Wizard of Oz on Compass, Dec 6, 2012

Follow the yellow brick road...

Hey Everyone
          Our Wizard of Oz performances have come to a close, and the champagne has been consumed. These past few weeks have been stressful, busy but rewarding. To the left is the official list of performers along with me in the pit, and with us was out music director Donna Garner leading on piano. If you missed the show log on the Live @ the Center Facebook page for comments about the shows and some pics.  


So what happened? Over the course of our 2 week show times  we saw the amazing creativity of  ALL the VOLUNTEERS of the Holland College Music and performance program and the community. Yes, most were complete volunteers and only a few made it into the payroll because of the lack of funding striking the Confederation Center of Arts on PEI.  None the less we all put together an amazing show on a low budget.  

Hope to work with theses people again. 

P.S. Sadly we have not official musical or action recordings -

Wizard of Oz rises to new heights

Published on December 8, 2012 - in the Guardian

                                                          Lennie MacPherson  

    Now a topic of a contentious and much-maligned infrastructure program which seeks to expedite the shipping of goods through a main corridor out of Munchkinland to the Emerald City, the Yellow Brick Road once played an integral part in defining the landscape of Oz.

Wending leisurely through the countryside, it was the irreplaceable backdrop to a heartening and brain-bending tale.

This holiday season, there’s no place like Homburg Mainstage.

For a preciously short run, that fascinating bit of Oz lore is reprised in the hallowed red theatre, ‘neath the wintry street level twinkle.

The Confederation Centre of the Arts has partnered with the Holland College School of Performing Arts for the second year in a row, and extended a generous invitation to the amateur theatre community, to present a well-known musical production as their Christmas offering.

The stage is populated with one of the largest casts I can recall, professionals and inexperienced alike, big and small.

And my, is there much to work with in this rich, wildly imaginative story. So many lines and concepts have been woven into popular culture, yet the details still seem fresh and inspired.

On a relatively limited budget, the key to bringing the brilliance and energy of the Technicolor film to a live audience is costuming and dancing.

The dancers evoked the turbulent, disorienting storm, and the peaceful poppy fields, later covered with snow. They gave large effervescent welcomes, and brought dangerous fits of jittery dancing upon our intrepid walkers. Choreographer Julia Sauvé and costume designer Karyn MacPhee were essential to creating this magic.

The music, of course, is forever hummed, and lyrics endlessly quoted.

Some songs, simple mood creating chants — “You’re out of the woods, you’re out of the dark, you’re out of the night,” or, conversely, the ominous “ooo-wee-ooo wee-ooo-ooo” of the marching Winkies.

Traits from the iconic performances of the original 1939 film cast were given respectful nods, including some of the signature line delivery. For comedy’s sake, a slightly more relaxed, casual direction was taken as well.

April Cook has returned this year to play the lead. Dorothy is by times damsel in distress, and by turns no-nonsense tut-tutter. Cook’s voice is suitably crystal clear.

Glenda Landry evoked pitch perfect of the Wicked Witch of the West in some of her sinister moments, her energy commanding and intimidating, while adding an occasional bumbling twist for a good laugh.

Seth Johnson as the Scarecrow and Ian Cheverie as Tinman, were faithful to the portrayals we’re familiar with — earnest, sensitive, yet salt-of- the-earth types. Stiff or stuffed, the actors embraced their distinct physicality. With a mix of wit and goof, Bruce Rainnie gave the Cowardly Lion a big personality, proud but fragile.

And much to the delight of the audience, the familiar face behind the mane threw in a few timely, off-the-cuff lines.

Toto could do no wrong. If he was late on cue, people awed. If he gave no reaction, we laughed.

His subdued poise offered a nice counterpoint to the bizarre adventures that engulfed him.

Unquestionably, the cast was having a great time on stage, indulging in some extra gags thrown into the script with a healthy serving of ham.

In order to be properly decked for the season, you need that ornament hanging on your otherwise pristine tree — the one made out of an egg carton and pipe cleaner, with one googly eye missing. As it is, in many ways, a community theatre production, there are endearing unpolished moments here as well.

A peek at the wizard behind the curtain, if you will. If you won’t, well I did. And there were some tiny opening night technical wrinkles.

But it is wonderfully ambitious, with people floating high above the stage, and some surprise special effects.

What an endeavor it was to wrangle in all those people on and off stage, working around busy schedules and such. The spectacle is undeniable.

