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CANADA'S NATIONAL
ARTS CENTRE
ORCHESTRA
ALEXANDER SHELLEY
Artistic Director
DONNA FEORE
Creative Producer & Director
With New Music by
ZOSHA DI CASTRI
JOCELYN MORLOCK
NICOLE LIZÉE
JOHN ESTACIO
THE STORIES OF FOUR EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN
TOLD IN MUSIC, MOTION AND WORD.
Creative: STCstorytellers.com
ALICE MUNRO, AMANDA TODD
ROBERTA BONDAR, RITA JOE
NAC Orchestra performs world premiere of Dear Life (Zosha Di Castri), conducted by Alexander Shelley
LIFEREFLECTED
Canada’s National Arts Centre has brought its considerable resources together to create
the biggest orchestral production ever conceived in Canada. With a creation budget of
$1.8 million, LIFE REFLECTED is targeted at both domestic and international audiences.
A stunningly original live performance, LIFE REFLECTED
is a celebration of youth, promise and courage,
revealed in the compelling and diverse portraits
of four exceptional Canadian women: Alice Munro,
Amanda Todd, Roberta Bondar and Rita Joe.
Alexander Shelley, Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, brought
together four remarkable Canadian composers to collaborate with Creative Producer and
Director, Donna Feore, and an ensemble of extraordinary performers and multi-media
artists to create LIFE REFLECTED – a unique symphonic experience.
The performance is a collection of four works and runs for duration of 80 minutes without
intermission, and, in synergy with the musical works, immerses audiences into a virtual
3D environment featuring photography, motion picture and graphic design, projected
on screens surrounding the orchestra. This creative landscape and the accompanying
visuals were created and adapted by artistic partner, the innovative Montreal visual design
company NORMAL.
WATCH TRAILER
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LIFEREFLECTED
ALEXANDER SHELLEY
DONNA FEORE
“Canada is a country whose stories have captivated
audiences worldwide. And it got me thinking... these
are beautiful human stories, how can we share these
stories in a new way.”
“The idea was that we would bring artists together,
artists at the top of their game, that were truly excited
to do something new and innovative.”
Donna Feore is one of Canada’s most versatile creative
talents and has been highly praised for her work with the
Stratford Festival. She directed and choreographed last
season’s smash hit, The Sound of Music, which enjoyed
an extended run. This came on the heels of her 2014
production of the popular and critical hit Crazy for You,
which itself followed her hugely acclaimed production
of Fiddler on the Roof. She returns to the NAC, having
recently acted as Creative Producer & Director for the
NAC-commissioned Dear Life, I Lost My Talk, and Director
for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other
directing credits include Tom Stoppard’s Rock & Roll and
It’s a Wonderful Life for Canadian Stage, and Lecture on the
Weather by John Cage and A Soldier’s Tale with F. Murray
Abraham for the Detroit Symphony.
September 2015 saw Alexander Shelley make the highly
anticipated move to Music Director of the NAC Orchestra.
Meanwhile, he also continues in his role as Chief Conductor
of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, as well as
adding the title of Principal Associate Conductor of the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London to his clutch of
positions. Since being awarded first prize at the 2005
Leeds Conducting Competition, Mr. Shelley has been
in demand from orchestras around the world, including
the Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mozarteum
Orchester Salzburg, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus,
Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande,
Orchestra Svizzera Italiana, Stockholm Philharmonic,
Oslo Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar, Seattle and Houston
Symphony Orchestras.
Selected opera credits include staging and choreography
for the Canadian Opera Company’s Siegfried, which she
remounted for the Opéra National de Lyon. Also for the
COC: Tosca, Red Emma and Oedipus Rex, which earned
her a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Choreography.
Selected film and television credits include Mean Girls,
Eloise, Treading Water, Politics is Cruel, Martin and Lewis
and Stormy Weather. In 2016, Ms. Feore will direct and
choreograph a completely reimagined version of A Chorus
Line for the Stratford Festival.
Further afield, he is a regular guest with the top Asian and
Australasian orchestras. Alexander Shelley’s operatic
engagements in Europe and North America have included
The Merry Widow, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, La bohème,
Iolanta, Così fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro. His first
recording for Deutsche Grammophon, an album with Daniel
Hope and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, was released
in September 2014.
