Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, February 9, 2016… The remarkable 2015-2016 VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert season closes at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on April 1 & 3, 2016 with the World Premiere of Peter-Anthony Togni and Sharon Singer’s opera ISIS AND OSIRIS - Gods of Egypt. “A new Canadian opera is a historic event”, remarked General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin, “and the Togni/Singer work is the latest in a long list of amazing Canadian operas that have been championed by VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert.”
ISIS AND OSIRIS - Gods of Egypt encompasses quintessential themes for the lyric stage: Love, redemption, betrayal and the perverse allure of power. Isis and Osiris are Queen and King, brother and sister, husband and wife, facing the envy of their brother Seth and the birth of evil among men. The first known operatic attempt to bring life to this mythic tale, Togni and Singer have created a full scale work that balances the intimacy of lovers with the grandeur of court life in this ancient realm. These two performances are the culmination of a project that began in 2013 with a preview at the Art Gallery of Ontario and a full workshop at The Edward Jackman Centre in 2015.
Peter-Anthony Togni is recognized as one of the most original voices in Canadian music and was recently awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Nova Scotia Masterworks Grand Prize of $25,000 for RESPONSIO, a work for voices and bass clarinet. His works have been heard from Moscow to the Vatican to Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. Librettist Sharon Singer is a poet and her published works include “Global Warming”, “Moses”, “The Last Years of the Natural World”, and “Fire Rider.”
Just Announced:
2016 JUNO AWARD NOMINATION FOR TOGNI’S ‘RESPONSIO’ AS CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFORMANCE
Conductor Robert Cooper leads an impressive roster of artists that includes Lucia Cesaroni as Isis, Ernesto Ramirez as Osiris, Julie Nesrallah as Nephtis, Michael Nyby as Seth, Stuart Graham as The Grand Vizier, Christopher Wattam as Imhotep and Leigh-Ann Allen as Sennefer along with the orchestra and the VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert Chorus.
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert is supported by the Jackman Foundation, J. P. Bickell Foundation, Nancy’s Very Own Foundation, Strategic Charitable Giving Foundation, and Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. Single tickets 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. The theatre is wheelchair accessible and close to public transit and municipal parking. Performances: Friday, April 1 at 8 pm; Sunday, April 3 at 2:30 pm at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
Illustration: Osiris (seated) with Isis (in white) and Nephthys from The Book of the Dead, c.1375bc.
2016-02-09
Toronto: VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert presents the world premiere of "Isis and Osiris - Gods of Egypt"