Dozens upon dozens of talented dancers and charming voices lit and coloured the production with spirited ebullience. One can’t help but leave with a warm glow.

Wizard of Oz

Photo courtesy of Confederation Center of Arts website.

Hello Blog-followers,

      Just this past Friday, I was contacted by the Confederation Center of Arts in Charlottetown about the Wizard of Oz musical production being staged this December. Thursday was my audition and soon after I was accepted as principal clarinetist!! Very exciting – (PS. I haven’t told my Studio Instructor as to later impress him and to flash some of my potential as a professional musician; hoping to provide him with two complimentary tickets for himself and his wife.)

           The following is the excerpt available from the Confederation Center of Arts website about the show along with the scheduled show times this coming Christmas season.

Oz stars P.E.I.'s own April Cook (The Sound of Music, Hairspray) as Dorothy and Glenda Landry (The Kitchen Witches, Anne of Green Gables - The Musical™) as the Wicked Witch of the West. Wade Lynch, associate artistic director of Confederation Center  directs this beloved tale while Donna Garner will serve as both musical director and appear on stage in a coveted role. These Charlottetown Festival favorites will be joined by the talent of the Holland College program including nine dancers from the new Dance Performance stream.

"We enjoyed a fantastic experience last holiday season when we staged The Sound of Music as a collaborative production," says Lynch. "The educational value for the School of Performing Arts students was exceptional and they truly delivered. At least six of the program's graduates have gone on to continue their performance training elsewhere since then."

One of the most popular musicals and films in theater and cinema history, Wizard of Oz follows Dorothy and her dog Toto who are swept away to an enchanted land and embark on a quest to see the Wizard who can help them return home. Members of the Holland College Dance Program will recreate the thrilling tornado that whisks Dorothy away and dancers will also perform ‘the Jitterbug' - a dance number that was featured in the original musical but never made the 1939 film.

"Wizard of Oz has always been associated with the magic of the holidays for me," recalls Lynch. "CBC used to show it on Christmas Eve for many years with Judy Garland playing host of the broadcast. It was the greatest gift ever."

Through this link

Show Times

Thu Dec 6 2012 - 7:30 PM    

Fri Dec 7 2012 - 7:30 PM     

Sat Dec 8 2012 - 2:00 PM     

Sat Dec 8 2012 - 7:30 PM     

Thu Dec 13 2012 - 7:30 PM  

Fri Dec 14 2012 - 7:30 PM   

Sat Dec 15 2012 - 2:00 PM

Sat Dec 15 2012 - 7:30 PM

The Dance

   Just to keep you interested, here is the piece "The Dance", one of the second-half works from my collection "Spectrum". This piece is the soundtrack to all lovers during their first dance; if every teenage boy to step to the school gym dance floor is a rootless pirate and every girl a heart-torn beautiful American beauty. The opening is that of the Captain asking his love to dance. The slow figures played by the piano in the opening measures represents her indecisiveness. She is in love, but how could she love the man that wants to sell her on the slave market. The conflict is resolved as she takes his hand represented by the leading tone-tonic figure. And so "The Dance" beings. This excerpt is from the beginning of the movement. Enjoy and keep listening. 

Spectrum

         Summer is over! - and I’m very excited to be back to the grind of things at UPEI. Interesting enough, below is a short excerpt of a collection of works I've been 'working on' (pardon the pun) over the summer. The collection is called "Spectrum", and includes pieces on the clarinet, voice and piano. The following piece was a putting together after a previous piece of the same title took on new meaning and place in my collection. The story behind the music is that of fairy-tail and fantasy. A young attractive Captain, in charge of a ship of pirates, if given the opportunity to pillage a captured vessel and kill its crew. Oddly, along with crew, this ship carries a beautiful brown-haired maiden in which he falls in love with. Yet hides this from his crew, claiming he is only sparing  her life for to sell her on the slave market. The love story develops through the "Spectrum" collection. This piece titled The Captain and His Captive is the love duet between the clarinet and piano. This excerpt contains only a part of the piano solo section in the first half of the piece. Enjoy and keep listen for more.  The official release date of "Spectrum" is December 15th.

|The Church|

        My name is Travis Boudreau, as you may already know,  and I am the founder and director of a growing musical group based out of the Gospel Halls of PEI named “The Church”. Formally we are a ‘choral ensemble’ but in essence we are a group of young Island Christians aiming to reach Island youth with music; though we are not strictly voice, I will refer to this as a ‘choir’ for the purpose of this post. The forming of this choir began in April of this year with collaboration between Brenna Thompson of Grace Christian School and myself, with a single goal: to spread the Gospel to the youth here - close to home - on PEI. 

