- Shock Opera - Globe and Mail
- Pandora's Locker - Composer/Librettist Notes
- The Heart that Knows - Theatrical Rebirth of a Canadian Classic
- Lögberg Helmskrigla, The Icelandic Community Newspaper
- Opera Visits Newfoundland
- Composer/Librettist Notes of World Premiere, May 6, 2006
- Vinland Press Release
- Opera Roadshow Takes to the Air
- Isis and the Seven Scorpions - The Process
- COC Press Release for Isis and the Seven Scorpions
- Study Guide Composer/Librettist Notes from the CCOC production of The Hobbit
- Tolkien's Munchkins: The National Post article by Tamara Bernstein
- Composer/Lyricist's Notes from Theatre Orangeville production of Home and Away
- The Brothers Grimm: Prelude article by Dean Burry
- Composer Notes from the CD recording of The Brothers Grimm
- Program Notes from the original production of Joe and Mary Had a Baby...
Rap beats, profanity and a scratch DJ as an integral part of the orchestration. The Glenn Gould School's latest world premiere is not your grandmother's opus, writes James Bradshaw
It's Pandora myth meets Degrassi High on an operatic stage, complete with swearing, sex, violence and a didactic twist.
Toronto composer Dean Burry's newest creation, Pandora's Locker, is a provocative one-act opera aimed at teenage audiences and commissioned by the Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School.
The goal is to create great art that will resonate with young adults and a production that advances the conservatory's educational mandate by taking on topical social issues.
Tomorrow night's world premiere in the conservatory's Mazzoleni Hall will be lavish. Conductor and composer Brian Current will lead a 13-member orchestra through Burry's work, which is scored for piano, a string quartet and two turntables. The production, directed by Jennifer Parr, features elements of Greek drama and mythology such as a chorus and masques and has been cast with conservatory students of all ages. The story's characters contain elements of archetypal Greek figures from Zeus to Prometheus.
Burry, 36, has wanted to work with the Pandora myth for many years, but had to wrench it into the present. He disposed of what he saw as misogynistic elements in the story, replacing them with a tale of a woman's struggle to find her voice against the social backdrop of her high school. Conscious of the fact that it had to resonate with a teenage audience, Burry frankly addresses issues of gun violence, broken families, peer alienation and anger.
His libretto contains liberal use of expletives and he consulted a younger crowd to get a handle on slang. But he tried not to go overboard, hoping to avoid using language that would sound dated in a matter of years.
"I want it to get down, I want it to be gritty, I want it to really speak with an authentic voice. This is the way kids talk to each other in the hallways," said David Visentin, associate dean of the Glenn Gould School, who had been discussing the commission with Burry since 2006.
To get the point across to potential audiences, the conservatory enlisted the University of Toronto's department of social work to help write a suitable disclaimer to attach to the piece. "It's about finding solutions to contemporary problems using art," Visentin said. "Pandora is about dealing with that which blocks potential: anger, violence, this type of thing."
Burry, who teaches at the conservatory and has carved out a niche composing for younger audiences, said the educational element is crucial but secondary. "The ultimate goal here is to create a viable, integral, exciting work of art that appeals to younger audiences," he said.
That also meant exploring the musical tastes of a new generation. "A lot of the rhythm and cadence that you find in rap is used directly in the opera," Burry said, admitting he was no expert in the genre.
To enhance the rhythmic feel, he incorporated a turntable scratch artist, a delicate task which Burry has managed brilliantly, according to Visentin.
"I didn't want it to be, 'Let's tack on the scratch guy so it looks hip.' He's become an integral part of the orchestration," Visentin said.
As Burry points out, some phrases were directly inspired by the sounds and rhythms of the DJ scratch: "Pandora-dora-dora, whatcha gonna say, whatcha gonne be, whatcha gonna do?"
Visentin worked hard to fund the new opera, especially when original cost estimates ballooned to between $25,000 and $30,000. He had to "beat bushes" to find new sources of funding, no small task given that the conservatory was in the midst of a major renovation of its Bloor Street home in Toronto, driven by a $110-million fundraising campaign.
But Visentin found the funds and hopes to commission more projects in the future. It is the conservatory's first operatic commission on this scale, but a model exists in a similarly themed touring production of The Brothers Grimm Burry composed for the Canadian Opera Company from 1998 to 2001.
About 100,000 schoolchildren have seen that production, which is believed to be the most viewed Canadian opera in history. Pandora's Locker could have a similar run, having been designed to pack easily into the back of a van and mount virtually anywhere there is a piano.
The contemporary youth opera Pandora's Locker is inspired by the Greek myth of Pandora's Box, in which a young woman's curiosity leads to the unleashing of all the world's evils. It is a simple, archetypal myth, which reflects our own hunt for knowledge and the potential for disaster upon its discovery. This search for information - keys to the future and past - is never more tangible than in the "up-and-down" lives of the average high school teenager. Pandora's curiosity is timeless.
For years, I had imagined setting that most ancient of Greek myths, operatically. The very earliest Western operas, created in Florence, Italy at the beginning of the seventeenth-century, sought to recreate Classical Greek drama, and therefore used Greek and Roman mythology as subject matter almost exclusively for decades. I found myself at the end of a long and venerable tradition of myth as opera so why isn't this piece just called "Pandora's Box"? Why isn't the stage littered with marble columns, a chorus of toga'd singers waiting in the wings? Greek myth is essentially shorthand for the human experience - an experience, which, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, really hasn't changed that much over thousands or millions of years. We all want to know where we came from. We all want to know where we are going. We all want to feel like we belong where we are. Pandora 2008 AD is not so different from Pandora 2008 BC.
