Valete, omnes!

Due to a change in family commitments, I will no longer be posting to this blog. I thank you for your readership over the last four years and still invite your feedback, as the blog will remain active for comments.

V. Wells August 2010

As We Approach Advent

[We often see the bastardized version circulating via email; it was added to erroneously.] The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu.

If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.

I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

3 degrees

4 degrees of separation

check out Chiyoko Szlavnics' website. kinda cool.

I Was Handled

Photo by Bruce Zinger

The word handle comes from a source akin to the old Norse meaning to seize or to capture; without venturing too far into the world of bad puns, I certainly had that experience last night at Opera Atelier's Acis and Galatea. Running through November 7th, this English baroque opera by Handel is thoroughly charming.

Co-artistic director Marshall Pynkoski somewhat downplayed the piece, reassuring the audience that despite its shorter duration, it had received the same rehearsal and production budgets as any of their offerings, but noted that it was simpler. Well, less is more, apparently.

For example, the company had the collective smarts to use synecdoche: one feather in the hair to indicate that a dancer was a bird. Why does that suffice? Because members of the Opera Atelier Ballet can convey their role through their movement alone; they don't need a 'bird costume'. The one set and lack of costume changes for the principals hleps us focus on the narrative. Tafelmusik Baroque orchestra seemed especially fresh, and the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir were definitely of one voice. It was as sweet a love story as one could hope to see.

I noted the classics class with their teacher from my alma mater in attendance. Indeed, I wish I had had her in grade 8. Last night's performance was perhaps the first time I have ever really enjoyed a story from mythology (sorry, Mrs. Fenning). That's anathema, coming from a Latin teacher, but heus! I do my best now.

Despite the bittersweet/tragic ending, there were a couple of gags which OA managed to pull off well. These involved goats and a cyclops. This cannot be an easy task in baroque opera and ballet. But then, Opera Atelier has been pushing the envelope for 25 incrementally improving years now. Kudos to them. I'm looking forward to their next quarter century.

My Semi-Annual Rant

image from cbc.ca/arts

Everyone who knows and loves me knows my phobia of spelling and grammar mistakes. I made a typo in an email to my husband recently and it's been bothering me ever since. So, here, I take umbrage with a plaque on a newly unveiled statue of Emily Carr in Victoria that has flipping typos--yes, that's typos pluralized-- because someone missed a letter and hyphenating two words. The article expounds the virtues of spellchecking and asks why it wasn't caught there. I ask how the proof even got to the plaque-maker with the errors still extant: does no one read things before or after spellchecking? Does no one own/use a dictionary? I loved someone's online comment on the article: Don't be so harsh towards a country were English is a second language. [sic] Touché!

OMG I Have to go to Berlin

There's a VERY COOL positive image camera in Berlin that takes unique life size portraits in B&W! For €290 euros ($412 CAN) you can walk into this behemoth and have it produced in ten minutes. Check out the coolness here.

Does This Include Tourists?

I just read about an illustrator in NYC named Jason Polan whose current project involves drawing every person in New York. While this is a fanciful project, I felt compelled to check out his blog. It has jots of everyone from deliverymen to Carol Spinney. Kinda fun, in idea anyway. Except I'm not in it; guess he took that week off.

Recom

Check out this writer's blog, Gillian Wallance...watch me edit. You can also take advantage of her emailed poem of the week. I like her voice and her interests. (Sort of like I like my friend David Barker's stuff on Nouspique, which you can only find on this hyperlink, as Blogger saw fit to remove my Permalink list.....). Just sayin'.

"The Big Night Out"

iD

Sony Centre 50th Anniversary Premiere Engagement!

continues October 2, 7, 8, 9, 2010 at 8 pm October 3, 2010 at 2 pm Tickets start at $35

iD is co-created by Jeannot Painchaud, founder and artistic director of Montreal‟s acclaimed Cirque Éloize, and hip-hop choreographer Mourad Merzouki. Since it began in 1993, Cirque Éloize has enjoyed overwhelming success marked by rave reviews, numerous awards, and sold-out engagements around the world. The company has toured extensively to the world‟s most prestigious festivals and theatres including: Edinburgh International Festival, the Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles), Piccolo Teatro (Milan), Les Folies Bergère (Paris), Bunkamura Orchard Hall (Tokyo), Israel Festival Jerusalem, Hong Kong Festival, Sadler‟s Wells (London), Sydney Opera House, Barbican Theatre (London), Beiteddine Festival (Beirut), Chekhov International Theatre Festival (Moscow), International Cervantino Festival (Guanajuato) [text courtesy of KL Strategic Communications]

But let's reminisce for a bit. I remember [yeah, yeah, I sound like an old fart...] going to the O'Keefe Centre (said Sony Centre) at age 9 in a long dress to see Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, performing there with the COC's production of Tosca, as part of the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, seeing The Nutcracker and Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel......you get the picture. Way back in the Jurassic era, the O'Keefe was THE destination for quality arts in Toronto. Now, we are blessed with the new opera house, RTH and we still support the blessed old Massey Hall: our city is dripping in good arts venues. Last night's re-opening celebration of the now-Sony Centre brought back many memories for me. You'll be glad to hear it is one reno that has not decimated a Toronto landmark; it is remarkably the same. Same old phone booths just fancier phones, same old brass fixtures in the marble drinking fountains, same old York Wilson The Seven Lively Arts mural above the interior entrance. That is good. I don't like change. But the place has certainly entered the 21st century: a huge digital multiscreen greets you upon entry. There is now a Sony Store where the old main floor coat check used to be. There are more women's washrooms, but still long line-ups for them. Don't know where the $28 million went, but hey, status quo rocks. Oh--except those cool autographed B&Ws of the centre's previous stars? Yup, they're gone; now on changing digitized screens. That's one "dislike" click. Although the new seats are comfortable and cupholders(!) invite in-performance refreshment. There's a nice little section on the centre eponymously named in the Saturday September 25th edition of the Toronto Star if you'd like more deets.

