FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A REQUIEM IN MEMORY OF THE FOURTEEN WOMAN MASSACRED
AT L’ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE IN MONTREAL ON DECEMBER 6, 1989
WORLD PREMIERE / DECEMBER 6, 2000 MASSEY HALL
Toronto, Ontario - November 14, 2000 -- 14 REMEMBERED, a requiem commissioned in memory of the fourteen women slain at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal on December 6th, 1989 in the tragedy that history calls The Montreal Massacre, will have its world premiere as part of “New Visions Series” at Massey Hall on December 6, 2000 (tickets start from $15.50 available at the Massey Hall box office 416 872-4255).
14 REMEMBERED is a creation by some of Toronto's most exciting music and dance artists. It represents an artistic cross section of diverse cultural musical backgrounds and tehniques. The work is inspired by the writings and feelings which surround such an event in society, the indelible memory it leaves behind and the healing that each person continues to experience. Commissioned and produced by Autumn Leaf Performance in partnership with Music Canada 2000 and the Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall Incorporation, 14 REMEMBERED delivers a simple, yet passionately charged musical experience. It is supported in part by The White Ribbon Campaign to benefit the December 6 Fund and The Canadian Women’s Foundation.
14 REMEMBERED is a requiem in memory of Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Maria Klucznik, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Anne St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte.
Conception & music direction by AHMED HASSAN in collaboration with CELINA CARROLL (vocals/percussion), GRAHAM HARGROVE (percussion), KATHLEEN KAJIOKA (viola/vocals), LOUIS SIMÃO (doublebass), JAMES BINNIE (didgeridoo), DEBASHIS SINHA (tabla), YARED TESFAYE (vocals/percussion), ERNIE TOLLAR (saxophone), MARYEM HASSAN TOLLAR (vocals), PEGGY BAKER (dancer), SARAH CHASE (dancer) and ROULA SAID (dancer). Several performance sequences will incorporate the participation of women and girls.
Having contracted multiple sclerosis at the height of his musical career AHMED HASSAN remains one of Toronto’s most hardworking and celebrated composers today. Over the years he has been commissioned by Dancemakers, EDAM, Peggy Baker Dance Projects and many other music and dance groups across Canada. For Ahmed, 14 REMEMBERED is a labor of love and an appeal to all Canadians to remember those fourteen young women and to challenge the senseless violence that continues against women.
The diverse approaches incorporated by HASSAN and collaborators mirror the many complex responses to the massacre. Through their collaborative creative experience, it is hoped that a step will be made towards a remembrance filled with understanding, compassion and hope. The social and psychological themes expressed in 14 REMEMBERED have been drawn from the book Polytechnique - 6 décembre, a literary confluence of letters, testimonies, memories and commentaries resulting from this tragedy and edited by Louise Malette and Marie Chalouh, published in 1990.
“My compositional method involves initiating, directing, culling and organizing material developed through improvisation with a small group of collaborating musicians working within instrumental and vocal parameters that I establish and intuit from this event,” states HASSAN. “We have incorporated a broad spectrum of musical styles, from traditional Arabic to western classical music, which I foresee being integrated within this piece to express the ethnic and spiritual backgrounds of the victims and our collective memory."
For additional information and or interview requests, please contact:
(see below for bios and additional info)
Peter Ashworth/Kristina Beesley
Ashworth Associates
(416) 603-6005
E-mail: ashworth.associates@sympatico.ca
Statement by Ahmed Hassan (concept and music direction)
"My compositional method involves initiating, directing, culling and organizing material developed through improvisation with a small group of collaborating musicians working within instrumental and vocal parameters that I establish and intuit from this event. This is a very time-consuming process, but I am fortunate to be working with nine exceptionally talented Canadian artists on this project. This group of artists is capable of incorporating and truly representing the broad spectrum of musical styles, from traditional Arabic to western classical music, which I foresaw being integrated within this piece to express the ethnic and spiritual backgrounds of the victims and our collective memory. While I was still active as a musician I specialized in ancient and aboriginal instruments from traditions in which notation was not part of the practice. As I apply the principles of creating and performing the music which has arisen from these ancient music practices I find a tremendous humanity and expressive power emerging through the integration and blending of musics in this work, which as a composer I am compelled to refine. Because of my physical limitations, as a result of multiple sclerosis, my process of creation must continually adapt and work with artists who are sensitive to the intimacy and clarity towards the subject and the process I envisage."
