festivals

56 Pages·2016·8.13 MB·English

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sm21-7_EN_p02-03_AD_Music&Beyond_sm21-7_pXX 2016-05-29 11:54 PM Page 1
2016
14 days! 75 concerts!
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sm21-7_EN_p04_AD_MyScena_MISQA_sm21-7_pXX 16-05-30 12:30 PM Page 1
2016
GENERAL
& ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
ANDRÉ J.ROY
6 EXCEPTIONAL CONCERTS
POLLACK HALL / 7 PM / FREE ADMISSION
STRING QUARTETS
14/08 BORO DIN RUSSIA / OPENING CONCERT 25/08 GOLDMUND GERMANY
ROLST ON CANADA
18/08 ROLST ON CANADA
GOLDMUND GERMA NY 26/08 ARGUS USA
MECCOR E POLAND
19/08 MECCOR E POLAND
ARGUS USA 27/08 CALIDOR E USA / CANADA / CLOSING CONCERT
FREE ADMISSION / TICKETS NEEDED
MISQA.COM / [email protected] / 514.550.8057
TICKETS RESERVATION AS OF JULY 18TH
my NEWS • my EVENTS • my ARTS
mySCeNA.
org
Create your own music and arts experience.
Visit our new website.
Live 2016-06-07
sm21-7_EN_p05_TOC_V2_sm21-7_pXX 2016-05-30 7:25 PM Page 5
VOL 21-7 JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016
CONTENTS
7 INDUSTRY NEWS
14 Joel Ivany: Translaptation
16 Medici.TV Launches New Website
16 The Orchestre de la Francophonie at 15
18 REVIEWS: Summer reading and listening
20 CLASSICAL FESTIVALS: Our Picks
20 Quebec
24 Ontario
25 Western Canada
25 Maritime Canada
26 JAZZ: Festival Round-Up
28 ARTS FESTIVALS: Our Picks
28 Visual arts & Museums
29 Dance & Circus
30 Theatre
32 Film
33 Literature
GUIDES
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
34 CANADIAN SUMMER FESTIVALS 8
48 REGIONAL CALENDAR
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
12
49 PREVIEWS
FOUNDING EDITORS PUBLISHER OFFICE MANAGER TRANSLATORS SUBSCRIPTIONS
Wah Keung Chan, Philip Anson Wah Keung Chan Brigitte Objois Alain Cavenne, Rebecca Anne Clark, Surface mail subscriptions (Canada) cost
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF SUBSCRIPTIONS & DISTRIBUTION Wah Keung Chan, Michèle Duguay, $33/ yr (taxes i ncluded) to cover postage and
La Scena MusicaleVOL. 21-7 Wah Keung Chan, Caroline Rodgers Camilo Lanfranco Véronique Frenette, Cecilia Grayson, hnaanmdeli,n agd cdorsetsss. ,P tleelaespeh monaeil , nfaox., ofra ex mnaoi.l, yaonudr
JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016 JAZZ EDITOR ADVERTISING An-Laurence Higgins, Rona Nadler, e-mail address. Donations are always wel-
Marc Chénard Jennifer Clark, Marc Chénard, Brigitte Objois, Karine Poznanski, come and are tax-deductible. (no 14199
PUBLISHER PROOFREADERS Brigitte Objois, Michèle Duguay Dwain Richards, Lina Scarpellini, 6579 RR0001).
LA SCENA MUSICALE, published 7 times per
La Scène Musicale Alain Cavenne, B rigitte Objois, A nnie ads.scena.org Anne Stevens, Kiersten van Vliet year, is dedicated to the promotion of
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Prothin, K iersten van Vliet BOOKKEEPING VOLUNTEERS classical and jazz music. Each edition
Wah Keung Chan (prés.), Holly PRODUCTION MANAGER Mourad Ben Achour Wah Wing Chan, Lilian I. Liganor, contains articles and reviews as well as
Higgins-Jonas, Sandro Scola, CN Rebecca Anne Clark REGIONAL CALENDAR Annie P rothin, Susan Marcus, calendars. LSM is p ublished by La Scène
ADVISORY COMMITTEE [email protected] Eric Legault NLAic ShoClEaNs AR oMaUchSICALE MMuussiiccaallee, ais n othne-p rI otafilti aonrg atrnaiznastliaotnio. Lna oSfc eThnae
Michel Buruiana, Gilles Cloutier, Pierre EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CONTRIBUTORS Music Scene.
