The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts opens its doors to the public May 11-24 with a two-week celebration of music, theatre and film that showcases the versatility of the stunning new complex.
The Spring Festival features performances and works by Timothy Findley, John MacLachlan Gray, Veronica Tennant, Spirit of the West, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and many others.
The festival opens May 11 with the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' new oratorio, Job, featuring the Vancouver Bach Choir, the CBC Vancouver Orchestra and solo vocalists.
Adam and Eve go on-line in a virtual Garden of Eden with John MacLachlan Gray's new musical thetree.thetower.theflood. A rock opera that places biblical stories in the Information Age, Gray's work will be produced by the UBC Theatre Dept. at the BC TEL Studio Theatre, May 12-31.
The Piano Man's Daughter....and others (May 14) is a new stage adaptation of three Timothy Findley books. Joined by dancer Veronica Tennant and musicians Joe Sealy and Sylvia Tyson, Findley transforms his stories into a magical evening of theatre.
UBC film grads are celebrated May 20-24 with a selection of their award-winning work at the Royal Bank Cinema. On the bill are Mina Shum's Double Happiness, John Pozer's The Grocer's Wife, Live Bait by Bruce Sweeney, Kathy Garneau's Tokyo Cowboy and Short Takes, a compilation of short films.
Lyric coloratura Nancy Hermiston, an associate professor in the School of Music, plays tribute to some of the arts' most colourful female characters May 15 with Naughty Ladies of the Night, a collection of well-known arias and show tunes.
Also performing at the Spring Festival are Quartetto Gelato, Tafelmusik baroque orchestra, Chile's Inti-Illimani, I Solisti Veneti chamber orchestra and classical guitar virtuoso Christopher Parkening.
The performances will showcase each of the Chan Centre's facilities: the 1,400-seat Chan Shun Concert Hall, which is poised to become one of North America's premier auditoriums; the BC TEL Studio Theatre with its moveable seating towers; and the Royal Bank Cinema, which has surround-sound technology and is fully integrated with UBC's fibre optic systems.