SONGS AND DANCES OF DESIRE
2 years ago
AUCKLAND PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA (AOTEOROA/NEW
ZEALAND)
Conductor: Ken Young
Guitar: Norio Sato
Counter Tenor: Xiao Ma
Mezzo Soprano: Anna Pierard
Fri 8 March
Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
WORLD PREMIERE
On Friday 8 March, Auckland Town Hall's Great Hall
will be transformed into a dahling tea room as the world premiere
of a work by one of New Zealand's greatest composers soars off the
page for Auckland Arts Festival 2013's diverse music programme.
Songs and Dances of Desire: In Memoriam Carmen Rupe is Auckland
Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) Composer-in-Residence Jack Body's
highly anticipated tribute to New Zealand drag queen and madam,
Carmen Rupe.
The work celebrates the colourful life and fearless
personality of one of the country's most original icons. Part
concert and part performance, Songs and Dances of Desire will be
brought to life by the APO; Guitarist Norio Sato; soloists Xiao Ma
and Anna Pierard; and conducted by Ken Young. This bold new work
will be a stunning evocation to a life lived theatrically and
defiantly - a performance as flamboyant as Carmen herself.
On programming Songs and Dances of Desire in the
Auckland Arts Festival 2013, Artistic Director Carla van Zon said,
"At long last Jack's Carmen opus will be coming to life and we
couldn't be more happy his newest masterpiece is premiering in the
Auckland Arts Festival. The combination of the bold APO, with
diverse and edgy performers in the glorious Town Hall, I'm sure
would make Carmen proud."
The work itself, according to Composer Jack Body,
"...is not a story, more a psychological exploration of gender
identity and of the human capacity to transform one's self. Two
female singers, one Māori and one Spanish, sing powerful texts by
women poets, while a countertenor sings four 'recontextualised'
arias from Bizet's Carmen. The Māori transvestite dancer performs
five character dances that Carmen Rupe danced (or wished she had
danced!) during her days as a cabaret artist: Carmen, African Snake
Dance, Salome, Hawaiian Hula and Mata Hari. Thus, the work
alternates between the lightness of high camp and a darkness that
expresses female desire and anguish."
Carmen Rupe was New Zealand's first Māori drag
queen. Although she lived the first 20 years of her life as Trevor
Rupe from Taumaranui, it was while working in Sydney's notorious
Kings Cross that she took on the name that would see her become a
heroine to the gay community and adored across the country and the
Tasman. On returning to New Zealand, Carmen established several
businesses including the famous Carmen's International Coffee
Lounge in Wellington where, although homosexuality was illegal,
unique offerings of sexual liaison were available. She ran for
Wellington Mayor in 1977, campaigning for hotel bars to be open
past midnight, for the drinking age to be lowered to 18, for
prostitution to be legal, for abortion and homosexual acts to be
decriminalised, for sex education to be offered in schools for
14-year-olds and for the approval of nudity on some beaches - all
of which have since been passed.
Chinese countertenor and artist-in-residence at
Victoria University's Confucius Institute, Xiao Ma has an
extraordinary ability to move between male and typically female
mezzo-soprano registers. His repertoire ranges from baroque arias
to Chinese folk and pop music. Of Xiao Ma's voice and vocal range,
Jack Body has said, "Absolutely incredible voice. Anyone who hears
it won't have heard anything like it."
Originally from Napier, Anna Pierard has performed
throughout the UK, Spain and New Zealand in concert, opera and
oratorio including a Gala performance with the NZSO under Michael
Lloyd as a Mobil Song Quest finalist. Anna has performed many times
with the APO, with particularly notable appearances in Strauss's
Elektra and Wagner's Das Rheingold.
Jack Body is considered one of New Zealand's finest
living composers. His work covers solo and chamber music,
orchestral music, music-theatre, music for dance and film as well
as electroacoustic music. He has created experimental photography
and computer-controlled sound-image installations, with commissions
from several public galleries, and has been the features composer
at many major international festivals. Body's compositions have
been widely played and broadcast, both nationally and
internationally. His commissions include the NZ String Quartet,
NZSO and NZTrio among others. He has written four works for the
Kronos Quartet and his opera Alley, based on the life of Rewi
Alley, was acclaimed at the 1998 NZ International Arts Festival and
directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, who is directing A Chinese Home by
Kronos Quartet and Wu Man in the Auckland Arts Festival 2013.
Body's O Cambodia was part of Auckland Arts Festival 2011.