Ok, so now that we've established that I'm not too unsettled, on to iD. This is a punked-up, urban melding of hiphop/breakdancing and acrobatics. Cirque de Soleil it's not, and I don't think they mean it to be: success number one. The audience (those under 70 who could handle the pulsating Sony sound system and didn't leave at intermission) was wowed by the circus fare we all thrill to: contortionism (I'm sorry, but that was a bit OTT), trapeze and ribbon and pole aero-artistry, chair-tower balancing, springy stilts and pogo sticks. The new elements were the BMX-let's-pretend-to-run-over-the-audience-'volunteer'-and-stop-just-short-of-landing-on-his-face/crown-jewels-with-the-wheels, rollerblading (the guy was clearly a former ice skater--good stuff), what I can only call Mega Trampolining, and 17 kids who apparently do Pilates for 6 hours a day. But you know what was my favourite little spot? The guy who cycled across the stage once on a little 6 inch bicycle. Go figure. Simple is better. While I couldn't claim to dig the choreography (SYTYCD is more my scene), I did appreciate the video projections and their set design which were incredibly versatile and in sync with the vibe of the show.

I never would have thought that the O'Keefe [OK FINE: Hummingbird...] Centre would morph successfully from a primarily operatic stage into a venue for a circus, but there you have it. It bodes well for their line up of disparate cultural presentations this year: everything from the Kirov Ballet to The Grinch. Yet another monthly contributor to the listings in Wholenote Magazine. Welcome back, O'Keefe/Sony! It's been a long two years.

ps But could someone not have done the math? The majority of the 3100 bums in seats are female: why aren't there 500 bathroom stalls? Then you wouldn't have to choose between lining up for a drink or dealing with the outcome....

ps I still have Zero Mostel's autograph. Thanks, Daddy.

Cirque Éloize's iD at Sony Centre on October 1!

SONY CENTRE READIES FOR GRAND RE-OPENING OCTOBER 1ST



Finishing touches are being made as the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts prepares to unveil its thrilling new renovation as part of its 50th Anniversary Season celebrations on Friday, October 1st, 2010.



“It’s been an incredible undertaking”, said Dan Brambilla, CEO of The Sony Centre For The Performing Arts. “We’re eager to welcome Torontonians into the venue to see the exciting new technologies integrated with the magnificent architectural beauty of this historic building.”



From June 2008 to October 2010, more than 200 local trades people were employed to restore the elegance and grandeur of architect Peter Dickinson’s original O’Keefe Centre which opened on October 1st, 1960. Phase Two of the Centre’s three-part renovation begins in 2011 with the construction of the new permanent backstage facilities and the “L Tower”, a 57-story residential tower designed by Daniel Libeskind. Upon completion of the tower, the final phase of the renovations gets underway, encompassing the external cityscape design and a new public plaza.



Restoration highlights



The restoration of this designated historical site eliminated a number of architectural interventions added to the theatre over the past 50 years. The process was governed by a commitment to preserve and showcase the building’s landmark modernist designs and showcase the fine quality of materials - Carrera marble, cherry wood, limestone and bronze – that were hallmarks of the original facility. Many iconic features including the marquee canopy and R. York Wilson’s lobby mural “The Seven Lively Arts” have been preserved.



Throughout the lobby, the original Carrera marble that had been hidden was uncovered, glass panels were removed to reveal the original coved ceiling, and all 189 bronze doors were removed and refinished, as were the 1016 bronze handrail pickets. Inside the theatre, the original interior finishes, including 1700 cherry veneer wood panels and the 1500 rosewood slats spanning the acoustic back wall, were painstakingly restored by hand. All 3191 seats were replaced with custom designed ergonometric seats, complete with cup holders. The thirteen washrooms have been gutted and redesigned, with more ladies washrooms added on the second floor.



New at the Sony Centre



Sony of Canada Ltd., the naming sponsor of the Centre, will further enhance the theatre’s environment by providing state-of-the-art Sony entertainment solutions throughout the venue. In addition to the latest Sony Bravia® panels, visitors can expect to see cutting-edge multimedia technologies such as the new Sony Ziris Canvas, a high end feature application where high definition digital content stretches across wall-to-wall screens. Comprised of 21 screens, this video wall is the largest installation of its kind in North America. This Ziris Canvas will greet visitors as they enter the main foyer of the Sony Centre, and in the north-west corner of the renovated building, visitors can explore more Sony technologies in a new Sony retail store. Also in the main lobby, visitors can enjoy the latest 3D technology shown on a 3D wall, just steps away from the Sony Store.



The Sony Centre has partnered with Sodexo, a world leader in food services, to create an international culinary experience that reflects and compliments the diverse programming on stage. Prior to every show, Executive Chef Stephen M. Lee will prepare an affordable menu featuring signature foods from the particular country showcased, such as Russia, Japan, or China. Beginning October 7th, patrons will be able to enjoy specialty ABSOLUT cocktails at the new Balcony Bar beginning at 4 p.m.



The Walls of Fame featuring photographs of the thousands of artists who have performed at the Centre have been scanned and will be featured on screens located in the lower lobby. New and improved art gallery spaces have been created throughout the expansive lobbies.



Opening Night October 1st



The Sony Centre embarks on its 50th Anniversary season ready to play a central role in the cultural experience of Torontonians as a nexus of arts, culture and technology. The 50th Anniversary Season reflects the diversity and sophistication of 21st century Toronto audiences with programming featuring the international stars of dance, theatre, music and popular culture that resonate with today’s audiences. To celebrate its grand re-opening and to launch the 50th Anniversary Season, the Sony Centre co-commissioned Montreal’s renowned Cirque Éloize to create iD, a spectacular new production featuring acrobats, break dancers, contortionists and eye-popping video projections. Described as a mash of “West Side Story gone hip-hop circus”, iD will run for six performances only October 1 to 9, 2010. For tickets and more information visit www.sonycentre.ca .

