The Banff Centre for the Arts and Calgary Opera today announced their partnership in co-commissioning a new Canadian opera, Filumena, created by John Estacio (composer) and John Murrell (librettist). The commission involves the creation of Filumena with a workshop of the piece planned for October 2001.

"The Banff Centre has become well known as a place where new opera is developed so it is fitting that we would want to be involved in such an exciting project," says Mary Hofstetter, acting president of The Banff Centre. "Our commitment to new opera spans many decades and has involved us at various stages in the creative process, from commissioning right through to full-scale world premiere productions and international tours. We are very pleased to be working with our neighbours at Calgary Opera, and will do everything we can to support the development of this new work. One of the particularly delightful aspects of this project is the fact that The Banff Centre has finally been able to engage John Murrell as a librettist. This is the first time, ironically when John is now artistic director of our Theatre Arts department, that the timing has worked out."

"I can't say how thrilled I am to have such remarkable talents as John Estacio (composer-in-residence for Calgary Opera) and John Murrell (playwright & artistic director/executive producer, Theatre Arts, Banff Centre) working on this project. To bring two leaders in their respected fields to collaborate on this project is phenomenal," says Bob McPhee, general director & CEO of Calgary Opera. "I am very happy with the partnership between Calgary Opera and The Banff Centre on the co-commissioning of this work, as it is the realization of our goal of presenting repertoire that is relevant to our audience and of developing the future of Calgary Opera."

Filumena tells the true story of Florence Losandro, who emigrated with her family from southern Italy to western Canada in the early years of the twentieth century, and who became the last woman ever hanged for murder in this country. Her original Italian name was Filumena Costanzo, but Charles (originally Carlo) Losandro, the much older man that her family picked out for her to marry, insisted that English Canadians would find "Florence" more manageable; Filumena never regarded it as her real name. Through her abusive husband, Filumena became entangled with the powerful and charismatic Emilio Picariello, aka "the Emperor Pic", another Italian-Canadian, who ran a lucrative bootlegging business in Alberta, British Columbia, and Montana during Prohibition. Eventually Filumena was persuaded to take the blame for a murder almost certainly committed by "the Emperor" himself, because it was felt that no woman would be convicted of capital murder, and, even if she were, her sentence of execution would be commuted to one of imprisonment. Unfortunately for Filumena, this mercy was not granted. She died on the scaffold in Fort Saskatchewan at the age of 22. But this is more than a thrilling true crime tale. It is the story of how Filumena came to love this part of the world, and to see its mountains and its big sky as emblems of a spiritual freedom which even her tragically unjust public fate could not tarnish.

For further information contact:
Sabrina Grobler
The Banff Centre
Ph: 403-762-6152 (Banff) / 403-571-1821 (Calgary)