Dark Star Requiem ran for a whirlwind 2 night run at  Koerner Hall over the weekend, to open Luminato, and we’ve gotten some great feedback from local and international press and blogosphere!

Here is a quick round up of some reviews.

From the Toronto Star:

John Terauds calls Dark Star Requiem “Artistically adventurous and intellectually provocative” and “exactly the kind of project that the Luminato festival wants to be about”, comparing it to “the best executions of new music you can find anywhere in the world.”
Click here for the full review.

John also lauds the “marvel” that is Koerner Hall in a subsequent Sound Mind blog post, and writes:

“Just as the Royal Conservatory of Music did earlier this year with its inaugural opera production, Tapestry New Opera Works shows us how a concert-hall stage, with its wrap-around balconies, can effectively work as a theatrical stage as well. Dark Star Requiem director Tom Diamond and his creative team have used every curve and wooden texture around the stage to enhance the clever lighting and video projections. In fact, it was probably a more effective staging than would have been possible on a conventional proscenium stage.

From Arts & Culture Maven:

Arts & Culture Maven calls Dark Star Requiem “Striking, beautiful, and wonderfully weird.”
Click here for the full review.

From La Scena Musicale:

Joseph K. So writes “For anyone who cares about this 20th century tragedy, it should not be missed”.
Click here for the full review.

From The Baltimore Sun:

Tim Smith calls Dark Star Requiem “an ambitious work with a noble aim” which “provides a valuable jolt out of complacency.”
Click here for the full review.

From Positive Lite

Bob Leahy calls the staging of Dark Star Requiem “astonishing”, “captivating”, and “all handled with great dignity”.
Read the full review here.

Will update as more reviews are posted.

Artist Pictured: Neema Bickersteth and Peter McGillivray (turned) in the world premiere of Dark Star Requiem.
Photo © Brian Mosoff

The Toronto Star ran a lovely interview last week with Marcus Nance, bass-baritone soloist for Dark Star Requiem.

John Terauds writes:

“Even in music, it is people who help us connect with art. And it’s hard to imagine a more charismatic collection of performers than the one Tapestry New Opera Works has assembled for the world premiere of Dark Star Requiem on Friday and Saturday at Koerner Hall.”

and calls Marcus’ return to Tapestry (for the first time since Elsewhereless by Atom Egoyan & Rodney Sharman in 1999)

“a lucky break for the Luminato festival, as well as Toronto opera lovers.”

Click here for the full interview with Marcus.

Click on the image to check it out:

Dark Star Requiem

A world premiere from Tapestry & Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts & Creativity featuring the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Gryphon Trio.

A devastating global pandemic. A full-scale dramatic oratorio. In this unusual marriage of content and form, poet Jill Battson and composer Andrew Staniland trace the twenty-five-year history of AIDS from its origins to the present day.

June 11 & 12, 2010 at 8pm at The Royal Conservatory,
TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Koerner Hall
TICKETS: $30-50
416-872-1111 / 1-866-577-4277 ticketmaster.ca
416-408-0208 Royal Conservatory of Music

On December 30, 2009 Her Excellency The Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, appointed Wayne Strongman, Tapestry Managing Artistic Director, as a Member of the Order of Canada for his innovative contributions as the founding artistic director of Tapestry new opera works; as the long-time volunteer choral director for the Regent Park School of Music; and as a champion of Canadian composers.

“It is such an honour to be recognized by one’s country, especially in the arts. Those of us who are called to such creative activity don’t really do it for the praise! But for me it is especially warming to have the work of so many Canadian artists recognized: writers, composers, performers, designers, directors, stage directors and managers, administrators and an army of volunteers. They must all feel validated by this recognition that new Canadian operas are profoundly affecting our society, and this award is truly an affirmation of all our work.” Wayne Strongman

The new appointees include 25 Officers (O.C.), and 32 Members (C.M.). These appointments were made on the recommendation of the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada. Mr. Strongman and his fellow appointees will be invited to accept their insignia at a ceremony to be held at a later date.

Read the full press release from the Governor General’s office here.

Read Wayne’s full bio here.

Opera Canada Magazine has just published their 50th Anniversary issue and featured a thoughtful, rave review for The Shadow from Editor Wayne Gooding.

Here are a few quotes:

“…Daniel and Poch-Goldin have fashioned a splendidly theatrical piece, one of the strongest developed by Tapestry.”

“We’re in absurdist territory in this opera, a world of dark impulses and imaginings, where private inner worlds break through public masks. Shakespeare’s Falstaff lightly referes to the inner world as ‘Our Saturday selves,’ but Jung talks of ‘a shadow side…of a positively demonic dynamism.’  The opera impressively exemplifies the same dualism; playfulness and farce animate The Shadow’s external storyline, but hte comic evocation of the dark side leaves you with the disquieting sense that you’re in a room full of dirty little secrets-and wondering whether you’ve let any of your own slip out.”