Ken Young has been commissioned by numerous
orchestras and artistic organisations, including the New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra (Symphonies 1 and 2, Sinfonietta, Dance, Brass
Quintet), APO (Piano Concerto), Southern Sinfonia (Concertino for
Horn and Orchestra), Wellington Youth Orchestra (Virgen de la
Esperanza), International Festival of the Arts (Variations) and
Chamber Music New Zealand (Fantasy for Two Pianos, String Quartet,
Vignette for brass trio, Five Pieces for piano, Sextet for string
quartet, clarinet and piano). Young began playing both tuba
and percussion with the Christchurch Symphony and National Youth
Orchestra while studying composition at Canterbury and Auckland
Universities. In 2004, Young was awarded a Lilburn Trust Citation
Award for Outstanding Services to New Zealand Music.
Of Songs and Dances of Desire premiering as part of
Auckland Arts Festival 2013, Jack Body said, "An excerpt from the
work, Carmen Dances, was performed in 2002. I am thrilled that the
complete work, with singers, will at last be heard and seen as part
of the 2013 Auckland Arts Festival. With Carmen's death in December
2011, the performance will have added poignancy."
www.aaf.co.nz
Jack Body is innovative, exploratory, serious and
light-hearted - often all at the same time. - Sunday Star
Times
I'm not alone in rating this Wellingtonian as the
finest of our currently active composers. - New Zealand
Listener
Body is a thought-provoking composer… he is also,
by far, our cleverest composer. - Dominion
SEASON DETAILS
Show Songs and Dances of Desire - In
Memoriam, Carmen Rupe
Where Great Hall, Auckland Town
Hall
When Fri 8 March, 8pm
Duration 1hr 10min no interval
Age All ages welcome
Price Downstairs table $360 (6 seats);
Rear stalls seated $35; Prem Res (Circle) $65; A Res(Circle)
$50
Bookings At THE EDGE; or 0800 BUY
TICKETS (0800 289 842), (09) 357 3355 or www.buytickets.co.nz
Group bookings: (09) 357 3354 or
groups@the-edge.co.nz
Information www.aaf.co.nz or
www.apo.co.nz
Social Media Facebook:
facebook.com/Aklfestival
Twitter: @Aklfestival
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDa4DxfbZsY
Media enquiries Siobhan Waterhouse,
Publicist. P: +64 (0)9 374 0317 | M: +64 (0) 22 126
4149
E: siobhan.waterhouse@aucklandfestival.co.nz
CREATIVE CREDITS
Conductor Ken Young
Guitar Norio Sato
Counter Tenor Xiao Ma
Mezzo Soprano Anna Pierard
Presented by Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in
association with Auckland Arts Festival
With support from THE EDGE
AUCKLAND PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA (AOTEOROA/NEW ZEALAND)
Conductor: Ken Young
Guitar: Norio Sato
Counter Tenor: Xiao Ma
Mezzo Soprano: Anna Pierard
Fri 8 March
Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
WORLD PREMIERE
On Friday 8 March, Auckland Town Hall's Great Hall will be
transformed into a dahling tea room as the world premiere of a work
by one of New Zealand's greatest composers soars off the page for
Auckland Arts Festival 2013's diverse music programme. Songs
and Dances of Desire: In Memoriam Carmen Rupe is Auckland
Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) Composer-in-Residence Jack Body's
highly anticipated tribute to New Zealand drag queen and madam,
Carmen Rupe.
The work celebrates the colourful life and fearless personality
of one of the country's most original icons. Part concert and part
performance, Songs and Dances of Desire will be brought to
life by the APO; Guitarist Norio Sato; soloists Xiao Ma and Anna
Pierard; and conducted by Ken Young. This bold new work will be a
stunning evocation to a life lived theatrically and defiantly - a
performance as flamboyant as Carmen herself.
On programming Songs and Dances of Desire in the
Auckland Arts Festival 2013, Artistic Director Carla van Zon said,
"At long last Jack's Carmen opus will be coming to life and we
couldn't be more happy his newest masterpiece is premiering in the
Auckland Arts Festival. The combination of the bold APO, with
diverse and edgy performers in the glorious Town Hall, I'm sure
would make Carmen proud."
The work itself, according to Composer Jack Body, "...is not a
story, more a psychological exploration of gender identity and of
the human capacity to transform one's self. Two female singers, one
Māori and one Spanish, sing powerful texts by women poets, while a
countertenor sings four 'recontextualised' arias from Bizet's
Carmen. The Māori transvestite dancer performs five
character dances that Carmen Rupe danced (or wished she had
danced!) during her days as a cabaret artist: Carmen, African
Snake Dance, Salome, Hawaiian Hula and Mata Hari.
Thus, the work alternates between the lightness of high camp and a
darkness that expresses female desire and anguish."