That's certainly not to say that myths are the unquestionable shorthand of the human experience. Pandora 2008 BC's world certainly had a different view towards women and there is no denying that this myth is a condemnation of "female curiosity" and "lack of willpower". In fact, the story goes so far as to blame all the evils of the world on Pandora's weakness. Women have suffered, sometimes horribly, under these stereotypes for centuries, and I strongly felt the need to air out this androcentric tale and cast Pandora in her true light: the caretaker of her own fate. Myths can teach us a lot. They answer many questions, but no answer is sacred.
Ask every question.
Question every answer.
Pandora is who Pandora wants to be.
Thursday evening, on the stage of Live Bait Theatre in Sackville, New Brunswick, the lights will come up on the world premiere of The Heart that Knows, a musical adaptation by playwright Charlie Rhindress and composer Dean Burry of the classic Canadian novel written by Sir Charles G. D. Roberts in 1906. Although far from the bright lights of Toronto, Montreal, or Halifax, the launch is a landmark event for Live Bait, a professional theatre company that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
"The introduction of new Canadian plays has always been one of our priorities," explains Live Bait artistic director Karen Valanne. "We're really thrilled this year to be premiering a work that has so much resonance for the Atlantic region."
Rhindress and Burry, who have collaborated on two previous musicals, "Under the Night" and "Home and Away," have accomplished more than a simple re-telling of Roberts' tale of separation and reunion on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. While respecting the literary integrity of the original, their translation of The Heart That Knows from the page to the stage is a genuinely new addition to the body of Canadian theatrical literature.
"The idea of a stage version was suggested to me about 15 years ago by Dr. Charles Scobie, a professor at Mount Allison University and a keen Roberts enthusiast," recalls Rhindress. "This year, with Sackville's designation as one of Canada's Cultural Capitals for 2008, funding became available to write and produce the play."
"It was a challenge to fit a sprawling novel with dozens of characters into the tight time frame of a theatrical performance," he continues, "but we've done it. Through multiple casting, just seven actors convincingly re-create an entire 19th century Maritime community. Dean's songs reinforce this with folk-like melodies and lyrics that echo Roberts' poetic style and Jennie Wood, as music director, has done a great job of arranging them for a five-piece instrumental ensemble."
"This is an epic love story, which means it starts with a basic human appeal," says director Mary Ellen MacLean during a break in rehearsals. "It combines multiple dynamic opposites: devotion and betrayal, shipboard romance and adventure on the high seas, vengeance and redemption. It's a memory play, with the action spread over a period of twenty years. The use of dramatic flashbacks and flash-forwards invites a highly impressionistic staging."
MacLean, an experienced professional actor and director, was a founding member of the Halifax-based physical comedy troupe Jest in Time. She credits her experience as a physical performer with helping to visualize a variety of shifting emotional atmospheres on the minimalist set that Vickie Marston has designed for the "The Heart that Knows."
A strong cast, with accomplished performers Deb Allen, Sarah English, John Allen MacLean, Michael McPhee, Shayne Taylor, and Meredith Zwicker, brings a sense of confidence and purpose to the production. Joining them for his professional debut is Dakota MacLean, 12 years old and a veteran of the Live Bait Young Company.
Although the play is set in the late 1800s, it has a contemporary flavour. Dr. Carrie MacMillan, professor of English Literature at Mount Allison, has always been struck "by the liberal views that Roberts expressed in his novel. His heroine is a young woman who, according to the values of the day, has transgressed against community standards. Yet, he makes it clear that she is wholly justified in her decision while her persecutors are the moral hypocrites."
Dr. MacMillan, for whom early Maritime literature is a particular research interest, applauds the decision to adapt The Heart That Knows to the stage.
"This kind of cultural innovation is a vital way of keeping key themes from our past alive for present and future generations," she says. "I think it's very adventurous of Live Bait to undertake such an important project."
The Heart That Knows runs July 17-20 and July 22-27, starting at 8:00 p.m. For further information, contact the theatre box office at (506) 536-3901.
Vinland Traveller to tour NL
ST. JOHN'S, NL - A new opera based on the Vinland sagas will tour Newfoundland this spring. The composer, Dean Burry, was commissioned by Memorial University of Newfoundland's Opera Roadshow.
The opera, The Vinland Traveller, is to be staged in schools and performed by students. It will travel approximately 16,000 km throughout Newfoundland and Labrador , including a stop at L'Anse aux Meadows.
Dean Burry says the subject is a natural fit. "There's become, I think, a kind of kinship between Iceland and Newfoundland," he says.
Burry, who grew up in Gander , NL but now lives in Toronto , ON , is no stranger to mythology and world literature. His previous operas have been based on Egyptian myths, tales from the Brothers Grimm, and even J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the latter of which also featured many young performers.
Of The Vinland Traveller, he says, "I wanted to find a subject that was definitely something that Newfoundlanders would identify with, but was also not so regional that nobody else would. And so I went to these Icelandic sagas, the Greenlanders' Saga and the Saga of Eirik the Red ... You can't get really more classic literature than the Icelandic sagas."
Though the location of Vinland itself is disputed, there is no doubt that the Norse reached Newfoundland, thanks to the ruins at L'Anse aux Meadows. His home province may not be Vinland, where the Norse found grapes, but he says with a laugh, "No, grapes have never grown in Newfoundland; but then again, 'Greenland' is not very green, either."
He anticipates a good response from the audiences and his young performers: "I'm writing an opera for young people and there are 'vikings' in it - it's something which immediately appeals."