“Among a very fine ensemble of singers, pride of place must go to baritone Peter McGillivray as Raoul/Hernando. His central role bears the biggest burden, and he negotiated the difllcult and taxing score with great musical skill and all the dramatic chops to create a strong, pivotal character. Countertenor Scott Belluz, resplendent in a long, pleated topcoat and dark glasses, threw himself with evident relish into the diabolical title role, for which composer Daniel made full use of a high singing voice and lower speaking voice to create the Shadow’s other-worldly presence. Soprano Carla Huhtanen created a winsomely lovelorn Allegra, a powerful and eloquent presence in an otherwise all-male ensemble, while the not-inconsiderable supporting roles of the moneylender and the waiter (a  kind of Fawlty Towers Manuel in musical overdrive) were vividly handled by; respectively, baritone Theodore Baerg and tenor Keith Klassen. This is first and foremost an ensemble piece, and it’s for the
excellence of this that the singers and the seven-piece orchestral ensemble conducted by Tapestry Managing Artistic Director Wayne Strongman deserve the greatest kudos.”

Click here to read the full review.

The Shadow

by Alex Poch-Goldin & Omar Daniel
(World Premiere May 2009  in Toronto)
Director: Tom Diamond
Music Director: Wayne Strongman
Set & Costume Design: Camellia Koo
Lighting Design: Robert Thomson
Cast: Carla Huhtanen, Peter McGillivray, Scott Belluz, Keith Klassen & Theodore Baerg

One-act opera of intrigue, desire and deception featuring a countertenor in the title role; premiered at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Downstairs in May 2009.

 

Shelter
Juliet Palmer, composer
Julie Salverson, librettist

Dark Star Requiem
Andrew Staniland, composer
Jill Battson, libretttist

The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G.
Aaron Gervais, composer
Colleen Murphy, librettist

Click here to read a John Terauds Toronto Star piece on Njo Kong Kie and Kico Gonzalez-Risso’s new opera La Senorita Mundo, now in its world premiere run at Toronto’s Summerworks Festival.

From EYE Weekly:

“The contrast of a grand, site-specific work like Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade with a more modest one like The Brothers Grimm, whose portability has helped it to achieve enormous exposure, raises the question of whether Canadian opera will grow most with small- or large-scale works. Clearly, the dream will always remain of Canada creating one of the latter, which will enter the national repertory and, at some point, the world’s. There have been recent developments in this area such as Toronto’s Tapestry New Opera Works’ Iron Road by Chan Ka Nin (2001), Calgary Opera’s Filumena (2003) and Frobisher (2007), both by John Estacio, and Manitoba Opera’s The Transit of Venus (2007) by Victor Davies — the last three, surprisingly, in cities where modern opera had previously been anathema.

Wayne Strongman, managing artistic director of Tapestry, believes, “we have finally turned a corner in opera in Canada when audiences now want to see their own stories on stage.” Dáirine Ní Mheadhra, co–artistic director with John Hess of Queen of Puddings Music Theatre (QoP), agrees, saying that the number of excellent composers and singers, growth of less risk-averse audiences and instigation of www.opera.ca has reached a “critical mass” in Canada that has led to this recent boom.”

Click here to read the full article.

Blog T.O. is the latest to applaud The Shadow.

From Blog T.O.:

“The opera, directed by Tom Diamond, isn’t your typical lavish, melodramatic production and it’s more pleasurable as a result. The intimate Berkely Street Theatre houses this show and most of the story sung in English. There’s a small flat-panel TV suspended above the left side of the stage, hovering over the seven-piece stage “pit orchestra” ensemble. It subtly provides translation surtitles to the Spanish-sung passages. In such a small venue, it’s a delight to see up close the facial expressions of the performers.”

“The Tapestry production is top-notch, with especially strong voices from Peter McGillivray (baritone) as Raoul, Carla Huhtanen (soprano) Allegra, his love interest and Scott Belluz (countertenor) as the Shadow. Theodore Baerg (baritone) impresses in dual roles as the Don and Allegra’s father as well.”

“Tonight’s your last chance to see this show, unless it gets a remounted production, which it rightfully deserves. Let’s hope The Shadow never dies.”

Click here to read the full review.

Artist Featured: Theodore Baerg as Allegra’s Father
Photo © Michael Cooper, 2009

Glenn Sumi from NOW Magazine is the latest to review The Shadow and he has given the production 4 N’s!

From NOW Magazine.

“There’s no shadow of a doubt that this production, in development for seven years, was worth the time and effort.”

Click here to read the full review.

The Shadow runs until May 30 at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Downstairs.

Click here for more info.

Tickets
$20-$49

Box Office
416.368.3110
canstage.com
totix.ca

Artists Featured: Scott Belluz as the Shadow & Peter McGillivray as Raoul
Photo © Michael Cooper, 2009