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More Performances With Orchestra Kamouraska
– World Premiere Tribute To Haydn –
Toronto…The rediscovery of an obscure Canadian opera -
KAMOURASKA by Charles Wilson - highlights the
2008-2009 Opera in Concert season. Commenting at
a recent workshop, OIC General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin
noted that "the invited audience was astounded by the powerful emotions
unleashed through Wilson’s music and so we are more eager than ever
to bring to light a Canadian work that inexplicably languished unheard
until now. I’m astonished that this work, based on the iconic novel
by Canadian novelist Anne Hebert, has been ignored
for so long…we had to do it". The World Premiere
of KAMOURASKA, with guest conductor Alex
Pauk and Esprit Orchestra, climaxes the
OIC season with performances on Saturday, March. 28 at 8:00
pm and Sunday, March 29 at 2:30 pm, 2009 starring
Miriam Khalil as Elizabeth D’Aulnieres,
Alexander Dobson as Dr. Nelson, and James McLennan
as Antoine Tassy.
The season opens on Saturday, October 4 at 8:00 pm and Sunday,
October 5 at 2:30 pm, 2008 at the newly renovated St. Lawrence
Centre for the Arts with Gaetano Donizetti’s ROBERTO DEVEREUX,
another rarely heard operatic milestone. One of a trio of works
based on the lives of English queens, ROBERTO DEVEREUX expands in
a long arc of restrained emotion, bel canto at its most exalted.
Lara Ciekiewicz returns as Queen Elizabeth following
her sensational debut last season as Anna Bolena and tenor
Colin Ainsworth sings the title role. Pianist/music
director Alison d’Amato leads a remarkable cast
including mezzo-soprano Jennifer Enns Modolo, and
debuting baritone Justin Welsh.
Many opera lovers believe that composer Saverio Mercadante is the
‘missing link’, musically speaking, between Donizetti and Verdi.
His operas from the late 1830’s on are an open revolt against the
excesses of the bel canto school and he focused instead on dramatic
truth both in music and vocal line. Mercadante’s LA VESTALE,
starring the incandescent Frederique Vezina in
the title role supported by mezzo-soprano Wendy Hatala-Foley
and baritone Peter McGillivray, will be heard on
Sunday, November 30 at 2:30 pm, 2008. Music Director
Raisa Nakhmanovich leads from the piano and
Robert Cooper directs the Opera in Concert
Chorus.
Opera in Concert pays tribute to Joseph Haydn during the 200th Anniversary
Celebrations with a rare performance of IL MONDO DELLA LUNA.
A neglected masterpiece from the Classical master, Haydn skillfully
blends fantasy and reality, creating a world where the unattainable
is endearingly at hand. Conductor Kevin Mallon
leads the Aradia Ensemble and a sterling cast which
includes sopranos Charlotte Corwin and
Deanna Hendricks, tenor Marcel Van Neer,
and debuting bass baritone Jon Paul Décosse on
Sunday, February 1, 2009 at 2:30 pm.
Opera in Concert is supported by the Jackman Foundation,
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario
Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. Subscriptions
at substantial discounts are available from the St. Lawrence Centre
for the Arts Box Office, 27 Front St. East, by phone – 416-366-7723
or 1-800-708-6754 – or online at
www.stlc.com. All performances
are in the Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
The theatre is wheelchair accessible and close to public transit
and municipal parking facilities.
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