Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Wednesday, February 25 // Toronto – Innovative collaborations with Canadian Stage and Massey Hall and fresh sounds from virtuoso Canadian and international artists form the core of Soundstreams’ inventive 2015/16 concert series. Featuring four concerts and the North American premiere of Philippe Boesmans’ opera Julie, the season spans four of Toronto’s most iconic venues, includes world premieres by Analia Lllugdar and Anna Pidgorna, and closes with an epic 80th-birthday celebration for the father of minimalism, composer Steve Reich.
“We are literally bursting at the seams in 2015/2016,” says Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney. “Our programming has always defied easy categorization, but each project next season exudes its own vitality, energy, and dramatic flair that will stretch boundaries and take us physically and aurally into amazing new spaces.”
The season opens September 29, 2015 with Adrianne Pieczonka: Beyond the Aria at Koerner Hall. This concert is a rare opportunity to hear acclaimed Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka’s exquisite interpretations of an eclectic range of 20th-century repertoire, from George Crumb’s haunting Ancient Voices of Children to The Beatles. Also featuring mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó, this evening reimagining the possibilities of voice and percussion includes a world premiere by Analia Llugdar.
August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, considered one of the 19th-century’s most shocking dramas, portrays a flirtation that turns into an erotic danse macabre between its aristocratic title character and her father’s valet. In this exciting inaugural collaboration with Canadian Stage, Soundstreams presents the North American premiere of Julie, Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans’ stunning 21st-century operatic adaptation of the Strindberg play, directed by Canadian Stage Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn. With music direction by Les Dala, Julie runs for eight performances from November 17 to 29, 2015 at the Bluma Appel Theatre.
The series continues with Squeezebox at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre on February 10, 2016. From street music to concert hall, this cross-cultural carnival features the accordion and its extended family. Acclaimed Canadian accordionist Joe Macerollo joins Canadian wunderkind Michael Bridge, Argentinian bandoneón
virtuoso Héctor del Curto, and saengwhang player gamin in a lively celebration featuring tango, works by Marjan Mozetich and Alexina Louie, and a world premiere by Anna Pidgorna.
Next up is The Music of James MacMillan on March 8, 2016 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, an extraordinary night of choral music conducted by James MacMillan, Scotland’s most celebrated composer and one of the world’s most-performed living composers. Emotionally potent, rhythmically thrilling, and reflective of his Catholic faith and political conscience, the program includes R. Murray Schafer, J.S. Bach, and MacMillan’s own spellbinding cantata Seven Last Words from the Cross, justly regarded as one of his masterpieces.
The season concludes with Steve Reich at 80 on April 14, 2016 at Massey Hall, presented in partnership with The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. Steve Reich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning father of minimalism has had a profound impact on the contemporary music scene, influencing artists as diverse as Radiohead and John Adams. Having showcased many of his compositions over the years, Soundstreams welcomes this musical legend to the stage for an epic 80th-birthday bash with special guests and featuring Clapping Music, the iconic Music for 18 Musicians, and the Canadian premiere of Tehillim.
“Soundstreams is committed to presenting new and innovative programs that illustrate Canada’s growing position in the music world,” says Executive Director Susan Worthington. “This season, we continue to put the finest Canadian and international artists on our stages, engaging our audiences with unique and thrilling works that convey the breadth of human experience.”
2015/2016 Subscriptions are available now by calling the Soundstreams office at 416-504-1282 or online at www.soundstreams.ca
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Julie
Composed by Philippe Boesmans
Libretto by Luc Bondy & Marie-Louise Bischofberger
November 17-29, 2015, Bluma Appel Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts
Depicting a flirtation that turns into an erotic danse macabre between its aristocratic title character and her father’s valet, August Strindberg’s Miss Julie was considered too scandalous to be produced when it was written in 1888—only to become a defining classic of modern drama. In this innovative inaugural collaboration, Soundstreams and Canadian Stage present the North American premiere of the acclaimed chamber-opera adaptation of Strindberg’s play. Canadian Stage Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn directs this landmark tragedy of social and sexual transgression, brilliantly captured by Belgium’s Philippe Boesmans, one of the pre-eminent opera composers of our time. With music direction by Les Dala.
A Canadian Stage production presented in association with Soundstreams with support from The Théâtre d’Orléans, France.
Photo: Malena Ernmann and Gary Magee in the world premiere of Julie at La Monnaie, Brussels. ©2005 Elizabeth Carecchio.
2015-02-25
Toronto: Soundstreams 2015/16 season includes the North American premiere of Boesmans' opera "Julie"