The opera focuses on Thorfinnur Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, as well as their son Snorri, the first European child born in North America. He was attracted to the story of Gudrid in the Vinland sagas, a strong female character from an era in literature when such figures were rare. Also, he says the world of the vikings was changing - the discovery of new lands and the conversion to Christianity contributed to a transformation of the Norse worldview.
Similarly, he hopes to challenge his audiences with a new look at vikings, by examining the various perspectives of pagans, Christians and those caught in the middle. "Obviously 'viking' has a certain connotation," he says. "I've used the term 'viking' in this opera, mainly because this opera is very much about breaking down stereotypes."
A tour outside of the province is only tentative at this point, but he hopes to show it across Canada, and perhaps even see the work translated into Icelandic and taken to Iceland.
There is a new sound being heard in the outports of Newfoundland. Mingling with the traditional music of the Island is the music of Mozart. The company, called The Opera RoadShow, is an ensemble of music students from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
The Opera RoadShow is an educational outreach component of Memorial University's Opera Theatre. For the past two years, the voice majors have spent a week each fall traveling to schools in and around the city of St. John's. During that time, they have had had the privilege of introducing hundreds of young people to the joys of opera in live performance. This year, The Opera RoadShow has expanded its directive and is making opera extensively available to students across Newfoundland. The five-week tour traverses some 6500kms and performs from St. Anthony in the northwest to Burin on the province's southeastern shore.
In addition to the educational benefits young audiences receive, this innovative outreach is unique in providing experiential learning to students of university age. It offers a valuable learning experience to MUN undergraduates while providing a paid summer position.
The Opera RoadShow's repertoire choices are age appropriate. The current touring production is a contemporary setting of The Three Little Pigs. This engaging work was created by American composer John Davies. It draws together arias and ensembles from Mozart's most popular operas and blends them into a comical telling of the familiar fable. Teaching guides are forwarded to schools prior to the presentations.
Beginning with an informal discussion about music, opera, and different styles of singing, performances conclude with an extended question and answer period. The audience/artist post-performance interaction had proved to be a thrilling and heart-warming experience for the members of The Opera RoadShow troupe.
The Opera RoadShow Tour is a collaborative effort between The Department of Education, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador; Memorial University; and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. Pending continuing funding, The Opera RoadShow begins rehearsals for spring 2005 this September. Performance dates for this year's tour are May 3, 2004-June 4, 2004.
In selecting The Icelandic Sagas as a source for a new opera, I was attempting to find connections between my own Newfoundland culture and the greater world. The Vinland Sagas really do represent both classic world literature and tantalising historical facts that connect two lands. Iceland and Newfoundland are separated by a vast ocean and yet share so many similarities. Their geography and culture inspired the music of The Vinland Traveler - the echoes off cliffs on the shore, the smell of a summer bog on the Northern Peninsula, the supremely powerful lift of a great wave and the laughter and rhythm of an old-time scoff and scuff. Growing up I sometimes felt that we Newfoundlanders were in the middle of nowhere, but working on The Vinland Traveler has reminded me that we are truly in the middle of it all.
NEWS RELEASE
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Opera RoadShow takes Newfoundland saga to youngsters throughout province
May 5, 2006
For the first time, opera students at Memorial's School of Music will venture into Labrador as part of their annual RoadShow, which sees them perform around the province for primary and elementary school audiences.
Dr. Caroline Schiller, director of opera at the School of Music, created the Opera RoadShow to give music students a professional touring experience, while introducing youngsters to the pageantry, drama and music of opera. The touring company consists of seven students and alumnus Calvin Powell, who returns from Toronto to lend his baritone to the production.
This is the third year for the tour, but the first time the operatic entourage has been able to fly performers and sets in and out of Labrador communities, thanks to a commitment from Air Labrador to cover the cost of those flights - a gift of about $50,000.
"Our initial goal was that within three years we would be able to have offered this tour to every school district in the province - and now we have," Dr. Schiller says. While not every school has been able to accommodate the opera, the RoadShow has performed for over 10,000 children, some in very remote areas.
The provincial government and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council are also supporting the endeavour.
"It amazes adults that 200 children would be interested in sitting and listening to opera, but the kids really become engaged," Dr. Schiller says, noting that in years past, cards, emails and drawings have attested to how much the kids enjoyed the show.
The Air Labrador Opera RoadShow Tour 2006 will perform The Vinland Traveler, created by Dean Burry. Burry was raised in Gander and now lives in Toronto. "People often ask me how I became an opera composer coming from Newfoundland. While it's true I couldn't exactly pop down to the Gander Grand Opera House on a Friday night, there was always access to a great deal of theatre and music," Mr. Burry says. "Story-telling through music and drama? I think that's the core of the Newfoundland spirit."
Mr. Burry also wrote Isis and the Seven Scorpions, which the Canadian Opera Company is touring in Southern Ontario, and The Brothers Grimm, which will hit its 200th performance in a production by the Saskatoon Opera Association. "I am thrilled to be bringing this opera to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. In Ontario, I have seen the effect that this kind of work can have on a young audience, all the while thinking, 'How can I get this home?'" Memorial commissioned The Vinland Traveler based on the Vinland sagas, to give young audiences insight into their province's heritage. As Burry notes, there's even a puffin singing a traditional jig and reel.
The Air Labrador Opera RoadShow Tour takes off with an invitation-only launch in Petro-Canada Hall on May 6. Some public performances will be scheduled in St. John's in May.
A young audience enjoys its first experience with opera during last year's RoadShow.
