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Constantinople
Performers and creation team
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The Gryphon Trio — musicians Maryem Tollar — singer Patricia O’Callaghan — singer Christos Hatzis — composer Marie-Josée Chartier — director/choreographer John Murrell OC, AOE — scripting consultant Jacques Collin — visual projection production and design Lionel Arnould — visual projection concept development, production, and design Bernard White — set and lighting design Heather MacCrimmon — costume design Anthony Crea — sound design/ engineer Caroline Hollway — production manager |
Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin; Roman Borys, cello; Jamie Parker, piano
One of North America’s premier chamber groups, the Juno award-winning Gryphon Trio has been touring Canada, the United States and Europe for over a decade. The trio records for Analekta, and has been successfully introducing new audiences to chamber music by commissioning exciting new works, producing multimedia projects and creating hands-on outreach and education programmes.
The Gryphon Trio commissioned Christos Hatzis to write the music of Constantinople in 1998 and has since brought together the artistic talent and financial resources required to fully realize the theatrical presentation of the work. Annalee and Roman have taught at the University of Toronto since 2001, and Jamie joined them there in 2003, as the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance. More information is available at their website.
singer
Born in Cairo, Maryem Tollar has lived in various locations across Canada and the Middle East since immigrating to Canada in 1968. An extremely versatile artist, Maryem grew up singing Broadway style musicals and singing Joni Mitchell songs while listening to Arabic music and the Muslim call to prayer.
Maryem has studied Arabic Music at the Centre for Studies in Middle Eastern Music in Toronto as well as completed an intensive period of musical studies in Aleppo, Syria. Recently Maryem travelled to Egypt and Greece where she continued her research and study of the Mowashahat (Sufi devotional love songs) singing tradition, as well as the performance of riqq (Arabic tambourine) and oud (unfretted lute).
Maryem performs regularly with the groups Doula (Arabic), Maza Mez (Arabic and Greek) and the Maryem Tollar Group (traditional Arabic repertoire as well as original material which draws from both Western and Arabic traditions) and has performed throughout Europe, the Middle East, India, South America and the United States. More information is available at her website.
singer
Patricia O’Callaghan was trained at the University of Toronto and The Banff Centre. She has released numerous critically-acclaimed recordings on the Marquis/EMI and Teldec/Warner labels. Patricia’s most recent release, Naked Beauty, is already receiving critical and public acclaim.
As an opera singer Patricia recently toured Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus internationally and this season is appearing as Polly in Vancouver Opera’s production of Weill’s Threepenny Opera. She appeared on jazz clarinetist Don Byron’s CD, A Fine Line, and is touring with him as well. Her television appearances include the Ken Finkelman series “Foolish Heart,” the CBC/Rhombus special “Youkali Hotel” plus her own Bravo! special. More information is available at her website.
composer
Born in Greece, educated in the United States and a Canadian citizen since 1985, Christos Hatzis is one of Canada’s most important composers. Christos’s eclectic and powerful music is captivating audiences all over the world and has been awarded several coveted Canadian and international awards like the Jean A. Chalmers National Music Award, the (Governor General) Jules Legér Prize, the Prix Italia and the Prix Bohemia, among others.
Recently he has been receiving commissions and requests for new works from some of Canada’s and the world’s best-known soloists and ensembles, such as the St.Lawrence String Quartet, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, soprano Patricia Rosario, the NY-based Music Theatre Group, Tapestry New Opera, Pilobolus Dance Theatre, the English Chamber Choir, NEXUS, percussionist Beverly Johnston, cellist Shauna Rolston and the Elmer Iseler Singers. A growing number of commissions from Canadian and international arts councils and foundations and a slew of new recordings of his music are fast spreading awareness and appreciation of the composer’s work well beyond his home base.
Recent and upcoming recordings include three all-Hatzis CDs and several compilations featuring his music on Sony Classical, EMI, CBC Records, Centrediscs, Consipio (Japan) and Cherry Red (UK). A professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Christos writes frequently about contemporary music and its relationship to today’s and tomorrow’s societies. His writings are available on the web.
director/choreographer
Marie-Josée Chartier’s 25 year career as a choreographer, director, dancer and vocalist has taken her on international stages as a solo artist and with dance companies. Her choreographic work has been presented in Canada and Europe as well as being broadcasted on CBC, TVO, TfO, and Bravo!
Marie-Josée’s numerous commissions include fifty-one pieces of silver for Dancemakers, winner of the 2002 Dora Mavor Moore Award for best choreography, La Lourdeur des Cendres for Four Chambers, Vestige for Toronto Dance Theatre, and étude pour deux mammifères for Kaeja d’Dance. She has won several grants and awards, most notably the 2001 K.M. Hunter Award for Dance.