Opera Atelier Celebrates 25 Extraordinary Years

Photo: Bruce Zinger / Juri Hiraoka and Thomas Macleay / Handel's Acis and Galatea / Photographed at The Soho Metropolitan Hotel
Opera Atelier celebrates its 25th
Anniversary Season with two new productions: one pays tribute to the company’s roots, the second points
to its ambitious plans for the future.
The season opens with OA’s first fully-staged production of Handel’s pastorale Acis and Galatea. Based
on Ovid’s tale of the water nymph Galatea and her doomed love for the Arcadian shepherd Acis, it is one
of Handel’s most popular creations. Tenor Thomas Macleay, who thrilled Toronto audiences with his
performance in last season’s Iphigénie en Tauride, will sing the title role of Acis partnered with Canadian
soprano Mireille Asselin, in her company debut as Galatea. They are joined by bass João Fernandes
who appears as the giant Polyphemus and tenor Lawrence Wiliford as the spirit Damon. Acis will also
feature Artists of Atelier Ballet, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir under the
baton of David Fallis.
This production is directed by Marshall Pynkoski and choreographed by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg.
Both sets and costumes will be designed by Gerard Gauci – a first for OA! The production will be lit by
Kevin Fraser. Acis and Galatea runs October 30, November 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, 2010 and is sung in
English with English SURTITLES (tm).
The spring production will be North America’s first period production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito.
In Mozart’s lifetime, La Clemenza di Tito was considered “his most perfect work”, enjoying enormous
success in Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Naples, St. Petersburg, Paris and London. Desperate intrigues,
unrequited love and heart stopping reversals of fortune punctuate this thrilling story taken directly from
Roman history. This is the fourth new Mozart production of Opera Atelier’s ambitious “Mozart Six” plan
which to date includes Idomeneo (2007), The Abduction from the Seraglio (2008) and The Marriage of
Figaro (which opens April 2010). Opera Atelier has re-assembled the most famous cast in the company’s
history for this exciting production. Full casting will be announced at a later date. La Clemenza di Tito
will be sung in Italian with English SURTITLESTM and runs April 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, and May 1, 2011.
The creative team for La Clemenza di Tito includes director Marshall Pynkoski, choreographer
Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, designer Gerard Gauci, and lighting designer Bonnie Beecher. David
Fallis conducts the Tafelmusik Orchestra.
Performances for Opera Atelier’s 25th Anniversary Season will take place at the Elgin Theatre (189
Yonge Street) in Toronto. Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinee performances
begin at 3:00 p.m.
Subscriptions for Opera Atelier’s 2010/11 season start at $55 and are on sale now by calling 416-703-
3767 ext. 22.For more information visit www.operaatelier.com.

Recommended Even if You're NOT into Wrestling!

Aside from When We Were Kings, I never thought I'd watch another fight film again (Raging Bull put me off), but I am glad I saw Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. I'll watch just about any film about redemption (towit: Magnolia....); if I'd known this had that theme, I'd have checked it out ages ago.

Randy the Ram reminded me of F. Murray Abraham's Salieri in Amadeus; the 'loser' in his world, living a life under the shadow of other greats. In this case, the Ram is living in a trailer park, playing nintendo with kids and doesn't even have a (cell) phone. 'Course, that could be due to the massive amount of drugs and steroids he has to buy to keep up his dubious title. The film highlights what we often forget about celebrity (even if it is minor celebrity): what looks like glory and fame often amounts to a hill of beans. Marisa Tomei's character laments her stereotype, saying that she is not a stripper (which she most certainly is) but rather a mom who has to work to support her son.

There is a tad too much foreshadowing in this story, and loads of parent-child relationship analysis, but overall the look at the real world behind a fake world is pretty fascinating. I might have driven my husband crazy with all my naive chick questions about what he thought was accurate in the film, but there was a good balance of humour and pathos to calm the nerves and keep the plot moving.

Without including a spoiler, my favourite part of the movie was what my theology-in-film prof used to call the point of transcendence: in this film, the decisive moment is in the very last shot. I think director Darren Aronofsky created a perfect ending for The Wrestler, something that is pretty rare in Hollystupid these days.

A fight movie. Huh.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

I saw and loved this film. All I can say is that I'm thinking of going to Mr. Brainwash's show in NYC....See the following review which says all I would wish to: New York Times

"LIKE"

If your eyes are still, you're dead.
~ David Hockney


Photography is the easiest medium in which to be competent, but it is probably the hardest one in which to develop an idiosyncratic personal vision.
~Chuck Close

My Blueberry Nights (2007) is a quirky little film about finding love. As Dorothy says in Oz, ‘If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!’

I was unfamiliar with director Kar Wai Wong prior to seeing this movie. Online reviews I read don’t do it justice: yes, the theme is a common one, and just because the character is independent does not mean she is like Amélie. I found Norah Jones’ and Jude Law’s characters substantial, but the two performances I found most wrenching were those of Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, playing two women who have lost love, or perhaps never really had it to begin with. Both are the victims of problems of the men in their lives: the former’s father is a serious gambler and the latter’s ex-husband is an alcoholic police officer. Both lose these relationships without resolving their sense of rejection.

However, Wong’s stylistic treatment of the film leaves it with an airy, sweet feel; perhaps the intro song by Jones helps to set up the tone. Either way, the tougher themes don’t dampen my take-away, namely that journeys of self-discovery need not be exercises in existentialist torture, but that all of the people and events that shape us are significant, even if the lessons learned are negative. An open mind will convert and shape such lessons into a wiser and kinder heart.

