France / Canada - 1998 Opera Production 

France/Canada - 3 world premieres for voice and instruments

The 1998 Banff Arts Festival will see French composers Anne-Marie Fijal and Richard Dubelski sharing the bill with Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith in a program of world premieres for voice and instruments presented with the support of the France/Canada/Banff Fund. Keith Turnbull, artistic director and executive producer of Banff Theatre Arts reports, "Our past collaborations with artists such as Georges Aperghis, Jean-Pierre Drouet and Myriam Naisy have opened up an amazingly rich variety of co-production possibilities with some of France's most dynamic artists. This year we are presenting three of the most progressive, exciting composers of the next wave and it is gratifying to receive the support from the French government".

THREE WORLD PREMIERES

• The Kiss is a song cycle 'trio' for three groups of performers by French composer Anne-Marie Fijal. The three groups are made up of: baritone, bassoon and cello; a trio of string basses; and a trio of violins. Fijal is using excerpts from The Kiss by Swiss/German poet Robert Walser (1878 - 1956) for her libretto.
  PERFORMERS: Mel Braun - baritone; Marc Feldman - bassoon; Peter Parthun, cello; Maya Kyoko de Forest, Daryl Strain and Ralitza Tcholakova - violins; Trish Beret, Scott Fethorn, and Peter Pavlovsky - string bass.
  
• Hieroglyphs is a song cycle for mezzo soprano, violins, cello and percussion by Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith with text assembled by the composer, with writer Elissa Poole. The music creates images, drawn from nature, to evoke a fleeting presence; the imprints of people who are no longer here.
  PERFORMERS: Anita Krause - mezzo soprano; Peter Parthun - cello; Richard Sacks - percussion; others TBA .
  
• What's Goin' On by French composer Richard Dubelski is a fully staged music theatre work based on interviews and stories from the inner city: immigrants, workers and unemployed, the cop, the merchant, the young and old; socially conscious, activist and cutting edge. A collage of voice, found object percussion, tuned percussion, viola, cello, and trumpet, the piece will be created with Dubelski as composer and director collaborating with the performers.
  PERFORMERS: Alex Dobson - baritone; Alan Gasser - tenor; Linda Karry - soprano; Merrie Klazek - trumpet; Marion Newman - mezzo soprano; Richard Sacks - percussion; Antoine Tamestit - viola.
  What's Goin' On in France, May 1999

CREATIVE TEAM
Richard Dubelski will be doing the music and stage direction for What's Goin' On. Philippe Nahon, artistic director of France's Ars Nova, will be the music director, and Hans Engel, assistant artistic director of Banff Theatre Arts, will be the stage director for The Kiss and Hieroglyphs. Gavin Semple will be the designer and Linda Babins the lighting designer for all three works.

THE FRANCE/CANADA/BANFF FUND
This year the France/Canada/Banff Fund is providing financial support for France/Canada and for Vertical Dance (performance dates August 8 and 9). A three year initiative, it is now in its second year, having funded a compact disc recording Among Friends featuring the works of contemporary Canadian composers played by French musicians, scheduled to be released in May 1998 on the Centre Discs label; and the 1997 Banff Arts Festival's residency of Ballet British Columbia and French choreographer Myriam Naisy. That collaboration resulted in the creation of Petites danses pour mammifËres which has entered the repertory of Ballet BC.The France/Canada/Banff Fund &endash; established by the French Ambassador, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the Director, Banff Centre for the Arts &endash; supports the professional development of French and Canadian artists through the production and dissemination of new artistic expression.

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