The Barber of Barrhead

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We’re on the road again! Everyone knows that Edmonton Opera’s usual home is on the big stage at the Jube, but there’s nothing more exciting than to turn up in different places and in very different ways. Over the years, we’ve performed in church halls, church basements, the Winspear, the old Paramount Theatre on Jasper Avenue, lots of living rooms and even in Festival Place out in Sherwood Park. This time, it’s a fantastic treat for Edmonton Opera to be here in Old Strathcona, having a wonderful time playing in the sandbox of the TransAlta Arts Barn. We’ve been here before; there have been a couple of Edmonton Opera collaborations in various Fringe Festivals, and when our mainstage shows have simply been too big to rehearse at the Jube, (the biggies like Turandot and Flying Dutchman) we’ve been lucky enough to use this very space.

But this is our first collaboration with Fringe Theatre Adventures, and what a delight it is, with our partners in crime, to bring The Barber of Barrhead to you. Edmonton is blessed with a truly amazing arts community, and in our previous outings with such diverse groups at Workshop West, Citadel, Alberta Ballet and the Richard Eaton Singers, the spirit of sharing an experience with you is always richer when art groups work together as a team.

To Thomas and Julian and all the gang at FTA: thank you, and let’s do this again! And to all of you: have fun with The Barber of…uh…

Barrhead!

Brian Deedrick, Artistic Director

message from the

Program Director

Theatre for young audiences is steeped in the mythology of

Fringe Theatre Adventures. In our 30-year history, family theatre and community collaboration have been at the kernel of what we do and who we are. Our Barber of Barrhead partnership is an exciting one for us, and we look forward to continued adventures with Edmonton Opera… There’s gold in them there hills.

Enjoy!

Program Director the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 3

Edmonton Opera is a successful regional opera company, with a proud 47 year history in Edmonton. As one of the city’s flagship arts organizations, we offer three to four productions every year, under the guidance of our Artistic Director, Brian Deedrick.

Through our outreach and educational programs, we continue to connect with the community and introduce new audiences to the magic and scale of opera. In addition to our mainstage season, Edmonton Opera hosts several signature events annually, and has great support from the community-at-large, none the least of which is our Edmonton Opera chorus consisting of 50-60 Edmontonians who participate year round in various events and productions in supporting Edmonton Opera to unleash the power of opera in our city. To learn more about the opera, or to find ways to get involved, please visit: www.edmontonopera.com

Edmonton Opera is calling all opera enthusiasts and

the opera-curious aged 18-29!

By becoming an Explorer’s Club member, receive up to 85% off ticket prices

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For more information call 780-429-1000 Or visit www.edmontonopera.com

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 5

Background Fringe Theatre Adventures is dedicated to the creation of theatre that challenges and celebrates the cultural fabric of our communities, and provides a home for developing new and emerging artists, audiences and forums.

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Thanks Our season presentations would not be possible without generous contribution from our funders and sponsors:

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Fringe Theatre Adventures greatly appreciates support from the Government of Alberta’s Community Spirit Program

Thank you all.

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FTA Board of Directors

Joanne Beaton, Board Chair Dr Diane Kipnes, Past Chair, Chair (Gala) Kyle Murray, Board Vice Chair Hilary Rose, Board Treasurer Alex Meisen, Board Secretary Katherine Braun, Julie Conlin, Laura Fitzgerald, Brian Hetherington, Jeffrey Jansen, Mary LeMessurier, Bertrand Malo, Lynn Mandel, Reza Mostashari, Robert Rock, Katie Soles

Al Parsons, President Sam Jenkins, Vice President Ed Picard, Secretary Dwight Sarabin, Treasurer Rev. Thomas Brauer Laurie Fumagalli-Ryan Donna Lemieux Hillary McMeekin

Edmonton opera staff

Julian Mayne, Executive Director

Brian Deedrick, Artistic Director Patti Pon, Interim CEO Dr. Irving Guttman, CM, Artistic Director Emeritus

ADMINISTRATION Tim Yakimec, Production Manager Jeff McCune, Artistic Administrator Peter Dala, Resident Conductor/Chorus Director Paul Hebor, Controller Clayton Rodney, Technical Manager Valorie Morgan, Audience Services Manager Shelagh Lam, Manager of Special Events and Outreach Programs Jelena Bojic, Marketing and Communications Manager Glenda Dennis, Interim Development Manager

PRODUCTION AND TECHniCAL Tim Yakimec, Production Manager Anna Davidson, Stage Manager Clayton Rodney, Technical Manager