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LIFEREFLECTED
NORMAL
NORMAL is a visual design studio founded in Montreal in 2009 by Mathieu St-Arnaud
(Creative Director) and Philippe Belhumeur (Producer). NORMAL’s goal is to transform
spaces, create enticing landscapes, give audiences a unique and unexpected experience,
and have fun while doing it. To achieve this, the studio relies on an awesome group of
people who work, exchange and collaborate together all year round: artistic directors,
motion designers, video system designers, multimedia directors and integration specialists,
as well as lighting, graphic and set designers. In 2010, Danny Lefebvre (Administrative
Director) and Sébastien Grenier-Cartier (Producer) joined the small but growing studio.
The studio now employs over 20 permanent collaborators and is always on the lookout for
new talented people to join their ranks. NORMAL has already contributed their skills and
expertise to more than a hundred local and international productions, bringing creativity,
technology and people a little closer to each other with every project. Be it on stage, on
television or in the street, they adeptly transform available space into new scenery that
enables spectators to experience the unique and unexpected.
CANADA’S NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA
In September 2015, Alexander Shelley took up the mantle as Music Director, leading
a new era for the National Arts Centre’s Orchestra. Formed in 1969 at the opening of
Canada’s National Arts Centre, the NAC Orchestra gives over 100 performances a year
with renowned artists including Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, James Ehnes, Emanuel Ax
and Yo-Yo Ma. It is noted for the passion and clarity of its performances and recordings, its
ground-breaking teaching and outreach programs, and nurturing of Canadian creativity.
Since its inception, the Orchestra has commissioned over 80 works, mostly from
Canadian composers. In 2001 it inaugurated the National Arts Centre Awards for Canadian
Composers and the recipients thus far have been Denys Bouliane, John Estacio, Peter Paul
Koprowski, Gary Kulesha, Alexina Louie and Ana Sokolović. Previous NAC Orchestra Music
Directors include Pinchas Zukerman, Trevor Pinnock and Mario Bernardi.
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“Canada’s rich and dynamic
history has provided the setting
for some of the most captivating,
personal and yet universal
stories I have heard. What better
way to share these stories than
through the collaborative voices
of some of the best artists and
creators Canada has to offer.”
NAC Orchestra rehearses I Lost My Talk (John Estacio), conducted by Alexander Shelley
– Alexander Shelley, Artistic Director
© Larry Towell, Magnum Photos
LIFEREFLECTED
DEAR LIFE
MY NAME IS
AMANDA TODD
Zosha Di Castri, Composer
Jocelyn Morlock, Composer
Dear Life is based on Nobel Prize-winner Alice Munro’s
semi-autobiographical short story “Dear Life” with music
by award-winning Canadian composer Zosha Di Castri
for orchestra and soprano. It features recorded narration
by legendary actor Martha Henry, who gives a chilling
reading of an expertly distilled adaptation of the story
prepared by writer Merilyn Simonds. Striking black and
white photography by Larry Towell (Magnum Photos) is
interspersed with creative imagery.
My Name Is Amanda Todd is composed by Jocelyn
Morlock. Amanda Todd was a vibrant 15-year-old from
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia who loved singing and
expressing herself through music. Amanda Todd tragically
took her life on October 10, 2012 after suffering for years
from cyber abuse, harassment and bullying at school.
Amanda posted a poignant video on YouTube, using a series
of flash cards, speaking out against bullying and sharing
her story. The message of hope, empathy and tolerance
she expressed in her video has since caused a worldwide
groundswell of support, and is now being used by educators
and parents to support anti-bullying measures.
"The orchestration evoked the sounds of southern Ontario,
including rain, wind, snow and Canadian geese. Tempering
the dissonance, and supporting Munro’s pre-recorded text
narrated by Martha Henry, the balance was kept in check
with soprano Erin Wall."
– Michael Vincent, Musical Toronto
Alice Munro
Larry Towell
Short story writer and
Nobel Prize winner
Magnum Photos Photographer
WATCH AN INTERVIEW WITH
COMPOSER JOCELYN MORLOCK
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© NASA
LIFEREFLECTED
BONDARSPHERE
I LOST MY TALK
Nicole Lizée, Composer
John Estacio, Composer
Bondarsphere traces the extraordinary life of Dr. Roberta
Bondar in this original and inventive work by one of
Canada’s great young talents, Montreal composer Nicole
Lizée. As a child, Dr. Bondar dreamed of being an astronaut.