00.061.1.06.009

Baritone Peter McGillivray in rehearsal for Dark Star Requiem. Photo by Brian Mosoff.

Dark Star Requiem premiered at Luminato Friday night to an audience among whom you could hear a pin drop. This oratorio cum opera cum requiem was definitely dramatic, and most of that was accomplished through the libretto by Jill Battson and by the visual text projections. I disagree with the Star's John Terauds who wrote Saturday that it 'lacks visceral punch': I think this is where the connection lay. While the choice of words projected was very effective--such as long lists of HIV-related drugs and a real-time measurement of AIDS-related deaths every 14 seconds--some of the images were a bit long in presentation or short on the quick changes we are accustomed to in present media. The movements themselves were all that were needed to hold our thoughtful reflections.

While Koerner Hall is undoubtedly gorgeous--subdued, organic--I felt this important piece deserved a more appropriate venue. Dark Star didn't promise to be a fully staged event, but it also didn't seem to know how to present itself in that space. The character/personae shifts did not work in full view of the audience, working around musicians, choir and props. The lighting, demi-costumes and choreography shortchanged a good piece of music and an excellent body of poetry. I also missed some of the libretto as the music overpowered it. nevertheless, the props were top-notch.

The singers, as always with Tapestry New Opera Works, were excellent. One of my favourites of their performers, Peter McGillivray, delivered throughout, as did Neema Bickersteth, Kristztina Szabo and Marcus Nance. The former, in particular, managed to coax a few laughs out of the audience during this largely sombre opera; librettist Jill Battson's wordcraft is versatile and intelligent enough to manipulate a full range of emotions, despite the difficult subject, so I applaud her effectiveness in creating those opportunities.

The finale faded into the house lights coming up to a cast which thematically did not appear for their recognition, and the audience did not recognize this simultaneously, so I feel the performers might have been unaware of the impact their offering had had, which was formidable.

The premiere was recorded for broadcast on CBC radio on World AIDS Day; I look forward to treating myself to an encore of this opera on December 1.

FRIDAY and SATURDAY ONLY!

This is the big weekend for Tapestry -- the world premiere of Dark Star Requiem! Text by Jill Battson, interviewed below. For more information go to Tapestry's site. Looking forward to this landmark piece!

from the latest ECVA exhibition

Eucharist by Anne Wetzel

We've Reached 25,000 Hits! Euge!

Interview with librettist/poet Jill Battson

photo credit: Edie Steiner

This week I interviewed Jill Battson, librettist for the new piece Dark Star Requiem, a world première from Tapestry New Opera & Luminato, the Toronto Festival of Arts & Creativity. It premières on June 11 & 12, 2010 at 8pm at The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall. Tapestry describes it as ‘a dramatic oratorio on the history of HIV-AIDS in North America and Africa. In this marriage of content and form, poet Jill Battson and composer Andrew Staniland trace the twenty-five year history of AIDS from its origins to the present day. This evocative, poetic concert work interlaces such topics as ecology, myth, politics, and family. While this text includes fragments from the Latin Mass for the Dead, the overall perspective is humanistic rather than religious.’ Being a linguist, I looked forward to having a conversation with someone who loves the texture of language. We ended up discussing the production, the subject matter and opera in general.

Jill Battson is currently the Poet Laureate for the town of Cobourg, and a busy writer of poetry in her own and others’ artistic projects. Her collaboration with Staniland came about during a 2005 Tapestry LibLab; their vision of the opera has not wavered much, including having the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Gryphon Trio perform, amongst other musicians.

I asked about Jill’s use of excerpts from the Latin Requiem Mass text; it struck me as potentially contradictory for a text which was not only humanistic in worldview but also hopeful in tone. But she has cleverly used phrases from the Mass so that they morph into positive visions and symbols of hope, such as things that are part of the collective unconscious (I won’t introduce any spoilers!). Furthermore, I found this most poignant: she said that she felt that a requiem for the 25 million people who have died of AIDS was long overdue. [Amen!]

Regarding the staging, Battson and Staniland envision a stark, austere setting that will likely include video projections of text and images (not surtitles). They have always worked with the view of it as an extended choral piece of about 20 voices, plus the soloists. I hope this is the final product as Tapestry has always used video effectively.

We talked about HIV-AIDS and how it has changed in the public perception, having had different issues in different eras, from the earliest paranoia and misinformation, to current Western apathy in terms of risks and fundraising/research, to the complex questions around it in Africa—regarding both its origins and the current problems involved. Here, we are back to a state of misinformation because diagnosis and treatment are relatively easy to accommodate now.

As such, the hour-long piece, which includes 19 poems, aims to be ‘unrelentingly disturbing’, bringing the disease back into the fore, but with the dichotomy of also being hopeful and redemptive. Jill is pleased that it is scored for mezzos and baritones, whose voices she feels are able to effectively articulate the language she has crafted. She feels this is an important piece, and her pride in and passion for it is evident. It would be easy to write tritely or sentimentally about HIV-AIDS; I am glad this piece has a thoughtful and accomplished author. But that’s what you get when you don’t plunk your kids in front of an idiot box and get them to read books instead. Sorry, parental soapbox slip…

I am grateful to Jill for the time she spent in conversation with me and am anticipating a soulful piece to sink my teeth into for a post-show review. For tickets to Dark Star Requiem, purchases may be made via 416-872-1111 / 1-866-577-4277 ticketmaster.ca or 416-408-0208 Royal Conservatory of Music.

Also, a heads up for you literary folk: the libretto with other poetry will be available in a trade format for purchase at the show; there will also be a special limited edition of the work. I’m bringing plastic!

a banksy bouquet

a fave

It's CONTACT Photography Festival time!

"Nobody can commit photography alone" ~ Marshall McLuhan

Interview with Daniel Libeskind....

.....in the New York Times, that is: click here to read it.