Corriveau, Martin Duchesne, Maurice Jeanne Hourez, Kiersten van Vliet René-François Auclair, Renée 5409, rue Waverly, Montréal All rights reserved. No part of this
(Québec) Canada H2T 2X8 publication may be repro duced without the
Forget, C.M., Ad. E, Jean-Sébastien COVER Banville, Rebecca Anne Clark, Ma- Tél. : [phone] written permission of LSM.
Gascon, Virginia Lam, Margaret Tom Inoue rion Gerbrier, Shira G ilbert, Naomi [email protected], www.scena.org ISSN 1486-0317 Print Version (La Scena
Lefebvre, Stephen Lloyd, Constance V. COVER PHOTO Gold, Roxanne G uérin, Jeanne Hou- Production – artwork : Musicale);
Pathy, C.Q., Jacques Robert, Joseph Richard Bain Photography rez, Bill Rankin, Lina Scarpellini, Jo- [email protected] ISSN 1206-9973 Online Version.
Canada Post Publication Mail Sales
Rouleau, B ernard Stotland, FCA seph So, Kiersten van Vliet Ver: 2016-06-01 © La Scène Musicale Agreement, Contrat de vente
No.40025257
JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016 5
sm21-7_EN_p06_Editorial_V2_sm21-7_pXX 16-05-30 11:20 PM Page 6
editorial
FROM EDITOR
the
T
his May, Montreal hosted the annual Trials of Patricia Isasa (go on- phis. For Canty,
Opera America Conference, which stimu- line to read the glowing review “Every perform-
lated discussions about the future of opera by La Scena’sKiersten van Vliet). I caught Fri- ance is an attempt to engage.” Stay tuned for
and by extension, the future of classical day night’s New Works Sampler online, and at- our September issue to get a special look at the
music and the arts. The theme, “Global tended Opera de Montreal’s world premiere of state of opera in Canada.
Strategies, Local Actions,” seemed appropri- Kevin March’s Lilies (Les Feluettes), also re- This issue features our 20thAnnual Guide
ate for a conference held in Montreal as the viewed online. I left Les Feluettessatisfied that to Canadian Summer Festivals, including
400 visitors were impressed by success stories I had witnessed a well-crafted drama that elo- over 400 festivals in classical music, opera,
from the Just for Laughs and Montreal Inter- quently depicted a love story while shining a jazz, world music, folk, pop, country, theatre,
national Jazz festivals. light on the torture of homosexual repression. dance, visual arts, film and literature – it is no
The session called “Electronic Media: a Missing were memorable musical moments, wonder that Canada is now considered the
Strategic Imperative?” presented by Rob those love arias and duets that tend to echo land of festivals! Christopher Plummer makes
Overman (Creative Director of Stingray, a within us all the way home. the cover page of our English edition and in-
Montreal-based provider of multiplatform Similarly, the excerpts of six new Canadian side, his love of music is explored through his
music products and services) caught my at- and American works at the New Works Sam- new program of Shakespeare and music. Our
tention. Although making videos of opera and pler did not leave me with any captivating mu- French cover is graced by Rufus Wainwright,
other performing arts for television, the web, sical moments even though I enjoyed the who performs excerpts of his opera Prima
and other media may work well for the Euro- story-telling. I prefered the American works Donna as part of Montreal’s International
pean market, it is not currently suitable for because the singing sounded more relaxed, the Jazz Festival. To promote a better user expe-
North America, given that opera companies vocal line sitting more solidly on the voices of rience, we have increased the font size of the
are handcuffed by rigid collective agreements. the American singers. In other words, in com- festival guide.
