SAT APR 28 2018 / 8PM
Circa: Opus CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT UBC
“We’reisreally trying to “Santería the base of Cuban do two different things. music… Every single rhythm Onefrom is tothe seebatá howdrum. far comes So even you bend are not circusifcan assinging an a chant of Santería, art form, how farif ityou canare playing Cuban music there cross-pollinate with is a theatre, link withdance it.” and – Daymé Arocena music when you stretch Radio International, 2017) (Public it beyond its normal limits. On the other hand, we want to use the physical immediacy and danger and presence of circus to try to reinvigorate other art forms.” – Circa Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz,
(The Guardian, 2016)
Circa: Opus PRESENTED BY THE CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Performance 8:00pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall
Circa Billie Wilson-Coffey, Bridie Hooper, Caroline Baillon, Cecilia Martin, Daniel O’Brien, Jarred Dewey, Keaton Hentoff-Killian, Kimberley Rossi, Lisa Goldsworthy, Marty Evans, Nathan Boyle, Nathan Knowles, Rowan Heydon-White, Todd Kilby Debussy String Quartet Christophe Collette violin Marc Vieillefon violin Vincent Deprecq viola Cédric Conchon cello Yaron Lifschitz Director Danielle Kellie Producer Jason Organ Technical Director/Lighting Designer Libby McDonnell Costume Design Yaron Lifschitz and Jason Organ Set Design Fabien Lauton Sound Engineer Dmitri Shostakovich Composer Post-show Artist Talk 9:40pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall With members of Circa and the Debussey String Quartet, moderated by Stephen Heatley Tonight’s performance will be approximately 80 minutes with no intermission. Please remember to turn off your phones, and note that photography and recording are not permitted. Thank you! Circa: Opus was created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble and the Debussy String Quartet. It is a Nuits de Fourvière production/ Département du Rhône, co-produced with Les Théâtres de la ville de Luxembourg, GREC Festival of Barcelona, Le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf, Dusseldorf Festival, Barbican Theatre, CACCV Espace Jean Legendre-Compiegne. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, managed by the Australia Council its arts funding and advisory body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Brisbane Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, and Melbourne Festival.
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Circa Circa Contemporary Circus is one of the world’s leading performance companies. Since 2004, from their base in Brisbane, Australia, they have toured the world – performing in 39 countries to over a million people. Circa’s works have been greeted with standing ovations, rave reviews and sold-out houses across six continents. Circa is at the forefront of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus – pioneering how extreme physicality can create powerful and moving performances. They continue to push the boundaries of the art form, blurring the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus, and leading the way with a diverse range of thrilling creations that “redraw the limits to which circus can aspire” (The Age). Under the direction of circus visionary Yaron Lifschitz, Circa features an ensemble of exceptional, multi-skilled circus artists. They are a regular fixture at leading festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin, and Montreal with seasons at Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Barbican Centre, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamäleon Theatre, as well as major Australian festivals. In addition to the full-time travelling ensemble, the Circa organization includes a concentrated administrative team and a dedicated circus studio, training centre, and workshop program. Circa has an impressive track record of producing quality workshops for children, young people, and adults in a range of community contexts. Circa’s Opus was premiered in 2013 and has toured Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, the UK and Canada. Bringing together fourteen acrobats and a string quartet, this poetic and powerful work has the string players themselves taking part in acts to combine movement with live music. The music is that of Russian pianist and composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), who is widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s most influential composers. Three of his fifteen string quartets are featured in this show with wide-ranging sounds running the gamut from hushed intensity to thundering virtuosity. Described by The Telegraph as ‘sexy, fierce and astonishing,’ Opus explores the capabilities of the human body and the complex relationship between the tragic and the comic.
“Circa’s work is simple – at its core, it’s the art form of the actual... Our strength lies in the artists’ commitment and virtuosity in delivering extreme states of emotion with their bodies.” (Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz, The Guardian, 2016)
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Debussy String Quartet France’s Debussy String Quartet has built a reputation of international acclaim through a sizable corpus of recordings and live performances. Since its creation in 1990, the quartet has enlivened the chamber music world with stylish and stimulating performances. Based in Lyon, France, and honoured as winner of the Evian International String Quartet Competition, the group performs about 120 concerts a year, all around the world. The quartet’s busy recording schedule has resulted in the release of more than 25 albums in 25 years, with a particular focus on French composers such as Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel. They have also recorded all fifteen of Shostakovich’s string quartets—three of which are featured in Circa’s Opus. Mixed chamber music repertoire highlights include a recording of the Brahms and Webern clarinet quintets with clarinetist Jean Francois Verdier, and an acclaimed collaboration with François Chaplin on several Mozart piano concertos. The Debussy String Quartet’s landmark release of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor in its 1802 transcription by Peter Lichtenthal was the subject of a documentary film. The members of Debussy String Quartet also founded Les Cordes en Ballade—a chamber music festival and academy in the South of France, where they perform and teach each summer. Circa: Opus Repertoire Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)
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String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 122 (1966) String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 (1960) String Quartet No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 92 (1952) Adagio (Elegy) from Two Movements for String Quartet (1931)
Exploring the role of the arts and artists in society. chancentre.com/connects
UBC School of Music Fanfares The fanfare that was performed in the lobby prior to this concert (7:30pm and 7:45pm) was commissioned by the Chan Centre from UBC student Robert Humber as part of an ongoing partnership with the UBC School of Music. Azura Quartet Eric Toombs - Soprano Saxophone; Mo Miao - Alto Saxophone; Haley Heinricks - Tenor Saxophone; Mia Gazley - Baritone Saxophone Robert Humber is a Canadian composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. His music is often built around very simple gestures and harmonies which he manipulates in imaginative ways. Robert is now completing his masters degree in music composition at UBC, studying with Dr. Stephen Chatman. Collidoscope combines three elements that are prevalent in any circus act: a sense of awe, acrobatics, and a hint of danger. Endlessly rising and falling arpeggios are interrupted by jagged, contorted rhythms. Listen closely and you will hear a very familiar Shostakovich quote hiding within the madness!