Carmen Rupe was New Zealand's first Māori drag queen. Although
she lived the first 20 years of her life as Trevor Rupe from
Taumaranui, it was while working in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross
that she took on the name that would see her become a heroine to
the gay community and adored across the country and the Tasman. On
returning to New Zealand, Carmen established several businesses
including the famous Carmen's International Coffee Lounge in
Wellington where, although homosexuality was illegal, unique
offerings of sexual liaison were available. She ran for Wellington
Mayor in 1977, campaigning for hotel bars to be open past midnight,
for the drinking age to be lowered to 18, for prostitution to be
legal, for abortion and homosexual acts to be decriminalised, for
sex education to be offered in schools for 14-year-olds and for the
approval of nudity on some beaches - all of which have since been
passed.
Chinese countertenor and artist-in-residence at Victoria
University's Confucius Institute, Xiao Ma has an extraordinary
ability to move between male and typically female mezzo-soprano
registers. His repertoire ranges from baroque arias to Chinese folk
and pop music. Of Xiao Ma's voice and vocal range, Jack Body has
said, "Absolutely incredible voice. Anyone who hears it won't have
heard anything like it."
Originally from Napier, Anna Pierard has performed throughout
the UK, Spain and New Zealand in concert, opera and oratorio
including a Gala performance with the NZSO under Michael Lloyd as a
Mobil Song Quest finalist. Anna has performed many times with the
APO, with particularly notable appearances in Strauss's
Elektra and Wagner's Das Rheingold.
Jack Body is considered one of New Zealand's finest living
composers. His work covers solo and chamber music, orchestral
music, music-theatre, music for dance and film as well as
electroacoustic music. He has created experimental photography and
computer-controlled sound-image installations, with commissions
from several public galleries, and has been the features composer
at many major international festivals. Body's compositions have
been widely played and broadcast, both nationally and
internationally. His commissions include the NZ String Quartet,
NZSO and NZTrio among others. He has written four works for the
Kronos Quartet and his opera Alley, based on the life of
Rewi Alley, was acclaimed at the 1998 NZ International Arts
Festival and directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, who is directing A
Chinese Home by Kronos Quartet and Wu Man in the Auckland Arts
Festival 2013. Body's O Cambodia was part of Auckland Arts
Festival 2011.
Ken Young has been commissioned by numerous orchestras and
artistic organisations, including the New Zealand Symphony
Orchestra (Symphonies 1 and 2, Sinfonietta, Dance, Brass
Quintet), APO (Piano Concerto), Southern Sinfonia
(Concertino for Horn and Orchestra), Wellington Youth
Orchestra (Virgen de la Esperanza), International Festival
of the Arts (Variations) and Chamber Music New Zealand
(Fantasy for Two Pianos, String Quartet, Vignette for brass
trio, Five Pieces for piano, Sextet for string quartet, clarinet
and piano). Young began playing both tuba and percussion
with the Christchurch Symphony and National Youth Orchestra while
studying composition at Canterbury and Auckland Universities. In
2004, Young was awarded a Lilburn Trust Citation Award for
Outstanding Services to New Zealand Music.
Of Songs and Dances of Desire premiering as part of
Auckland Arts Festival 2013, Jack Body said, "An excerpt from the
work, Carmen Dances, was performed in 2002. I am thrilled that the
complete work, with singers, will at last be heard and seen as part
of the 2013 Auckland Arts Festival. With Carmen's death in December
2011, the performance will have added poignancy."
www.aaf.co.nz
Jack Body is innovative, exploratory, serious and
light-hearted - often all at the same time. - Sunday Star
Times
I'm not alone in rating this Wellingtonian as the finest of
our currently active composers. - New Zealand Listener
Body is a thought-provoking composer… he is also, by far,
our cleverest composer. - Dominion
SEASON DETAILS
Show Songs and Dances of Desire - In
Memoriam, Carmen Rupe
Where Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
When Fri 8 March, 8pm
Duration 1hr 10min no interval
Age All ages welcome
Price Downstairs table $360 (6 seats); Rear
stalls seated $35; Prem Res (Circle) $65; A Res(Circle) $50
Bookings At THE EDGE; or 0800 BUY TICKETS (0800
289 842), (09) 357 3355 or www.buytickets.co.nz
Group bookings:(09) 357 3354 or
groups@the-edge.co.nz
Information www.aaf.co.nz or www.apo.co.nz
Social Media Facebook:
facebook.com/Aklfestival
Twitter: @Aklfestival
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDa4DxfbZsY
Media enquiries Siobhan Waterhouse, Publicist.
P: +64 (0)9 374 0317 | M: +64 (0) 22 126 4149| E:
siobhan.waterhouse@aucklandfestival.co.nz
CREATIVE CREDITS
Conductor Ken Young
Guitar Norio Sato
Counter Tenor Xiao Ma
Mezzo Soprano Anna Pierard
Presented by Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in association with
Auckland Arts Festival
With support from THE EDGE