PRESENTS
From Toronto / Preview of new production before Montréal premiere
Friday, March 19, 1999 / 1:30pm (student matinée) & 8pm (Opening Night)
Saturday, March 20, 1999 / 8pm
du Maurier Theatrre Centre
RESERVATIONS: 416-973-4000
Score: Rainer Wiens
Libretto: Victoria Ward
Direction: Thom Sokoloski
Set/Costumes: Vikki Anderson
Performers: Richard Armstrong, Fides Krucker & Sussanna Hood
The Band: John Gzowski, Rainer Wiens, Bill Parsons, Nilan Perera & Monte Horton
 Last year's press. |
Biographies. |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Refer to Dianne Weinrib, D.W. Communications (416) 703-5479 / Fax (416) 703-5489 Down Here on Earth is a remarkable work of musical invention and poetic nerve that digs deep into the heart. A street-wise opera about a dispossessed couple searching for their lost child. Down Here on Earth is a tragicomic courtship of a lost love rekindling passion and authenticity as well as brutality and denial in a world spinning out of orbit. The drama focuses on Red (Richard Armstrong) and Mercy (Fides Krucker). Disenfranchised, they live in the ruins of an abandoned urban landscape, caged in the haunting memory of a violation that took away their only child and their love for each other. To forget, Red fashions scientific constructs to ward off the past while Mercy finds solace in her potions. When the lost Child (Susanna Hood) returns, so do the ghosts from the past, forcing Red and Mercy to reckon with their memory, loss and each other. DHOE is a work which has its genesis in the words of George Grant, one of Canada's most important thinkers, when he stated "...that at the core of all men is the fear of homelessness." The state of homelessness is ever-present in contemporary society. It is an image the average citizen can see on any major street and a feeling experienced by those caught in a state of abandonment, emotional defeat or lovelessness. The musical language in this opera deconstructs the mythic electric guitar from an overt and ruthless omnivore of silence to one that integrates itself with drama and melody in an orchestral and vocal experience that is rich and provocative. With the use of chopsticks, pieces of wood, coins and other unusual elements, the normal qualities of the guitar will be uniquely distorted in a symphonic and percussive way... the quality being anywhere between Harry Partch and what Brian Eno might be doing all the way down to Indonesian music. The vocal qualities used in the compositions are based on extended vocal techniques derived from Roy Hart Institute. When combined extraordinary demonstration of the potential of the human voice. "With its minimalist apocalyptic set, cool five-man guitar orchestra and bloody Gothic subtext, Down Here On Earth captures the pomo-chic look needed to revitalize opera..." NOW Magazine (Toronto) "Tenderness in an alien landscape...Wiens' music for the guitars, always interesting and often haunting, provided a soundscape evoking a world beyond conventional signposts." Globe & Mail (Toronto) " The guitars create an audible ground for this opera, calling up an amazing range of sounds that can be atmospheric or melodic, functioning as weather, or as commentary on the drama. Likewise, the voices of the performers as they sing the text contain the textures of rubble, glass, water, animals - a gamut of images both elemental and emotional...Design, voice, word and gesture echo on a preconscious level, defying attempts at analysis." eYe Magazine (Toronto) "Krucker is especially compelling. Her role as a woman trying frantically to escape the darkness of her suffering allows many opportunities to show off her celebrated vocal technique. Krucker can sing, scream, growl and shout with equal conviction. These are the sounds of fear and madness." The Toronto Star "Powerful and disturbing." Radio-Canada " The voices are set in an enthralling soundscape of electric guitars, bowed, plucked, treated and used in many orchestral ways. Here, one felt, was a major work, telling a major story that gets deep into human life and feelings." Hamilton Spectator Down Here On Earth takes place at the du Maurier Theatre Centre at Harbourfront Centre March 19 & 20 with performances on Friday & Saturday at 8pm & a Friday matinée 1:30pm. Tickets run $15.50-$32.50. OPERA BOOM Paks for the three-show season are available at $35, $55 & $75. Call the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at 416-973-4000. All presentations at du Mauurier Theatre Centre will be followed by a public "talk-back" with the artists. On Saturday, March 20th (12 noon ) ALP, in conjunction with Indigo Books, Music & Cafe, will also host an INDIGO OPERA FORUM for Down Here On Earth at their Bay & Bloor store featuring artists from the opera and Toronto community. -30- |
