The PRINCESS and the PEA - ARTIST PROFILES
Spencer Duncanson - Artistic Director
It is difficult at times to choose repertoire suitable for family audiences. It needs to be accessible to children but sophisticated and interesting enough to amuse adults. So, I spend hours and days searching, listening, reviewing scores and consulting with my trusted confident Diane Berger. Finally it happens. I come across a libretto that is married to a score that is a combination of accessibility and cleverness.
The Princess and the Pea is one of those operas. In this version of The Princess and the Pea librettist Mary Ann Pendino and composer Mary Carol Warwick set out to create the perfect family opera. The characters personalities have been given a bit of a twist to underscore its contemporary flavor and the eclectic nature of the music provides something for everyone. While it is a fairy tale and fairy tales connote youthfulness and frivolity, fairy tales are not just for kids. They hold a special place in most of out lives as they are part of the fabric that shaped our sense of right and wrong, of good and evil. Noted educational sociologist, Henry Suzzallo puts it this way:
While the fairy tales have no immediate purpose other than to amuse, they leave a substantial by-product which has a moral significance. In every reaction which the child has for distress or humour in the tale, [she] he deposits another layer of vicarious experience which sets his character more firmly in the mould of right or wrong attitude. Every sympathy, every aversion helps to set the impulsive currents of [her] his life, and to give direction to [her] his personality.
So, in the spirit of Suzzallo we invite you to sit back and experience the story once again.
Our outreach opera allows us the opportunity to work with many of the young emerging artists. We are pleased to be able to present them to you this evening. Our brilliant production team has worked tirelessly with each other and with our cast to provide the best context for this opera. You are certain to have an enjoyable evening.
Heidi Malazdrewich - Director
Heidi Malazdrewich is a director and actor working in Winnipeg. She is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg department of Theatre and Film and will be beginning work on her MFA in directing at the University of Calgary this fall. Favorite Performance credits include: "Arcadia" and "Boston Marriage" (Theatre Incarnate), "Saying Goodbye to the Goodwing" and "Max and Mirabelle" (The Cat's Pajamas), "The Beauty Salon" (Femfest '09) and "HMS Pinafore" (Winnipeg Gilbert and Sullivan Society).
Beckie Edler - Music Director
Beckie Peters Edler received a Master's in Collaborative Piano from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor in Music (Piano Performance) from the University of Saskatchewan, having studied with Judy Kehler Siebert, Laura Loewen, and Bonnie Nicholson. A resident of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ms. Edler is very active as an accompanist, playing for numerous students at the University of Manitoba, as well as for the University of Manitoba Opera Apprentices, the Manitoba Opera Chorus and Prairie Voices.
Beckie spent last summer at The Banff Centre, where she was involved in the opera and choral programs, working with David Agler, Robin Wheeler, Andrea Grant, and Jon Washburn. Beckie has also participated in Opera NUOVA, working with Michael McMahon, Rosemary Thompson and Gordon Gerrard, and the University of Manitoba's Contemporary Opera Lab, studying with John Hess and Karl Paulnack, and held the position of Program Administrator. Beckie is excited to be working with the Little Opera Company for the second year.
Kimberly Lapatha - Accompaniment
Kimberly Lapatha holds a Master of Church Music, from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky and a Bachelor of Arts in Music, from the University of Kentucky, in Lexington. After performing for various music and arts organizations in British Columbia and Kentucky, Kim has found her way to Winnipeg and has enjoyed a steady schedule of performing in the music and arts community of the city. She has performed numerous times with The Little Opera Company including productions of The Face on the Ballroom Floor/Suzanna’s Secret, The Magic Flute, The Medium, Beauty and the Beast, The Snow Queen, and the Classical Grudge Match: Salieri and Mozart.
She currently teaches piano at the Manitoba Conservatory for the Arts. Meanwhile, privately, her range of students vary from babies and toddlers of her Musikgarten program at Babies in Bloom, to junior and senior high piano students. Moreover, her accompanying skills have been sought after by school choirs of the Winnipeg School Division, the Lord Selkirk School Division, and the Louis Riel School Division. Kim’s community involvement includes directing the children’s choir of the Winnipeg Chinese Alliance Church, where she currently serves as Worship Deaconess. This past summer, Kim completed her Orff 1 certification through the University of Manitoba. She is married to Philip Lapatha, choir and pre-calculus math teacher of Gordon Bell High School.
