For Immediate Release: November 10, 2014
TAPESTRY OPERA
35TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
The [R]Evolution of Opera
Thirty five years of history is now being driven by a 33 year old artistic director with a goal of opera evolution and a love of artistic Darwinism. Michael Hidetoshi Mori, Artistic Director of Tapestry Opera is proud to present the 35th Anniversary season—a confluence of music and theatre from the inspired pens of the nation’s leading playwrights and the imaginative musical pallet of art composers, pop artists, and electronic music specialists for an opera revolution.
The season begins this month with TAPESTRY BRIEFS: BOOSTER SHOTS, HBO-style opera shorts with provocative punch. Five playwrights, six composers, four singers and two pianists present ten opera shorts in an adventurous opera tasting throughout the Distillery. Select locations will be paired with “booster shots” of flavour stimulants ranging from craft beer to artisanal ice cream.
The TAPESTRY SONGBOOK V on January 24, 2015, stars acclaimed baritone Peter McGillivray and additionally showcases Canada’s hottest young opera singers in concert performing the beautiful and absurd repertoire from Tapestry’s 35 year old Canadian collection. TAP:EX TABLES TURNED, March 20-21, 2015, smashes star composer, turn table artist, and cinematographer, Nicole Lizée with superstar actress and soprano Carla Huhtanen.
M’DEA UNDONE, generously sponsored by BMO and to be presented in May 2015, is an international partnership between Tapestry Opera and Scottish Opera and features Canadian Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning playwright Marjorie Chan as librettist and the UK based multi-media sound designer John Harris, as composer in this tragic romance. This world premiere will be directed by acclaimed opera director Tim Albery with the highly sought-after Canadian, conductor Jordan de Souza on the podium. M’DEA UNDONE, a story of love and the ultimate betrayal, plunges the depths of the Medea psychology in a journey from the Middle East to the White House.
“What attracted me to Tapestry was its commitment to refreshing the relevancy of opera,” said Mori. “English text, hot topical drama, visionary creators and opera singers who are great dramatic performers all add up to a living, vital art form that has a future to celebrate, not just a historic past.”
This mandate to define the future of opera and consolidate a Canadian repertoire is the new direction of Tapestry Opera. The company will go further and push harder to explore new sound worlds that best animate the imaginations of artists. The stories will reflect and comment on present day, with a language and style that is both familiar and surprising.
“Tapestry Opera’s 35th season is visceral and beautiful music and drama,” explained Mori. “We sell a contemporary experience, rather than a predictable seat in a nostalgic opera house. Classic and hip hop, physical theatre, virtuosic singers and players, new urban venues, and original music merged with the powerful stories of award winning writers is Tapestry. This is the evolution of opera.”
For more information, please visit tapestryopera.com or call 416.537.6066.
@TapNewOp • TapestryOperaFB
