15.16 JULIE program by Canadian Stage

julie PRODUCTION SPONSOR

MATTHEW JOCELYN’S DIRECTION OF JULIE HAS BEEN GENEROUSLY UNDERWRITTEN BY AN ANONYMOUS DONOR

MEDIA SPONSORS

OFFICIAL PIANO SUPPLIER

NOV 17 - 29, 2015

cast & creative LUCIA CERVONI

CLARENCE FRAZER

SHARLEEN JOYNT

PHILIPPE BOESMANS

LUC BONDY

MATTHEW JOCELYN

LESLIE DALA

ALAIN LAGARDE

MICHAEL WALTON

ISOLDE PLEASANTS -FAULKNER

AJ LAFLAMME

WITH THAN KS TO:

François-Xavier Hauville and the Théâtre d'Orléans, France Jean-Paul Dessy and Musiques Nouvelles, Mons, Belgium The original cast and technical crew This production is dedicated to the memory of Kate de Marcken

#csjulie

A Canadian Stage production presented in association with Soundstreams with support from the Théâtre d’Orléans, France

julie

CO M P OSE D BY

PHILIPPE BOESMANS NORTH AM E RICAN PR E M IE R E NOV 17 - 29, 2015 B LU MA APPE L TH E ATR E Run tim e: 75 min utes There will be no intermission

