Our Season Finale

Friday, May 10th, 2013 @ 8:00 p.m. (7:15 for pre-show chat)

Saturday, May 11th, 2013 @ 8:00 p.m. (7:15 pre-show chat)

Special Mother's Day Matinee: Sunday, May 12th, 2013 @ 3:00 p.m. (2:15 pre-show chat)

To order tickets online click here. To order tickets over the phone, please call 416-924-6211 x 0.

Performances at the Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Avenue (at Bloor).

Lessons of love that are beautiful and tender, comic and tragic. For its season finale, Toronto Masque Theatre presents two masques drawn from two traditions: a Baroque classic from the West, John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (1683) and a reimagining of an ancient tale from the East, The Lesson of Da Ji (2013), by Alice Ping Yee Ho and librettist Marjorie Chan.

Masque is a fusion of music, dance and theatre and Toronto Masque Theatre is one of the few companies in the world devoted to this form which flourished in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Lessons of Love will be a wonderful introduction to the masque and also show the two sides of our company, the re-creation of works from the canon and the commissioning of new work that redefine and reinvigorate the form.

Under the Artistic Direction of Larry Beckwith, who will also lead an ensemble of Baroque and Chinese instruments, the evening will feature soprano Vania Chan, tenor Derek Kwan, mezzo-Soprano Marion Newman and baritone Alexander Dobson. Dance drawn from both the Baroque and the Peking Opera traditions will be performed. Direction will be by Derek Boyes (The Lesson of Da Ji) and Marie-Nathalie Lacourisère (Venus and Adonis). Visual splendour is key feature of masque and the evening will feature projections designed by Caroline Guibault, lighting by Gabe Cropley and costumes by Angela Thomas.

Venus and Adonis (1683)
Commissioned by Charles II and written by John Blow, this gorgeous, sensual masterpiece of the courtly masque features some of the most sublime music ever written. It tells how Venus fell in love with the mortal youth Adonis. While the goddess struggles with her amorous entanglements her son, Cupid, receives his own comic, romantic education. Told with a surprisingly feminist slant it tells us how we should “seize the day” in our pursuit of true love. Featuring Baroque dance choreographed by the acclaimed Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière.

Read the libretto for Venus and Adonis.

The Lesson of Da Ji (2013)
Toronto Masque Theatre commissioned Alice Ping Yee Ho and Marjorie Chan to create a new masque Inspired by the true story of the Shang dynasty concubine Da Ji, and the King who enacted a tasty revenge on her secret lover; a revenge as grisly as anything Shakespeare conceived of in Titus Andronicus. In Ho and Chan’s version, Da Ji takes guquin music lessons from a young nobleman named Bo Yi. Chan has provided a rich and inventive script which drives to a surprising and powerful climax while Ho’s gorgeous music will blend eastern and western instruments, including the guquin that Da Ji learns to play. It will feature a performance by traditional Peking Opera dancer William Lau.

To read more about the amazing story behind The Lesson of Da Ji, download our press release.

Read the libretto for The Lesson of Da Ji.

Singers
Vania Chan; Charotte Corwin; Benjamin Covey; Alex Dobson; Derek Kwan; Marion Newman; Xin Wang; Timothy Wong.

Dancers
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Baroque choreographer/dancer; William Lau, traditional Peking Opera dancer.

Instrumentalists
Larry Beckwith will lead an ensemble of Baroque and Chinese instruments including Patty Chan, erhu; Kathleen Kajioka, violin; Lucas Harris, lute; Alison Melville, recorder; Ed Reifel, percussion; Wen Zhao, pipa; and Ziewin Cynthia Qin, guzheng.

Ticket prices: $40; $35 (for seniors) and $20 (for under 30).  

To order tickets online click here. To order tickets over the phone, please call 416 924 6211 x 0.