Turning Point Ensemble, always innovative combining old and new music, has created a fascinating collaboration of composers and writers in a theatrical presentation and concert in Words & Music.
Words & Music includes a new theatrical mini-opera, Old Man and the Sea by Rita Ueda and a new collaboration between poet Renée Sarojini Saklikar and Owen Underhill, Bee Studies.
“This evening brings together variations of how words can be combined with contemporary music. We are featuring the telling of a classic tale using opera, a set of poems read by their author and fanciful songs featuring soprano voice.” – Owen Underhill
The Old Man and the Sea, composed by Rita Ueda, is based on the short novel by Ernest Hemingway with a libretto by Rod Robertson. Ueda’s unique composition takes one musically under the sea and interacting audibly with marine wildlife. Featuring Turning Point Ensemble (TPE) co-founder Jeremy Berkman as a trombone soloist who personifies the marlin and performed by the full TPE ensemble, this theatrical production under the direction of Israeli Opera director/choreographer Idan Cohen, is absolutely riveting with a dynamic performance of the Old Man by baritone Willy Miles-Grenzberg.
Baritone Willy Miles-Grenzberg; photo by Tim Matheson
Following is the premiere of Bee Studies by Owen Underhill with texts from renowned Vancouver poet, Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s recently published book of science and poetry entitled Listening to the Bees with an original composition by Underhill featuring soprano Dorothea Hayley. A special bonus of the evening is a performance of some witty and rarely heard songs from the 1930’s, Duet for Duck and Canary and Frogs by the great unheralded Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas plus his most-heralded work Ocho por Radio.
Enjoy a unique, exhilarating evening of words and music, as only Turning Point Ensemble can provide.
Words & Music is presented at the ANNEX, 823 Seymour Street, Vancouver on March 9 & 10, 2019 at 7:30pm.
the real /darryl 