OPERA ATELIER'S THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Photo by Bruce Zinger / Artists Phillip Addis and Peggy Kriha Dye

Co-Artistic Directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeanette Lajeunesse Zingg will doubtless garner their usual heaps of accolades with the upcoming The Marriage of Figaro. In case you've been in a coma for the last twenty years, Opera Atelier has been wowing international audiences with their technical accuracy and creative excellence in music, choreography, sets and designs of the 17th and 18th centuries' operas. This Mozart production pulls out all the stops with set design by Gerard Gauci, Martha Mann's costume design (above) and David Tallis returning with the Tafelmusik Orchestra.

I'm thrilled to see Carla Huhtanen again, a soprano with good comedic sense; joining her are baritone Olivier Laquerre in the lead male role, baritone Phillip Addis, soprano Peggy Kriha Dye, mezzo Wallis Giunta, and soprano Laura Pudwell. This commedia dell'arte was originally based on a text by Beaumarchais, just as Romeo and Juliet's story was not Shakespeare's brainchild, nor was Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe's. But this production would make Mozart giggle with glee, if my biographical memory serves me right. He would have felt that only such a sumptuous and loving presentation would be decorum enough for his baby. This naughty romp is somehow made more respectable by its period placement. It's the kind of tale I'd love to see made into a music video and then critiqued by Video on Trial by Trevor Boris and Debra diGiovanni. ...... K, on second thought maybe not.

Wise people will look into $30-$150 tickets either via Ticketmaster 872 5555, the Elgin Theatre Box Office or via http://www.operaatelier.com/. Performances are Surtitled, and are at 7:30pm on April 24, 27, 28, 30 and May 1, and at 3pm on April 25.

Luminato World Premiere

Dark Star Requiem
A world premiere from Tapestry & Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts & CreativityText by Jill Battson / Composed by Andrew Staniland
June 11 & 12, 2010 at 8pmKoerner Hall, Royal Conservatory of Music

Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts & Creativity is partnering with Tapestry to co-produce the world premiere of Dark Star Requiem, the third production of Tapestry’s 2009-2010 subscription season, a dramatic oratorio on the history of HIV-AIDS in North America and Africa. In this marriage of content and form, poet Jill Battson and composer Andrew Staniland trace the twenty-five year history of AIDS from its origins to the present day. This evocative, poetic concert work interlaces such topics as ecology, myth, politics, and family. While this text includes fragments from the Latin Mass for the Dead, the overall perspective is humanistic rather than religious.
Tapestry is thrilled to once again be part of Luminato. Our relationship began in 2008 when the Festival included the world premiere of Sanctuary Song by Abigail Richardson & Marjorie Chan, a world premiere opera for all ages from Tapestry and Theatre Direct which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Opera / Musical.
Dark Star Requiem is commissioned by Luminato, co-produced with Tapestry, and features 4 outstanding soloists and 2 percussionists together with two of Canada’s most lauded ensembles, the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Gryphon Trio.
Dark Star Requiem received additional commissioning support from the Ontario Arts Council and the University of Toronto at Scarborough.
Composer
Andrew Staniland
Librettist
Jill Battson
Music Director / Conductor
Wayne Strongman
Dramaturg
Tom Diamond
Soloists
Neema Bickersteth (soprano)Krisztina Szabó (mezzo soprano)Peter McGillivray (baritone)Marcus Nance (bass-baritone)
Chorus
The Elmer Iseler Singers
Ensemble
Annalee Patipatanakoon of The Gryphon Trio (violin)Roman Borys of The Gryphon Trio (cello)Jamie Parker of The Gryphon Trio (piano)Ryan Scott (percussion)Mark Duggan (percussion)Dark Star Requiem premieres Friday June 11 & Saturday June 12 at 8pm at Koerner Hall in the TELUS Centre at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
TICKETS: $30 – $50On Sale April 15, 2010 at ticketmaster.caVisit luminato.com for more information

HAPPY EASTER!

Ode to Dewitt Jones copyright V.Wells 08

Wisdom Literature

untitled, copyright V.Wells 2010

I love wisdom literature, particularly Biblical stuff.
I also like the pseudo-secular, too; I've reviewed Cormack MacCarthy's The Road here, and am going to see the film version today. Love those post-apocalyptic parables!
But lately, I have been focusing on Ecclesiastes, especially Chapter 7. Just about every line jumps out at me and smacks me in the face. And, going through an unwanted breakup at the moment, I am being forced to read these lines carefully and consider my circumstances. Towit:

Verse 3 Sorrow is better than laughter; For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.
What doesn't kill you will make you stronger?? Yuck. Hate those lessons. But I know from experience that it's true, and ultimately good for my growth as a person.

Verse 8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning....
Certainly not what you believe at the end of a relationship! The beginning is the gasoline that lights a ripping path of joy. At the end, it phtzzes out and you look back with a combination of melancholy and cringing. But certainly not a sense of 'better'. That comes much later, if at all.

Verse 13 Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what he has made crooked?
It's easy to say the other person is wrong/doesn't understand/has hurt you. That you're dealing with crooked goods and you're the straight one. Who wants to believe it's oneself who is the crooked??

Verse 20 For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.
Yeah. Get off your pedestal and realize the other person is just and good. Nobody's perfect and you're not more perfect than the other guy.

Fast forward to Ch 12 Verse 8 Vanity of vainites, says the Preacher, All is vanity.
It's all grasping at thin air, anyway. Why do we sit there, waiting for the text message or call? In other words, we need to get over ourselves. Learn and grow in ways useful to this life since much of what we understand to be important is in fact that vanity.



I am listening to one of my favourite pieces, Bach's sublime St. Matthew Passion, which I have sung off and on over the last 30 years. It's sort of a balm for my soul at the moment, but not much. Later I'll flip through my Phaidon Photo Book, select some of my pictures to submit to two upcoming exhibits, and re-read more of The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I'm teaching in two weeks. I am totally grasping at straws here. Although I can't bring myself to call any of the arts vanities.


