On the occasion of the new production of “The Return of Ulysses” by Opera Atelier of Toronto, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, in collaboration with Opera Atelier, and Villa Charities Columbus Center, are pleased to offer a presentation of the work accompanied by a live performance of a selection of arias of the opera.
“The Return of Ulysses” will be presented by the artistic director of Opera Atelier Marshall Pynkoski and by the artist Gerard Gauci, scenographer.
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Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (SV 325, The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season. The story, taken from the second half of Homer‘s Odyssey, tells how constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. After his long journey home from the Trojan Wars Ulysses, king of Ithaca, finally returns to his kingdom where he finds that a trio of villainous suitors are importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. With the assistance of the gods, his son Telemaco and a staunch friend Eumete, Ulysses vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom.
Marshall Pynkoski
Since founding Opera Atelier with his wife Jeannette, Mr. Pynkoski has won numerous awards including the distinction of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Government of France and the Toronto Arts Award. Opera Atelier has introduced Baroque opera to Asia where productions of Lully, Purcell, and Mozart have been enthusiastically received throughout Japan, Singapore, and Korea.
Mr. Pynkoski has collaborated on several films including the award-winningThe Sorceress, Master Peter’s Puppet Show and Inspired By Bach featuring YoYo Ma, all with Rhombus Media. A documentary (produced by Docutainment) on Opera Atelier’s production of Lully’s Persée aired on CBC Television in December 2004, while the full length Persée aired on BRAVO in September, 2005. In March 2003, Time Magazine recognized Mr. Pynkoski as one of Canada’s Best in Music. Most recently, Mr. Pynkoski received the Muriel Sherrin Award for outstanding contribution to music in Toronto.
Gerard Gauci
Gerard Gauci is a painter and a theatre designer whose sensibility is literally and figuratively operatic. As resident set designer for Toronto’s Opera Atelier he creates vast and sumptuous on-stage environments for the works of Monteverdi, Lully and Mozart. As a painter Gauci, creates miniature tableaux depicting famously preserved interiors of grand homes and palaces throughout Europe and America. Looking back to an artistic genre popularized in 19th century Gauci renders these rooms with a precision that documents their theatrical architecture, magnificent decor and intimate personal effects. Acknowledging their creation in 21st century, he subjects the paintings to the splashing, dripping and scraping of pure pigment. These intrusions point to the work’s essential reality as paint on a flat surface and simultaneously suggest the energy held by spaces, whether the ghostly residue of the past or the volatile atmosphere of the present day.