Post-show Artist Talk 9:40pm: Chan Shun Concert Hall Since forming in Brisbane, Australia in 2004, Circa has become an international sensation with their works that stretch the practice and perceptions of circus. Following their Chan Centre performance, join members of Circa and the Debussy String Quartet for a conversation about their stunning collaboration, and what it takes to bring 14 acrobats and a string quartet on the road. Moderated by Stephen Heatley—Head of the Department of Theatre and Film at UBC. Please note that seating for the talk is general admission, feel free to move closer to the stage as space permits.
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Circa’s Contemporary Circus – Hold the Applause By Taryn Plater
The circus can be both breathtaking and spectacular—an incredible showcase of superhuman feats that traces its roots back to Ancient Rome when chariot races and equestrian exhibitions were held in an open-air “circus.” Since the genesis of modern circus in 18th century Britain, performances have come to include extraordinary displays of acrobatics and contortion. Contemporary circus as we know it can be completely awe-inspiring – but Australia’s Circa wants to inspire more than awe. A visionary company from Brisbane, Circa is continuously stretching and pushing the limits of what circus can be. Looking as much to theatre and dance as to traditional circus, its work emphasizes movement and effect over spectacle.
“You have to really balance how many great tricks you do and how you frame them so they can speak and have their own emotional weight and find their right wave length.” Yaron Lifschitz, Artistic Director of Circa
From Human’s celebration of the power of bodies, to Il Ritorno’s interpretation of the search for refuge, the artists and acrobats of Circa are deliberate about framing each trick to avoid issues of double focus: when attention is split between watching the movement and observing its virtuosity. In many ways, this approach is akin to that of modern dance. Where a dancer in a Pina Bausch piece might fall to the ground in a repeated, punishing gesture, Circa’s performers will cross the stage on collapsed toes, sparking unease and distress among audience members – reactions beyond simple admiration. These are the reactions Circa values, and the reception that fuels this rebirth of contemporary circus. Circa’s choice of material runs the gamut from the animal kingdom to the life of Mozart, though the group seems especially drawn to material associated with modern dance. The troupe’s most recent creation is a new take on Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The work famously started a riot at its 1913 premiere for music and choreography that was paradoxically both primitive and upsettingly modern. Since then, it has been imagined and reimagined by the likes of Vladimir Vasiliev, Pina Bausch, and Martha Graham, always with this dichotomy in mind. What could be a better jumping-off point for the re-imagining of the circus? Adding yet another layer of innovation, Circa collaborates with musicians to create complete works of theatre where the brilliance of circus mixes with the sophistication of classical music to elevate and invigorate both forms. For Opus, the world-renowned Debussy String Quartet appears onstage with the acrobats, accompanying their movement and becoming part of the action themselves. One of the best in their field, the Debussy String Quartet is well-versed in cross-medium collaborations. Their repeated partnerships with Compagnie Käfig meld dance, boxing, and classical music, putting the quartet at the “crossroads of two universes.” The success of such collaborations is indicative of the incredible synergy that lives between music and movement. 8
With a background in opera, it is no surprise Circa’s Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz would have an eye for such collaboration. Whether incorporating four string musicians or two opera singers (Il Ritorno), his concepts capitalize on the additional immediacy and nearness live music brings. In Opus, no elaborate costumes or set pieces are needed – the thoroughly affecting piece is created solely by the interplay within the quartet, between acrobats, and across the complementary worlds of music and movement. This simplicity is the basis for Circa’s “revolution in the spectacle of circus” (Les Echos). Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 is the perfect selection to highlight this partnership: it is urgent, bleak, angular, and always moving. Shostakovich is also known to have included circus music (as well as popular genres like jazz) in his compositions. The composer famously declined characterizations of his music as supporting revolutionary narratives – similar to the way Circa distances its shows from concrete storylines, preferring instead to convey a theme, an emotion, a mood.
