VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert to Close Out Season with LOUISE

Toronto, 04 February 2015...VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert completes the 2014-2015 season with LOUISE, Charpentier's masterpiece that explores the modern age at the very dawn of the 20th Century. Following LA VIDA BREVE and STREET SCENE, LOUISE completes the company's survey of operas written from 1900 onwards, dealing with the friction between tradition and a new era.

The single performance takes place at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on March 29, 2015 and stars soprano Leslie Ann Bradley in the title role. Ms. Bradley starred a Valentine in VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert's LES HUGUENOTS in 2013 and has since been heard with the Orquesta sinfonica nacional de Mexico, the Louisiana Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Opera de Quebec and Pacific Opera Victoria. Also featured are mezzo soprano Michele Bodganowicz and baritone Dion Mazerolle. Recently completing the cast is tenor Adrian Kramer singing the role of the poet Julien. This performance marks Kramer's major role debut as a tenor. A past member of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio as a baritone, he is in transition to the tenor fach and VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert is pleased to be his partner in this phase of his career development.

The denizens of Montmartre will be drawn from the VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert Chorus, led by the choir's founding director, Robert Cooper. Peter Tiefenbach will be pianist and music director with Silva-Marin as artistic advisor for the production.

The work, which arguably has Paris as the central character, premiered in 1900 at the Opera Comique and became a huge hit. Against the backdrop of the city of light, Charpentier paints a vivid portrait of young love struggling to break free of societal conventions. Rarely has an opera so eloquently juxtaposed a private world with a sweeping, large-scale depiction of changing society. LOUISE was Charpentier's greatest success as an opera composer and though he lived till 1956, the latter part of his life was devoted more to social causes than composition. An eclectic mix of social realism, symbolism and late romanticism are expertly combined and the heroine's aria Depuis le jour remains a touchstone for lyric sopranos the world over.

Opera in Concert is supported by the Jackman Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. Single tickets are available from the St. Lawrence Centre's Jane Mallett Theatre Box Office, 27 Front St. East, by phone - 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754 - or online at www.stlc.com. The theatre is wheelchair accessible and close to public transit and municipal parking. All performances are on Sunday afternoons at the St. Lawrence Centre at 2:30pm.

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