Marjorie Chan is Tapestry’s new Writer in Residence!

August 5th, 2010

Marjorie Chan, Writer in ResidenceJoining Tapestry in 2010-2011 is multi-talented theatre and opera artist Marjorie Chan, as the company’s new Writer in Residence. Her position is made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Marjorie is a graduate of the LibLab (2003 and 2009) and librettist for  Sanctuary Song which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Opera after its premiere with Tapestry and Theatre Direct for the 2008 Luminato Festival. Welcome Marjorie! Recent Tapestry Writers in Residence include Governor General’s Award Winner Colleen Murphy and Anna Chatterton.

There are few places where I can develop and continue to hone my craft as a librettist.  I can think of no better place than Tapestry, where I first discovered my love of the form in the 2003 Composer-Librettist Laboratory.  Since then, I have not been far from company, with Opera to Go, Sanctuary Song, and last year’s International Composer-Librettist Laboratory keeping me busy.  I expect to be quite busy indeed over the next year, as I work on a new full-length libretto, charting and researching others.  The year-long residency allows for in-depth immersion into the form and a deepening of my artistic practice.  I am humbled and am very grateful to Tapestry, the Ontario Arts Coucil and the Canada Council for making this possible. - Marjorie Chan

Marjorie is also an actor. You can see her August 6-15th at the Theatre Centre in the Summerworks play Souvenirs of Home by Elyne Quan.

Meet the outstanding artists for the 2010 LibLab

July 29th, 2010

The annual Composer-Librettist Laboratory (affectionately called the LibLab) is arguably our favourite time of year here at Tapestry. The air is electric with new creation and a new season is launched. A stellar crop of artists will participate in the 2010 LibLab this August and the resulting mini opera scenes will be presented in September for Opera Briefs, our annual season opener in the Ernest Balmer Studio at Tapestry. The 2010 LibLab participants are:

Writers
Maja Ardal
Hannah Moscovitch
Michael Pollard
Anusree Roy

Composers
Iman Habibi
Anna Höstman
Norbert Palej
Gareth Williams

Composer Gareth Williams

Artist Pictured: Composer Gareth Williams in the 2009 International LibLab. Photo courtesy Marjorie Chan.

About the LibLab
For 15 years (!) Tapestry has been introducing writers and composers to the collaborative creation process with the annual LibLab, the beginning of the Tapestry Creative Development Programme and a launching point for operatic projects in Canada and beyond. It is also the model for the English National Opera Studio’s All In Opera, as well as Pacific Opera Victoria’s Composer-Librettist Workshop.

Here’s how it works: 4 composers and 4 writers are brought together for a 10-day period of collaborative discovery through the creation of sixteen 5-minute scenes, each of which are written, composed and performed within a 48 hour cycle that is repeated four times, enabling each writer to work with each composer. Guiding the composers and librettists throughout the process are dramaturg Michael P. Albano and musical dramaturg Wayne Strongman (Tapestry’s Managing Artistic Director). At the disposal of the creative teams for the 2010 LibLab will be some of Canada’s most respected performers, including soprano Carla Huhtanen, mezzo soprano Kimberly Barber, tenor Keith Klassen, baritone Peter McGillivray, as well collaborative pianist Christopher Foley.

Nearly 100 artists have graduated from the LibLab with 43 teams emerging to create new works for the stage, either for Tapestry or for other companies nationally and internationally.
Some of the operas that have arisen out of relationships begun at the LibLab:
  • Iron Road (Mark Brownell and Chan Ka Nin) at the Elgin Theatre in 2001, nominated for 9 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, winner of Best New Musical/Opera
  • Facing South (Don Hannah and Linda Catlin Smith) as part of the World Stage Festival in 2003
  • Elijah’s Kite (Camyar Chai and James Rolfe) in partnership with the Manhattan School of Music in 2006, toured in New York City and Ontario.
  • Get Stuffed (Alexis Diamond and Richard Payne) in schools across Ontario from 2008-10
  • Sanctuary Song (Marjorie Chan and Abigail Richardson) at the Luminato Festival in 2008, winner of Best New Musical/Opera at the 2009 Dora-Mavor Moore Awards
  • The Perfect Match (Krista Dalby and Anthony Young) a short film produced by Bravo!Fact in 2008, screened at the St. Louis, Santa Barbara, and Miami Short Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Experimental Film.
  • The Shadow ( Alex Poch-Goldin and Omar Daniel) at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Downstairs in 2009
  • Dark Star Requiem ( Jill Batson and Andrew Staniland), which opened the 2010 Luminato Festival (which was also a production partner) in the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall to widespread critical acclaim.
  • 26 one-act operas presented in Opera to Go programmes from 2002-2010


