Queen of Puddings in Europe with Love Songs

QUEEN OF PUDDINGS MUSIC THEATRE

LOVE SONGS Tours EUROPE

Canadian Production Debuts in Paris, Ljubjana and Zagreb

Queen of Puddings Music Theatre’s stunning one-woman show, Love Songs debuts in Europe this weekend at the legendary Centre Culturel Irlandais, in the historic Quartier Latin in Paris (France) on Saturday, April 18, followed by performances at Cankarjev Dom – a multi-venue state-of-the-art performing arts facility in the heart of magical Ljubjana (Slovenia) on April 21, and in Zagreb (Croatia) on April 24, as part of the prestigious international Zagreb Music Biennale.

Love Songs is a spectacular virtuosic (a cappella) tour de force for solo female singer starring mezzo-soprano Lauren Phillips. Award-winning composer Ana Sokolovic chose her favourite love poems from many different languages, set them to music and framed each set with “I Love You” in 100 languages. A Queen of Puddings commission, Love Songs had a very successful premiere in Toronto last year at the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre and was remounted at Harbourfront in July 2008, and in Montreal in February 2009. “…a magnificent work… Phillips went beyond virtuosity and entered into the various states of love with purity of heart as well as voice, and conveyed an exhilarating freedom and daring as she leapt from language to language – especially in the dizzying “I love you’s” - Tamara Bernstein, The Globe and Mail (March 2008)

Lauren Phillips has been described as “incantatory” in her singing. Originally from Ottawa, she has won Opera Guild Scholarships, a University of Western Ontario Gold Medal, as well as the Vivian Asfar Memorial Award through an opera competition as a young artist with Opera Lyra Ottawa. Ana Sokolovic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and is now based in Montreal. Her works have been performed in North America and abroad. This opera is her third collaboration with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre (having written Sirens and The Midnight Court). Ana Sokolovic has won many distinctions and prizes, including the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers. She also represented Canada at UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers in Paris.

The Toronto based Queen of Puddings Music Theatre creates boundary bursting music theatre – a music theatre that is dynamic, provocative and precedent setting. The company, founded in 1995 by Artistic Directors Dáirine Ní Mheadhra & John Hess, is acclaimed for its unique aesthetic based on a physical, singing theatre.

LOVE SONGS

Singer Lauren Phillips

Director/Choreographer Marie-Josée Chartier

Music Director Dáirine Ní Mheadhra

Production Manager/Lighting Designer Glenn Davidson

This tour has been made possible through the Touring programs of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

www.queenofpuddingsmusictheatre.com

INES - Queen of Puddings' new & original chamber opera

Tickets for Inês go on sale January 15!

QUEEN OF PUDDINGS MUSIC THEATRE

In Association with Harbourfront Centre

Present the WORLD PREMIERE Opera

INÊS

A Chamber Opera Inspired by Portuguese Fado music

Enwave Theatre, February 22-March 1, 2009

Queen of Puddings Music Theatre is proud to announce its new and original production, INÊS, a new Canadian chamber opera by the Toronto composer James Rolfe (Beatrice Chancy, Rosa, Elijah’s Kite, Swoon) with an original libretto from writer Paul Bentley (The Handmaid’s Tale, Kafka’s Trial, The Midnight Court, Bird of Youth) and Portuguese translations by Anna Camara and Rui Mota. Portugal’s celebrated singer Inês Santos will be starring in the title role of the fadista Inês. Queen of Puddings’ production also stars baritone Giles Tomkins, soprano Shannon Mercer, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Turnbull and bass-baritone Thomas Goerz. Stage director Jennifer Tarver, set & costume designer Yannik Larivée and lighting designer Kimberly Purtell team up with Queen of Puddings' co-artistic directors, Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and John Hess for the creation of INÊS, presented at the Enwave Theatre (Harbourfont Centre, Toronto) from February 22 to March 1, 2009.

Inspired by Portuguese fado music, INÊS is based on the famous medieval Portuguese legend of Inês de Castro. The story is adapted to depict life within Toronto’s Portuguese community in the 1960’s. In this operatic version, Pedro, married to Constança, falls fatally in love with the beautiful fadista Inês. When the pregnant Inês is murdered by Pedro’s parents, he lures them to a church for a shockingly macabre dénouement… The opera unfolds against a backdrop of Portugal’s war in Angola, the Salazar dictatorship and the Portuguese immigrant experience in Canada.

Tickets for INÊS go on sale January 15

5 PERFORMANCES ONLY

Sunday, February 22 at 4PM (please note starting time)

Wednesday, February 25, Thursday, February 26, Saturday, February 28 at 8PM

Sunday, March 1 at 4PM (please note starting time)

Enwave Theatre (Harbourfront Centre), 231 Queens Quay West

Tickets: $35-$59

BOX OFFICE (416) 973-4000

www.queenofpuddingsmusictheatre.com