Let Evening Come
A meditation on lives lived by people both great and ordinary.
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 at 8PM
Trinity St. Paul's Centre
For Immediate Release - Toronto, May 4, 2004: Talisker Players - Toronto's musically effervescent chamber music ensemble - end their season on Wednesday, June 2, not with a bang, but with a moving programme that contemplates the meaning of life in light of its inevitable end. Soprano Jennie Such and mezzo soprano Vicki St. Pierre, two of Canada's most charismatic young singers, join the instrumentalists of Talisker Players to perform music that explores the lives of people both great and ordinary, and their impact of the lives of those who remain
Let Evening Come is a meditation on lives lived by people both great and ordinary. The concert title is taken from a piece by the American composer William Bolcom, which shows another side of a performer and writer best known for his cabaret music. A triptych of poems by Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson and Jane Kenyon, set for soprano, viola and piano, it moves from grief and shock to acceptance of death as the natural resolution of life. The evening also features the premiere of The Fenian Cycle, commissioned by the Talisker Players from the young composer Craig Galbraith, whose intelligent and lyrical writing has already won him many awards. Scored for mezzo-soprano, strings and English horn, the piece draws its text from the ancient Celtic collection of verse and prose of the same name.
Talisker Players offer two other rediscovered Canadian works: One is MAXWELL, Larry Douglas, by the Victoria-based composer Stephen Brown, a simple and poignant setting of a newspaper obituary, for voice and string quartet; the other is Sayings, by the eclectic Winnipeg critic, pianist and composer Chester Duncan, a meditation on the life of another composer, S.C. Eckhardt-Gramatté, in her own words, for voice, oboe and piano.
The programme also includes a work from the very early 20th century ˆ Ottorino Respighi's Il Tramonto, for voice and string quartet. Unquestionably one of his most beautiful works, it is a setting of a narrative poem by Shelley ("The Sunset", translated into Italian); its tone is romantic, but it too is a contemplation of the meaning of life in the face of death.
Canadian soprano Jennie Such has garnered praise for her "melting beauty of tone", and the "glowing conviction" she brings to the stage in opera, concert and recital. Recent career highlights include important debuts with Symphony Nova Scotia in Handel's Messiah; the Canadian Opera Company as First Niece in Peter Grimes; and with the Calgary Opera Association as Johanna in Sweeney Todd. Having performed in Korea with Opera Atelier, she has appeared with the Handel Festival in Halle and at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany with MDR Choir and Orchestra. Most recently, Jennie was featured as a soloist in the Aldeburgh Connection's Schubertiade. Jennie looks forward to performances of The Contract with the National Ballet Orchestra in Montreal (2005) and to returning to Opera Atelier for Dido and Aeneas, Orfeo, Médée and Armide. Next fall, the COC welcomes her back as she sings Janine/Ofwarren in the Canadian premiere of The Handmaid's Tale.
Vicki St. Pierre's voice has been described as "rich with both darkness and brilliance", and "a strong meaty voice that conveys a myriad of nuance." Following her debut performance in Japan with Opera Atelier in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year, she received praises for her memorable interpretations of Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio with Tafelmusik. Vicki St. Pierre has appeared with Festival Vancouver in Early Music Vancouver's production of Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea, Toronto Philharmonia's production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, and with the Cleveland Opera in Coronation of Poppea. A versatile singer, the New-Brunswick native recently made her debut with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in a pops program, and sang the Canadian premiere of Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen in Toronto. Next season, she looks forward to her debut engagements with both the Edmonton Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic orchestras singing Handel's Messiah.
As always, this Talisker Players performance includes the spoken word: readings will be excerpts from writings by some of the more graceful essayists and memoirists in the English language, including William Maxwell. The celebrated American writer writes hauntingly about the lives of great and ordinary people in ways which "refresh our idea of existence and hold oblivion at arm's length".
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Media Contact: Francine Labelle/flINK
416-654-4406
labellefrancine@rogers.com
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