“We consider a clap where we don’t want one a form of failure.” - Yaron Lifschitz
Like the margin of silence that follows an engrossing piece of music, captivated silence speaks the loudest praise for displays of physical and musical artistry. Towards the advancement of contemporary circus as a serious, affecting art form, Lifschitz endeavours to ground the addictive spectacle in the more authentic elements of movement, feeling, and human bodies. When this approach meets live music, nothing compares. This is circus like only Circa can imagine. About the author Taryn Plater is in her second year working as Marketing & Communications Assistant at the Chan Centre as part of the UBC Work Learn Program. She is pursuing a double major in music and linguistics at UBC, as well as a Master of Management, and is passionate about expanding the role of the performing arts in our society. 9
Celebrating 20 Years The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 1997, and this season we’re celebrating 20 years! As part of our anniversary, we have commissioned 20 stories from writer Jennifer Van Evra – just a glimpse into all that has shaped who we are as an organization today. You can pick up your printed copy of The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at 20 at our ticket office or read more at chancentre.com.
New Horizons By Jennifer Van Evra
For UBC School of Music graduate Tyler Duncan, there’s a magical moment that happens right before every performance in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. Performers gather in a backstage area that’s nestled beneath the choir bleachers, and they can peer out at the audience members as they take their seats. If people are seated at the rear of the stage in the choral loft, the musicians can even see their feet. “You already get a feel for the hall, and it’s wonderful because you’re just surrounded by this beautiful space,” says Duncan. “And when you walk out on stage it feels like home.” Now an accomplished opera singer, Duncan has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the American Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Munich Bach Choir, and symphonies across Canada. He says the feeling of singing in the Chan Shun Concert Hall helped solidify his decision to pursue a career in music, and helped prepare him for the professional world. “It lets students know what they’re capable of, and gives them the tools to perform in a world-class concert hall. Coming out of university, they already have that experience,” says Duncan, who graduated in 1998 and has performed at the Chan Centre dozens of times since. He also met his wife at UBC, and they both performed in the choir on opening night. Since the venue opened, the UBC School of Music has performed more than 40 operas on the Chan Centre stage, drawing opera lovers into countless worlds, among them a Mozart garden (Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe), a fiery Offenbach underworld (Orphée aux enfers), and a Swiss psychiatric clinic (The Dream Healer). The opera program has grown from seven singers to more than 100, in large part because of the allure of the centre. “It took the school by the bootstraps and pulled us up to a whole new level,” says Nancy Hermiston, chair of the UBC School of Music’s Voice and Opera Divisions. “They always say one plays up to the theatre, and it’s true.” For vocalists, what sets the Chan Shun Concert Hall apart is that, because of the exceptional acoustics, singers can hear themselves on stage and can be heard by all the audience members, no matter where they’re seated. “I love seeing students rise to that stage, and rise to the occasion,” says Hermiston. “They just blossom in that wonderful space.” 10
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC Joyce Hinton Co-Managing Director Cameron McGill Co-Managing Director Carl Armstrong Events & Customer Service Manager Wendy Atkinson Programming & Rentals Manager Lloyd Balser Head Audio Technician Laura Busby Rentals & Programming Assistant Kara Gibbs Marketing & Communications Manager David Humphrey Production Manager Flora Lew Financial Coordinator Glenda Makela Financial & Programming Clerk Trevor Mangion Ticket Operations Manager Chloe Martin-Cabanne Operations Clerk Veronica Maynard Administration & Finance Clerk Caitlin McKee (on leave) Artistic Presenting Manager Claire Mohun Marketing & Communications Coordinator George Pereira Production Clerk James Perrella Assistant Head Audio/Stage Technician Andrew Riter Assistant Technical Director & Head Lighting Technician Nadia Roberts Events & Front of House Coordinator Lyndsey Roberts Ticket Office Supervisor Jennifer Sorko Artistic Presenting Manager Members of Cupe 2950 Front of House, Stage, and Ticketing Staff Valentina Acevedo Montilla Programming Assistant, Undergraduate Student Janice Lew Artistic Presentations Assistant, Work Learn Student Taryn Plater Marketing & Communications Assistant, Work Learn Student Administration Office
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Graphic Design by Copilot Design Media Relations by Murray Paterson Marketing Group The Chan Centre would like to thank our 2017/2018 series sponsors: The Chan Endowment Fund and the UBC Faculty of Arts
CIRCA: OPUS
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Upcoming Events at the Chan Centre Full details at chancentre.com
Apr 29 + May 26 at 3pm: Wondrous Worlds Presented by the Vancouver Pops Symphony and Choir May 3 at 7pm: Rise Up Presented by Choirs From Little Flower Academy May 4 at 7:30pm: Yuja Wang, piano Presented by the Vancouver Recital Society May 6 at 3pm: Russian White Nights: Opera Arias from 18th Century St. Petersburg Presented by Early Music Vancouver
May 11 + 12 at 8pm: Beethoven and Bruckner Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra May 17 at 8pm: Spirit Alive Gala Choir Concert Presented by St. Patrick Regional Secondary May 19 at 7:30pm: Deva Premal & Miten with Manose: The Soul of Mantra LIVE! Presented by Paul Mercs Concerts
May 20 at 8pm: Rufus Wainwright Presented by Live Nation May 27 at 2pm: Summer Sing! Presented by the Vancouver Bach Choir