When School of Music students take opera on the road this spring, they'll also take to the air, thanks to a generous donation from Air Labrador. The Air Labrador Opera RoadShow Tour 2006 is a unique venture that sees a company of undergraduate music students perform throughout the province for primary and elementary school audiences. Dr. Carolyn Schiller, the director of opera in the School of Music, came up with the concept as a way for her students to experience professional touring, while introducing youngsters all over the province to the pageantry, drama and music of opera.
The touring company consists of seven students and alumnus Calvin Powell, who agreed to return from his Toronto life because a baritone was needed. These eight are responsible for all aspects of the tour, from performing to props.
This is the third year for the tour, but the first time the operatic entourage has been able to venture off-island. That means, in addition to the thousands of kilometres they'll log on the road, performers and sets will need to fly in and out of Labrador communities. Air Labrador has committed to covering the cost of all flights - a gift of about $50,000. "Our goal was, within three years, to be able to say that we've offered this everywhere in the province - and now we can say that," Dr. Schiller says.
While not every school has been able to accommodate the opera, the RoadShow has performed for over 10,000 children, some in very remote areas.
"It amazes adults sometimes that 200 children would be interested in sitting and listening to opera, but the kids really get engaged," Dr. Schiller says, noting that in years past, cards, emails and drawings have attested to how much the kids enjoyed the show. "If you introduce something like this to a child at an early age, they can develop a lifelong appreciation. And who knows, it may tweak an interest in a child who has the talent to pursue it, but might never have been exposed to it."
This year, the RoadShow will perform The Vinland Traveler, created by Gander-native Dean Burry. Memorial commissioned the original opera, based on the Vinland sagas, so that it could also offer young audiences some insight into the province's history and heritage. According to Jennifer O'Neill, development officer for the School of Music, Air Labrador's gift is in addition to support from Iron Ore Company of Canada, the provincial government, CBC and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.
The (ironically named) Air Labrador Opera RoadShow Tour takes off in early May with an invitation-only launch in Petro Canada Hall on May 6, followed by public performances in St. John's in May.
The Zellers Ensemble Studio School Tour hits the road again making over 60 stops across the province and reaching more than 20,000 young people. This year Isis and the Seven Scorpions, a new opera composed by Dean Burry, is one of the featured works. It is based on an ancient Egyptian myth and Burry feels it is perfect to grab the attention of students. He is working with director Graham Cozzubbo and designer Brent Krysa and they discuss the collaborative process necessary in developing this new work for young people.
"I first discovered this story about eight years ago for the COC's After School Opera Program," Burry says. "We did a little 10-minute version of Isis with the children performing and then I realized the greater potential for expanding it for the adult performers in the COC Ensemble Studio. What is a theme that really grabs kids? 'Dinosaurs' is a big one and 'ancient Egypt' is certainly way up there. Graham and I have talked about the fact that myths and fairytales [like those used in The Brothers Grimm, which Burry also composed for previous school tours] translate well into operas because they travel across borders, nationalities, and time periods. Even though these myths were written thousands of years ago, they illuminate emotions and feelings that are universal to the human experience. It is why a story from 4,000 years ago can be relevant."
Burry feels that children are often not given enough credit for what they can absorb and that works written for them tend to be one-dimensional and happy-go-lucky. Also, you definitely need the all-important "cool" factor to keep them engaged. He says, "They get it all the time from movies, video games, and mass media presentations but they can also get it from a sincere, honest, live presentation that is happening right in front of them in their school gym."
Cozzubbo adds that since last October, when he and Brent Krysa came on board, there have been many phases in the creation of this new work. On the day of this interview, the team had had an earlier rehearsal and spoke about the different layers in the design process that are gradually being added.
Cozzubbo says, "I really believe in theatre for young audiences. Children may not have the vocabulary and they may not have the social experiences, but they have emotional information. They are sophisticated human beings so we need to perform high quality pieces for young audiences. I worked on The Brothers Grimm, which was not a show that I created but one I inherited, in a sense, and really grew to love. With Isis, we have been working since October - imaging, storytelling, creating, and generating ideas and designs. In the first workshop in October we looked at the music primarily. Now [February] we are looking at the text. The session today served a two-fold function - we wanted to hear it again to make further refinements, and also add the next members of the company to the creative process - the singers. We did not want to simply feed them information, tell them what to do, or tell them what is right or wrong - we wanted to engage them. We have had several explorations verbally of character, and ideas, so now they can start building the basis they can work from."
Cozzubbo continues, "One of the challenges in the piece, as it comes to be realized, is that you have a world that is epic that we all have imaginative responses to. Egypt - the pyramids, the Nile, movies like The Mummy - so how do you deliver that? Dean has put in the piece structurally a world of magic that takes over the stage. We know that we aren't Cecil B. DeMille and we can't produce cinematic reality, so the approach we are taking deals with the magic of perspective change and puppetry - a theatrical way of getting across this sense of epic transformation."
Due to the fact that the show tours, it has to be easy to mount and strike, has to fit into a van, and accommodate a playing space of 20x20 feet. Krysa says, "The tricky thing is that it is not entirely set in ancient Egypt - it's set in modern times with modern university students who are on an expedition. Through a crisis they come across the lost temple of Isis. This a real design challenge because we are constantly flipping between the realities. We are flipping between modern dress and a modern look, and then within a page we are immediately in ancient Egypt with the mythological characters, and then back again to modern dress. The real challenge was to find modern costumes - modern wear - that could be simply and quickly transformed into ancient Egyptian costumes."