According to Overman, the availability of parison, the Canadian singers tended to go In anticipation of the 20thanniversary sea-
videos may be great for branding by gaining shrill, maybe because the music was too high son of La Scena Musicale(a real milestone!),
more digital eyeballsbut it is not profitable. If for their range. Someone asked me if this was we are proud and excited to launch our new
it were more cost-effective, more companies the fault of the singers or the fault of the com- website mySCENA.orgon June 7th,thanks to a
would go digital in order to capture new audi- posers. I place the blame squarely on the com- grant from the Canada Periodical Fund.This
ences. HEC professor Serge Poisson-De-Haro posers for not understanding that new works new website is based on the latest technology,
expressed doubt that consuming opera on a are most often sung by younger, less experi- building on our award-winning news website
10-inch tablet would lead to many opera con- enced singers. I’m reminded that Purcell by allowing more user interaction to cultivate
verts. He added, “It takes a couple of years to wrote Dido and Aeneas in 1688 for a girl’s a community of arts lovers by informing, edu-
educate new audiences; the goosebumps ex- school, spinning great arias that sat on a com- cating, and engaging. In addition to creating a
periencehappens in the hall.” fortable tessitura, probably explaining why the profile to leave comments and reviews, users
In recent years, expanding the audience for work continues to be performed today, often can create their very own arts experience with
live opera is one of the main pre-occupations at the college level. a personalized homepage of news, reviews, and
of opera companies. North American compa- My biggest takeaway from this year’s Opera events catered to their interests. Stay tuned to
nies are inclined to present new operas, hop- America Conference is that although North our website starting June 7thfor more exciting
ing to engage younger audiences and connect American opera companies seem to be doing developments, including a crowdfunding cam-
with them with music written today. Accord- everything by the book to attract younger au- paign to support our raison d’êtreof promot-
ing to Robert Marx’s article, “Rebalancing the diences through new works, a notable weak ing classical music, opera, and the arts and our
Portfolio,” in this spring’s Opera America link is composition. Twentieth-century com- continued efforts to serve you better.
Magazine, professional opera companies in posers – and those who followed – became al- My, how time has flown since our magazine
North America have produced nearly 400 new lergic to creating melodic music in pursuit of was born from the little newsletter that I first
works (an average of 25 per year) since 2000. academic originality. This trend disregarded wrote and distributed all over town in 1996!
This may be a boon for composers but I won- listeners’ musical sensibilities, resulting in a This autumn, we will celebrate La Scena Mu-
der if the effort and expense is paying divi- real turnoff for audiences. Elusive as it may sicale’s20thanniversary with a gala devoted
dends since opera audiences continue to be, without music that captivates, new operas to Rising Stars. If you wish to join our
dwindle. Moreover, how many of the 400 new may be relegated as passing entertainment by fundraising committee, simply send us an
works have real lasting power? younger audiences, failing to convert them email at [email protected].
During the Saturday session of the confer- into budding opera lovers. I challenge today’s On behalf of our dedicated team of staff and
ence, “Global to Local – Strategies for Opera,” composers to know their audience well volunteers, I wish you a happy summer full of
disagreement among the panelists continued. enough to write for them, something that music and the arts!
Bernard Foccrouille, General Director of Fes- makes the great composers of the past always
tival d’Aix-en-Provence, insisted that opera relevant to audiences.
should not be considered entertainment, but Speaking of relevance, composers and
should be labeled as art, while Montreal opera companies alike, should take a page
Opera Executive Director, Pierre Dufour, did from Ned Canty, General Director of Opera
not share the same opinion. Regardless of the Memphis, whose 30 Days of Operaprogram
semantics, the point of the matter is to find is literally bringing good singing and great op- WAH KEUNG CHAN,
ways to draw more people to opera. eras to the public – free performances (from
Founding Editor
Throughout the conference new works were pop-up arias to children’s operas) on street
on display, beginning with Chants Libres’s The corners, libraries and markets all over Mem-
6 JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016
sm21-7_EN_p07_IndustryNewsV4_sm21-7_pXX 16-05-31 8:57 AM Page 7
WINS & HONOURS
quartets by composers from 28 countries.