cast

creative

J U LI E

CO M P OS E D BY

LUCIA CERVONI

PHILIPPE BOESMANS

J E AN

LI B R E T TO

CH RISTI N E

LUC BONDY AN D MARIE-LOUISE BISCHOFBERGER

CLARENCE FRAZER SHARLEEN JOYNT

orchestra VIO LI N 1

ERIKA RAUM VIO LI N 2

JAMIE KRUSPE VIO L A 1

SHEILA JAFFE VIO L A 2

EMILY ENG

DI R EC TO R

MATTHEW JOCELYN M US IC AL DI R EC TO R

LESLIE DALA S E T D E S IG N E R

ALAIN LAGARDE COSTU M E D E S IG N E R

ZAIA KOSCIANSKI LIG HTI N G D E S IG N E R

CE LLO

MICHAEL WALTON

DO U B LE BA SS

ISOLDE PLEASANTS-FAULKNER

DAVID HETHERINGTON

STAG E MANAG E R

NICK BOBAS

A SS ISTANT STAG E MANAG E R

FLUTE /PICCO LO/BA SS FLUTE

AJ LAFLAMME

LESLIE NEWMAN

O BO E /E N G LIS H H O R N

COLIN MAIER

CL ARI N E T/BASS CL ARI N E T

ANTHONY THOMPSON

BA SSOO N/CO NTR ABASSOO N

ANNA NORRIS

R E H E ARSAL PIAN IST

RACHEL ANDRIST A SS ISTANT DI R EC TO R

AARON WILLIS A SSOCIATE TECH N IC AL DI R EC TO R

SIMON CLEMO

FR E N CH H O R N 1

TECH N IC AL CO N SU LTANT

MIKHAILO BABIAK

JEAN-YVES DEMAN

FR E N CH H O R N 2

WAR D RO B E H E AD

DAVID QUAKENBUSH

TRACY GLAS

TRU M PE T

WAR D RO B E

BA SS TRO M BO N E

REBECCA FOWLER MANON DE GAGNE

MIKE FEDYSHYN ISABELLE LAVOIE HAR P

SANYA ENG PIAN O/SY NTH E S IZE R

RACHEL ANDRIST PE RCUSS IO N

RYAN SCOTT MICHELLE COLTON O RCH E STR A CO NTR AC TO R

DAVID HETHERINGTON

PRO P S B U I LD E RS

VANESSA JANISZEWSKI DANNY TRAN SU PE RTITLE D E S IG N E R

JOHN SHARPE PRO DU C TIO N A SS ISTANT

ALANNA MCCONNELL

director’s note On the longest day of the year… the night is the shortest. St. Johan’s night is perhaps the ultimate pagan celebration - the day in which the sun never sets - especially in Scandinavian countries where winter appears eternal, the nights without end. It is the night when the inevitable transgressions, paradoxically, are committed in the light of day. In Philippe Boesmans’ opera Julie, Swedish playwright August Strindberg’s eponymous play Miss Julie has been dissected by scalpel, leaving a lean, incisive drama, a spare skeleton for which Boesmans’ sumptuous score for chamber orchestra and three voices serves as both flesh and heart. Julie, the only child of her father the (ever-nameless) Count, dances by the fire in the company of her servants, trying to forget her recent break-up with her fiancé. The cook Christine, herself fiancéed to the Count’s groom, Jean, is preparing a meal for her lover, himself now the object of a full-on romantic assault by none other than Julie. After all, says Julie, he “dances better than anyone else”, and has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi which distinguishes him from the rabble. Everything takes place in the kitchen. The kidney stew slowly simmers. As Christine dozes off, Julie pushes Jean to drink, and as the alcohol takes effect, they begin to confide in one another, approaching the precipice of desire with less and less self-restraint, more and more abandon. And then they step over the edge. In the score, the act of love lasts 2’34’’, the time it takes for a passing storm to blow open the windows and create havoc. Love is short for such great upset, with such immeasurable consequences. Back in the kitchen - the forbidden act takes place elsewhere - Jean proposes that he and Julie run off together. They will go to Switzerland, buy a hotel, and Julie will run the till. The only snag: Julie has no money of her own, and in any case, the last thing she wants to do is sit at the cash register in some hotel in Switzerland. A new combat begins, but this time not an erotic one, a fight for survival, a savage, humiliating fight. “A servant is a servant” says Julie, only to hear Jean respond: “A whore is a whore”. Dismissed by Jean - a woman of no means is of no interest to him - Julie returns with a bag full of money stolen from her father’s safe, resigned to the idea of the escape to Switzerland. But the descent into hell has but begun, as Christine arrives and discovers the night’s events, issuing an order that, now that day has come, no-one dares transgress: Jean and Julie are not to leave the room until the Count returns. For Julie, there is but one solution remaining: the act will be done in the barn, with the help of Jean’s razor. Theatre is always present in Philippe Boesmans’ opera writing. Whether it be Reigen (based on La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler), Wintermärchen (based on Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale) or his most recent successes with playwright Joël Pommerat, Boesmans is fundamentally a man of the theatre. Intuitively he knows how to expose the most subtle human material hidden within the drama, the duel between spoken and unspoken intentions serving as a veritable playground for this composer of the human soul. When words no longer suffice, when things appear beyond expression, his music emerges, the iridescent reflection of our innermost quiverings. Julie is written for chamber orchestra, an ensemble of 18 soloists who both accompany and provoke the drama. Boesmans navigates the uncertain waters of this domestic tragedy with true virtuosity: 75 uninterrupted minutes of a meticulously orchestrated three-person waltz, and its inevitable dead end. Without ever quoting its influences (the music evokes the colours of Alban Berg but also those of the Vienna of Richard Strauss). Above all, Boesmans creates a musical idiom like no other, one in which together, the voices and orchestra plunge the depths of a human tragedy that should never have happened. Julie is my third production with Philippe Boesmans. Philippe composed the music for 5 singers and a French horn for my production of Paul Claudel’s L’annonce faite à Marie in Paris a number of years ago (awarded Best Production and Best Music in Paris that year). He then enabled a chamber adaptation of perhaps his most famous opera, Reigen, for the opera studio I directed in Colmar, France, coproduced by the Théâtre de l’Athénée-Louis Jouvet in Paris and the Lausanne Opera. And our first production of Julie was performed in more than a dozen theatres across France, Belgium and Switzerland. Philippe’s music and his profound sense of theatre, have thus been a dotted line across much of my own career. It is with an ever-whetted appetite that I look forward to sharing this most recent feast with our audiences in Toronto. MATTHEW JOCELYN