Krysa continues, "We also have an ancient and modern idea to the set. The temple represents ancient Egypt yet it is just a ruin in modern times. We also play with the scale of the piece - we move from full-size people and full-size props to a puppet world, which takes place above the action. So we are challenged by ancient and modern; large and small scale; and action taking place above and below - in every kind of combination."
Burry says, "We are really trying to push the boundaries of this medium and what this 45-minute school tour opera can be. Right off the bat it's an epic story. And, as far as challenges go, the very first stage direction is 'a vicious sand storm in the middle of the Egyptian desert.' But with this kind of work it's the challenges and the ways that we find to meet those challenges that really make the magic happen. So instead of saying we only have this budget and it all has to fit into a van, we have to be that much more creative and thoughtful and innovative to bring that epic story to life. And it can be done! Epic struggles happen between 100,000 soldiers on a battlefield, and epic struggles happen within your own head."
Burry feels that in terms of new opera compositions things are looking up in Canada. He says, "The process of creating a new work is so important and sometimes delicate. Whether it's a mainstage opera or a school tour production, the stakes are high with every new opera that goes out there - whether the question is financial or whether it's a question of turning a gym full of kids off opera for life! It's the big reason that we have this collaboration - to make it a solid, engaging and evocative piece. So much goes on before the curtain goes up. Once again, it's what I teach the kids - opera is not just singing and acting, it is design and collaboration and so many other things. A lot has to be considered. As well as this may work in my own mind sitting at home in my studio in front of my piano, this has to work on a gym floor or on a stage."
Cozzubbo adds, "Sometimes I think people feel that educational work in opera and theatre is strictly to build the audience of the future. Of course, there is truth in that, but regardless, it's not a marketing tool solely for that purpose - it is to engage young people. I remember things I saw as a kid and they stayed with me the rest of my life."
Burry concludes, "It's great for people to see what is being produced for education, but involvement and love of opera is not secondary - it's the most important thing. Yes, this is part of the COC educational school tour and falls within the education department, but our goal here is to not only educate but to create a work of art and the best way to get young people interested in opera is to have operas specifically created for them."
Suzanne Vanstone is Manager of Publications at the Canadian Opera Company (COC). This article was originally printed in the COC's spring 2006 issue of Prelude and is re-printed with permission.
The Commissioning and Production of Isis and the Seven Scorpions has been made possible by a generous gift from Douglas L. Ludwig, Karen Rice and Family.
The COC Ensemble Studio is Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals and provides advanced instruction, hands-on experience, and career development opportunities. The Ensemble Studio is generously supported by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage, The John A. Cook Young Artist Development Fund, Harris Steel Group, The Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation, The Hal Jackman Foundation, Patricia Kramer, Jo Lander, The John McKellar Charitable Foundation, Ruby Mercer Fund, George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation, Roger D. Moore Ensemble Studio Endowment Fund, RBC Financial Group, The Stratton Trust, William and Phyllis Waters, and an anonymous donor.
For immediate release:
April 26, 2005
COC COMMISSIONS NEW OPERA FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
Toronto, Ontario - The Canadian Opera Company is pleased to announce the commission of an exciting new opera specifically written for young people, entitled Isis and the Seven Scorpions, to be performed in elementary schools across Ontario. The score and libretto for Isis and the Seven Scorpions will be written by composer Dean Burry, one of Canada's most innovative emerging composers. The premiere of Isis and the Seven Scorpions is currently scheduled for the Zellers Ensemble Studio School Tour in May 2006.
Based on ancient Egyptian mythology, the story of Isis and the Seven Scorpions is sure to intrigue and inspire elementary school age children. Set in the present day Egyptian desert, the opera follows a group of archaeology students and their professor, searching for the Lost Temple of Isis. Calamity strikes when the professor is stung by a scorpion and left near death with his students desperate to save him. Their only hope is to call upon Isis, the Goddess of Magical Healing. In doing so, the students learn of Isis' own story of survival, fraught with deception and betrayal as well as hope and charity.
Born in Newfoundland, Dean Burry has worked on many projects with the COC since 1997 and leads the company's very popular After School Opera Program. Isis and the Seven Scorpions is the second opera created by Burry for the COC. In 1999, the company commissioned Burry to write an opera for young people, entitled The Brothers Grimm, which premiered in 2001 and is currently touring to elementary schools across Ontario with the 2005 Zellers Ensemble Studio School Tour. On May 6, 2005, Burry's The Brothers Grimm reaches a significant milestone in Canadian music history when it celebrates its 100th performance.
"My goal for Isis is to create a meaningful work of art that educates and entertains not only children, but families and other audiences about opera and 21st-century music," says Burry. "When composing my first opera for the COC, The Brothers Grimm, I realized the true potential of this type of work and am really looking forward to building on that experience. A work like this can show children, from a very early age, that opera is for them. I look forward to bringing Isis and the Seven Scorpions to as many young people as possible."
"One cannot over-stress the importance of introducing young people to the world of opera. The rewards are immeasurable," says General Director, Richard Bradshaw. "Music education is absolutely vital to the growth of opera in Canada, and Dean Burry is an original voice whose expertise as an educator makes him extremely well-suited to understanding the unique requirements of creating an opera for young people. I am thrilled to count another Dean Burry creation among the COC's repertoire and eagerly anticipate the many more to come."
Dean Burry also created the opera The Hobbit, inspired by J.R.R Tolkien, for the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, which had its world premiere in May 2004. Burry's future work includes The Vinland Traveller, an opera that will tour Newfoundland and Labrador in 2006, and Children of the Moon, an opera for young people with a libretto by Canadian author Robertson Davies.