Mary Carol Warwick - Composer
Dr. Mary Carol Warwick - protégé of noted opera composer Carlisle Floyd - is a composer, librettist, and educator whose works are currently enjoying American and International performances. Recent performances of chamber and vocal music include the 2009 world premiere of "Three Shikoku Postcards" for Baritone, Piano and Cello, commissioned and performed by Anthony Turner of New York; the Houston premiere of her "Sonata for Two Oboes, Bassoon and Piano" by the Greenbriar Consortium - the chamber group from the Houston Symphony; the New York premiere of her "Sonata for Viola and Piano" in March of 2008, commissioned by Daniel Strba, Violist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra; and the world premiere of her setting of Ilsa Gilbert’s poem, IMAGINE, written for Soprano, Piano and Viola, commissioned and premiered in 2008 by Downtown Music Productions of New York.
Her latest commissions include a group of choral pieces on settings by North Carolina poets written and premiered in North Carolina during her Composer - in - Residency in the Research Triangle Area of North Carolina, in March of 2009.
Besides Warwick’s chamber pieces, she has written several operas for children including: THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA, THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, CINDERELLA IN SPAIN (a bi-lingual opera), and STREGA NONA. These works were all commissioned and premiered by Houston Grand Opera.
Among her vocal chamber music is the song cycle, THE HUMAN CITY - words by New York poet Perry Brass, who commissioned the cycle. This cycle was written in memory of those who lost their lives in 9/11, and was premiered in New York in November of that same year.
Warwick’s orchestral commissions include works for the Midland-Odessa Symphony and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. Taking her music into outer space, in 1989 Warwick was commissioned by NASA to write a “Morning Wake-Up Call” for the orbiting astronauts of the Space Shuttle Mission STS-33.
Among Warwick’s numerous awards and grants are: Opera New World Grants in 2001, 2003 and 2004; a 1995 Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Mayor’s Proud Partner Award from the city of Houston for her environmental musical, CELEBRATE THE EARTH; and a first prize winner in the 1994 National Opera Association Competition for her libretto for THE ACHILLES HEEL. Warwick is currently Assistant Chair in Music at the Houston Community College’s Central College.
Jessica Strong - Baker / Princess
Jessica Strong (Soprano) recently completed a Bachelor of Music and a Post- Baccalaureate in Voice Performance at the University of Manitoba in the studio of Valdine Anderson. She was the winner of the Rose Bowl and the Reg Hugo Memorial Trophy at the 2008 Winnipeg Music Festival, and was awarded First Place at the National Music Festival. She received First Place awards at the Zita Bernstein Lieder competition, and Manitoba Registered Music Teachers` Association (Senior Category). During her time at the university, she studied the roles of Baby Doe (The Ballad of Baby Doe), Marguerite (Faust), the title role in Rusalka, and The Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte). She is very excited to continue her studies next year at the University of Toronto where she will attain a Masters in Opera.
Jessica has recently been seen as Rosalinde in the Opera NUOVA’s production of Die Fledermaus and as the 1st Spirit in Die Zauberflöte with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She has appeared with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in both Carmina Burana as part of the Emerging Artist Series, and The Passion of Joan of Arc at the New Music Festival. Jessica has also performed in concerts with Canzona, The Musical Offering, and as a member of the Manitoba Opera chorus in their productions of Die Fledermaus, Otello, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, and Madama Butterfly.
Jessica is thrilled to be taking part in her first performance with the LOC as the princess/cook in The Princess and the Pea.
Ben Campbell - Prince
Ben Campbell (Baritone) is currently in his fourth year of the Integrated Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Education program at the University of Manitoba, and has studied voice with Professors Mel Braun and David Klassen. During his program he has had the opportunity to study the roles of Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), Cinderella’s Prince (Into the Woods), Ottone (Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea), and most recently Papageno, the lovable bird-catcher turned sidekick in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Ben has participated in the Winnipeg Music Festival for some years now, and this year was the winner in the Grade A Oratorio Class.
On the side, Ben leads a busy life singing in both The Dubs, a 5th year running Winnipeg vocal pops group, and Mint, a male vocal quartet. He is thrilled to be working with LOC for the first time, and has enjoyed the process.
Nedra Francis - Queen / Dragon / Hilda
Nedra Francis (Soprano/Mezzo Soprano) is a recent graduate of the University of Manitoba’s integrated Music Education program. In the Faculty of Music Nedra was a voice major. She studied with Dianne Berger, and has continued under her instruction. Nedra is known for her expressive and energetic performances. While she was a part of the University of Manitoba’s Opera Workshop Program Nedra had the opportunity to study the roles of Eruidice (L’Orfeo) and Mother Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites). She has also sung with the Manitoba singers and Prairie voices which provided her with many performance opportunities. She is able to share her talent by directing a choir of children ages 5 – 10. Nedra is excited to be with the Little Opera Company singing the role of the queen mother in the Princess and the Pea.