Toronto-based pianist and composer  Matt
Concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker was among
Poon was named the top prize winner at
those named an Honorary Fellow of The Royal
theEckhart-Gramatté National Music Compe-
Conservatory in May, for his noteworthy contribu-
tition for the performance of Canadian and con-
tions to culture and the lives of millions of people.
temporary music. Poon received a $10,000 cash
Parker, a Conservatory alumnus, has performed on
prize, a debut recital in Italy at the Casalmag-
many of the great stages around the world.
giore International Music Festival, and a Cross-
NEW MUSIC
Canada Winner’s Tour in November 2016. The
second place winner was pianist Naomi Woo,
and third place went to Jesse Plessis. The Canadian Music Centre has newly as-
sumed responsibility for Berandol Music’s col-
lection of nearly 1,000 works by Canadian
Pianist Jeanne Amièle from Saint-Bruno-de-
composers, which will be added to the CMC’s
Montarville, Québec, has been awarded the
INDUSTRY already vast catalogue of over 24,000 works.
$8,000 top prize in The Shean Piano Compe-
The collection was purchased in 1972 by
tition which took place in Edmonton. Cur-
record producer and composer Ralph Cruick-
NEWS rently pursuing a Doctorate in Music at the
shank during his time at BMI Canada. 
Université de Montréal, Amièle also wins the
opportunity to perform with the Edmonton BIG BENEFITS
Symphony Orchestra. The 26 year-old pianist
is a past winner of the Grand Prize of the The Société pour les arts en milieux de santé
by SHIRA GILBERT Canadian Music Competition as well as 3rd (SAMS), which offers 600 concerts each year in
INDUSTRY MOVES Prize in the OSM Manulife Competition. hospitals and other health centres in Montreal,
Quebec, and several other regions, recently held
ADAM JOHNSON ()has been named assistant two successful fundraising events. A Cabaret-
Polish-American composer Wlad Marhulets is the
conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de bénéfice at Montreal’s Salle Bourgie and a con-
winner of the inaugural $50,000 Azrieli Prize in
Montréal for the upcoming season, succeeding cert-dînatoire in Quebec City together raised
Jewish Music for his Klezmer Clarinet Concerto.
Dina Gilbert. The conductor and pianist from over $150,000.
Hinton, Alberta, spent this past season as As-
sociate Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Mauro Bertoli, an Italian-Canadian pianist cur-
The benefit Gala La Dolce Vitawas held at the
Orchestra, following two seasons as Resident rently living in Ottawa, is the 2016 recipient of
Marriot Château Champlain in support of the
Conductor. Johnson holds a Doctorate in Piano the CAB Foundation’s Arturo Benedetti
Montreal Chamber Music Festival, which runs
Performance from the Université de Montréal Michelangeli Prize for young performers,
June 9-19. World-renowned tenor Ben Hepp-
and a Prize in Orchestral Conducting from the awarded in collaboration with the International
ner gave a rare performance at the sold-out
Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. He was Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo. Bertoli
event, which raised $160,000.
the winner of the 2015 Jean-Marie Beaudet is the first recipient of this new prize for “young
Award in Orchestral Conducting from the interpreters” and is recognized alongside this NEW NAME
Canada Council for the Arts. year’s “career prize” winner, Mitsuko Uchida.