music director’s note It has been a great pleasure diving into the music of Philippe Boesmans, a composer who is virtually unknown and underperformed in North America. His opera Julie (his fourth work in this genre) is a kind of conversation piece where the music provides a continuous narrative and is highly concentrated and sophisticated in its sound world. Short musical motives (for example the two note bass drum figure which is the first thing we hear) permeate the texture of the score and are repeated, developed and used contrapuntally throughout the piece. Christine’s opening vocalise becomes more agitated and extreme in its register as the work progresses mirroring the ever building dramatic tension. The vocal writing is incredibly economical without any artificial trappings or vocal effects for the sake of effects. The singers are treated like instrumentalists (akin to the music of the Baroque) and the rhythms are often declamatory and speech-like to add to the realism of the work. Boesmans’ orchestration is masterful and he creates a remarkable amount of contrast with only 18 instruments. This ranges from the almost inaudible haunting sound of strings playing harmonics to the thunderous virtuosic passage work which is spread throughout the brass, woodwinds, percussion and strings to create a feeling of restlessness and violence. The work embraces both tonal and non-tonal elements to create a musical language that is reminiscent of the first two decades of the 20th century (one can hear strands of Mahler, Stravinsky, Berg and Richard Strauss) where we often feel that we are in a brave new world where traditional melodies, harmonies and phrase structures no longer exist. In that sense, Boesmans perfectly translates Strindberg’s play into the realm of music theatre. LESLIE DALA

a note from soundstreams We are thrilled to collaborate with Canadian Stage on this extraordinary opera. Musically expressionist in the tradition of Alban Berg’s Lulu, Boesmans strips away the thin veneer of civilization with an astonishingly compact score that elicits the rawest of emotions through masterful vocal and instrumental writing. Soundstreams has a long and rich history of producing opera. Past productions range from R. Murray Schafer’s epic, large-scale opera The Children’s Crusade, co-produced with Luminato, to Brian Current/Anton Piatigorsky’s more intimate Airline Icarus, probing the hubris that inevitably springs from mankind’s greatest technological feats. While the search for compelling dramatic structure is a given in opera, Soundstreams also weaves a strong narrative into our concert programs. Our mainstage season, Ear Candy series, and monthly salons explore universal themes illuminated by particular composers’ works, probing the full gamut of human emotion in the same way that great theatre touches us all. But Julie is a compelling departure for Soundstreams in interesting ways: it’s our first opera without a chorus; it’s our first with so few solo roles—only three; and yet it’s the largest instrumental ensemble in any opera we have produced—18 musicians in total. That Boesmans so brilliantly exploits the full dramatic potential of these forces is all the more remarkable. We hope that this presentation opens the door long-term to the production of medium-scale Canadian and international operatic works on a level never before seen in this country. LAWRENCE CHERNEY, Artistic Director, Soundstreams

cast JULIE LUCIA CERVONI Canadian mezzo soprano Lucia Cervoni studied at The University of Western Ontario and the Manhattan School of Music. Recent engagements include Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier, Welsh National Opera, and Magdeburg, Germany), Charlotte Werther (Carmen), Hansel (Hansel und Gretel), Eboli (Don Carlos)‚ Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)‚

Maddalena (Rigoletto)‚ Diana (Orpheus in the Underworld), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Ulrica (Un Ballo in Maschera), all with Theater Magdeburg. Engagements in the USA include Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Tessa in John Kennedy’s The Trinity (Santa Fe Opera)‚ Cornelia (Giulio Cesare, Glimmerglass Opera) and Suky Tawdry (The Beggar’s Opera, Castleton Festival‚ under Lorin Maazel).