Isis and the Seven Scorpions will be 45-minutes long and sung in English. The opera will have parts for four singers and will be performed with piano accompaniment.
The COC's school tour has travelled to elementary schools across Ontario since 1980 and showcases the talents of the young professional opera artists from the COC Ensemble Studio program while simultaneously introducing young people to the dramatic world of opera. In recent years, the Zellers Ensemble Studio School Tour has reached an annual audience of over 20,000 young people from Kindergarten to Grade 6. Zellers Inc. has been the exclusive Title Sponsor of the tour since 2002.
The COC Ensemble Studio is Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals and provides advanced instruction, hands-on experience, and career development opportunities. The Ensemble Studio is generously supported by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage, The John A. Cook Young Artist Development Fund, Harris Steel Group, The Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation, The Henry N.R. Jackman Foundation, Ruby Mercer Fund, George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation, Roger D. Moore Ensemble Studio Endowment Fund, RBC Financial Group, and an anonymous donor.
The first time I was handed a faded, dog-eared copy of The Hobbit I was ten. As a young lad I was absorbed in all things fantastical: dragons and giants, Greek and Egyptian mythology, medieval weapons and warfare. These things are still on the minds of ten years old lads and lasses, just as they were on the minds of children a thousand years ago. Some things never change but something about The Hobbit was different. It spoke so convincingly of this 'made-up' world, that it seemed real. It almost seemed more like a history book that just a fantasy novel. Well, I believed.
There was something odd in those pages, however. Little italicized stanzas. Poetry in a novel about vicious goblin wars? While reading, I soon discovered it was not poetry but song lyrics and they were very important. In the tradition of the medieval minstrels and troubadours, Tolkien was constantly commenting on the story through song. Well, I took piano lessons with the church organist. I was in the recorder ensemble at seven in the morning. I sang "Crawdad Hole" with the grade-six choir at the Kiwanis Festival in Gander, Newfoundland. The Hobbit was full of music. Music and a dragon - my ten-year old idea of heaven.
Being asked to create an opera of The Hobbit has been a chance to fully realize that dream. Of course the book is full of lyrics, but the music must be supplied by the imagination. The music of my opera was inspired by the many races found in the book. Of course, the music must reflect the epic plot, but it must also portray the simple quaintness of the Hobbits, the earthy fortitude of the dwarves, the pastoral lightness of the elves, the mischievous wickedness of the goblins and the arrogance of Smaug the Magnificent.
One of the reasons why Middle Earth is so compelling, is that J.R.R. Tolkien, a language professor at Oxford University in England, was intimately aware of human civilization throughout history. His races behave like real cultures in our own world. Various world musical styles have also flavoured the composition of The Hobbit opera. The Dwarvish anthem "Far Over the Misty Mountains" has an undeniable Russian folk-song quality. The Elves of Rivendell sing a song inspired by Renaissance French Madrigals. The Goblins' harsh and dissonant "Fifteen birds in five fir trees" recalls German expressionism and the fiddle tunes of Hobbiton evoke my own home of Newfoundland. Fantasy grounded in reality means fantasy which feels real. It is something foreign and familiar all at the same time and a great starting point for an engaging piece of theatre.
- May 13, 2004
- Tolkien's Munchkins
- The National Post,
- Thurs. May 13, 2004
- Arts & Life 1
Canadian Composer Dean Burry has created the world's first operatic adaptation of Tolkien. And who will play the dwarves, elves and hobbits?
"Everyone, please listen! If you're a Frodo Ruby, do not go by the Dwarves. Baggins Rubies: you need to line up here." It's late on a Saturday afternoon, and 80-odd children, aged five to 16, have been rehearsing all day. But there's a palpable excitement in the room. And when director Duncan McIntosh issues these incomprehensible (to a visitor) instructions, a dozen five- and six-year olds immediately separate their adorable selves from the older children, and form two groups of - what else? - hobbits. The youngsters are all members of the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus. The ensemble's "day job" is to supply any children required in Canadian Opera Company's productions. But the CCOC, under artistic director Ann Cooper Gay, is one of only a handful of choirs in the world that regularly commissions and performs operas written for children's voices.
At this rehearsal, the children are putting the final touches on what promises to be the most exciting project in the CCOC's 36-year history: a new opera by Canadian composer Dean Burry based on Tolkien's novel The Hobbit.
The prequel to Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit recounts how the comfort-loving Bilbo Baggins, unwillingly dragged into a heroic quest, accidentally acquires the ring of power over which the entire population of Tolkien's fantasy world will get their knickers into a twist for 1300 pages, in LOTR.
Burry's Hobbit- he wrote the libretto as well as the music -- is the world's first operatic adaptation of Tolkien. There's only one adult role in the piece: a baritone plays the wizard Gandalf and gives voice to Smaug the dragon. The Hobbit [is also the first CCOC production to involve all the choristers - not just the senior ensemble. "The Hobbit, and Tolkien, are just too far-reaching [not to involve everyone]," said Cooper Gay. "Every kid is fascinated by it." Hence the participation of the "Ruby" choristers - the CCOC's munchkin division, named after founder Ruby Mercer - in the opening scene. It took years for the CCOC to wrest permission to adapt The Hobbit from the California-based company that owns the literary rights to Tolkien's works. Yet the timing of the opera couldn't be better, thanks to the blockbuster LOTR movies. The opera also dovetails nicely with the COC's Ring Cycle: Tolkien and Wagner dipped into many of the same Old Norse and German sources for their respective tales of Rings of Power. And though he denied it, Tolkien was undoubtedly influenced by Wagner.
