Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, October 2, 2012: Toronto’s Queen of Puddings Music Theatre is proud to bring the concert version of SVADBA-WEDDING to Europe. Ana Sokolovic’s brilliant opera will delight audiences in France, with performances in Paris (at the Canadian Cultural Centre) and Orléans (at the famous Salle Barrault, part of Scène nationale); at the prestigious BEMUS Festival in Belgrade, Serbia and at the illustrious Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Dublin in Ireland. An intoxicating tour de force for six female opera singers ‘a cappella’ by Montreal composer Ana Sokolovic, the work was commissioned by Queen of Puddings and premiered in Toronto in June 2011 to great critical acclaim, and later received a noteworthy Dora Award.
The all-Canadian cast includes singers Laura Albino, Virginia Hatfield, Andrea Ludwig. Shannon Mercer, Elizabeth Turnbull and Jacqueline Woodley; they are joined by Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess (music direction) and Nathalie Bonjour (producer).
SVADBA-WEDDING is a raucous and intoxicating a cappella tour de force for six female singers. Sung in Serbian, the action takes place the night before a wedding, when girlfriends stay up all night long preparing the fiancée Milica for her impending marriage. Using existing Slavic/Balkan peasant folk tales, myths and traditions as her text source, composer Ana Sokolovic draws on her native Balkan folk music as a source of inspiration for SVADBA-WEDDING. She transforms the music and text into her own unique onomatopoeic language. The scenes unfold, not in a linear narrative, but in a playful interconnection animated through drama, distilling magic and fantasy from ordinary moments.
"...These days, it’s hard to find an opera composer whose theatrical instincts are daring and sure-footed at the same time. So let’s be thankful that Ana Sokolovic chose Canada as her home... " - The Globe and Mail
"Svadba - Wedding is a beautiful work where music, movement, acting and design combine to create an invigorating and satisfying theatrical experience." -- Opera News, New York
The Toronto based Queen of Puddings Music Theatre creates boundary bursting music theatre – a music theatre that is dynamic, provocative and precedent setting. The company, founded in 1995 by Artistic Directors Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess, is acclaimed for its unique aesthetic based on a physical, singing theatre. Visit www.queenofpuddingsmusictheatre.com for more information.
FALL 2012: EUROPEAN TOUR
· October 15: Paris, France: Canadian Cultural Centre
The Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris was established in 1970 to foster a special relationship with France by expanding a cultural exchanges program.
· October 17: Belgrade, Serbia: BEMUS - The Belgrade Music Festival, Atelier 212 Theatre
One of the most distinctive classical music festivals in South-Eastern Europe, BEMUS is the oldest and the most prominent music festival in Serbia. BEMUS is committed to presenting contemporary music.
· October 19: Orléans, France : Théâtre d'Orléans, Salle Barrault
Théâtre d'Orléans is one of the leading presenters of contemporary performing arts in France and is part of the Scène nationale - a label given by the Ministry of Culture in French public theaters. Its goal is to be a place of production and dissemination of contemporary art in the field of performing arts.
http://www.theatredorleans.fr/musique/concerts-19.html#article_623
· October 21: Dublin, Ireland: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Sunday Concerts
Located in Dublin's city centre, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, originally called The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, houses one of Ireland's foremost collections of modern and contemporary art.
http://www.hughlane.ie/sunday-concerts?sday=21&smonth=10&syear=2012
This tour of SVADBA-WEDDING is made possible in part by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council's National and International Touring program.
Photo: Jacqueline Woodley. ©2011 John Lauener.
2012-10-02
Toronto: Queen of Puddings takes “Svadba - Wedding” on tour to Europe