Songs of the souL

An evening of great Lieder, set amidst a rich variety of instrumental colours.

Tuesday, November 5, 2002 at 8PM
Trinity St. Paul's Centre

For Immediate Release - Toronto, October 8, 2002: The adventurous new ensemble Talisker Players returns to Trinity St. Paul's on Tuesday, November 5 at 8PM. Embarking upon their third Toronto season with a renewed sense of individuality, Talisker Players present Songs of the Soul, an eclectic programme exploring the experience of ecstatic connection with the divine, in words and music. The instrumentalists of Talisker Players are joined by mezzo soprano Marion Newman and baritone Ian Funk, two rising stars on Canada's vocal scene.

The centrepiece of the concert is Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, in an intimate chamber version for baritone, string quartet and piano. A setting of poems by the 17th-century metaphysical poet George Herbert, it is better known as a piece for choir and orchestra. Songs of the Soul also includes Saskatchewan composer Elizabeth Raum's First and Gracious Sight, a setting of poetry by the prairie mystic John V. Hicks, for baritone, violin and piano, which has gained a devoted following among vocalists since its 1991 composition.

Three other pieces round out the concert: Triptych, a work from the 1920s by the American composer Arthur Shepherd, which sets poems by India's Rabindanath Tagore for mezzo soprano and string quartet, and which he considered to be one of his most important works; Songs of Rahel, a mid-20th-century work by the Israeli composer Abraham Daus for mezzo soprano, flute and viola, based on poems by the beloved Hebrew poet Rahel; and Poèmes de St. Jean de la Croix, in which the Quebec composer Gabriel Charpentier interprets the words of the medieval mystic through a modern version of plainchant, for mezzo soprano, violin and cello.


Marion Newman, soprano.Marion Newman, an accomplished musician, made her orchestral debut at the age of sixteen with the Victoria Symphony performing Mozart's Piano Concerto K.488 in A Major. As a singer, she has performed frequently with the Victoria Symphony, as well as with the Vancouver and Kingston Symphonies and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. The public knows her for her appearances on CBC television, as she performed several times as a soloist for the Aboriginal Achievement Awards. She will appear as Margret in Wozzeck with Pacific Opera Victoria next February.

Ian Funk, baritone.Baritone Ian Funk is recognized as one of Canada's leading interpreters of contemporary music, and has premiered many new works with Vancouver New Music, Queen of Puddings Theatre Company (Toronto), the Banff Centre, and most recently, Autumn Leaf Performance in their production of Claude Vivier's Kopernikus, which traveled to Banff, Toronto, Montreal, Strasbourg and Huddersfield, England.

The instrumentalists of Talisker Players are renowned for the inventivenes and drama of their programming. As always, the concert includes the spoken word as well. In this case the readings will be short excerpts from Spirit Book Word, a recent publication by the Canadian writer J.S. Porter. Subtitled "an inquiry into literature and spirituality", it explores the ways in which famous writers have tried to express a connection with the divine, or the essential.

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Media Contact: Francine Labelle/flINK
416-654-4406
labellefrancine@rogers.com

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