Stage Door News
Stage Door News
TORONTO (April 16, 2013) – Luminato Festival announced today the continuation of an ongoing relationship with Magicana, an organization dedicated to the exploration of magic as a performing art. This year David Ben, Artistic Director of Magicana, has invited three world-renowned performers, to perform the impossible as part of the 7th Annual Luminato Festival. The Maestros of Magic include Miguel Puga and his collaborative show CONCERTO FOR PIANO & PASTEBOARDS; Rafael Benatar with COMPOSITIONS and Steve Cohen in CHAMBER MAGIC.
“David Ben and I had a long discussion about how we can get magic in contact with other art forms, and represent it alongside the so-called ‘high’ canon of the arts like music and the visual arts,” says Jorn Weisbrodt, Artistic Director, Luminato Festival. “Two of the three projects presented at the Luminato Festival this year combine magic with music, the invisible art of music combined with the art of disappearing and appearing. Both are intangible, both require that you believe in them and that you put all reason aside. Both art forms require absolute virtuosity and hard training to reach perfection.”
CONCERTO FOR PIANO & PASTEBOARDS
Written by Miguel Puga & Miguel Aparicio, Directed by Miguel Puga
Canadian Premiere June 14 – 16, 2013, presented at the Mazzdeni Concert Hall in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning
This unusual concert with two players, four hands, a piano and a deck of cards began when a magician, counting the white keys of a grand piano, noted that there were 52, the same number as cards in a deck. Joining forces with a musician, the two blurred the boundaries of their artistic domains and discovered how objects so fundamentally different could be used to bring forth deep emotions of a remarkably similar nature— the Primordial Spirit—that “something” so mysterious and elusive, yet unquestionably real, that all audiences crave. Miguel Puga is the magician, joined by pianist Paz Sabater and Luis Britos as the Primordial Spirit.
CHAMBER MAGIC
Written & performed by Steve Cohen
Canadian Premiere June 17 – 19, 2013, presented at the George Brown House
For those who only believe what they see, Steve Cohen invites you to come close, really close. A master magician whose repertoire is designed to engage the mind as much as the eye, Cohen’s Chamber Magic hearkens back to an era when wealthy patrons secured the services of elite wonder-workers to transform a salon into a stage and mesmerize family and friends with magic. Known as the “Millionaires’ Magician,” Cohen has performed the role of a society performer for over a decade at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. As the show is designed to be experienced up close, fewer than 70 patrons will be admitted to each performance. With an adults-only mandate, audience members are asked to dress to impress in cocktail attire.
COMPOSITIONS
Magic & music performed by Rafael Benatar
Canadian Premiere June 21 – 23, 2013, presented at the Conservatory Theatre in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning
Great music performances are often described as magical, and amazing feats of magic are as transfixing as stellar music works. Rafael Benatar is unique in possessing both skills. He studied several instruments of the lute and guitar families. He also taught himself magic combining his enthusiasm for mystery and communication with his background and discipline in the practice of music. He now intertwines his passions in Compositions, a dazzling blend of Baroque lute and guitar music with his unique style of magic which appeals to the same audiences and spaces, a combination that is magically greater than the sum of its parts.
LUMINATO FESTIVAL 2013
MAESTROS OF MAGIC
CONCERTO FOR PIANO & PASTEBOARDS
Written by Miguel Puga & Miguel Aparicio • Directed by Miguel Puga
Mazzoleni Concert Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Mazzdeni Concert Hall The Royal Conservatory of Music, 273 Bloor Street West
Canadian Premiere June 14 – 16, 2013
Friday to Sunday @ 7:30pm, Saturday @ 3pm
Tickets $45 (inclusive of HST and facility fee; plus applicable service charges) Purchase online at luminatofestival.com or by phone at 416-368-4TIX (4849)
CHAMBER MAGIC
Written & Performed by Steve Cohen
George Brown House, 186 Beverley Street
Canadian Premiere June 17 – 19, 2013
Monday to Wednesday @ 7pm, 9:30pm
Ticket prices range from $60-$75 (inclusive of HST and facility fee; plus applicable service charges) Very Limited Seating. Adults only. Audience members are encouraged to dress in cocktail attire Purchase online at luminatofestival.com or by phone at 416-368-4TIX (4849)
COMPOSITIONS
Magic & Music Performed by Rafael Benatar
Conservatory Theatre at TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Conservatory Theatre The Royal Conservatory of Music, 273 Bloor Street West
Canadian Premiere June 21 – 23, 2013
Friday to Sunday @ 7:30pm
Tickets $45 (inclusive of HST and facility fee; plus applicable service charges) Purchase online at luminatofestival.com or by phone at 416-368-4TIX (4849)
MAESTROS OF MAGIC is produced in association with Magicana and generously supported by the Slaight Family.
Steve Cohen, David Ben, and a molecular gastronomist will discuss magic and culinary delights on Wednesday, June 19, at David Pecaut Square as part of the Lunchtime Illuminations series.
The seventh annual Luminato Festival takes place from June 14–23, 2013. Tickets for all Luminato Festival 2013 programs will be available for sale beginning Saturday, April 20. For details, visit luminatofestival.com.
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Photo: Rafael Benatar. ©2005 Gordon Bean.
2013-04-16
Toronto: Luminato announces three performers for its “Maestros of Magic” series