Within moments of Saturday's run-through you could see why The Hobbit was a superb choice. With its band of dwarves, troupes of elves, and armies of goblins, the opera is chock-full of fantastic roles, literally and figuratively.
"You need a huge cast for a children's opera," Burry confirmed. "If there are only three leads, a lot of kids are going to be playing spear-carriers, or be nameless chorus members." The Hobbit also offers plenty of opportunities for choral singing - the principal strength of a children's choir. "The soloists are great," Burry said, accurately. "But children can't maintain long arias the way adults can."
The Hobbit is cosier, and more manageable in scope than the epic LOTR. But the earlier book has a moral message too. "Tolkien wrote The Hobbit in 1937," McIntosh said after the rehearsal. "And he was warning about the terrors of another World War. Thorin, the Dwarf King, sings it at the end: 'If people cared more for music, food and joy, and less for hoarded gold, the world would be a happier place.' We think of the book as a plea for peace, and we talk seriously about that with the kids."
"The movies of Lord of the Rings are very action-based," said Burry. "They left out most of the songs [in Tolkien's books]. We're the opposite: there are no huge special effects, and the songs are the pillars. I think it's a more emotionally connected, deeper reading." Burry's score is highly appealing without being ingratiating or Broadway-ish. To reflect the richness of Tolkien's fantasy world, the composer has drawn on a variety of musical styles: traditional English folk song for the hobbits; Renaissance madrigal with a splash of Debussy for the sophisticated and exotic Elves; more than a hint of Kurt Weill for the Goblins; habanera-tango for the dragon.
"I love that the music was just created, and that it was created just for us," said Stephanie Domingues, who plays the Wood Elf King. Fourteen-year-old Kristina Bijelic, who has just written a string quartet herself, concurred.
"It's so special that the composer is alive, and in the room, so you can ask him all these questions," she said. "You can't go and ask Beethoven what he wants you to do in his music!"
Many of the choristers sound and behave like seasoned stage veterans - which they are. "I might get nervous offstage," explained 13-year-old Matthew Galloway, who plays Thorin in one cast. "But as soon as I get on stage, I am the character. And that character has nothing to be nervous about -- unless of course in that scene they are nervous."
The one drawback to Tolkien is that there are virtually no females in The Hobbit, while girls outnumber boys by almost three to one in the CCOC principal chorus.
So Burry, who otherwise stuck closely to Tolkien's book in his libretto, created six new female roles. "They're our counterpart to Wagner's Valkyries," Cooper Gay said, only half-joking. The six young women share the voice of Gollum, magnifying the creature's already fragmented psyche. Elsewhere, they play Elf-Maidens, who function as a kind of Greek chorus.
All three adults agreed that children bring unique strengths to an opera. "They have a kind of innocence," McIntosh said. "There are a lot of short cuts [in interpretation and characterization] that people develop in musical theatre and opera. These kids don't have that. Instead, you get a plain canvas to paint on, with a certain honesty and integrity." "Children have an inherent sense of musical pulse," Cooper Gay added. "Sometimes they're like a bunch of young colts charging home to the corral: you have to try to lasso them. But at least there's something to lasso: you don't have to inject energy into them all the time!" Cooper Gay's respect for those high spirits is what sets her apart from many children's conductors. Indeed, she is the real Gandalf of this production, presiding over the often chaotic energy of 130 children with benevolent wisdom.
"This is not a stand-and-sing choir," Cooper Gay said. "The kind of kid who comes to the CCOC is a kind of stage animal. You need to discipline that in rehearsal. But you have to walk a fine line. Because when they get on stage that's exactly the energy you want."
The Hobbit premieres at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre Saturday and Sunday, with shows at 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm both days. All are sold out. The show tours the Maritimes next month, playing June 25 at the University of PEI in Charlottetown; June 27 at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick, and June 29 at the Alderney Landing in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Hockey and Musicals are the same. That statement might anger fans of both. It might make jocks laugh and society ladies roll their eyes. Maybe that statement goes a little far, after all, hockey is sport and musical theatre is art. However, they are both entertainment and after working on the music and lyrics for Home and Away, I have concluded that they are similar in many ways. Anyone who says that a hockey game is not dramatic has never seen good one. Anyone who says that a musical is not exciting has never been to a good theatre. There are heroes and villains, intermissions and climaxes, plot twists and deceptions and then there is the music.
We tend to surround the important events in our lives with music; Weddings, graduations and face-offs. Who can think of the start of a new season without the famous Hockey Night In Canada Theme? Queen and Meatloaf probably get their greatest airplay in the rinks of small town Canada. Music is not just the filler between periods, it makes the game an experience and it wouldn't be the same without it.
The music for Home and Away is inspired by all those songs that put us in a mood; that sad country song when we're feeling blue, that sexy jazz tune when we want to get lucky and a good rock song when we just want to let loose. I personally like Alanis Morrisette when I'm cleaning my apartment...it makes me aggressive. In any event, Home and Away is filled with characters that need music to get them through the day as much as we all do.
- The Brothers Grimm, An Opera For the (Young) People
- Prelude (Canadian Opera Company), September, 2000
Woe to the composer who takes lightly the task of writing an opera for young audiences, but more importantly, woe to the arts organization that takes lightly the task of reaching those audiences. After having worked with children for the past three years in the Esso Kids After-school Opera Program, I have caught a glimpse of what it is that children want and need in opera. Trying to remember what it was like to be four feet tall is a funny thing. It is not so much a matter of turning back the years, but more so a matter of peeling back the layers of cynicism and disbelief we develop with maturity to find a core that kept us curious and accepting. Writing an opera for young audiences is not an easy affair. It is serious fun.