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Noree Claerhout, Resource Development Manager Mike Ford, Operations Director Brendan Fraser, Events Services Coordinator Vince Gasparri, Development Director Lauren Kinney, Event Services Manager Darcy Lipsey, Box Office Manager Jacqueline MacPherson, Technical Director Chris Kavanagh, House Technician Leanne Millar, Accounting Manager Gerald Osborn, Office Manager Thomas Scott, Program Director Bottom Line Productions, Marketing & Communications

Contact us Fringe Theatre Adventures 10330 84 Avenue Edmonton, AB T6E 2G9 (780) 409-1910 www.fringetheatre.ca

Edmonton Opera Administration Office: 9720 102 Ave, Edmonton, AB T5J 4B2 Box Office (780) 429-1000 www.edmontonopera.com

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 9

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Edmonton Opera and Fringe Theatre Adventures present

The barber of barrhead February 15 - 26, 2011 Music by Gioachino Rossini Libretto adapted by Ann Hodges This production was created by Vancouver Opera in 2007

Music Director and Repetiteur Shannon Hiebert

Director Ann Hodges

The Cast (in order of vocal appearance)

Figaro Al Rosie Bart

John Conlon Robert Clark Dionne Sellinger Joel Klein

Set, props and costumes designed by Stage Manager

Christine Reimer Anna Davidson

The performance is approximately 1 hour in duration.

Edmonton Opera is a professional company operating within the jurisdiction of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

Edmonton Opera is a member of the Professional Opera Companies of Canada and Opera America.

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 11

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SYNOPSIS

The barber of barrhead

T

he Barber of Barrhead is loosely based on Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. However, instead of setting it in Spain long ago, this version is set right here in Canada, and quite nearby, in fact.

Just over 100 years ago, thousands of fortune-seekers travelled from all over the world to the Yukon in the hopes of striking it rich in the Klondike Gold Rush. The journey took many across the prairies through Edmonton and Barrhead on their way up north. Before our opera begins, Rosie and Al fell in love at first sight as they travelled by ox-cart across the prairies.

Unfortunately, Rosie has had to interrupt her journey north to work as a cook in the local hotel for the evil Bart LeGuine, who wants to keep Rosie for himself. Bart has ‘cooked the books’ to ensure she will have to work for him forever to pay off what she owes him for the long journey.

Fortunately the town is full of hungry miners wanting some home cooking, and Rosie bakes a mean Saskatoon Berry pie.

As the opera begins, Figaro brags about how smart he is: Being a barber is way more profitable than mining (miners get pretty hairy after all), and a lot less dirty. Al shows up, having struck it rich on the Klondike, but wants to keep that a secret till he discovers if Rosie will fall for him, not just his money. Figaro promises to help Al, and disguises Al as a member of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Rosie, meanwhile, has a plan of her own: to secretly meet the handsome miner who’s been hovering around her window, and to one day gain her freedom from Bart. Bart is suspicious of Rosie, Al and Figaro, but too dumb to figure out exactly what’s going on. Things get really crazy as Al and Rosie try to get together, Bart schemes to keep Rosie for himself, Figaro tries to distract Bart, and hundreds of miners get really really hungry. Watch out for flying pies!

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 13

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Artist

BIOGRAPHIES

(in order of vocal appearance)

John Conlon, Figaro Metropolitan Opera Auditions winner John Conlon holds a Master of Opera degree from UBC where he sang many lead roles in operas by Puccini, Massenet, Lehar, and Rossini. John has appeared several times on the Vancouver Opera stage singing the roles of the First Apparition in Verdi’s Macbeth, the Wigmaker in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Sciarrone in Puccini’s Tosca and Marullo in Verdi’s Rigoletto. During the 2007-2008 season John was a member of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist program where he performed two roles in The Ballad of Baby Doe. Recently he appeared in the Alberta Ballet production of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins and with Highlands Opera Studio’s production of La Bohème singing the role of Marcello. John will reprise this role with Calgary’s Cowtown Opera in March 2011.

Robert Clark, Al Tenor Robert Clark recently performed his debut main-stage role of Normanno from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. In April of this year he will be singing Rodolfo from Puccini’s La Bohème with the new Cowtown Opera in Calgary. Mr. Clark’s previous operatic performances include roles in Street Scene, L’enfant et les sortilèges, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Gianni Schicchi, Frobisher and has toured with the Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program as Al in The Barber of Barrhead and The Prince in Cinderella. Robert completed a Masters of Music at the University of Western Ontario. He has been a recipient of a grant from the Winspear Fund, a Johann Strauss Foundation scholarship and a grant from Enbridge Inc. for advanced musical studies.

