The Tapestry Songbook & New Opera 101 January 22, 2011

Wayne Strongman, Managing Artistic Director, is pleased to announce that on January 22, 2011 Tapestry New Opera will conduct an all day master class and workshop – for six singer-pianist duos, culminating in an evening concert of memorable arias – The Tapestry Songbook. Strongman and New Work Studio Company artists Dr. Christopher Foley, collaborative pianist, Xin Wang, soprano, and Peter McGillivray, baritone, will be the clinicians for the Master Class and Workshop components, dubbed New Opera 101. The concert will include performances by Tapestry studio company artists Kimberley Barber, mezzo and James McLennan, tenor accompanied by Dr. Foley.

The New Opera 101 Teams are:
Sophie Bisson, soprano and Mimi Mok, piano
Maria Drost, soprano and Julie Lawlor, piano
Eliza Johnson, soprano and Joy Lee, piano
Adria McCulloch, soprano and Christina Faye, piano
Kimberly Sartor, soprano and Emily Hsu, piano
Jennifer Taverner, soprano and Zhenya Yesmanovich, piano

Why launch the New Opera 101 / Tapestry Songbook programme?
With dozens of world premieres under our belts, Tapestry has built up a sizeable body of work, a cornerstone of new opera development in Canada. We are working to create a repertoire of new operatic arias from these contemporary works, a 5 volume anthology for international use in performance and education. The January 22 launch programme represents the first in a series of new opera education opportunities for emerging artists at Tapestry, centered around the songbook anthology. The company is committed to playing a leadership role in preserving and disseminating the vitality of Canadian opera and training opera performers who are fluent in contemporary Canadian work.

What is the January 22 programme?
New Opera 101 will focus on the role of singers and pianists in the process of creating, developing and producing new opera. Each duo will be coached by the clinicians in two assigned arias from the soon to be published Tapestry Songbook. Clinicians will share their techniques of new opera score preparation in an ensemble reading workshop. The duos will be given the opportunity to engage with an audience immediately, performing in the first ever concert of The Tapestry Songbook, open to the public.
New Opera 101 is intended not only as a tool for the growth of artists, but as a way for Tapestry to discover emerging talent.

The Tapestry Songbook concert will feature a selection of memorable arias from Tapestry’s new opera library, performed by the emerging teams and Tapestry New Work Studio Company artists. The concert is part of Tapestry’s 2010-2011 Season and open to the public. Single tickets and Studio Passes are on sale now.
For Tapestry’s Managing Artistic Director, Wayne Strongman, the Tapestry Songbook and New Opera 101 represent “the next step in Tapestry’s mission to disseminate new work as widely as possible. This project connects Tapestry’s heritage library of living artists with the performers of tomorrow. The future for collaboration in the opera field just got a whole lot brighter!”

The 2010-2011 season firmly establishes Tapestry as an international home to new opera for creators, developers and performers, all collaborators in telling stories that need to be told. This season is presented in the intimacy of Tapestry’s home, the Ernest Balmer Studio, in the Distillery Historic District. Sign up for a Studio Pass to attend all events in the season for 20 to 50% off the single ticket price. Regular price Studio Passes are now pro-rated for the 4 remaining season events and Tapestry continues to offer its very accessible Student / Arts Worker Studio Pass price.
TICKETS
Studio Passes
$99 Regular Pro-rated to $79 / $49 Student & Arts Worker
Single Tickets
$25 Regular / $20 Student & Arts Worker
Box Office
416.537.6066 / tapestrynewopera.com
The Songbook Concert PERFORMANCE DETAILS:
January 22, 2011, 8 pm
The Ernest Balmer Studio at Tapestry
55 Mill Street, Building 58, Studio 315
Toronto, Ontario

ABOUT THE COMPANY
Tapestry New Opera is an international home for new work creation, development and performance through its unique and highly collaborative work process. Under the leadership of Managing Artistic Director Wayne Strongman, CM, Tapestry engages the hearts and minds of artists and audiences, using opera to tell the stories that need to be told. The Tapestry process begins at the annual Composer-Librettist Laboratory where writers and composers are introduced to collaborative creation. Successful partnerships move on to create 15-minute operas for our regular Opera to Go productions and graduate to full-length works. Our INside Opera Education Programme gives students the chance to discover their own stories and engage in the creation of new opera. Our children’s operas, Elijah’s Kite by Camyar Chai & James Rolfe and Get Stuffed by Alexis Diamond and Richard Payne have already toured to over 30,000 students across Ontario. Tapestry productions which have premiered to critical and popular acclaim include Dark Star Requiem by Jill Battson & Andrew Staniland (with the Gryphon Trio and Elmer Iseler Singers) and the Dora-Award winning Sanctuary Song by Abigail Richardson & Marjorie Chan (with Theatre Direct), both for Luminato, The Shadow by Alex Poch-Goldin & Omar Daniel, Nigredo Hotel by Ann-Marie MacDonald & Nic Gotham, Elsewhereless by Atom Egoyan & Rodney Sharman, Still the Night by Theresa Tova, Facing South by Don Hannah & Linda C. Smith and the Dora Award-winning Iron Road by composer Chan Ka Nin & librettist Mark Brownell.

We have simplified our name to Tapestry New Opera. Please refer to our domain name www.tapestrynewopera.com in case of confusion.

2010-2011 SEASON AT A GLANCE
Tapestry is in a development season. Studio Passes and Single Tickets are available for all events in the Ernest Balmer Studio. February – June 2011 will feature workshop performances of the new operas in development at Tapestry.

The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G. By Colleen Murphy & Aaron Gervais
Workshop performance for this highly anticipated landmark production, a sprawling new multilingual work exposing the heart breaking world of sex trafficking. Previously work shopped with the Banff Centre and the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, with support from Creative Connections at Opera.ca.

Opera to Go 2012
Workshop performance of he newest instalments of this regular programme of short operas which has inspired similar productions around the world.

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For further media information and artist interviews please contact Kim Blackwell at
416-346-4709, 416-686-0982 or blackwellcommunications@gmail.com