For almost a year now, I have been working on a new opera, The Brothers Grimm, to be performed by the COC's Ensemble Studio as part of their annual school tour. There are many reasons for an opera company to devote resources to education, and every department from marketing to publicity and fund-raising can list its own specific gains, but beyond all this, the educational programs must provide a genuine arts experience, change attitudes and attract new opera fans. Workshops, dress rehearsal tickets and building tours are one thing. However, if you really want to bring opera to young people, you must bring young people their own operas. Hopefully, The Brothers Grimm will be just what they're looking for.
So how do you approach the composition of a new opera to be performed by adults for children? First of all, it is important to remember to talk to children and not at them. Children are very aware of whether they're being involved or ordered. It comes down to the age-old question of how much the intended audience should affect the creation of a new work.
Obviously, an artist with any integrity will realize that the first person to satisfy is himself, or else he is never creating from a sincere place. That said, any composer who has no regard for the requirements of the audience risks alienation. For me, writing is all about communication, and if no one listens or understands, the goal has been missed. This consideration is doubly important with young audiences. It is a privilege, as a writer, to work with children for you will never receive a more honest critique. Adult audiences may give you a lukewarm curtain call, but children may poke, prod, fight and fire spitballs throughout your favourite aria. It can be brutal. It can be inspirational.
Instead of writing a "kiddie" opera, then, I try to approach my task as if writing opera for any audience new to the art form. Show them and engaging plot that keeps moving and speaks directly to the audience. Hit them with some exciting and evocative music. The audience should always be wondering what is going to happen next, even if it is a familiar story (The Brothers Grimm gets behind the origins of Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Rumpelstiltskin and reveals the lives of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.) If you lose this curiosity, you've lost your connection and you have to work that much harder to get it back. These are qualities most people would like to see in an opera, or any other art form, for that matter.
Humour is always a great way of captivating young audiences and keeping them involved in what is happening on the stage. This doesn't mean that everything has to be slapstick with references to bodily functions, but certainly some of the best productions are the ones that make us both cry and laugh, a mirror of real life. This physical involvement goes a long way in holding a new audience, especially children, who are so willing to honestly show how they are feeling.
The canon of children's opera seems to be growing at a faster rate these days. Children's literature, music and theatre have been well represented for quite a while now, and as more opera companies feel the effects of shifting government priorities, the importance of capturing new audiences cannot be overestimated. It is all about ensuring the future of companies, the art form, and the enrichment of our youth; aspirations worth pursuing.
The bottom line is that kids bring openness and a curiosity to theatre. It is up to us whether they grow up to be opera lovers and supporters of people who prefer to keep their prejudice against opera. Is writing opera for children a task to be taken lightly? Not at all.
In the spring of 1997, I sat in the boardroom at the Canadian Opera Company watching a presentation on the upcoming season's production of Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel. I was intrigued by the story I was hearing: not of those house-munching youngsters, but of the two brothers who had first written that tale down. How was it that our civilization knew so much about those fairy-tales and so little about Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm? After all, if not for the Grimms, the stories of Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Little Red Cap, Rumpelstiltskin and hundreds of others might have been lost with the decline of the oral story-telling tradition. The magic, mystery and whimsy were too much for a composer to ignore. There had been countless adaptations of the tales but very little material on the lives of the actual brothers. Besides, I couldn't resist the challenge of writing an opera with two librarians as its valiant heroes. This would be a fantastic foundation for a new COC opera. Unfortunately, at the time, I was not a composer-in-residence - I was selling tickets in the box office.
Jump ahead three years. My box office days were behind me and I was running an after-school program and seemingly giving lectures to every student in the city for the COC's education department. A notice came out that the company was looking for a millennium project and as General Manager Richard Bradshaw was familiar with my work, I was asked to find a libretto for a new opera for young audiences. It quickly became evident that those two German brothers would soon have their say.
In writing the libretto for The Brothers Grimm, I attempted to combine the well-known fairy tales of Rapunzel, Little Red Cap and Rumpelstilskin with the less familiar history of the real brothers and Germany in the first decade of the 19th century. In the same way, the music is a blend of simple, singable melodies and more contemporary tonalities and rhythms. As this work would be the first new opera experienced by many young people, I endevoured to create a score both fresh and familiar - something both to get the toes tapping and the brain thinking. I strongly believe that no matter how intellectually satisfying a composition is, it should always play on the heart as well - call me a hopeless romantic.
Each of the tales uses a different musical language. Rapunzel, a love story, draws out long, enraptured melodies. Little Red Cap dances with the skipping rhythms of an eager young girl and Rumpelstiltskin's clashes are just plain twisted, rather like the devilish little imp. The addition of a chamber ensemble (violin, clarinet and double bass) to the original piano score has allowed me not only to heighten all of these elements but also to enhance the "German" flavour of the work.
Joe and Mary first started in the fall of 1991 when the idea for a love song hit me. It must be true that Joseph and Mary of the Bible were in love; why else would they go through what they did? Yet, this is rarely portrayed by recent generations as the couple is almost looked upon as being divine themselves. The fact is that they were very common people with common problems; they weren't even let into the inn. Saying they were in a way "divine" may not be totally false, however they were great not by their titles, but by their actions. Joe and Mary Had a Baby is not necessarily about Joseph and Mary of the Bible, but more generally about two people who choose to conquer their problems together.