Illuminations
A window on the world of mystics, visionaries and seers.
Tuesday and Wednesday, May 11 and 12, 2010 at 8PM
Trinity St. Paul's Centre
For Immediate Release - Toronto, April 12, 2010: Toronto’s Talisker Players conclude their 10th anniversary season with Illuminations, a captivating programme that opens a door to the world of mystics, visionaries and seers – a world of vivid imagination, at times whimsical and at others dark and intense. Performances take place May 11 and 12 at Trinity St. Paul’s Centre.
Celebrating in style, the ensemble departs from their usual small-scale chamber works, presenting two of the great works of the modern age for voice and string orchestra: Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations and Gerald Finzi's Dies Natalis. Acclaimed young conductor William Rowson joins the Talisker Players for the occasion, while soprano Meredith Hall and tenor Lawrence Wiliford bring their brilliant style and dramatic flair to these outstanding pieces. Compelling works by Canadian composers Harry Freedman and Andrew Ager round out the programme. As always with Talisker Players productions, Illuminations also includes the spoken word: the music is interspersed by readings from The Outermost Dream, a series of charming and thought-provoking essays about human imagination and consciousness by the great American writer William Maxwell.
The title work, Les Illuminations by Benjamin Britten, brilliantly sets a vivid, surreal text by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Britten's string writing captures all the kaleidoscopic imagery of these illusive and fragmentary word-fantasies. The music is at times dazzling, at others eerie, sinister, erotic, peaceful or majestic. It is a tour de force for soprano as well as for the string players.
Dies Natalis by Gerald Finzi is not as well-known as the Britten, but equally gorgeous – a lush setting of a text by the 17th-century metaphysical poet Thomas Traherne. The title translates as Day of Birth, and the text explores the border between the material world and the world beyond, between consciousness and ecstatic vision. The music, for tenor and strings, beautifully captures this rapturous quality.
These two great works are paired with two Canadian pieces for voice and string quartet, exploring the same territory on a smaller scale. The first is Poèmes de Jacques Prévert by the venerated composer Harry Freedman. Prévert's poems explore the spiritual world with what might be called serious whimsy, and Freedman's setting is charming. In contrast, From The Rubáiyát by the young composer Andrew Ager is a rich and expressive setting of a selection of poems by the great Persian philosopher and mystic Omar Khayyám.
Pre-concert chats will be offered on both evenings by Andrea Budgey, whose witty and informative notes have enlivened Talisker Players programmes since 2001. New this season, the pre-concert chats are free with the price of admission, and have already become a popular fixture.
Soprano Meredith Hall delights audiences internationally with her "lustrous sound and fluent legato" (San Francisco Chronicle). Recent performances have included Arne's Comus and Rameau's Pygmalion with Philharmonia Baroque of San Francisco, a tour of Canada's west coast with La Nef, the title role in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Apollo's Fire in Cleveland and Handel's Messiah with the Victoria Symphony. Equally at home in opera and oratorio, Meredith Hall is especially in demand for Baroque and Classical works, and has performed to acclaim throughout North America and Europe. With these performances, she looks forward to making her debut with Talisker Players while exploring the music of Britten and Freedman to reveal a new facet of her talent.
Described as possessing a voice that is "lyrical and firm ... with brilliant coloratura" (Vancouver Sun) and having "exceptional power throughout his range" (Boston Globe), American-born Canadian tenor Lawrence Wiliford is in high demand as an artist in recital, concert and opera repertoire ranging from works by Monteverdi to contemporary composers. On the concert stage he has been noted as having "the ideal voice, technique and sense of drama for baroque-era music" (Toronto Star) while delighting opera audiences with his dramatic and comic abilities. He is also a committed recitalist who focuses on English and contemporary art song. This also marks his debut with Talisker Players.
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Media Contact: Francine Labelle/flINK
416-654-4406
labellefrancine@rogers.com
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