I recently watched a wacky film called Running with Scissors, which, frighteningly, is based on a true story. I loved it. One of the most interesting treatments of religion by the film was when one of the characters talks about 'Bible dipping'. The family believes in taking spiritual direction by posing a problem, randomly opening the Bible and, with eyes closed, plunking down one's finger and whatever word it lands on is the answer. In the film, this was illustrated with mocking results. I loved it: proof-texting in the extreme! (A practice I love to revile). And yet what am I doing right now? Not much better: looking for answers to my sadness, my hurt and my sense of seemingly neverending loss. Wisdom that is not.

If I have gleaned any wisdom in my ridiculous years on this planet, it is that Solomon--or whoever--was right and that there is a time for everything (Ch 3: v 1-8), but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck any less right now. And I have to admit I have learned that with the passage of time I see my growth and learning and openness increase. Unfortunately, patience is sorely lacking in me, and so this process is extremely painful and laborious for me. But I will try to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding (Ps 3:5). *sigh* as we say on facebook.

" " from Chuck Close, one of my heros

… “photography is the easiest medium in which to be competent, it is probably the hardest to develop an idiosyncratic personal vision…It’s like pushing something heavy uphill. Photography’s not an easy medium; it is perhaps the hardest of them all.”

FRIDAY, FEB 19th
at GALLERY 345
345 Sorauren, in Roncesvalles
8:00pm
admission $10/6 (students, artists etc)
Attila Fias and John Farah, pianos
improvisations and new compositions for two pianos
"The piano and electronics duo of Attila Fias and John Kameel Farah has been many years in the making, since they became friends at an Arts high school. Both went on to study at U of T - Attila studying jazz improvisation and John studying composition and classical performance. Both have gone on to etch out their own voices, but over 2 decades of jamming together and influencing each other, they have finally put their talents together to form the Fias-Farah Duo. The sound is not what you would expect from a straight-laced classical piano duo - rather they are combining their experience in jazz, free improvisation, modern classical, Hungarian and middle-eastern influences to form a wild yet musically tight cornucopia of sound."
Fias has recently released his first jazz trio CD "Stories" which earned a 4/4 stars from the Toronto Star, and Farah is still tripping from the release of "Unfolding" which drew a 5/5 rating from Montreal's Hour magazine.
Hear the massive sound on two grand pianos at Gallery 345 on Feb 19th!
Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=288207098231&ref=mf

Mozart at CCLIV

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Marriage of Figaro
APRIL 24 - MAY 1, 2010

"...the work shines like new. Seldom has Mozart's Figaro seemed so fresh and its comedy so sublime."
— Christopher Hoile, Eye Weekly

Mozart’s commedia dell’arte inspired opera had its premiere in 1786 and was an instant success. Based on the shocking Beaumarchais play The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s racy tale of love, betrayal and forgiveness is a hilarious and subversive social commentary about a world on the brink of revolution. Opera Atelier is thrilled to unveil a brand new production for our 09/10 season, in which baritone Olivier Laquerre makes his role debut as the incorrigible Figaro. OA is pleased to announce the company debut of baritone Phillip Addis* and mezzo soprano Wallis Giunta*. The Marriage of Figaro also stars OA favourites Carla Huhtanen, Peggy Kriha Dye, Laura Pudwell, and Curtis Sullivan with Artists of Atelier Ballet, and the incomparable Tafelmusik Orchestra under the baton of conductor David Fallis.

Conductor David FallisDirector Marshall PynkoskiChoreographer Jeannette Lajeunesse ZinggSet Designer Gerard GauciLighting Designer Bonnie BeecherCostume Designer Martha MannFight Director Jennifer Parr Sung in English with English surtitles.
PERFORMANCE DATES
Saturday, April 24, 2010, 7:30 P.M.Sunday, April 25, 2010, 3:00 P.M.Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 7:30 P.M.Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 7:30 P.M.Friday, April 30, 2010, 7:30 P.M.Saturday, May 1, 2010, 7:30 P.M.

Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro; Artists: Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg and Curtis Sullivan; Photo Credit: Bruce Zinger 2009.

Mozart @ CCLV

Opera Atelier celebrates its 25th Anniversary Season with two new productions: one pays tribute to the company’s roots, the second points to its ambitious plans for the future.

The season opens with OA’s first fully-staged production of Handel’s pastorale Acis and Galatea. Based on Ovid’s tale of the water nymph Galatea and her doomed love for the Arcadian shepherd Acis, it is one of Handel’s most popular creations. Tenor Thomas Macleay, who thrilled Toronto audiences with his performance in last season’s Iphigénie en Tauride, will sing the title role of Acis partnered with Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin, in her company debut as Galatea. They are joined by bass João Fernandes who appears as the giant Polyphemus and tenor Laurence Wiliford as the spirit Damon. Acis will also feature Artists of Atelier Ballet, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir under the baton of David Fallis.

This production is directed by Marshall Pynkoski and choreographed by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg. Both sets and costumes will be designed by Gerard Gauci – a first for OA! The production will be lit by Kevin Fraser. Acis and Galatea runs October 30, November 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, 2010 and is sung in English with English SURTITLESTM.

The spring production will be North America’s first period production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. In Mozart’s lifetime, La Clemenza di Tito was considered “his most perfect work”, enjoying enormous success in Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Naples, St. Petersburg, Paris and London. Desperate intrigues, unrequited love and heart stopping reversals of fortune punctuate this thrilling story taken directly from Roman history. This is the fourth new Mozart production of Opera Atelier’s ambitious “Mozart Six” plan which to date includes Idomeneo (2007), The Abduction from the Seraglio (2008) and The Marriage of Figaro (which opens April 2010). Opera Atelier has re-assembled the most famous cast in the company’s history for this exciting production. Full casting will be announced at a later date. La Clemenza di Tito will be sung in Italian with English SURTITLESTM and runs April 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, and May 1, 2011.

