SONiC BOOM 96/97
(produced by Autumn Leaf Performance)
SONiC BOOM "...further widened the city's 20th century horizons in 1995 with a series of cutting - edge musical events...running the gamut from a Banff Centre production...to the deep-throated outpourings of the phenomenal Montreal soprano Pauline Vaillancourt...Toronto remained the Canadian city with the richest array of music-making..."
The Toronto Star December 28, 1995 "A Year
In Music" by William Littler
Artistic Director's Introduction
Welcome to SONiC BOOM's third season of contemporary music culture. Our
growth over the last two seasons has been unprecedented and our standard
of production continues to be excellent and exhilarating. A new vital audience
has been generated around the contemporaneity that SONiC BOOM offers - an
audience ready to take risks and decide for themselves the artistry necessary
for the 21stcentury.
Over the last two years, SONiC BOOM was the only organization in all
of Canada to present Michael Nyman and his controversial hard-hitting approach
to music, The Master Musicians of Jajouka and their hypnotic "pipes
of pan", as well as presenting the Toronto premieres of Henze's "El
Cimmarón" by the Banff Centre, Montréal's uncomprimising
Chants Libres in works by Alain Thibault and Giacinto Scelsi, 22 international
choreographers in a new John Oswald plunderphonic creation based on Stravinsky's
"Rite of Spring", the hyper-female collective URGE and the dynamic
vocal artistry of Fides Krucker.
However, new culture is at a crossroads. It is not a priority
for the government yet it is the fundamental expression of who we are. New
creations, integrating music with drama, dance, film and technology, offer
society the possibility of observing and experiencing its imagination and
innovations. With the immediacy of thought-provoking new culture to sharpen
our perceptions, we can challenge the global homogenization advancing upon
our intellectual and emotional lives. The persistence of vision within every
artist strives to enter into converstaion with society, to listen and be
listened to in a manner that cultivates a shared respect for the necessity
of each other's dreams and identity.
Persist we will! Autumn Leaf Performance, which is the producer
of SONiC BOOM, is determined to see the vision of a new culture take flight.
SONiC BOOM's ten year plan is well underway to provide Toronto with an annual
festival of the world's best new culture. In the months to come Toronto's
finest artists will engage in exciting integrations of artistry never before
undertaken.
Please take
a moment to look at the work SONiC BOOM 96/97 is presenting. Keep the momentum...let's
continue the vision.
Thom
Sokoloski
Artistic Director
(In)Context
Friday, October 4, 1996
2 shows only at 7:30pm and 9:30pm
MacMillan Theatre (UofT)
Canadian filmmakers Atom Egoyan and Peter Mettler join forces with two powerful Canadian music ensembles, members of Nexus / The Steve Reich Band and The Evergreen Gamelon Club, in two astonishing journeys through image and sound.
"Nexus/Bolex 85-91" - Atom Egoyan compiles images taken on his hand-cranked 16mm Bolex and sets it to the intoxicating pulse of Steve Reich's "Sextet". The film starts with a camera test in his Spadina Avenue apartment in 1985 and culminates in his first visit to Armenia in 1991. Members of NEXUS, Canada's world-renowned percussionists, and the Steve Reich Ensemble perform "Sextet" live with Egoyan's film.
Atom Egoyan's cinematic career is awe-inspiring. His last film, "Exotica" won the 1994 Cannes Film Festival "Critic's Award" and the 1994 Genie award. He recently served on the jury for the 1996 Cannes Film Festival and will make his operatic directing debut with Strauss' "Salome" at the Canadian Opera Company. Admired for his uncompromising statements about humanity's hidden, yet enticing darkness, Egoyan joins SONiC BOOM in a tribute to individual memories creating unique and interlocking histories.
NEXUS' distinctive repertoire for percussion and symphony orchestra encompasses contemporary works to ragtime. Celebrating its 25th anniversary season, The five original members still thrill international audiences with their virtuosity, innovative programming and insatiable musical curiosity. Their new CD, One last bar then Joe can sing, is a work by composer Gavin Bryars, premiered by NEXUS at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, November, 1994.
More on http://av.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Atom+Egoyan
"Bali-Diary"- This is Peter Mettler's visual summation of exotic landscapes in Bali and his reaction to performers and people in an island culture having no word for "artist". A new collaborative commission composed for and performed live by The Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble accompanies this breathtaking film.
Peter Mettler has created some 10 films including his most recent film "Picture of Light" and has received numerous international awards. Acclaimed for his Genie-nominated cinematic adaptation of Robert Lepage's play of the same name, " Tectonic Plates", Mettler is a subject of a book "Making The Invisible Visible" detailing all his films to date. He is known for his startling vision, inspired by collected experiences in diverse cultures and artistic disciplines.
