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Watch Online – Tom Diamond’s Giulio Cesare at IU Opera Theatre

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

IU Opera Theater production of Giulio Cesare, 2009

We posted yesterday about Tapestry Resident Director Tom Diamond’s production of Giulio Cesare at renowned music school at Indiana University. Click here to stream the entire production in HD.

If you only have time for some ‘best of’ clips, may we suggest:

Feb 27 cast:

(at 47:00) – the memorable aria Va Tacito sung by the countertenor Daniel Bubeck followed by the young Pilipino Bass Adonis Abuyen making a strong impact with Tu Sei Il Cor. 15 minutes.

March 6 cast:

(at 67:30 min) - with the enchanting Jacqueline Brecheen (nothing short of a ‘babe’) as Cleopatra and countertenor Andre Rader as Caesar. Play it thru the duet with French violinist, Romuald Grimbert-Barre. A 10 minute clip!

Photo: cast of IU Opera Theater production of Giulio Cesare, 2009.

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Great Review for Tom Diamond’s Giulio Cesare at IU Opera Theatre

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

tom_diamond_hs_cesare_review

Tapestry Resident Director Tom Diamond received a fantastic review from WIFU Public Radio for his February 2009 production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Indiana University Opera Theatre.

“Guest stage director Tom Diamond has done a fine job in both offering the singers plenty of space in which to sing and then enough business during the interludes to keep the drama in focus. There’s also plenty of action in this Giulio Cesare, some very clever staging of the conflict between Caesar and scheming Tolomeo and some just gorgeous scenes. The sets come from an earlier production, but Diamond’s use of them and the lighting by Michael Schwandt make them all very much a new experience.”

Click here to read or listen to the review as well as an interview of Tom and Conductor Gary Thor Wedow by Opera/Theater critic George Walker.

Tags: review, tom diamond
Posted in Artists, Company/Staff, Publicity | No Comments »

From Peter Rabbit to Outreach and Education Manager

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Inside Opera RPSM 2007 I remember the first play that I was ever in. I out hopped my classmates in my Junior Kindergarten to earn the coveted role of Peter Rabbit in our end of year production. I also vividly remember the first time that my elementary school brought in a professional theatre company to perform in our school gym. I grew up in a small town in Southern Ontario and my elementary school was tiny, 150 kids from JK to Gr. 8, I’m talking small and having a professional theatre company perform in our undersized little gym was, to me, a really big deal. I can remember these memories with exact detail, and I believe these two experiences are the catalyst which set me on a path that has lead me to my current position as the Outreach and Education Manager at Tapestry.

I take a lot of pride in the fact that Tapestry is an organization that is dedicated to the creation of new work and is a company that places value in the integration of the community within the artistic process. As the Outreach and Education Manager, I get to work closely with the creative artists in the development of the outreach programmes and productions and have the privilege of meeting the members of the community in which we implement our programmes such as INside Opera and our operas for young audiences like Elijah’s Kite, and Sanctuary Song.

This spring we have the opportunity to bring Elijah’s Kite, an opera that shares a bullying prevention message, to students across Ontario. Thanks to the support of the Ontario Art Council we will be taking a message of caring and cooperation and introducing professional opera to the underserviced students in Northern Ontario. And maybe a small number of the students that see Elijah’s Kite will only remember Billy’s ultimate burp, or the fact that they were able to miss class for the a part of the day. But hopefully, and most likely, the impact of experiencing a live opera performance and the fact that Tapestry brought the art to their small country schools will have a lasting effect on the young students.

I came across a new study online called Assessing the Intrinsic Impacts of a Live Performance. It is a substantial read but if you are interested in learning the effects the arts have on communities and individual participants it is worth a look. http://www.wolfbrown.com/index.php?page=books

-Amber

Photo: Students from the Regent Park School of Music participate in INside Opera 2007

Tags: education, Elijah's Kite, INside Opera, Outreach, Sanctuary Song
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Opera + Film + Socks

Friday, January 4th, 2008

Perfect Match set

I am the Marketing & Communications Director here at Tapestry. A lot of people ask me about where I work. Granted, some of these folks aren’t familiar with opera. But some are. Either way, people are curious. I’m still getting to know this world, but I can tell you with certainty – it is expanding!

Before we closed over the holidays, we worked on our very first operatic film. With support from Bravo!FACT, Tapestry is producing The Perfect Match, (by Krista Dalby & Anthony Young) a 5-minute opera film about two lives coming together, about love, about the universal search for companionship. I left work on Friday evening, already witness to a shockingly intensive production meeting -(and we thought opera exhausted a lot of resources)- and planned to return on Sunday afternoon to check out the progress of the shoot.

After trudging my way back to the Distillery District during an uncharacteristic Toronto winter storm I arrived (in full snow gear) to find our new works studio completely transformed. Either end was occupied by magical and deceptive sets and virtually the entire floor space by film equipment and crew members who communicated easily through turns of phrase I can only describe as some sort of code. (Did anyone else know that ’subs’ means ’substantials’? Our Producing Director was about to order sandwiches from Subway).

Tom Diamond, Tapestry’s Resident Studio Company Director, sat in a director’s chair, helming his very first film and Wayne Strongman, Managing Artistic Director and Tapestry founder looked over the very technical process in amazement. I watched Set Designer Julia Tribe literally insert herself into pieces of her set making last minute adjustments before the camera captured the scene. As one set was dismantled, it was quickly replaced with another. The entire film crew was constantly abuzz with activity, but all went quiet when we heard the word action and the music began.

I’m glad I made it through the snow and into the studio for the spectacle. The Perfect Match is a perfect example of what we create, develop and perform here at Tapestry: new opera works. New ways to work opera. New ways for opera to work.

The Perfect Match will have its world premiere screening at Opera to Go 2008, Tapestry’s upcoming production of 7 world premiere short operas presented in association with Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage at the Enwave Theatre, February 14 – 23, 2008. Click here for more information and here for tickets.

Oh yeah…did I mention the film is a sock puppet opera?!

Hope to see you there!

Anna

Image: Still from the set of The Perfect Match

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