        ‘The Church' is a collection of musically-inclined Gospel Hall Christian youth (ages 13-25) coming together to:

     1. Sing, and play (piano, acoustic guitar, drums and strings) traditional hymns and contemporary (modern) Christian music

     2. Record a CD/ Digital copy of our music along with one or several messages spread through the tracks
    
     3. Spread gospel through music, by distributing and making available the copies, free of charge.

     Not only are we enjoying praising God with the singing and playing of music but we are also trying to give people our age an alternative to turning on their radio to secular music. The Music is the attraction but The Message is the key. With a changing society we hope that this method of outreach can have a real impact on our generation.

      The above was a brief summary of the formal members invitation for the newly founded choral group, The Church. The group has a goal of spending this summer practicing, rehearsing and recording several Christians praise and worship songs to give away free of charge. So far we have things going in the right direction and we have a full members list along with instrumentation. Our first rehearsal will be the second last or last weekend in June, the recording, on the other hand, will take place at the Steel Recital Hall on the UPEI campus later in August.

      Thus far we have no means of financial support and are solely holding water by personal and corporate donations. If you would like to know more of the groups progress or get biweekly updates on what has been happening - please e-mail me at ttboudreau@upei.ca with your requests/questions.

        I would be more than happy to hear of  your support financially or otherwise and update you on our work here in PEI.






Also check us out on Facebook - group page oppening June 15 2012.

(From left to right) Noah MacDougall, Amy Wilson, Allison Kelly, Brittany Banks, & Andrew Murray

            As the UPEI Music Dept. 2011-2012 year ends, the journey for five young music students begins. Above pictured are this year's graduating music class. Proud and honored to have called UPEI there home for the past four years. Congratulations to them and I wish them well and all the best on their journey.

Concerts, concerts, and more concerts

       Hello again, today's 'casualness', if such a word exists, is due to my relief that the 2012 UPEI year has drawn to a close. On the other hand of that relief is my disappointment that our music making has come to an end. This past March concluded the concert and recital series for the school year with a 'weekend of music'.

Saxophone players warming up before 
a Wind Symphony rehearsal. 

          Firstly, we opened the weekend of music with the UPEI Wind Symphony - Thursday, March 29th at 7:30 pm - playing several contemporary wind band pieces such as "Fireflies", "To Fly with Wings",  & "Epiphanies". The performance, which was received with a standing ovation, was the realization of music that we had been preparing since the beginning of January. The crowd, as those that were there can attest, was exited about the music making but also thrown about by several intense pieces. "Echo of God's Laughter" was the first of those, using a music technique called mensuration cannon: a repetition of a musical idea at different length and in different voices. "Echo of God's laughter", or "Echo" for short (as we called it) was a piece that created an intensifying,  everlasting (as it seemed) meditative mood that the entire room could feel. Along with that was the infamous "Epiphanies". This piece not only caused you to think about the music but may also have made you cringe. This piece was uniquely composed in tritones  or the 'devil's interval' as it was once known. The music is a continual suspense with the release denied to the listener until the last 10 measures or so. Even though there was no 'pièce de résistance' for this concert the whole evening was a success and well received both by the audience and the musicians.

Andrea Walker, Hannah Rollwage, Olivia Barnes
Rebecca Apps and Jillian Clow singing "I Can't Say No."

            Secondly, we filled the recital hall for the Saturday performance of “Mainly Musical Theater” by the UPEI Concert Choir. Performing classics such as "Climb Every Mountain" from Sound of Music, & "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning", "Farmer and the Cowman", "I Can’t Say No", and "Oklahoma" from Oklahoma. The performance was also well attended and received by those that came to the Steele Recital Hall on the UPEI campus. Along with us was the Regazzi and Regazze, junior and senior choirs directed by Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey, vocal director at UPEI. The night of music created quite a stir in the community and left the audience wanting to hear more. 

The Jazz Band and Percussion Ensemble rehearsing
before the Tuesday night conert.

