Media Release

For Immediate Release
May 2, 2004

The Banff Centre Announces Summer Arts Festival 2004 Line-up

More than 80 events pack the calendar of the 2004 Banff Summer Arts Festival – The Banff Centre’s annual celebration of creativity, this year on July 9 to August 14. Festival 2004 will feature the world premiere of composer Christos Hatzis’ groundbreaking musical extravaganza Constantinople, performed by the Juno Award-winning Gryphon Trio. Also on the bill, an all-star tribute to the invaluable contribution of Isobel and Tom Rolston, for 40 years the guiding force behind Banff’s music programs; Mozart’s operatic masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro; and Giddy Up, artist-curator Andrew Hunter’s quirky, kitschy homage to cowboy culture.

Performances, talks, readings, and exhibitions will cover every aspect of what the Centre does year-round, putting the spotlight not only on theatre, opera, dance, and music, but also on visual arts, multimedia, leadership talks, non-fiction readings, and mountain film screenings. “The new vision of the summer festival is to be as complete a family photograph of this institution as it is possible to have,” says John Murrell, artistic director of Theatre Arts at The Banff Centre, and coordinating producer of the 2004 Banff Summer Arts Festival.

Highlights this year also include the ever-popular Taste of the Festival, a sneak peak of Festival treats, followed by an outdoor patio barbecue (July 9); a performance by world-renowned composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who will lead the Banff Festival Orchestra in performances of his own Concerto Grosso and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony (July 16); and a raucous, irreverent, cabaret-style romp through the world of Gilbert & Sullivan (July 8, 9, & 11).

Modern Canadian choreography gets a grand showcase in the Festival Dance performances, with a new work by D.A. Hoskins and a favourite by Brian Macdonald – Tam Ti Delam (July 14, 15, 17, 18). And mixing old with new, the Gwa’wina dance group from northern Vancouver Island will preview their original work of music, dance, and drumming, Kwakwaka’wakw Symphony of Dance (July 22 to 24).

The Banff New Media Institute and HorizonZero, our digital magazine of arts and culture, will co-present a fashion show of the latest in wearable technology (August 6). And from the film library of the Museo Nazionale della Montagna in Italy, Mountain Culture presents a screening of the 1913 silent film Terre Magellaniche, accompanied by live cello and piano (August 8). All this, and much more, is packed into a sizzling season’s worth of creative exploration and discovery.

The Banff Centre also continues its successful Arts Lover program for audiences. Arts Lover Passes are $75 each, and allow the passholder free entry into all Arts Festival events. Purchase passes or individual event tickets by calling the Box Office at 1-800-413-8368 or (403) 762-6301, box_office@banffcentre.ca.

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For a complete listing of 2004 Banff Summer Arts Festival events, see:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/bsaf/

Downloadable, print-ready images are at: http://www.banffcentre.ca/communications/images/bsaf_2004/

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