JEAN CLARENCE FRAZER Hailed as a “singer to watch” (Musical Toronto) Canadian baritone Clarence Frazer is praised for having a “silvery baritone that retains its silky texture through his entire range” (London Free Press) who “possesses a powerful, robust voice” (Paula Citron). Mr. Frazer was a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio from 2012-2015. He recently appeared with the COC, making his main stage debut, as Figaro in The Barber of Seville. Other COC credits include: Prince Yamadori (Madama Butterfly); Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte); Schaunard (La Boheme). Future credits include: Figaro (The Barber of Seville – Pacific Opera Victoria); Dancaire/Morales (Carmen – Edmonton Opera); Figaro (The Barber of Seville – Saskatoon Opera). In addition to his opera and concert work Mr. Frazer won the inaugural Lois Marshall Voice Competition and was a finalist in Palm Beach Opera’s International Voice Competition and the International Vocal Competition held in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

CHRISTINE SHARLEEN JOYNT A native of Ottawa, silvery-voiced coloratura soprano Sharleen Joynt debuts for Canadian Stage and Soundstreams as Christine in Julie. She was recently heard as Despina in Against the Grain’s modern adaption of Don Giovanni in Ottawa and Toronto and appeared in China as Zerbinetta in Opera Leipzig’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos. A former member of the Calgary Emerging Artist ensemble, she has appeared in Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Augsburg, St. Gallen and Dessau in such roles as Adele in Die Fledermaus, Blonde in Entführung aus dem, Serail and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera. Recipient of a masters degree in Vocal Performance from New York’s Mannes College of Music, Sharleen is a respected pop culture and fashion blogger and frequent guest columnist with Flare Magazine.

creative COMPOSER PHILIPPE BOESMANS Born in Tongeren, Belgium, in 1936, composer Philippe Boesmans is respected as one of most influential musical figures in contemporary music. After being awarded the first prize in piano at the prestigious Conservatoire de Liège, he abandoned piano to pursue composition and developed a highly personal musical language profoundly influenced by the boundary-breaking Serialist music technique and the works of such master composers as Berio, Boulez, Pousseur and Stockhausen. It was only in the 1980s that he began to gain recognition in the opera world with such landmark operatic works La Passion de Gilles (1983), Wintermärchen (1999, A Winter’s Tale), and Reigen (1993, based on Arthur Schnitzler’s play La Ronde), hailed as “the greatest opera of the last 75 years” by Le Monde newspaper. Boesmans was a composer in residence at Théâtre de la Monnaie from 1986 to 2005, where he completed three operas, the last of which is Julie. A multiple award-winner with new opera commissions coming regularly from the Paris National Opera, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Teatro Real de Madrid, his latest opera, Au Monde, was voted Best New Opera in the World by the British Opera Association. LIBRETTO LUC BONDY Luc Bondy is a Swiss theatre and opera director, actor and librettist. He established a theatre career in Germany in the early 1970s, directing works by Genet, Ionesco, Shakespeare, Goethe and Edward Bond. Selected credits

as opera director include, Berg’s Lulu (debut, 1977, Staatsoper Hamburg), Schnitzler’s Terre Étrangère/The Vast Domain at the Théâtre des Amandiers in France, for which he was awarded the Critics’ Association Grand Theatre Trophy, Mozart’s Don Giovanni (1990, Viennese Staatsoper), La nozze di Figaro (1995, Salzburg Festival) and Idomeneo (2005, Milan), as well as Verdi’s Don Carlos (1996, Paris), Philippe Boesman’s Winter’s Tale (1999, Brussels) and Yvonne, princesse de Bourgogne (2009, Paris), and Puccini’s Tosca (2009, New York). Bondy was director of Berlin’s acclaimed Schaubühne Theatre from 1985 to 1987, Artistic Director of the Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) from 2002 to 2013 and is the current Artistic Director of Paris’ Théâtre de l’Odéon. LIBRETTO MARIE-LOUISE BISCHOFBERGER Marie-Louis Bischofberger is a Swiss director, playwright and dramaturg. Select theatre directing credits include: Thomas Bernhard’s Au But (2000, Théâtre de VidyLausanne), Christine Angot’s La Fin de l’amour (2001, Ménagerie de Verre, Paris), Jon Fosses’ Visites (2002, Festival d’Avignon), Shakespeare’s Vol de Lucrèces (2006, Paris), and Je t’ai épousée par allégresse by Natalie Ginzburg (2009, Théâtre de la Madeleine). As a dramatic consultant, she has collaborated with Luc Bondy on the libretto for number of opera creations by Philippe Boesmans: Reigen (La Ronde, 1994), Wintermärchen (A Winter’s Tale, 1999), Julie (2005) and Yvonne, Princesse de Bourgogne (2009, Opéra Garnier).