          Just a skip and hop away was the concluding performance of the UPEI Jazz Ensemble, on Tuesday, April 3rd. The night was one full of excitement and intrigue. This season the Jazz ensemble worked hand in hand with some of the vocal students of the UPEI music department to put together a 'Cabaret' of sort. (Performances by Hannah Rollwage Noah MacDougall, and Brittany Banks). The night ended with a bang with performances of "Foggy Day", "Satin Doll", "Harlem Nocturne", and "Blackbird" and also an appearance of the UPEI Percussion Ensemble with "St. Thomas". (In my next post will be several recording of the night's performance)


        All in all - the end of March and start of April were very musical here on the UPEI campus, though the concerts were close together, all of our rehearsing and practice were just as much fun as the final realization of the music Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday night. Thanks for your support and check out next years concert series at the Music branch of UPEI.ca .    Here - UPEI.ca


        Sadly, these performances were some of the last for four outstanding members: Alison Kelly (percussion), Nicole Green (Piano), Spencer Matheson (French Horn), and Sarah McCormick (Saxophone). 

Friday Night!!!


This past Friday, Februrary 17th , the UPEI Music Dept. hosted the "Simply Singers" concert showcasing Island singers and musicians, from local artists and UPEI alumni, to current students. 


        Admission was by donation and the support provided by the community was "amazing" as quoted by director of the choral program at UPEI, Prof. Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey. On a personal level, I really enjoyed all the music making of the evening and had the chance to perform myself, with the UPEI Chamber Singers - performing "I Got Rhythm" by George Gershwin.


The funds raised are all going towards supporting the promotion of musical art on PEI, by covering expenses of touring to schools on the Island and for music equipment at the University. 

Snapshot of the UPEI Chamber Singers in performance Friday night.

WOW!!!
        This weekend is one of the most busy, concert wise, weekends of all the year. This Firday at 7:30pm is the Moonlight Concert : Music Beyond Borders performance at the Confederation Center. Featuring:

Sixty voices of Insightful Praises Choir (conducted by HL Lin and YJ Su)
Chin-Yun Chinese Orchestra
Wang Tzu Cheng, Violin
Tiffany Fu, Soprano
Chen Chia-Yi, Piano

Picture courtesy of Charlottetown Festival website

I encourage ALL to go, I know I'll be there. We're in for nice relaxing night of music.

K.Maclean, F. Gray and K. Simon

      and Saturday, February 4, 2012  at 7:30 p.m is "A MUSICAL FEAST" featuring UPEI Faculty. Admission is $15 ($10 students and seniors) and will be showcased in the UPEI Recital Hall located in the Steel Building.


      Then Sunday is the encore performance of the UPEI Wind Symphony in concert with "The Lord Of The Rings" composed by Johann de Meji based on the books "The Lord of the Rings written by J.R.R. Tolkien The concert is in colaboration with the 130 musicien Intermediate Honors Band; a group of exceeeding musicians chosen from band programs across PEI. This year their guest conductor is Mr. Rowen Fitzgerald, the long-time, recently retired, Band Director of Queen Charlotte School.


      See us in concert at Homburg Theatre -Confederation Centre of the Arts. Sunday at 3:00pm. Advanced tickets recommended.



Jessica MacFarlane a Flute major a UPEI and Flute player in the UPEI Wind Symphony.



Carl Stamitz - Clarinet concerto #3

       Just updating my repertoire recordings. Below is a video of "Fabian"on Clarinet (not quite sure if its his name or not; the description is in German) with his accompanist Prof. Francziszek Jasionowski, playing Klarinettenkonzert B-dur "Allegro Moderato" - Carl Stamitz or in English Carl Stamitz - Clarinet Concerto #3 in Bb

Christmas Concert Series

Hey Again!

        You'll have to forgive me I've been quite behind theses last few weeks (not that anyone is reading this or anything), courses and practices have begun again for the new year and my time has been strongly restricted. Yet I feel I need to keep you updated!

UPEI Wind Symphony

         November - December ---- 2011
This past Christmas season UPEI hosted a concert series having several performances by Music Dept. groups: Choir (Prof. Sung Ha Shin-Bouey) Jazz Band (Prof. David Shephard) and Wind Symphony (Dr. Karem Simon). I got the chance to be in all three, like I'm not busy enough (just kidding)

Prof. Sung Ha Shin-Bouey

Thursday, November 24, 7:30 pm
“Gloria By Vivaldi And Various
Choral Gems”
UPEI Concert Choir

Dr. Karem Simon

Thursday, December 1, 7:30 pm

“The Lord Of The Rings”

UPEI Wind Symphony

Prof. David Shephard

Tuesday, November 29, 7:30

UPEI Jazz Ensemble

Watch out for a repertoire list and some recordings