News
La selva de los relojes (The Forest of Clocks)
A new commission by Queen of Puddings Music Theatre
Music: CHRIS PAUL HARMAN
Text: FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA
Federico García Lorca
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 12 noon
Canadian Opera Company
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., Toronto
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre
Part of the Canadian Opera Company's Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre
Mezzo-soprano - KRISZTINA SZABÓ
Piano - TALISA BLACKMAN
Harp - SANYA ENG
Cello - RACHEL MERCER
Flute - LESLIE NEWMAN
Percussion - RYAN SCOTT
Clarinet - MICHELE VERHEUL
Conductor - DÁIRINE NÍ MHEADHRA
Ending on a High Note
For Immediate Release – Toronto, February 8, 2013: After twenty years of developing and producing new Canadian chamber opera, Toronto’s Queen of Puddings Music Theatre will conclude operations this year on August 31, 2013.
Founders and co-artistic directors Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess explain: “With Queen of Puddings, we’ve achieved what we set out to do, which was to commission and produce original Canadian opera to a high artistic standard, and to develop an international profile for this work. In this current season the company is thriving, with the great success and critical acclaim for our production of Ana Sokolovic’s opera Svadba-Wedding, touring nationally and internationally, and coming up on April 30th the premiere of a new vocal chamber work at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre by composer Chris Paul Harman. The end of our season in August 2013 feels like a very natural artistic ebbing point, and thus feels like the right moment to close the company. We want to conclude in a year like this, which is full of artistic pleasure, highlights, and fulfilment of our goals, with continued financial stability due to a deficit-free track record.” After August 31, Dáirine will remain active in the contemporary opera world, while John will continue to teach at Western University and perform recitals.
Read moreSVADBA-WEDDING Western Canada tour - Press Release
SVADBA – Wedding
By Ana Sokolovic
DORA Award-Winning Production Travels to WESTERN CANADA
Calgary – January 8, 2013
Edmonton - January 12, 13, 16, 18 & 19, 2013
Vancouver – January 21 & 22, 2013
"Svadba - Wedding is a beautiful work where music, movement, acting and design combine to create an invigorating and satisfying theatrical experience." -- Opera News, New York
For Immediate Release – Toronto, December 11, 2012: Fresh from a highly successful European tour, Toronto’s Queen of Puddings Music Theatre is proud to bring the opera SVADBA-WEDDING to Western Canada. Edmonton audiences will see the fully staged version of the Dora Award winning production at C103 (formerly known as Catalyst Theatre) (presented by Edmonton Opera). Concert versions of SVADBA-WEDDING will be performed in Calgary at the Leacock Theatre, Mount Royal University (presented by New Works Calgary) and in Vancouver at Heritage Hall (presented by Music on Main). An intoxicating tour de force for six female opera singers ‘a cappella’ by Montreal composer Ana Sokolovic, the work was commissioned by Queen of Puddings and premiered in Toronto in June 2011 to great critical acclaim.
Performances in Western Canada feature Laura Albino, Carla Huhtanen, Andrea Ludwig, Shannon Mercer, Elizabeth Turnbull and Jacqueline Woodley. The creative team is comprised of Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess (music direction); Michael Cavanagh (stage direction); Michael Gianfrancesco (set and costume design) and Kimberly Purtell (lighting design). Nathalie Bonjour acts as producer.
Read moreSVADBA-WEDDING European Tour - Press Release
SVADBA – Wedding
By Ana Sokolovic
EUROPEAN TOUR
France – October 15 & 19
Serbia – October 17
Ireland – October 21
"Svadba - Wedding is a beautiful work where music, movement, acting and design combine to create an invigorating and satisfying theatrical experience." -- Opera News, New York
For Immediate Release – Toronto, October 2, 2012: Toronto’s Queen of Puddings Music Theatre is proud to bring the concert version of SVADBA-WEDDING to Europe. Ana Sokolovic’s brilliant opera will delight audiences in France, with performances in Paris (at the Canadian Cultural Centre) and Orléans (at the famous Salle Barrault, part of Scène nationale); at the prestigious BEMUS Festival in Belgrade, Serbia and at the illustrious Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Dublin in Ireland. An intoxicating tour de force for six female opera singers ‘a cappella’ by Montreal composer Ana Sokolovic, the work was commissioned by Queen of Puddings and premiered in Toronto in June 2011 to great critical acclaim, and later received a noteworthy Dora Award.
The all-Canadian cast includes singers Laura Albino, Virginia Hatfield, Andrea Ludwig. Shannon Mercer, Elizabeth Turnbull and Jacqueline Woodley; they are joined by Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess (music direction) and Nathalie Bonjour (producer).
Read moreSVADBA - WEDDING touring in 2012-13
Our production of Ana Sokolovic's SVADBA-WEDDING will be touring nationally and internationally in 2012-13. Keep up with the tour blog here.