Dark Star Requiem World Premiere Photos

July 23rd, 2010

Photographer Brian Mosoff has captured some great moments from the Tapestry / Luminato world premiere of Dark Star Requiem (by Andrew Staniland & Jill Battson) in June at Koerner Hall.

Check them out below.

Nabaz’Mob – Ambient rabbits perform in the Tapestry Studio: A free Luminato Exhibit

June 15th, 2010

This week Tapestry’s Ernest Balmer Studio is home to Nabaz’Mob, a free visual arts event for Luminato.

A Nabaztag is a nine-inch-tall Wi-Fi-enabled “ambient device” in the shape of a stylized rabbit. Artist, programming engineer, and designer Antoine Schmitt and composer, film director, multimedia author, and sound designer Jean-Jacques Birgé bring together one hundred of these quirky little creatures – each equipped with flashing lights, moving ears and a built-in speaker – to perform a musical and choreographic score for three voices.

Click here for more info on Nabaz’Mob at Luminato or here for the full site.

Come by during one of these times:

Tuesday, June 15: 12:30PM and 6:00PM (special performances)

Wednesday, June 16: 12:30PM and 6:00PM (special performances)

Thursday, June 17: 12:30PM and 6:00PM (special performances)

Friday, June 18: 5:00PM – 10:00PM (drop-in viewings)

Saturday, June 19: 12:00PM – 8:00PM (drop-in viewings)

Sunday, June 20: 12:00PM – 6:00PM (drop-in viewings)

The Ernest Balmer Studio at Tapestry is located in the Distillery Historic District
55 Mill St. Bldg. 58. Studio 315
Toronto, ON

Dark Star Requiem Press Roundup

June 14th, 2010

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


Dark Star Requiem’s Marcus Nance in the Toronto Star

June 14th, 2010

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.

Wayne & Harley in Toronto Star Celebrity Shopping

June 7th, 2010

In advance of Dark Star Requiem which opens this Friday at Koerner Hall, Rita Zekas of the Toronto Star spent an afternoon shopping with Tapestry Managing Artistic Director Wayne Strongman and his loveable dog (and Distillery District Mascot) Harley.

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

Dark Star Requiem Music Workshop Photos

May 11th, 2010

Check out more great photos from Brian Mosoff, this time from the February 2010 music workshop for Dark Star Requiem in the Ernest Balmer Studio at Tapestry.

Dark Star Requiem
A world premiere from Tapestry & Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts & Creativity
Composed by Andrew Staniland
Libretto by Jill Battson

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

Opera to Go 2010 Production Photos

May 10th, 2010

Check out some of photographer Brian Mosoff’s great pics of Opera to Go 2010 – some of our favourite short works in the Fermenting Cellar, Distillery Historic District.

The audience picked up their chairs traveled to 5 different worlds as we used the entire space in this amazing venue!

Call for Applications: Tapestry 2010 LibLab

May 4th, 2010

Tapestry’s 2010 Composer-Librettist Laboratory is scheduled for August 23 – September 3 in Toronto and we are looking for eligible writer and composers.

Click here for more info. on submission criteria.

Deadline for Applications is May 30, 2010.

For most composers and writers the artistic process is a solitary one. Producers around the world agree that forming workable artistic partnerships between composers and playwrights is the single greatest challenge facing the development of new opera and music theatre. The Composer-Librettist Laboratory is Tapestry’s response to this challenge. Initiated in 1995, the laboratory is an intensive one-week workshop for composers and writers to explore the collaborative process.