This dream was realized in January 1992, aboard NASA’s
space shuttle Discovery, when she became the first
neurologist in space and Canada’s first female astronaut.
Lizée has interpreted her remarkable expertise as an
astronaut, physician, scientific researcher, photographer,
author, and environment interpreter, through soundtrack,
video and live orchestra.
I Lost My Talk is based on the poem by Mi’kmaw elder
and poet Rita Joe, C.M. Rita Joe penned her poem to
express not only the pain and suffering she experienced
at Schubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia, but
also her hope and conviction that her words could guide
and inspire indigenous and non-indigenous peoples across
Canada to journey to a place of strength and healing. NAC
Award Composer John Estacio has created a lush musical
score which is performed in synergy with a film by worldrenowned director Barbara Willis Sweete.
The film, shot in High Definition on the shores of Georgian
Bay, Ontario, features 10 First Nations dancers moving in
choreography created by Santee Smith Tekaronhiáhkhwa,
Artistic Director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. Rita Joe’s
poem is narrated by Guna and Rappahannock actor
Monique Mojica.
Lizée has composed a soundtrack and film from recordings
and eye-witness footage captured over the course of
Dr. Bondar’s storied career. From the otherworldly
recordings of her voice in space, to her acceptance speech
at “Canada’s Walk of Fame”, Lizée has spliced, overlaid
and manipulated the pitch, rhythm and harmony of the
sights and sounds of these remarkable achievements into
eight movements, each unfolding into the next, inferring
an eight-day odyssey. Lizée’s work invites the audience
to reflect on how these trailblazing accomplishments
impacted a new generation to embrace a sense of discovery,
experimentation and awe in the face of the infinite.
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Rita Joe
Barbara Willis Sweete
Poet and songwriter
Filmmaker
LIFEREFLECTED
CREDITS
CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
COMPOSERS
Alexander Shelley
Artistic Director
Zosha Di Castri
Dear Life
Donna Feore
Creative Producer
& Director
Jocelyn Morlock
My Name is Amanda Todd
Christopher Deacon
Executive Producer
Nicole Lizée
Bondarsphere
John Estacio
I Lost My Talk
ARTISTIC
COLLABORATORS
Martha Henry
Narrator
NORMAL
Visual Design
Monique Mojica
Actor
Merilyn Simonds
Writer
Canada’s National Arts
Centre Orchestra
STAGE, LIGHTING
AND SOUND
PRODUCTION
Nelson McDougall
Project Manager
Alex Gazalé
Director of Production
Stefani Truant
Artistic Administrator
Daphne Burt
Artistic Planning Manager
PERFORMERS
Erin Wall
Soprano
CANADA’S NATIONAL
ARTS CENTRE TEAM
Geneviève Cimon
Director, Music Education
and Community
Engagement
Fletcher Gailey-Snell
Assistant Project Manager
Larry Towell
Photography
Barbara Willis Sweete
Filmmaker
Santee Smith
Film Choreographer
Peter McBoyle
Sound Designer
Kimberly Purtell
Lighting Designer
Ann Baggley
Assistant to the Creative
Producer & Director
Susan Monis Brett
Stage Manager
Santee Smith and dancers in I Lost My Talk filmed by Willis Sweete Productions
Photo: Milan Podsedly
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LIFEREFLECTED
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Technical Rider is under development.
IN APPRECIATION
The creation of LIFE REFLECTED has been made possible by generous donors to
the National Arts Centre Foundation who believe in investing in Canadian creators.
The NAC Foundation wishes to thank:
Gail Asper, O.C., O.M., LL.D., & Michael Paterson
Kimberley Bozak & Philip Deck
Bonnie & John Buhler
Alice & Grant Burton
The Canavan Family Foundation
The Right Honourable Joe Clark, P.C., C.C., A.O.E., & Maureen McTeer
Barbara Crook & Dan Greenberg
Danbe Foundation
Thomas d’Aquino & Susan Peterson d’Aquino
Mohammed A. Faris
Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson
The Dianne & Irving Kipnes Foundation
The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., O.N.B.
Janice & Earle O’Born
Gail & David O’Brien
Power Corporation of Canada
Dasha Shenkman OBE, Hon RCM
Eli & Phil Taylor
Donald Walcot
FOR MORE DETAILS PLEASE VISIT
LIFEREFLECTED.CA
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