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 15

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Artist

BIOGRAPHIES

Dionne Sellinger, Rosie Mezzo Soprano Dionne Sellinger graduated from U.B.C. and was a member of Calgary Opera’s Young Artists Program. She has returned to perform roles in Ravels’ L’Enfant et Sortileges, and Rosette in Manon by Massenet. Dionne portrayed Rosina in Barber of Seville with Burnaby Lyric Opera, and toured V.O.I.S. as Rosie, a role she will reprise with Edmonton Opera. Last season she joined Dragon Diva Operatic Theatre as Prince Charming in Cendrillon, Opera on the Avalon as Nancy in Albert Herring, and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with V.O.A. This season Dionne will perform Alisa in Vancouver Opera’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Joel Klein, Bart Bass-Baritone Joel Klein premiered the role of Bart in Vancouver Opera’s 2007/08 touring production of The Barber of Barkerville, delighting a total of over 50,000 adults and children with his treacherous villainy. Performances since then include City Opera Vancouver’s Curlew River (Britten), Burnaby Lyric Opera’s Barber of Seville and Italian Girl in Algiers (Rossini), Thäis (Massenet), Martha (Flotow), Manon (Auber), Bohemian Girl (Balfe), two Mozart Masses and Handel’s Messiah for the Handel Society, and world premieres of Poema Letkoho Mista (opera) (Jerry Senchychyn), Lake of Souls (oratorio) (Lloyd Burritt), and Au Revoir Maria Callas (Rodney Sharman). After recent success in France, Joel has been invited to return for a series of concerts throughout the Rhône-Alpes and Bordeaux regions.

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 19

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Artist

BIOGRAPHIES

Shannon Hiebert, Music Director and Repetiteur Shannon Hiebert is one of Canada’s most talented accompanists. A native of Winnipeg she began her training at the University of Manitoba. She went on to study at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts with Martin Isepp, and pursued graduate studies in accompanying and chamber music at the University of Michigan in the studio of renowned accompanist Martin Katz. Much in demand as a collaborative artist, she has been heard frequently in recital and broadcast and has been heard in concert across Canada and the United States as well as Taiwan and Japan, and has performed as a soloist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Her discography includes Rhymes and Reveries, with soprano Tracy Dahl, and Prairie Voices with the Winnipeg Singers.

Ann Hodges, Director Ann Hodges is an opera and theatre director whose credits include the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Persephone Theatre, Calgary Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Vancouver Opera, Manitoba Opera, Neptune Theatre, Shaw Festival, and Pacific Opera. Career highlights include directing over 1,000 performers as Artistic Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 North American Indigenous Games, and being invited as one of 10 international directors to participate in a workshop with Peter Brook at the National Theatre in London. Also an accomplished librettist, Ann has written and directed numerous adaptations which have been performed by opera companies across Canada, including the acclaimed Naomi’s Road. Ann is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Anna Davidson, Stage Manager Anna is very keen to be working on this show! Her first opera experience was working on the stage management team for the Edmonton Opera’s production of Carmen in 2007. She is a stage manager in Edmonton and has worked for The Citadel Theatre, Shadow Theatre, Workshop West, Theatre Network, Concrete Theatre, L’Unitheatre, theatre no.6, and at Nextfest. Anna is a graduate of the Theatre Production Program at MacEwan University and the Theatre Performance Program at Red Deer College. She is also a freelance lighting technician.

the BARBER OF BARRHEAD 21

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upcoming events Adventures in Fringe Theatre An Evening with Uncle Val

March 3 – 13, 2011 Legendary comic actor Andy Jones plays the riotously sarcastic Uncle Val, a retired fisherman searching for the meaning of life in the ‘big city’ of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Adventures in Family Theatre Les Parfaits Inconnus

April 8 – 17, 2011 A zany medley of circus acts, comedy and electrifying music!

Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival

August 11 – 21, 2011 | The 30th Anniversary Edition!

UPCOMING EVENTS Tosca at the Jubilee Auditorium April 9, 12, 14, 2011

Berlin with Brian

May 15 – 22, 2011 For more information or to purchase tickets please call AMA at 1-866-667-4777

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Opera al Fresco at the Devonian Botanic Gardens June 24, 2011 For more information call 780-424-4040 ext 221 28 the BARBER OF BARRHEAD

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