Jan Nato - Jester
Jan Nato (Tenor) began studies in voice with Spencer Duncanson in October 2007. In May 2008, he made his debut with the Little Opera Company as the Speaker in John Greer's adaptation of The Magic Flute. Jan is very happy to return this season. In September 2008, Jan began studies at the Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music, where he currently studies voice with mezzo-soprano Lois Watson-Lyons. Jan feels honoured to have many wonderful opportunities to perform over this summer season. On May 13th, he will perform in the Orville J. Derraugh Memorial Recital at Westminster United Church. He will also singing the tenor solo in excerpts from Ariel Ramírez’s 1964 work Misa Criolla (Creole Mass) under the direction of Carolyn Boyes. Jan is this year’s recipient of the Winnipeg Music Festival’s Tudor Bowl.
Michael Dunbar - Doctor / Ogre / Esperanza
Michael Dunbar (Baritone) Dragged kicking and screaming from the relative safety, security and obscurity of the tech. booth, Michael is making his return to the stage after a several-year hiatus during which he has “performed” as stage manager for many Little Opera Company productions. Previous stage credits include performances with Rainbow Stage, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society and The Little Opera Company – most notable of which (arguably) was his role as the witch in Hansel and Gretel. The Princess and the Pea marks the second time he has assumed a “skirt” role (is there a theme emerging here?). The multiple roles of Doctor, Ogre and Esperanza have been especially challenging to Michael and he very much appreciates the patience of the Stage Director, Music Director, Stage Manager, Artistic Director and especially his fellow cast members in helping him along the way! When not engaged in Little Opera Company activities, Michael – in his seventh year of retirement from teaching high school English – works part time at the Elmwood/Kildonan YM/YWCA as a fitness centre supervisor/trainer, and continues to work out regularly.
Jan Burdon - Stage Manager
Ted Stebbing introduced Jan to stage management with Sundog Productions presentation of The Apple Tree. Since then Jan has worked on productions with groups including The Bunch of Grapes, Rainbow Stage, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Rainbow Harmony Projects, WASO and The Fringe Festival. Jan is delighted to be invited out of retirement to be part of this production of The Princess and the Pea.
Brent Pfeil - Production Manager
Brent Pfeil has dabbled in music and theatre over the years with performances at Rainbow Stage, the Fringe Festival, and with various local theatre groups and choruses. He last performed with The Little Opera Company as Cuthbert Crow in The Snow Queen. During this year's Fringe Festival, he played Peter Quince in the 10th Anniversary revival of A Mid Summer Night's Fever. Other activities include coaching high school volleyball and playing various sports. A former high school Computer Science and Calculus teacher, Brent is currently working at MTS in the IT department. Oddly enough, he can't help you with your phone problems.
Jamie Plummer - Set Designer
Jamie Plummer was thrilled when the LOC asked her to design the Princess and the Pea. It is always a wonderful experience to work with the talented people involved with the LOC. Jamie recently graduated form University of Winnipeg with an honours degree in theatre design and is excited to be working in a professional field doing what she loves to do. Some of her most memorable design experiences include The Magic Flute (LOC), Pericles (U of W) and Essay and the Russian Play at with The Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. She would like to thank her family and friends for their love and support.
Ted Stebbing - Lighting Designer
TED STEBBING - Lighting Designer
Some of you might remember a Sundog Productions Inc mounting of "Once Upon A Mattress" starring Nancy Drake and Marilyn Boyle at the Warehouse Theatre in the nineteen eighties. Ted is delighted to be revisiting this story as lighting designer in the Little Opera Company’s production of the same story with the same stage manager, Jan Burdon. He is also happy to be working again with technician Gaétan LaRochelle who keeps La Salle Martial-Caron on the cutting edge of the latest LED technology which you will see in this production.
Carla Oliphant - Costume Designer
Carla began sewing before she was five years old. Later she organized her friends into plays in her backyard and made costumes. She graduated from Fine Arts (painting) at the University of Manitoba with courses in theatre design from the University of Winnipeg. She has worked on costumes for the University of Winnipeg, River East Collegiate, Maple Leaf Productions, Kildonan Players at the Fringe, Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Winnipeg Youth Chorus, Fear X Films, and Buffalo Gals Film Productions. She is happy to be working on this her fourth production with the Little Opera Company. Carla has a large personal collection of costumes and has supplied costumes for other schools and organizations in Winnipeg.
Carla loves creating beauty with her talents and has been self employed in the gift basket and wedding flower business for over twenty years. She teaches art classes at the Forum Art Institute. Carla has worked for the River East Transcona School Division at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate as a paraprofessional in the fashion technology department. She helped students with their sewing and the annual fashion show.