LSM Newswire

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Queen of Puddings in Europe with Love Songs


QUEEN OF PUDDINGS MUSIC THEATRE

LOVE SONGS Tours EUROPE

Canadian Production Debuts in Paris, Ljubjana and Zagreb

Queen of Puddings Music Theatres stunning one-woman show, Love Songs debuts in Europe this weekend at the legendary Centre Culturel Irlandais, in the historic Quartier Latin in Paris (France) on Saturday, April 18, followed by performances at Cankarjev Dom a multi-venue state-of-the-art performing arts facility in the heart of magical Ljubjana (Slovenia) on April 21, and in Zagreb (Croatia) on April 24, as part of the prestigious international Zagreb Music Biennale.

Love Songs is a spectacular virtuosic (a cappella) tour de force for solo female singer starring mezzo-soprano Lauren Phillips. Award-winning composer Ana Sokolovic chose her favourite love poems from many different languages, set them to music and framed each set with I Love You in 100 languages. A Queen of Puddings commission, Love Songs had a very successful premiere in Toronto last year at the Canadian Opera Companys Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre and was remounted at Harbourfront in July 2008, and in Montreal in February 2009. Ķa magnificent workĶ Phillips went beyond virtuosity and entered into the various states of love with purity of heart as well as voice, and conveyed an exhilarating freedom and daring as she leapt from language to language especially in the dizzying I love yous - Tamara Bernstein, The Globe and Mail (March 2008)

Lauren Phillips has been described as incantatory in her singing. Originally from Ottawa, she has won Opera Guild Scholarships, a University of Western Ontario Gold Medal, as well as the Vivian Asfar Memorial Award through an opera competition as a young artist with Opera Lyra Ottawa. Ana Sokolovic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and is now based in Montreal. Her works have been performed in North America and abroad. This opera is her third collaboration with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre (having written Sirens and The Midnight Court). Ana Sokolovic has won many distinctions and prizes, including the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers. She also represented Canada at UNESCOs International Rostrum of Composers in Paris.

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 Dirine N Mheadhra & John Hess, is acclaimed for its unique aesthetic based on a physical, singing theatre.

LOVE SONGS

Singer Lauren Phillips

Director/Choreographer Marie-Jose Chartier

Music Director Dirine N Mheadhra

Production Manager/Lighting Designer Glenn Davidson

This tour has been made possible through the Touring programs of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

www.queenofpuddingsmusictheatre.com

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Monday, January 5, 2009

INES - Queen of Puddings' new & original chamber opera

Tickets for Ins go on sale January 15!

QUEEN OF PUDDINGS MUSIC THEATRE

In Association with Harbourfront Centre

Present the WORLD PREMIERE Opera

INS

A Chamber Opera Inspired by Portuguese Fado music

Enwave Theatre, February 22-March 1, 2009

Queen of Puddings Music Theatre is proud to announce its new and original production, INS, a new Canadian chamber opera by the Toronto composer James Rolfe (Beatrice Chancy, Rosa, Elijahs Kite, Swoon) with an original libretto from writer Paul Bentley (The Handmaids Tale, Kafkas Trial, The Midnight Court, Bird of Youth) and Portuguese translations by Anna Camara and Rui Mota. Portugals celebrated singer Ins Santos will be starring in the title role of the fadista Ins. Queen of Puddings production also stars baritone Giles Tomkins, soprano Shannon Mercer, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Turnbull and bass-baritone Thomas Goerz. Stage director Jennifer Tarver, set & costume designer Yannik Larive and lighting designer Kimberly Purtell team up with Queen of Puddings' co-artistic directors, Dirine N Mheadhra and John Hess for the creation of INS, presented at the Enwave Theatre (Harbourfont Centre, Toronto) from February 22 to March 1, 2009.

Inspired by Portuguese fado music, INS is based on the famous medieval Portuguese legend of Ins de Castro. The story is adapted to depict life within Torontos Portuguese community in the 1960s. In this operatic version, Pedro, married to Constana, falls fatally in love with the beautiful fadista Ins. When the pregnant Ins is murdered by Pedros parents, he lures them to a church for a shockingly macabre dnouementĶ The opera unfolds against a backdrop of Portugals war in Angola, the Salazar dictatorship and the Portuguese immigrant experience in Canada.

Tickets for INS go on sale January 15

5 PERFORMANCES ONLY

Sunday, February 22 at 4PM (please note starting time)

Wednesday, February 25, Thursday, February 26, Saturday, February 28 at 8PM

Sunday, March 1 at 4PM (please note starting time)

Enwave Theatre (Harbourfront Centre), 231 Queens Quay West

Tickets: $35-$59

BOX OFFICE (416) 973-4000

www.queenofpuddingsmusictheatre.com


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