The creative team for La Clemenza di Tito includes director Marshall Pynkoski, choreographer Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, designer Gerard Gauci, and lighting designer Bonnie Beecher. David Fallis conducts the Tafelmusik Orchestra.

Performances for Opera Atelier’s 25th Anniversary Season will take place at the Elgin Theatre (189 Yonge Street) in Toronto. Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinee performances begin at 3:00 p.m.

Subscriptions for Opera Atelier’s 2010/11 season start at $55 and are on sale now by calling 416-703-3767 ext. 22. Subscriptions purchased before April 30th will save the HST. Single tickets for Acis and Galatea go on sale August 16, 2010. For more information visit www.operaatelier.com.

Opera Atelier also gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, and the Creative Trust.

2010/11 Season Sponsor: Sun Life Financial
Major Sponsors: BMO Financial Group, Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust Music, The Dominion of Canada General Assurance Company

Opera Atelier is Canada’s premier baroque theatre company, producing opera, ballet and drama from the 17th and 18th centuries. While drawing upon the aesthetics and ideals of the period, Opera Atelier goes beyond “reconstruction” and infuses each production with an inventive theatricality that resonates with modern audiences. Over the past two decades, lead by founding director Marshall Pynkoski and founding choreographer Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Opera Atelier has garnered acclaim for its performances at home as well as in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Revitalizing Toronto’s Neighbourhoods through Culture-Led Collaborations

Through its website at www.neighbourhoodartsnetwork.org, the network provides a forum for discussion and information sharing, access to resources, tools, mentors, templates, and offers services and support. Best Buzz videos highlighting the best practices of five successful community-engaged art programs in Toronto neighbourhoods can be viewed on the website which also acts as an important resource for the general public to find out more about community-engaged art-making and its incredible contribution to neighbourhood revitalization.

Membership is free in 2010 and open to artists, individuals and organizations that develop, program or facilitate community-engaged arts such as libraries, community centres, social service providers, and business improvement associations. Membership benefits include access to members-only section of the website, bulletins, advance notice of events and special offers. Members are required to maintain a current profile and to actively participate in the Network. For more information or to become a member visit www.neighbourhoodartsnetwork.org or call 416-392-6802 ext 212.
Established to serve the needs of community-engaged artists and community organizations and to act as a resource for neighbourhood residents, the Neighbourhood Arts Network will:
map current activities happening in communities throughout the city and inform the public of the subsidized arts programs available in their neighbourhood;
act as a referral for community residents seeking to revitalize their neighbourhoods through the arts;
establish links between artists working in underserved neighbourhoods and city departments and agencies including libraries, community centres, and parks; and
assist with the development of neighbourhood arts hubs.

Ever Heard of NOOMA?

Thanks to my colleague for turning me onto the Nooma series of short film devotionals. Check out this one, entitled Rain. Good food for thought.

I also learned from him about Tangle, which he described as a Christian YouTube. Cool stuff.

Testing the Buoyancy of Wisdom in the Face of Rising Waters (Detail) - Mixed media.

Tally - Slate tiles from leaking church roof.

Public Notice: Confessions

all by Paul Roorda, copyright

Paul Roorda Communion of the Faint: Confessions and Complications

a solo exhibition of new and recent work. at Redeemer University Art Gallery777 Garner Road East, Ancaster, Ontario.February 6 to March 22, 2010. Opening Reception: Saturday, February 6, 7:30 to 9:30 pm.Gallery Open: Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to midnight.Website: www.paulroorda.com Anxiously, we push forward in a search for understanding. Doubt is sewn into each certainty; complexity dissolves each simple truth. Everything is becoming something else. Each object transforms itself before our eyes as we turn it in our hands. Each idea resists permanence, just as it resists becoming obsolete.And each confession needs repeating, or forgetting.We dread and marvel at the shifting ground beneath our feetand search for a fixed point in an empty sky as we try to regain our balance. There is loss. There is bleeding. There is rain. There is fire. And there is also gold.What has been saved is abandoned. And what is discarded is reclaimed and transformed.

6 Fun Minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6BlH-ZC5P0

Merry Christmas from Beautiful Feet blog

Handmaiden, copyright 2006 V.Wells

Vanessa Wells on Exhibit

Vanessa Wells is pleased to announce that she has been included in ECVA's latest exhibition Full of Grace. To see her work and that of her fellow Anglican artists, click here.

Opera Atelier's production of Iphigénie en Tauride
Photo: Bruce Zinger / Artists: Soprano Peggy Kriha Dye (centre) as Iphigénie with Artists of Atelier Ballet

As usual, the latest production by Opera Atelier is satisfying.

Narratively, it fulfills Ruby Mercer's descriptors for opera: love, sex and violence put to good music! Sensorily, it addresses all the senses, right down to the rustle of fabric, some rows back; visually, it is texturally full. If you aren't familiar with baroque opera and baroque arts in general, it is extremely stylized and carefully crafted. I felt Iphigenie en Tauride attained this most successfully in the fourth act. As usual, the cast is superb, including the Atelier Ballet, accompanied by Tafelmusik's Orchestra and Chamber Choir. The set was beautiful, albeit a bit anachronistic with the altar triptych, since the latter was a medieval church invention, at best based on the Roman writing tablets....but perhaps that's me just being too anal.

Opera Atelier is the creator of an art form that is not to be missed. Presentations are still be available on November 3, 4, 6 and 7. For ticket information, please go to http://www.operaatelier.com/season/iphigenie.htm.

Opera Atelier's production of Iphigénie en Tauride
Photo: Bruce Zinger / Artists: Tenor Kresimir Spicer as Oreste and soprano Peggy Kriha Dye as Iphigénie

It's Opera Atelier Season Again!