DIRECTOR MATTHEW JOCELYN Matthew Jocelyn is Canadian Stage’s Artistic and General Director. Canadian Stage credits include: Harper Regan (director), THIS (director), The Game of Love and Chance (director) and Fernando Knapp Wrote Me This Letter (director and translator). Recent directing credits include: Julie (Théâtre d’Orléans, Théâtre de l’Athénée, Paris), Requiem for a Nun, a new opera by Oscar Strasnoy and Matthew Jocelyn based on the story by William Faulkner (Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires), voted best opera of the year in Argentina in 2014, Le roi Arthus, Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels); Erwartung, Das Gehege, Le Bal (Hamburg Staatsoper); The Architect, Macbeth, The Love of the Nightingale (Atelier du Rhin); The Liar (Stratford Shakespeare Festival). Translations include: Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale, David Greig’s The Architect (Atelier du Rhin); Marivaux’s La Double Inconstance (University of Toronto). Matthew was formerly the Artistic and General Director of the Atelier du Rhin (Alsace, France). Recent projects include a new opera libretto based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with composer Brett Dean, for the prestigious Glyndebourne Festival in England. He is a recipient of the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (French Ministry of Culture) and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Mount Allison University (May, 2015), in recognition of his significant contribution to theatre in Canada and internationally. MUSICAL DIRECTOR LESLIE DALA Conductor Leslie Dala enjoys a multifaceted career spanning the genres of opera, symphonic music, choral and contemporary works. On the podium, he is known for his passionate, dynamic and charismatic approach, appearing with Pacific Opera Victoria, Goh Ballet, Thirteen Strings and Edmonton Opera. Leslie is Music Director of Vancouver Bach Choir, this season conducting Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and is Associate Conductor at Vancouver Opera, with whom he conducts Madama Butterfly in 2016. A frequent guest with Soundstreams Canada, Leslie has toured with this acclaimed ensemble to Beijing, China and Taipei. This season marks his Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut, with folk-rock duo Indigo Girls and a concert celebration of Steve Reich’s 80th birthday with Soundstreams Canada. SET DESIGNER ALAIN LAGARDE Since his studies in Scenography at the National Theatre Academy of Strasbourg, Alain Lagarde has created set designs for over a hundred productions, be it for the opera, theatre, dance or musicals. In Lyric theatre, he continues working with the Paris Opera, the Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Grand Theatre of Geneva, the Frankfurt