Queen’s University recently announced the nam-
ing of the Dan School of Drama and Music in ho-
Pierre Dufour leaves his position as General Direc- Western University in London, Ontario,
nour of Aubrey and Marla Dan, who have
awards pianist Louise Bessette an honorary
tor of Opéra de Montréal at the end of the current
donated $5 million to the school. The donation
doctorate in music at its convocation ceremony
season to develop the opera Another Brick in the in June. The Montreal-born pianist is hon- will be endowed to fund visiting instructors,
Wall, after having been with the organization for oured for her 35-year career during which she scholarships and research. The significant gift fol-
the past 16 years. Dufour began his career at Opéra has appeared in performance throughout the lows last year’s opening of the Isabel Bader Cen-
de Montréal in 2000 as Production Director, and world. Bessette has been a professor of piano at tre for the Performing Arts and the merger of the
was named General Director in 2006. At the Opera the Conservatoire de Montréal since 1996, and Department of Drama andSchool of Music.
America Conference, he revealedthe OdM’s 2017- was named Ambassador of Canadian Music by
18 season: Tosca, Cenerentola, JFK,and Carmen. the Canadian Music Centre in 2009.
Violinist Jonathan Crow will become the new Classical guitarist Thierry Bégin-Lamontagne,
Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music born in Cowansville, Quebec, is the winner of
beginning in September. Crow takes over from the international guitar competition of Anthony,
violist Douglas McNabney, who will oversee a town near Paris. Bégin Lamontagne received
his sixth and final season this summer. Crow the 10,000-euro first prize and the 300-euro au-
is in his fifth season as Concertmaster of the dience award, as well as a new guitar created by
Toronto Symphony Orchestra and is a found- the Japanese luthier Masaki Sakurai.
ing member of the New Orford String Quar-
tet. Now in its eleventh year, Toronto Summer The Molinari Quartet has announced the win- VIOLIN GIFT GOES VIRAL
Music runs from July 14 to August 7. 
ners of its 6thInternational composition com-
petition. The $3,000 first prize was awarded to When Montreal violinist and busker MARK
Martin Arnold has been named the new Artis- Italian composer Gianluca Castelli for his work LANDRY ()had his violin stolen recently, Or-
tic Director of Arraymusic starting this July. Mythoi; the 2ndprize of $2,000 went to Liliya chestre Métropolitain and violin store Maison
Arnold is an established composer and per- Ugay, from Uzbekistan, for her String Quartet du Violon quickly came to his aid, offering
former in Toronto, and holds teaching positions No. 2; and two 3rdprizes of $500 each went to Landry a new instrument, along with a bow
at both York and Trent Universities. Martin Jean-Patrick Besingrand from France, and and case. The heart-warming story was picked
takes over the Toronto-based contemporary Canadian Alexandra Fol, who also took the pub- up by numerous media outlets in Canada, as
music ensemble from interim Artistic Director lic’s choice prize for her work The ELGEA Quar- well as by The Strad, the Washington Post,
Rick Sacks, who has held the post since 2010. tet. The winning works were chosen among 86 and columnist Norman Lebrecht.
JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016 7
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CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER AT A PERFORMANCE OF
SHAKESPEARE AND MUSICIN 2011.
CHRISTOPHER
P L U M M E R
MUSIC AND THE BARD
by PETER ROBB
8 JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016
sm21-7_EN_p08-10_ChrisPlummer_V2_sm21-7_pXX 2016-05-30 7:19 PM Page 9
Preposterous ass, that never read so far Horowitz. And I imagine Rach-
maninoff was austere and impos-
To know the cause why music was ordain’d! ing when sitting down at the
piano.”
Was it not to refresh the mind of man “They all had a wonderful pres-
ence but most performers today
After his studies or his usual pain?
don’t. They are into their music,”
he states. “That’s fine because it’s
(The Taming of the Shrew, 3.1.10-13), Lucentio wonderful to listen to, but we are
missing the great personalities of
the past.”