Statement by Thom Sokoloski (artistic producer)
"Every so often a project comes along in which I have the opportunity to work with a group of artists on a subject so powerful that I suddenly find myself disarmed of any expectations. Ostensibly, the creative environment evolves with such originality that traditional rules seemingly yearn to sleep, to dream of their transformation into "stuff" more pertinent and meaningful to help express such a subject. Ever since Autumn Leaf Performance commissioned Ahmed Hassan to create this work with his collaborators, I have realized that music is a confluence, coloured and realized through a deep respect of each artist's human nature and artistic skills. When driven by a subject, such as The Montreal Massacre, the results can breathtaking. I would like to thank the Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, The Laidlaw Foundation and Music Canada 2000 for supporting the commissioning of this contemporary requiem, and especially Nikki Goldschmidt for his appreciation and encouragement for all of us to hear and celebrate the music of our composers."
Performers' Biographies
CELINA CARROLL has been involved in diverse musical projects including
composing music for dance and film. She has toured extensively as a lead singer
and multi-instrumentalist and was awarded Female Performer of the Year by the
Toronto African Music Association in 1997.
GRAHAM HARGROVE is a Toronto based percussionist. He has studied with Salvador
Ferrerras, Russel Hartenberger, Beverly Johnston and Trichy Sankaran. He has
performed and recorded locally and abroad in a variety of styles in classical
and world music genres.
ROULA SAID is a Middle Eastern dancer and musician. She is a member of the Arabic and Greek band Maza Meze and the Arabic music trio Doula. Sometimes she works as an actor in theatre and film.
AHMED HASSAN has composed and performed music for dance and theatre across
the country, and on tour around the globe, since 1981 including Mother Tongue,
Urban Pygmies, Boss Doo, Desrosiers Dance Theatre, Dancemakers, EDAM, Da
Collision, Peggy Baker Dance Projects and many others. Confined to a wheelchair
due to Multiple Sclerosis, Mr. Hassan is outspoken in his advocacy for disabled
people's rights and for their full participation and inclusion in all aspects
of community and culture.
KATHLEEN KAJIOKA is a violist living and working in Toronto. In addition to
performing as a chamber musician, Kathleen is exploring her instrument outside
of its traditional role in western classical music.
LOUIS SIMAO is an upright bassist and pianist who works mostly in the jazz
idiom, notably with Rita di Ghent, MarteEisenman, Bonnie Brett and Sean Bray.
He has made forays into world music with Ashkaru, plays piano with the
latin-jazz group One Step Beyond and Portuguese folk music with Alvorada. A BFA
graduate from York, Luis also plays accordion.
DEBASHIS SINHA is a percussionist who accompanies modern dance and performs with a variety of ensembles in Toronto, finding obscure rhythmic connections between many differentstylesof traditional and contemporary musics. He has composed music for film, dance and theatre.
Originally from Ethiopia in East Africa, YARED TESFAYE is a Toronto based
musician who was a lead vocalist and guitar player with the world beat band
Mother Tongue, renamed Ashkaru. He is presently working with Canadian Ethiopian
youth as president of S.E.A., Society of Ethiopian Artists Inc.
ERNIE TOLLAR has performed South Indian music with mrdangam vidwan Trichy
Sankaran, jazz with David Restivo's group, and free form world - jazz with Rick
Lazar, Hugh Marsh, Levon in Spare Parts. He plays in Maza Meze and Doula with
his wife Maryem Tollar and friends.