FALL 2012: EUROPEAN TOUR
October 15: Paris, France
Canadian Cultural Centre
October 17: Belgrade, Serbia
BEMUS - The Belgrade Music Festival, Atelier 212 Theatre
October 19: Orléans, France
Théâtre d'Orléans, Salle Barrault
October 21: Dublin, Ireland
Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Sunday Concerts
This European tour is made possible in part by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council's National and International Touring program.
WINTER 2013: WESTERN CANADIAN TOUR
January 8: Calgary, AB
New Works Calgary, Leacock Theatre at Mount Royal University
January 12, 13, 16, 18, 19: Edmonton, AB
Edmonton Opera, C103 (formerly known as Catalyst Theatre)
January 21, 22: Vancouver, BC
Music on Main, Heritage Hall
This tour of Western Canada is supported through a Canada Council for the Arts touring grant.
Stay tuned for ticketing information and additional details coming soon.
6 Dora Award nominations for Queen of Puddings Music Theatre
We are delighted to announce that Queen of Puddings received 6 nominations for this year's Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the following categories:
Outstanding Production:
SVADBA - Wedding
Outstanding New Musical/Opera:
composer Ana Sokolovic
Outstanding Musical Direction:
Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess
Outstanding Performance:
The SVADBA - Wedding ensemble
Outstanding Lighting Design:
Kimberly Purtell
Outstanding Lighting Design:
Kimberly Purtell
Read the full list of Dora Awards nominees or download the official press release from TAPA.
Read moreDairine Ni Mheadhra wins 2012 Molson Prize in the Arts
Congratulations to Dáirine Ní Mheadhra - Winner of the 2012 Molson Prize in the Arts!
The Canada Council for the Arts has just announced the two Molson Prize winners for 2012.
Dáirine Ní Mheadhra, co-artistic director of Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, is the winner of the 2012 Molson Prize in the arts. She is known for producing provocative award-winning Canadian operas that have toured around the world. Keren Rice, winner of the Molson Prize in the social sciences and humanities, is recognized for her work to preserve, revitalize and document Canada’s Aboriginal languages.
Two Canada Council Molson Prizes, worth $50,000 each, are awarded every year to distinguished Canadians, one in the arts and the other in the social sciences and humanities. Established in 1964, the prize is funded from the income of a $1 million endowment given to the Canada Council by the Molson Family Foundation and recognizes the recipients’ outstanding lifetime achievements and ongoing contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada. The Canada Council administers these awards in co-operation with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and both laureates were selected by a joint peer assessment committee.
“Breathing new life into traditional languages is a common theme of this year’s Canada Council Molson Prizes,” said Robert Sirman, Canada Council Director and CEO. “Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and Keren Rice have expanded the public reach of both contemporary opera and Aboriginal languages, and done so with an exemplary combination of innovation and excellence.”
“Our partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts for the Molson Prizes demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration and highlights the breadth of scholarly and artistic excellence to Canada and the world,” said Dr. Chad Gaffield, president of SSHRC. “We congratulate Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and Keren Rice on being awarded this prestigious prize. Their contributions to Canada’s cultural heritage and scholarly excellence reflect the important role of the social sciences and humanities in our society today, and for the future.”
Read more
May 2012: Spring Newsletter
Our spring newsletter has just been mailed out! You can view it online here or join the email list to have the digital version delivered right to your inbox.
February 2012: Some reviews for Beckett: Feck It!
Beckett: Feck It! opened on February 17th to a sold out audience at the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs at Canadian Stage.
"Beckett: Feck It! is for viewers who like their theatre allusive rather than specific: it offers as many questions as it does answers, its subtle ability to move the audience a remarkable achievement."
- NOW Magazine
"The combined effect, masterfully acted and effectively staged, uses the strange interplay of the comfortably familiar with the strikingly unexpected to create an engrossing, 75-minute show."
- Musical Toronto
"Beckett: Feck It! is a huge achievement of the collaboration of Queen of Puddings Music Theatre and Canadian Stage...Beckett is hard. This sublime evening of his words and silences, framed by the wonderful, evocative music, is worth every challenging second."
- The Slotkin Letter
"...here we have Beckett: Feck It!, an entirely engrossing evening of theatre and song by contemporary opera company Queen of Puddings, presented by Canadian Stage."
- The Globe and Mail
"Beckett: Feck It! is an evening of theatre that will surprise, entertain, and challenge you, all in the short span of seventy minutes. It shouldn’t be missed."
- The Charlebois Post
"...while it might be overstating things a tad to suggest that Beckett: Feck It! hit the stage of the Berkeley Street Theatre Friday in a presentation of Canadian Stage with a sonic boom, it made enough of a bang nonetheless that fans of both less-than-traditional Irish music and the playwright, Samuel Beckett, should stand at attention and salute."
- Toronto Sun
December 2011: Queen of Puddings on Facebook
For exclusive content and instant updates from Queen of Puddings, join our Facebook Page. We've been posting videos and photos about our recent productions and sharing news and reviews. Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes interviews and more in the coming weeks leading up to Beckett: Feck It!.
