THE TWO DEATHS OF OPHELIA to be Presented by Toronto's The Happenstancers

The Happenstancers will present THE TWO DEATHS OF OPHELIA, featuring music by Linda Catlin Smith, Ann Southam, Thomas Adès, and WORLD PREMIERES of new music by Ryan Chase and Torontonian Luis Ramirez.

THE TWO DEATHS OF OPHELIA conjures a sonic portrait of Ophelia, reimagining the Shakespearian character while exploring the themes of love, desire, madness, and death. At once sensuous and unsettled, the rushing flow of the sound-world mimics the unpredictability of water — pulling and pushing the listener as tones and gestures metamorphose.

Organized as a quasi “double-bill,” THE TWO DEATHS OF OPHELIA will ask the audience to step into the same river twice, and will twice trace the tragic fate of Ophelia. This performance features two world premieres; a new work for three strings and three winds by Torontonian Luis Ramirez, in which he imagines Ophelia suspended in time at the exact moment she breaches the water's surface; and Now Wonder Nyce and Straunge, by Ryan Chase, a surrealist setting of three texts by Geoffrey Chaucer, to be sung by soprano Reilly Nelson.

“We're playing with concepts this June,” says conductor Simon Rivard. “String quartet, tragedy, song cycle, melodrama — both classical music and theatre employ standardized forms, using familiar archetypes to carry audiences to unfamiliar and unexpected places. Can the same story be told twice? Can it remain the same? What if the narrator is changed?”

“With these projects we explore layers of ideas within the chamber music concert — another familiar structure! — but on the surface this concert is also just an opportunity for our ensemble to engage with powerful and iconic music,” says artistic director Brad Cherwin, “works that we might not have the opportunity to perform otherwise.”

To conclude THE TWO DEATHS OF OPHELIA, soprano Danika Lorèn will perform Claude Vivier's monumental Bouchara, and is described by the composer as a love song “in an invented language … a story which repeats itself continually.”

“Vivier's otherworldly musical language has become a symbol of greatness in the Canadian classical canon, and has influenced countless composers since,” says Lorèn. “Bouchara is one of Vivier's most spiritual and moving chamber works; a true gem in our country's rich history of classical innovators.”