William Shakespeare’s words conversations with Plummer over incorporating Plummer believes a musical ca-
reer was a serious ambition for him, but in the
have inspired legions of com- the right pieces of music. Once the pieces were
end it fell by the wayside. “I was as lazy as hell
posers for generations. From chosen, issues of timing had to be worked out.
and it was easier for me to go into the theatre.
operas like Otello, to ballets “I have to be careful and protect the words,”
I could mimic people pretty well. It is a cheap
such as Romeo and Juliet, Plummer says, describing his position on the
way of getting applause, but it helped a great
and orchestral works like Mendelssohn’s over- performance. “When you get together with
deal,” he says in a typically self-deprecating
ture A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the great musicians, it’s a race to see which is more im-
manner.
and the good have tried their hand at inter- portant, music or words. I try to pick passages
However, as any actor knows, timing, emo-
preting the old master.
tion, presentation, and rhythm are central to
But how can one do justice to Shakespeare’s
catalogue of plays and sonnets in a slim 90-
minute performance? Christopher Plummer,
a Shakespearean actor with few peers, seemed
best suited to the task.
You can see his expertise for yourself in
Music and Shakespeare, which is part of Ot-
tawa’s Music and Beyond Festival on July 8
and 9.
That Plummer agreed to do this work in the
first place was the result of patience and per-
sistence on the part of Julian Armour, the fes-
tival’s artistic and executive director as well as
the artistic director of the Chamber Players of
Canada. Armour is also a well-known cellist
playing regularly with Ottawa’s Thirteen
Strings chamber orchestra.
For over a year Armour tried to persuade
Plummer to blend music inspired by the Bard
with excerpts from Shakespeare’s writings. Ar-
mour recalls receiving a phone call two days
after Plummer’s people communicated his vi-
sion to the actor. Thinking it would be a re-
sponse from his agents, Armour was surprised
to hear the actor’s singular voice on the other
end of the line: “Hello Julian, this is Christo-
pher Plummer calling.”
Plummer loved the idea, says Armour, “It
was the kind of thing he had been wanting to
success on stage. In these particular ways, his
do for years.” from both that fit together, that don’t com-
musical training helped him enormously.
For Plummer, agreeing was pretty easy. “I pete, so both the words and the music shine.”
“A decent play is like a symphony, with its
admired Julian,” he said in an interview dur- “I love music – I always have,” he explains.
codas and climaxes and arpeggios and every-
ing a break in filming in Vancouver. “I was “I studied to be a concert pianist. It turned
thing else. It helps to know a little bit about
aware of his music. And the idea that it would into mostly jazz and playing by ear, but I love
music, to hear it. And to adapt it to the words.
be nice to do a program of music that was in- music, period. I love to mix the two together.”
The words also are music of a kind. You must
spired by Shakespeare appealed to me.” In the end, he chose the theatre over the
know absolutely how to orchestrate your
The format of the show meant that the concert hall. As he states, “I found acting more
evening.”
music would either be played incidentally un- companionable. I’m glad I chose acting be-
This is especially true of Shakespeare, who
derneath Plummer’s recitation or separately cause being a solo musician is a lonely life. My
Plummer calls “lyrical.”
between spoken excerpts. States Plummer, cousin Janina [Fialkowska] is a gorgeous pi-
“His language can be martial and then sud-
“The evening will include some lovely music, anist, but she’s in Russia one day and the next
denly romantic, soft and gentle. There is more
from Mendelssohn to Nino Rota, to Sir she’s in Minneapolis. It’s insane.”
variety to his writing than almost anyone
William Walton – from Midsummer Night’s Plummer loves playing to an audience and
else’s.”