Selected upcoming projects for 2004 include performances of solos Sous nos Yeux and Descent at the Side by Side Festival in Wuppertal, Germany, premiere of a full evening choreographic work Screaming Popes in Potsdam, Germany, followed by performances in Toronto. More information is available at her website.
scripting consultant
John Murrell is one of the most frequently-produced of all Canadian playwrights. His plays have been translated into 15 different languages and performed in more than 30 countries around the world. His award-winning works include Memoir (produced at the Stratford Festival in 1990), Waiting For The Parade (in the Shaw Festival’s current season), Farther West, Democracy, and The Faraway Nearby, as well as translations of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Sophocles’ Oedipus The King (both commissioned and first produced by Stratford). Most recently, he wrote the libretto for the acclaimed new opera Filumena, composed by John Estacio, and co-produced by The Banff Centre and The Calgary Opera. Since November 1999, Murrell has been artistic director of Theatre Arts at The Banff Centre. In 2002, he received the coveted Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, and, in 2003, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
visual projection production and design
An award winning designer, Jacques Collin has amazed audiences throughout the world with his stunning audiovisual productions. Jacques has been involved with Canadian artists nationwide who have sought his expertise in challenging the limits of their art with the use of new communications technology. As one of the founding members of the multimedia performance group l’Ecran Humain in 1980, Jacques Collin has worked with composers Marcelle Deschenes, Alain Thibault and Jean Corriveau. After leaving l’Ecran Humain in 1985, Jacques embarked on a number of very successful collaborations with Marcelle Deschene and Michel Lemieux. Since 1989 Jacques has collaborated with Robert Lepage on Needles and Opium, The 7 Streams of the River Ota, Elsinore, Geometry of Miracles, Jean-Sans-Nom, and the critically acclaimed The Far Side of the Moon. His latest project with Lepage was La Casa Azul, on the life of Frida Cahlo. In 2000 he produced Planète Baobab (based on St-Exupéry’s The Little Prince) for l’Arsenal à Musique, a concert for electro-acoustic soloists and symphony orchestra. Presently he is creating visuals for Lorin Maazel’s new opera 1984 that will be premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2005.
visual projection concept development, production and design
A graduate of the National School of the Arts in France, Lionel has been working with computer graphics and virtual media since 1992. In 1998 he began collaborating with Robert Lepage in Quebec City and has over the years been involved in works such as La Damnation de Faust, La famille sans nom, Apasionada and La Trilogie des dragons – version 2003, a fabulous six hour piece revamped in 2003 to include video projections. In the coming year, his work on a revised version of the Opera des gueux will be touring Europe.
In recent years Lionel’s career has also included collaborations with organizations such as Le Theatre Peril and La Compagnie Marie Dumais (his work on The Plague received an honorable mention at the 2003 Quebec City Art and Culture awards), Musée de la Mer de la Point-au-Père (his permanent 3D stereoscopic installation was awarded Prix de l’installation 2002), Manoir Mauvide Genet, Maison Girardion and the Quebec Aquarium project.
In 2001, Lionel was on the creative team of Quebec in New York that was to open September 13, 2001, at the foot of the World Trade Center. In 2003 Lionel produced the special effects for a CBC television special produced by Veronica Tenant entitled Northern Lights — Visions and Dreams. Constantly inspired by the power of the arts, Lionel seeks out new spaces and directions by constantly sculpting, painting, and drawing.
set and lighting design
A graduate of Le Consevartoire d’art dramatique de Quebec, Bernard has been contributing to numerous theatre productions as well as major expositions as a production and lighting designer since 1994. Recent projects include Robert Lepage’s Far side of the moon, the Quebec-New York exhibit, and the Quebec Aquarium project.
Bernard is on the faculty at Le Consevartoire d’art dramatique de Quebec where he teaches design.
costume design
Heather MacCrimmon is a Toronto-based costume designer working in film, theatre and, primarily, modern dance. Among the many choreographers she has worked with, she frequently collaborates with Serge Bennathan (Dancemakers), Marie-Joseé Chartier, Claudia Moore, Sarah Chase, Yvonne Ng, Julia Sasso and Tom Stroud. Her film credits include The Uncles, directed by Jim Allodi, and Phillip Barker’s Soul Cages. Her theatre highlights include working with clown duo Mump and Smoot (In Flux and Something Else) and England’s Theatre de Complicite (The Chairs).
sound design/ engineer
Tony is a graduate of the York University music program. His subsequent tenure there as a staff member allowed him to collaborate with renowned musicians such as John Cage, Yannis Xenakis and Laurie Anderson.
Following his time at York, Tony began to work as a live sound engineer and tour manager with recording artists such as Liona Boyd, Rita Coolidge, the Neville Brothers, the Jeff Healey Band, Colm Wilkinson, Dan Hill, and Amanda Marshall. In recent years Tony has also worked as a mix engineer for productions such as the CBC TV’s 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the Canadian Idol show.
Currently, Tony is working with the Gryphon Trio on Constantinople in addition to a new album project that will be released in the summer of 2004.
production manager
Graduating in history and sociology (specializing in Latin America), Caroline has spent the best part of 20 years in the arts education field, as stage manager, production and technical manager, project manager and education consultant for community and young people’s theatre companies in England, Wales, Scotland, and now Canada.
Her work has taken her into community parades with boats, cars, and bicycles made of sticky tape, giant puppets in Portugal, human circuses in housing estates, too many events on soggy fields, community plays in south London, touring round the Scottish Highlands, running two theatres for young people in Wales, enjoying fireworks and tugs (fortunately at the same time), and now opera.
The challenge of coordinating classical musicians, video artists, singers, designers, and contemporary music into one room, never mind one project, has been exhilarating, intellectually thought-provoking, moving and, ultimately, very rewarding. And all with one simple, but passionate, aim —to introduce people, especially young people, to the live arts as creators and participants, as well as spectators.
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