Photo: Bruce Zinger / Artist: Jack RennieOpera Atelier's production of Iphigénie en Tauride

Christoph Willibald Gluck
Iphigénie en Tauride
OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 7, 2009
Ticket Information
Single Ticket prices
Section AA: $135.00 Section A: $125.00 Section BB: $ 99.00 Section B: $ 79.00 Section C: $ 65.00 Section D: $ 35.00
Ways to purchase tickets:
By phone: (416) 872-5555 Online: Ticketmaster In person: Elgin Theatre Box Office, 189 Yonge St. (Yonge & Queen)

for more info go to http://www.operaatelier.com/season/iphigenie.htm

copyright V.Wells 2009 not for unauthorized distribution/posting

CELEBRATING!

Just had the 20 000th hit on Beautiful Feet!

In(ner) Activity

Current News and Happenings
The Good Fight presents: Our theme of In(ner)Activity is a play on the overall theme of Chicago Artists Month - Interactivity. In(ner)Activity is a better description of the common bond we have, the creative spark that connects us and moves us forward. We are having an exhibition of local visual artists from many backgrounds and disciplines connected by that one thing - Light. As Christians we have a common source from which we explore our faith, doubts, fears and triumphs. Each one has a spark of creative brilliance and by coming together we will shine an even brighter. This little Light o' mine is about encouraging artists to unveil their God-given brilliance despite the obstacles of poor finances, community, lack of training and limited access to technology. Some of the artists that will be presenting are:
Jason Stebbings - 3D/furniture & graphics
Raquel Soto - Author & motivational speaker
Hector E. Soto - Fine artist
Monica Kass Rogers - Illustration
Ryan Patrick Clarke - Photography
Myth - Illustration
Please join us for an evening of inspiration and discussion. Together we will shine on even brighter! October 8th at Evanston Vineyard Church. For more info check us out on Facebook or contact Michael at 312.282.6752.
is part of Chicago ArtistsMonth 2009, the fourteenth annual celebration of Chicago’s vibrant visual artcommunity organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and made possible through Support Provided by Bank of America. For more information, visit www.chicagoartistsmonth.org.

The Who and the Why.
An online community where we can all come together for greater illumination on the issues of faith and art. Light is where it all began. God Himself said "let there be light" before He began his grand work of creation. Imagine turning on the light at a drawing board, desk or to a recital room. Nothing is there but the raw materials needed to begin, but the light needed to be on before the work could begin. Now the light is on, you can truly see and the work can begin.
©2008 Worth the Fight - The Vision of the Good Fight. All Rights Reserved.

fab piano recital------------saturday, august 29th 09: 7:30pm-9:30pm including intermission. reception: 9:30-10 ish. Victoria Chapel, 2nd Floor, Room 213, Victoria College Building, 91 Charles Street West, Toronto (outside of Museum station) PROGRAM---------Bach Italian Concerto; Beethoven Sonata "Waldstein"; Brahms Op.118 #1-6; Brahms Duet: Hungarian Dances #1, 3, 4, 6; Liszt "Un Sospiro"; Schumann Fantasiestucke Op.12 #1-4; Prokofiev Sonata No.3

more from eternallycool.net

Lennox Contemporary in Toronto. 12 Ossington Avenue, Toronto (416) 924-7964

Art AND Coffee--all riiiiggghht

from eternallycool.net:

A few weeks ago, Sydney, Australia celebrated the 12th annual Rocks Aroma festival, an event that attracted some 100,000 people and showcased coffee from around the world.
As part of the celebration, 3604 cups of coffee–each filled with different amounts of cream to create differing shades of brown–were used to create a giant image of the Mona Lisa.

Highly Favoured!

I tried this today and it is very cool: Daily Prayer for your mp3 Player from Pray-as-You-Go, a British Jesuit project.

From the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, Rome. © Garry Glowacki, 2009.

La Bruschetta Restaurant

I was recently taken to dinner at La Bruschetta Restaurant at 1317 St. Clair Ave. W. between Dufferin and Lansdowne. I've eaten at some pretty upscale Italian restaurants in this city but this is a notable place both in terms of cuisine and atmosphere. Silvia Piantoni welcomed us warmly--not as 'clients' but as people. She discussed the menu in a way that showed her love of the food, not just as today's fare. And, yes, the eponymous appetizer was fantastic! We took her advice and had the insalata with mushrooms, gorgonzola and fresh figs--the latter a first for me, and I appreciated that the cheese did not overpower the salad. My companion marveled over his flaky black cod and I enjoyed the best penne (homemade) arrabiata I've ever had. A pino grigio was served properly chilled not cold, which was a refreshing change. We shared a torta (della) nonna, a light ending to a perfect meal. I hadn't intended to blog about this Umbrian gem, but my friend was right in suggesting it. It's no wonder it's a serious hangout for celebs visiting TO. You would be wise to make reservations by calling 416.656.8622 or emailing labruschetta@hotmail.com. Dinner is offered from 5:30-10pm Monday to Saturday, with lunch on Wednesday and Thursday 12-2pm. You can view their menu at http://www.labru.ca/ . Buon appetito!

For All you Fellow Latinists

from Eternally Cool Blog on Facebook

"Unfolding" CD release concert Sunday July 12th 8:00pm admission $8 El Mocambo (1st floor) 464 Spadina Ave Tel: (416) 777-1777 Composer-pianist John Farah performs works from his new CD "Unfolding" on piano, rhodes and electronics, fusing contemporary composition with electronica.presented by John Farah and Dross:tik Records http://www.drosstik.com

from Eternally Cool Blog: Pope Sergius on the Street; it’s an image from Piazza Magione in Palermo depicting Pope Sergius (reigned 687-701), the first Pope born in Palermo. By street artists Sten and Lex.