Dream, Much ado about Nothingand Tam- observes that some pianists could do with
For the show, finding the balance between
ing of the Shrewto Romeo and Juliet. We’ve some training in acting: “It’s more gregarious,
the Bard’s lyricism and the musical line is key
got the Tempest, Hamlet, and Henry V.” the acting profession, and you actually play to
to its success. “I don’t want him to compete
He added, “I try to do the funny stuff, so I an audience. Some great piano soloists should
with the music,” explains Plummer. “It’s stu-
get a laugh.” learn how to play to the audience. Certainly
pid to think he needs any help from music at
The musical works were not simply tossed Artur Rubinstein knew how to play to the au-
together, however. The director had lengthy dience while performing, so did Vladimir
JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016 9
sm21-7_EN_p08-10_ChrisPlummer_V2_sm21-7_pXX 2016-05-30 7:19 PM Page 10
all.” Indeed, the music in the program was in- The marriage of A Midsummer Night’s
spired by Shakespeare himself. Dream with the incidental music by
The music in Music and Shakespeare Mendelssohn “worked like a treat.” Explains
ranges from Beethoven to Mendelssohn, Plummer, “It’s such a charming play and the
Prokofiev to Korngold, and includes the con- music is so extraordinarily apt. It’s a genius
temporary Ottawa-based composer Robert score and there’s lots of laughs. I played Bot-
Rival. There are no period pieces save tom and Puck and God knows who else.”
“Greensleeves,” but even that is a setting by Tongue firmly in cheek, he concludes, “I
Ralph Vaughan Williams. won’t allow anybody else on the stage. The
So why no Baroque, say? music marries wonderfully with the play, and
“I’m not crazy about Baroque,” Plummer on its own it is an absolute classic. Indeed, so
says. “I don’t think it has huge entertainment is this play. In a sense they are equal. They
value for an audience. You’ve got to entertain complement each other because, in a way,
as well. I think Baroque might be slightly irri- they adore each other. It’s as if both had sat
tating. I like great surges of passion in music.” down and worked it out together.” LSM
This is not Plummer’s first project that com-
bines Shakespeare and music. In the past, » Shakespeare and Music, July 8 and 9, 7:30 PM at
trusted me to pick the speeches I wanted to
Plummer has worked with Sir Neville Mar- Dominion-Chalmers United Church, Ottawa.
deliver. We made it an evening from the young
riner on programs of Henry V and A Mid- Music and Beyond runs from July 4 to 17 in Ottawa.
Henry to the chastened Henry, the victorious
summer Night’s Dream. For more information see page 41 for full festival list-
Henry, and we added that beautiful pacifist
He continued, “For HENRY V[], [Marriner] speech by the Duke of Burgundy. It was won- ings or go to www.musicandbeyond.ca
wanted me to arrange the words, and I did. He
derful for me because I played all the parts.”
PLUMMER, SHAKESPEARE, AND STRATFORD
Plummer’s first big role
was at Stratford in 1956,
playing the title role in
by REBECCA ANNE CLARK HENRY V (). Plummer
was originally inspired
to become an actor after
seeing Laurence Olivier
star in the 1944 film
v ersion of Henry V. His
understudy for this
i naugural Shakespeare
role? William Shatner.
In 1957, Plummer was
back at the Stratford in
their first production of
HAMLET (), starring as
the conflicted young
Danish prince. Plummer
featured in no less than
ten of the Bard’s plays at Stratford between 1956 and 1967.
After a 25-year hiatus from the Stratford,
Plummer returned in 2002 to play KING
LEAR () in a critically-acclaimed per-
formance that The Walrus’s Robert Cush-
man called, “A very complete performance
of the old king as a vain, deluded, but
f undamentally honest man, bewildered
into new experience and running with it,
into madness and beyond.”
Plummer’s last appearance in a Shake-
speare play was in 2010, when he
a ppeared in The Tempest as PROSPERO
(). Two years later, he told the Toronto
Star’s Richard Ouzounian, “I’ve already
played all the great Shakespearean roles
that fit my age except for Falstaff and I
In 2011, Christopher Plummer received the S tratford don’t want to wear all that f——— padding.”
Shakespeare Festival’s inaugural Lifetime Achieve-
ment or Legacy Award at age 81. The award PHOTOS (COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): HERB NOTT, HERB
r ecognizes Plummer’s long and illustrious relation- NOTT, DAVID HOU, TONY HAUSER.
ship with the Stratford Festival – and with
S hakespeare.
10 JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016