and Hamburg Operas, as well as the Staatsoper in Vienna and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Alain has designed sets for many international musicals and was invited by Brigitte Lefevre, Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, to collaborate with its choreographers. Recent projects include the scenography of Switch by Diana Vishneva in Los Angeles and Casse Noisette (choreography by Jean Christophe Maillot). LIGHTING DESIGNER MICHAEL WALTON For Canadian Stage: Harper Regan, The Other Place, Venus in Fur, Cruel and Tender. Other selected credits include; Cosi Fan Tutte (Canadian Opera Company); 11 Seasons with the Stratford Festival including Hamlet, The Sound of Music, Oedipus Rex, Love’s Labour’s Lost, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, Fiddler on the Roof, Henry V, The Matchmaker, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, As You Like It, Macbeth; A Word or Two with Christopher Plummer (CTG/ Stratford, Los Angeles); Albert Herring (Vancouver Opera/ Pacific Opera); Maria Stuarda (Pacific Opera); One Man, Two Guvnors, Mary Poppins, Next to Normal, The Rocky Horror Show, Little Women, The Three Musketeers; Enron (NAC); Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Sideways (La Jolla Playhouse, California); Glenn, A Tender Thing, ‘Night Mother (Soulpepper). STAGE MANAGER ISOLDE PLEASANTS-FAULKNER Isolde Pleasants-Faulkner is delighted to join Canadian Stage for the first time on this important North American premiere. Ms. Pleasants-Faulkner has most recently been working as a faculty member for COSI in Sulmona, Italy, the Para Pan Am Games and University of Toronto. Ms. Pleasants-Faulkner has had the privilege of stage managing many productions for Tapestry Opera, Just for Laughs, Opera Atelier and the Canadian Opera Company in Canada and many locations around the world. Additional projects have ranged from shows at Mirvish Productions, Koerner Hall and Production Operations for the Rolling Stones SARS Concert. ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER AJ LAFLAMME For Canadian Stage: London Road, The Arsonists, Red, Another Africa. Elsewhere: All Shook Up (Globe Theatre); Pirates of Penzance (Thousand Islands Playhouse); The Unplugging, Bingo! (Factory Theatre); Waiting Room (Tarragon Theatre); A Beautiful View, The Africa Trilogy (Volcano Theatre); Kim’s Convenience, Spoon River, La Ronde, True West (Soulpepper); Tainted (Moyo Theatre); Tosca, La Traviata, Die Zauberflöte, Le Tragedie de Carmen (Highlands Opera Studio); Cabaret, A Chorus Line (Rose Theatre); Everything Must Go (Andrea Martin). Other: AJ is a graduate of Sheridan College and the University of Toronto. She is also a writer; her work can be found at www.artbytheft.com.

STAFF Lawrence Cherney ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Soundstreams is one of the world’s leading contemporary music companies, and the biggest global presenter of new Canadian music. Under the direction of Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney and Executive Director Susan Worthington, the company showcases the work of living Canadian and international composers, with a focus on innovative thematic and experiential programming that provides context and contributes to the rich legacy of Canadian music at home and around the world. In collaboration with the finest Canadian and international artists, Soundstreams presents an annual concert series in Toronto as well as national and international tours. Soundstreams also serves the larger community through our free Salon 21 series at The Gardiner Museum, composer training activities, SoundWave program for music lovers under the age of 35, and digital performance space, including concert livestreams, SoundMakers website, and video content.

Susan Worthington EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Sarah Baumann DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & EXTERNAL RELATIONS Kyle Brenders ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE Ben Dietschi ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS Lindsay Marshall COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE Jessica Whitford DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Amanda Whitney, Young Associates FINANCIAL SERVICES

HISTORY

Founded in 1982 by oboist Lawrence Cherney as Chamber Concerts Canada, Soundstreams has presented a variety of series over its 33-year history, including Musical Mondays at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People and Encounters at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio. Soundstreams commissions have added more than 150 works to the musical repertoire worldwide, reflecting a diverse variety of genres and cultural traditions. Projects have included festivals and conferences such as the Northern Encounters festival, University Voices, and Cool Drummings percussion festival and conference, as well as new productions such as Thomson Highway and Melissa Hui’s Cree opera Pimooteewin: The Journey (which toured Northern Ontario in 2009 and 2010), R. Murray Schafer’s Dora Award-winning site-specific opera The Children’s Crusade (produced in association with the Luminato Festival), and Brian Current’s Dora-nominated opera Airline Icarus. Soundstreams is a three-time JUNO nominee and recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bernie Schiff, President Daniel Weinzweig, Vice President Jim Doherty, Treasurer Katherine Smalley, Secretary Helen Burstyn Ellen Karp Larry Smith Grace Westcott Norman Woo ADVISORY COMMITTEE Andrea Alexander Elaine Gold Hy Sarick Alan Convery

SPONSORS & PARTNERS This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation. Black

an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

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