Tapestry to Present TAPESTRY BRIEFS: BOOSTER SHOTS, 11/13-16

TAPESTRY presents TAPESTRY BRIEFS: BOOSTER SHOTS, ten original, provocative opera shorts brought to life in site-specific installations in-and-around the Distillery Historic District, for four performances only, November 13-16, 2014.

Launching Tapestry's 35th anniversary season, TAPESTRY BRIEFS: BOOSTER SHOTS is HBO-style opera ripped from the headlines of contemporary life. With a language and style that is both familiar and surprising, Canada's most vital music and theatre artists have created BOOSTER SHOTS. The development of a Canadian classical canon through TAPESTRY BRIEFSis only one part of Tapestry's commitment to refreshing the relevancy, and redefining the future, of opera.

Each night begins in the Ernest Balmer Studio, Tapestry's studio and bar in the Distillery Historic District, a restored pedestrian-only village that blends Victorian Industrial architecture and stunning 21st century design. The crawl continues with subsequent scenes animating other Distillery spaces-from freight elevators and brick lined halls, to intimate corners and public galleries. Select locations will be paired with "booster shots" of flavour stimulants, ranging from craft beer and sake to artisanal ice cream, for this "new tastes" opera crawl.

Ten new opera shorts will be performed by four incredibly diverse performers; soprano Catherine Affleck, a recent graduate of Yale University School of Music where she appeared as Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte and the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta; baritone Alex Dobson, whose recent highlights include title roles in Wozzeck and Don Giovanni, both conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; tenor Keith Klassen, who recently appeared in the Tapestry premiere of Shelter by Juliet Palmer and Julie Salverson, and Opera on the Rocks, a site-specific production by Dave Carley; and mezzo soprano Krisztina Szabò who will next appear as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro for Calgary Opera, as a soloist at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's New Creations Festival, and as The Woman in Schoenberg's Erwartung for the Canadian Opera Company.

TAPESTRY BRIEFS: BOOSTER SHOTS has been created by a team of internationally renowned, critically-lauded and award-winning playwrights and composers including: Governor General Award-winning playwrights Nicolas Billon and Morris Panych; Siminovitch Prize-nominated writer Hannah Moscovitch; Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning playwright Donna-Michelle St. Bernard; Governor General Award-nominated playwright David Yee; composer Ivan Barbotin who specializes in music for film and television; composer of the Canadian Opera Company commissioned The Brother's Grimm, Dean Burry; Jules Léger Prize-winning composers James Rolfe and Nicole Lizée, who is also a turn table artist; co-recipient of the Tournon Branley Prize for collaborative work in architecture and music, Benton Roark; and SOCAN Award-winner and artistic director of the Toy Piano Composers, Chris Thornborrow.

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