La Tragédie de Carmen
July 31 – August 9 · Margaret Greenham Theatre
The Story of Sharp Ears the Fox or The Cunning Little Vixen
August 6 – 9 · Eric Harvie Theatre
Tickets: Adult $25 · Student/Senior $23 · Child $13
Box Office: 403.762.6301 or 1.800.413.8368
Presented as part of the 2009 Banff Summer Arts Festival
The Banff Centre’s opera season kicks into high gear in August with a fiery gypsy love story and the retelling of a family favorite. First, Peter Brook’s famous 80-minute version of Georges Bizet’s classic opera La Tragédie de Carmen will be presented in the Margaret Greenham theatre from July 31 to August 9. Then, from August 6 to 9 in the Eric Harvie Theatre, The Story of Sharp Ears the Fox (or The Cunning Little Vixen), the classic family opera by Leoš Janáček, will premiere with a new English libretto by Banff Centre emeritus artist in residence John Murrell and a new orchestration by acclaimed British composer Jonathan Dove, Jarislowsky Distinguished Master Artist at The Banff Centre.
British theatre and film director Peter Brook shortened and adapted La Tragédie de Carmen in the 1980s, molding it into an intense, pared-down audience pleaser. Michael Waller, who will direct Carmen this summer in Banff, says that Brook’s version takes much of its success from cutting out songs that, though beautiful, dilute the power of the characters. “Though it has most of the big numbers of the full opera, it is a separate and fascinating work unto itself,” he says. “It’s difficult, in this version, to sit back and just listen.”
The Story of Sharp Ears the Fox (or The Cunning Little Vixen), directed by program director Kelly Robinson, will run in the Eric Harvie Theatre from August 6 to 9. Composed by Leoš Janáček in the early 1920s as an experimental theatre piece, this classic opera for all ages follows the adventures of a little fox that escapes capture, finds love, becomes a mother, and comes up against the dangers of the people who live near her home.
Murrell, whose recent work at The Banff Centre includes Filumena and Frobisher, has developed a new English libretto which will premiere in Banff. “The music is so universal,” says Murrell. “You almost don’t need words.” He also gave the fox a new home by placing the story in the Canadian Rockies. “People will be able to leave these woods, and enter the theatre, and see a world they recognize and can relate to. It makes it all the more relevant to our culture and you can instantly connect to the story.”
Both of these August operas will be performed by singers in The Banff Centre’s Opera as Theatre program, which gives professional opera singers an opportunity to enhance their acting skills in concert with musical interpretation through master classes, mentorship, and a variety of performances.
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- More information about the 2009 Banff Summer Arts Festival
- For more information on Opera at The Banff Centre
