Tapestry Opera will current Jacqueline, based mostly on the lifetime of virtuoso cellist Jacqueline du Pré, to open their forty fifth season. American soprano Marnie Breckenridge performs the position of Jacqueline, with cellist Matt Haimovitz within the position of her cello.
The opera focuses on the connection between the artist and her instrument, infused with the tragedy of MS that robbed du Pré of her reward, and finally her life.
Jacqueline consists of music by GRAMMY-nominated composer Luna Pearl Woolf, with textual content by Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek.
The Toronto performances on February 20, 22 and 23 come 5 years after the opera’s premiere. It follows a profitable manufacturing at West Edge Opera in California in August 2024, the place viewers members included classical music and opera luminaries like Kent Nagano, Frederica von Stade, and Jake Heggie.
Jacqueline du Pré
British cellist Jacqueline du Pré is taken into account by many to be one of many premier cellists of the twentieth century. She rose to stardom on the age of 20 along with her signature fashion, one which emphasised the emotional dimensions of the music.
Jacqueline started to review the cello on the age of 5. Her mom, a pianist and music trainer, was her first trainer. She went on to review on the Guildhall Faculty of Music, after which with a sequence of notable cellists, together with Pablo Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich. She made her debut at Wigmore Corridor in London in 1961.
Her 1965 recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with the London Symphony Orchestra was hailed because the definitive interpretation, and got here to epitomize her fashion. She married Daniel Barenboim, and tour the world as a performer.
Tragedy struck by 1970, nevertheless, when she started to expertise the signs of what would lastly be recognized as a number of sclerosis in late 1973. Earlier than that, although, her situation was considered psychological, and she or he was subjected to damaging evaluations that criticized her approach.
Her profession was over on the age of 28, though she would proceed to play each time her situation allowed it, and remained lively as a trainer and mentor till her loss of life in 1987 on the age of 42.
The Performers
The roles have been written for the 2 performers.
Soprano Marnie Breckenridge
Soprano Marnie Breckenridge has carried out throughout North America and in Europe, together with notable roles in modern operas akin to La Princesse in Philip Glass’ Orphee, the title position in Milhaud’s Medee, and Margarita Xirgu in Golijov’s Ainadamar with Opera Parallèle, amongst others.
She’s a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, the place she usually teaches, and her dramatic expertise prolong to roles in theatre, movie, TV, and VoiceOver work.
Breckenridge helped to create the position of Jacqueline alongside composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Royce Vavrek, and would go on to win the DORA Award that 12 months for Excellent Efficiency by an Particular person in an Opera for in 2020.
Matt Haimovitz
Primarily based in each Canada and the US, cellist Matt Haimovitz has carved out a novel profession, and his work has been acknowledged by a number of GRAMMY nominations.
Haimovitz can be a former protégé of Jacqueline du Pré, bringing a dimension of authenticity to the work. He made his live performance debut on the age of 13 in 1984 with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic.
As a performer, he’s performed on the world’s outstanding levels, native nightclubs, and in every single place in between. His 200 Listening-Room Tour took Bach to nightclubs throughout North America.
He’s obtained a number of awards by way of a 20+ 12 months profession as a recording artist on the Deutsche Grammophon label, in addition to on Oxingale Data, which he co-founded with composer/producer Luna Pearl Woolf.
In the present day, he’s additionally a passionate educator, and mentors a gaggle of proficient college students on the Schulich Faculty of Music of McGill College in Montreal.
Toronto Performances
Jacqueline: A Portrait of Jacqueline du Pré
Music by Luna Pearl Woolf, libretto by Royce Vavrek, and directed by Michael Hidetoshi Mori
Content material warning: Depiction of extreme sickness, lack of mobility and implication of loss of life, coarse language
The manufacturing consists of progressive design, akin to what director (and Tapestry Creative Director) Michael Mori describes in a submit to the corporate’s web site.
“Designer Camie Koo’s and my idea of an exploded live performance corridor resonated as an emblem of what would possibly transpire in Jacqueline, who recognized as an expert cellist for her complete life after which fully misplaced that capability.”
- There will probably be three performances on February 20, 22 and 23 on the Betty Oliphant Theatre. Discover extra particulars and tickets [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.