MARYEM HASSAN TOLLAR performs in Toronto with Doula and Maza Meze. She has also been involved in many projects for dance including The Trilogy of Sable/Sand with Dancemakers, Assara with Peggy Baker, Old Road/New World with Joanna Das and Esmerelda Enrique, and on-going projects with Roula Said.
JAMES BINNIE was born and raised in Toronto. James is grateful to be involved in 14 remembered and prays none forget and all live to change.
PEGGY BAKER has been an integral member of the dance communities in both
Toronto and New York for the past 25 years. A soloist who performs regularly
with pianist Andrew Burashko, she has also shared the stage with Amici, The
Modern Quartet, Henry Kucharzyk, James Somerville, the TSO, actors Michael
Healey and Jackie Burroughs and dancers Margie Gillis, Paul-Andre Fortier, Doug
Varone, Christopher House, Susan Macpherson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mark Morris,
David Earle and Molissa Fenley among a host of others.
One of the Toronto's dance scene's brightest lights, SARAH CHASE has worked
with a multitude of choreographers including Benoit Lachambre, Bill James,
Claudia Moore, Michelle Silagy, Peggy Baker, Mitch Kirsch and many more. For
the past two years she has spent a great deal of her time in Europe, creating
in residencies and performing her unique solo dances with words at major
festivals. ROULA SAID is a Middle Eastern dancer and musician. She is a member
of the Arabic and Greek band Maza Meze and the Arabic music trio Doula.
Sometimes she works as an actor in theatre and film.
Since 1987 STEVE LUCAS has designed sets and lighting for more than 120 productions of theatre, dance, performance art & opera. His work has been seen in venues throughout Canada and the United States and also in London, France, Estonia and Australia. Steve is proud to have worked with companies including: Mirvish Productions; Canadian Stage; The Promenade [Off Broadway]; Soho Rep/ Walkerspace [ Off Off Broadway]; Oval House [London]; Rakvere Theatre [Estonia]; The Vancouver Playhouse; Manitoba Theatre Centre; Prairie Theatre Exchange; Platform 9; DNA Theatre; Da Da Kamera; Theatre Passe Muraille; Autumn Leaf; Youth Theatre [Montreal]; Theatre WUM; Buddies in Bad Times; Crows Theatre; WordMachine; Parallel Exit Theatre; Go Chicken Go; Pow Pow Unbound; Overall Dance; Eclectic Theatre and The Dream in High Park. Steve is also Artistic Director of Theatre 2.0, which produced the highly-successful (if brief) run of BREATH[e] at the Theatre Centre last November. Upcoming projects include moving into Theatre Passe Muraille as resident designer for the entire 2000/2001 season where Steve's other company RAT-A-TAT-TAT will also be co-producing a new production of Daniel Macivor's "Jump." Steve has been awarded 2 Dora Mavor Moore awards and has been nominated fifteen times.
PAUL HODGE is the Technical Director of the Music Gallery, Toronto, the Centre (currently on the road) for Contemporary Music in Canada. Active in all aspects of music and sound production his numerous recordings have been broadcast on City-TV, CBC, BBC Great Britain and NHK Japan and released on LP, cassette and CD. As a member of The Glass Orchestra, an ensemble that performs entirely on glass instruments, he has performed across Asia, North America and Europe. Non-curricular interests include astronomy, parenting and surfing (in alphabetical order).
MICHELLE SILAGY has been active as a choreographer, dancer and teacher in Toronto for 11 years. Her work has been presented at The Art Gallery of Ontario, the DuMaurier Stage and in alternative settings in Toronto. Her extensive work with children sustains her desire to discover creative origins within artists of all disciplines. She has been bringing dance to children through creative movement exploration at The Canadian Opera, The National Ballet''s ""Creating Dances in the Schools "", the Royal Conservatory of Music and as Director of The Young Dancers'' Program at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre.
A special thanks to Nadia Szilvassy, Grassroots, Leanne H. Wright and Maria Giovannini.