A new collaborative commission composed for and performed live by The Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble , one of only two ensembles of this Indonesian rooted percussion style in Canada.
Atom Egoyan and Peter Mettler collaborated on the film "Next of Kin" in 1984. Now, in 1996, SONiC BOOM closes their creative circle, bringing them together again to participate in this evening. Come and enjoy the chemistry created by these artists - a fusion of live music and film.
More on http://www.virtualfilm.com/html/Screening/Documentary/Pic_Light/PL_Dir_Bio.html
The Soldier's Story
Friday, November 15, 1996
2 showings only at 7:30pm and 9:30pm
MacMillan Theatre (UofT)
"The Soldier's Story": Igor Stravinsky's masterpiece of music-theatre is updated and brought to life through a dynamic multi-media production directed by Thom Sokoloski. Based on the classic Faustian story of man's struggle between sacrifice and temptation, a UN soldier returns from a peace-keeping mission to discover the most violent war is the one raging in his soul.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, music director for the TSO, conducts a stellar ensemble of musicians. Participation in this production marks his first music-theatre work in Toronto. This is Saraste's second year as Music Director and he continues to garner overwhelming artistic and critical acclaim for his diverse and dramatic concerts.
Diana Leblanc, former artistic director of Théatre Français, director of the Stratford Festival's hugely successful 1995 "Long Day's Journey into Night" and lauded for her role in this year's "Little Foxes", brings her enigmatic and passionate talent to SONiC BOOM's stage to portray the Devil.
Daniel McIvor's writing has been nominated for the Chalmers Award four years running in the category of Best New Canadian Play. His 1991 Dora Award - winning "House" has been adapted into one of this year's acclaimed new Canadian films. Actor, director and playwright, his one man show "Here Lies Henry" makes its Edinburgh debut in August 1996. SONiC BOOM is proud to present McIvor as the Narrator.
The main character, the Soldier, is played by Tom McCamus who will be re-united on stage with Leblanc (he played the consumptive Edmund in "Long Day's Journey Into Night".) McCamus won the Genie Award for his portrayal of a lonely actor pretending to be a cop in the film "I Love A Man In Uniform". He will be joining SONiC BOOM after his celebrated performance at this year's Stratford Festival's production of "Waiting for Godot".
"The Soldier's Story" is presented in partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and will part of their perspective of 20th century Russian music.
She Promised She'd Bake a Pie
Thursday, December 12 to 14, 1996
3 shows only at 8pm
du Maurier Theatre Centre at Harbourfront
A co-production with Urge & the du Maurier Theatre Centre
"Urge contains a powerhouse of talent and professionalism. That its members have chosen to devote what must be an enormous amount of time and energy to improvisational and collective creation is in itself inspiring. That the results are so thought provoking, poetic and just plain fun is the icing on the cake." The Globe and Mail, January 17, 1994, Tamara Bernstein
"She Promised She'd Bake a Pie" A new inter-disciplinary creation by one of Canada's premier women's collectives. Always a surprise, URGE relentlessly hammers home the point that women will always remain a mystery, always a surprise, and never cease to delight. SPSBAP is a musical fantasy created from the repetition of everyday kitchen activities: bowls, wooden spoons, whisks, cookie cutters, teeth, bellies, lips, warts, thoughts, dreams, vision and soap suds. Those familiar with URGE, need only recall "the birthing diva", "nude in a plastic dry-cleaning bag", "the sonic storm of salt", "the whirling triangles" and "the olive oil can duet" from their previous works. Controversy always runs rampant in their court...a challenge has been issued; "Can beautiful women having a good time on stage really create art?"
Appearing in SONiC BOOM's first season and taking Toronto by storm, URGE guarantees its audience a truly entertaining evening where music artistry, creative impulse and compelling seamless movement will touch and provoke you. "She Promised She'd Bake a Pie" combines extraordinary talents of singer/performance artist Katherine Duncanson, mezzo-soprano Fides Krucker, choreographer/dancer Marie-Josée Chartier, composer Linda Catlin Smith, concert pianist Eve Egoyan, and flamenco dancer/artist Anita La Selva.
Call (416) 973-4000 (HARBOURFRONT BOX-OFFICE) between 1pm and 9pm daily
to purchase your $85 BOOM Pack.
A 15% SAVINGS ON THE BEST SEATS IN THE HOUSE.
To compliment the $79 BOOM Pack we are encouraging you to become a member and receive tickets sent in advance, members-only receptions with artists, discounts to other Toronto contemporary cultural events (i.e. "Fall Design Days" at the Design Exchange & the "Peter Mettler Retrospective" at Cinematheque Ontario), restaurant discounts, newsletters and 15% off single ticket prices for two of your friends.
Call 973-4000 between 1pm and 9pm daily to purchase your $25 SONiC BOOM Membership.