Blogs

It's been nearly a month since The Mummers' Masque closed, but the excitement of it still resonates and I look back on the whole experience as having been so valuable and positive for TMT. I was confident but still amazed at how well the project came together and was simply astounded at how much energy, openness and professionalism everyone brought to the piece.

Life is filled with music these days. Most significantly for this site, we are having a hoot rehearsing the Mummers' Masque with a truly inspiring group of singers and instrumentalists, two immensely talented dancers and a group of children (including my own!). Derek Boyes is outdoing himself with fantastic ideas and connective direction that is very strong on story-telling, humour and warmth. I'm just overwhelmed by how spirited and first-rate everyone is and all the strong talent that's been assembled for this show. If you haven't ordered tickets, I encourage you to do so!

I'm excited this weekend to be working with Pierre Chartrand, an impressive folk dancer and actor and musician from Montreal, who is a good friend and colleague of Marie-Nathalie's. Together with a local dancer, Hannah Naiman, Pierre is choreographing the dance and movement for The Mummers' Masque. He has fantastic technique and playing fiddle while he dances is a real pelasure. Like Marie-Nathalie, Pierre is so musical and is able to find the nuances, phrasing and dynamics in his dance to match what's happening in the music.

What a wonderful concert Les voix Humaines gave at Trinity-St. Paul's United Church on Friday night. The Montreal-based gamba duo of Susie Napper and Margaret Little brought two of their colleagues from Montreal and joined three Toronto players to play all of the fantasias for viol consort by Henry Purcell. There were many "stories" connected with this concert. The group had already recorded the program for a CD on the ATMA label (it's in record stores now....highly recommended!), and the pieces were recorded with the use of the precious viol collection at Hart House.

Well, I have been enjoying spending time with The Mummers' Masque, which Dean Burry has been furiously working on for a long time now. It's a splendid piece, filled with variety, humour, warmth and some very beautiful music. I'm pleased with it and I think it's fits well with the TMT mandate and group personality. I'm looking forward to reading it through with all the performers on November 8th. This has become a TMT ritual....we all gather a number of weeks before a production for an afternoon of informal reading and discussion.

Hi there,