I saw a singer from one of those companies turning pages for the piano player tonight, while another singer I’ve reviewed with yet another company sang capably tonight, for Essential Opera.  I bring this up because of the lovely collegiality on display. These companies aren’t fighting, but happily supporting one another.  If it’s not a love-in they’ve completely got me fooled.  Everyone is Facebook friends with each other, coming out in support of the operas being presented by the other companies.  And in the process the standards keep improving.

Tonight?

Major laughs.  I found a great deal more humour in Essential Opera’s Gianni Schicchi than in the recent –modernized—production from the COC.  There are of course always trade-offs in theatre & opera.  In a big house with an orchestra you get big effects, but details get blown away by all that sound.  The COC’s Schicchi was played by the Wagnerian Alan Held –recently Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde—easily commanding the stage and the powerful orchestra when necessary.  When he throws the greedy relatives out his voice has the authority to make it happen.

But those twenty seconds are the only time the unsubtle and blustering Held might be preferable over the subtleties of Essential Opera’s lyric baritone James Levesque.   Tonight’s portrayal –which I saw up close in the wonderful intimacy of the Heliconian Hall—had wonderful nuances.  The family was fully fleshed out, from the strident Zita of Catherin Carew to the squeaky doctor of Keith Lam.  Levesque gave us a stylish schemer of a Schicchi, including a fun turn as Buoso Donati.  Ryan Allen and Maureen Batt were a believable pair of young lovers, Batt delivering an understated reading of the famous aria “Oh mio babbino caro”.

The backbone of both operas was pianist & music director Michael Rose, who matched the style of each composer.  I heard a concert Schicchi a year or so ago, played correctly but without such a strong sense of style or so much drama.  Rose gave us a very Wagnerian reading, holding the huge ensembles together, while playing Puccini’s bold textures fearlessly, always adding to the comic tension .

Beginning the program, Rose showed us a different personality in the bubbly score of Donizetti’s Il campanello.  Again, the ensemble work was rock solid, perfectly tight and with a delicacy that was a complete contrast to what we heard in the Puccini.

Fabián Arciniegas (left) and James Levesque

While I had expected to laugh during Schicchi I laughed much more at the Donizetti, a work that’s brand new to me.  Levesque made a solid contribution to this opera as well, this time as the straight man.  The comic star of the evening was Fabián Arciniegas, a most impressive performance on several fronts.  He started out seeming to be a parody of a romantic tenor, mugging shamelessly while singing with great intensity, but Arciniegas was just getting started.  We saw him in disguises, taking on different voices, and never ceasing to be hysterically funny, while offering the clearest articulation of his Italian text.  At times he could have been giving a master class on how to use your voice in opera buffa.

As I said, the bar keeps getting raised higher.  Essential Opera gave us great music and side-splitting comedy.  I wonder what they’ll do next time.   

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