About Alexina Louie's Compositions

                   The Scarlet Princess - What they Say

                   

"The themes of great and grand opera are there: Sex, violence, betrayal, murder, suicide, the fall from grace and - with the lifting of a curse - transcendent redemption. Even without the music, The Scarlet Princess would draw crowds to the opera house. . . This is not the Turandot of the 21st century and it is certainly not Gilbert and Sullivan - it is a work of weight, profundity and promise." - Wes Blomster, Andante, April, 2002.                    ". . .one of the most fascinating operas to enter the Canadian repertoire in the past three decades. It took composer Alexina Louie six years to compose The Scarlet Princess and it showed. Seldom have I heard a Canadian opera so richly, carefully and inventively scored, so full of the promise of theatrical life. As yet that promise remains unfulfilled, because the Canadian Opera Company decided, as a precautionary measure, to test the musical waters before plunging into a costly, full-scale production." - William Littler, The Toronto Star, Thursday, April 25, 2002                    "Hanging over this. . . is the ominous fact that Canadian operas rarely receive more than one production. If this pattern holds true for The Scarlet Princess, there's a risk that it may simply fade away following the concert, never to be seen in its intended form. The uncertainty surrounding the piece has also halted a CBC documentary on the opera's development." - Colin Eatok, Globe and Mail

                   Prologue and Berceuse

                   Extracts from Louie's opera The Scarlett Princess

                   Since my years as a student at the University of British Columbia, I have been captivated by Japanese Samurai films and Japanese ghost stories. While searching for a story that would be intriguing enough to warrant my full attention for two years (the initial term of my endeavour), I felt I had to find one that would suit my musical, dramatic and aesthetic style. I needed a story that could keep me enthralled for years.

                   Two years became six, and after all the workshops and rewrites, I can say that the characters of the opera and the situations they fall into have not lost their resonance with me. The Scarlet Princess is an adaptation of the 17th Century Kabuki play, The Scarlet Princess of Edo.

                   Setting the tone for the entire opera is the opening, a storm scene in which a monk and his male acolyte vow their undying love for each other before committing suicide by leaping off a cliff. However, the monk losees his courage, and as the boy, Shiragiju falls, he sings a death aria and curses the monk, Seigen.

                   reincarnation, obsessive love, demonic possession, revenge, murder, and redemption

                   The opera is the sensuous and erotic tale of reincarnation, obsessive love, demonic possession, revenge, murder and redemption. It is populated by a colourful cast of imperial figures, nuns, monks, villagers, outcasts, prostitutes, johns, ghosts and demons.

                   In recalling the years prior to The Scarlet Princess it became apparent to me that I had been preparing for this long, arduous and, ultimately, fulfilling journey for many years.

                   Several of my previous compositions for orchestra and ensembles explored ghostly elements or distant reminisences (Scenes From A Jade Terrace, Afterimages). I learned about choral writing with my composition for chamber choir, percussion and harp, Love Songs For A Small Planet. As well, I set letters of Van Gogh and Money for an extended concert aria for baritone and orchestra, Obsessions, which was eventually recorded by Russell Braun and the National Arts Centre Orchestra with Mario Bernardi conducting.

                   moved by the power of David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly

                   By chance, several years ago my husband Alex and I went to New York and happened to see a wonderful play in previews. I was so moved by the power of the work that I felt I had somehow been changed by the event. The drama was taut, the story, intriguing, the writing superb. The playwrite drew us into the fabric of an unbelievable story, one thread at a time, and ultimately devestated us with a powerful dramatic revelation right at the end. I turned to Alex at the end of the evening and told him that if I was ever to write an opera, I would want the author of this play as my librettist.

                   The play was M. Butterfly, the playwrite, David Henry Hwang. He became my librettist and, in the six years since, I have never tired of his dramatic, poetic text, nor of the characters to whom he has given such complex emotional lives.

                   explores the composer's full range of emotional experiences

                   We've worked well as a team. Together we fashioned the events of the drama from the original play. David originally delivered a seventy page libretto. I practically fainted. But assuring me that editing was one of his strengths, he eventually presented me with fifty pages. He was quick and responsive if I requested a deeper characterisation of one of the principals, or indeed if I asked for any change. I encouraged him to use sensuous, erotic language for certain scenes. I relied on David for his dramatic instincts. The Scarlet Princess encompasses my entire compositional metier. It also reveals the full range of my emotional experience.

                   In writing this opera, I chose to work in the tradition of grand tragic opera and, in so doing, decided not to shy away from the big gestures and big passions of the genre. The demands and risks of taking on such a task are great, and the artistic rewards are that much greater.

                   It is my hope that the realm of Sakura, Seigen and Hanjuro will frighten, entice, intrigue, seduce and move you.

                   A work of this nature is not created in a vacuum. I wish to thank General Director Richard Bradshaw and his cast of characters at the Canadian Opera Company for their support.

                   Programme note written by Alexina Louie, April 2002

                   Esprit performance of Prologue and Berceuse, from Louie’s opera The Scarlet Princess, will be performed on Sunday, May 2, 2002, on the Radio Waves matinee concert – as part of CBC Radio/Radio Netherlands Dutch Music Week.

                    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                   The Scarlet Princess Receives World Broadcast Premiere

                   Wednesday, October 8, 2002, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - The Scarlet Princess, an opera by multiple Juno award-winning composer Alexina Louie with libretto by Tony award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, receives its world premiere broadcast on Sunday, October 13th at 10:00 p.m. on the CBC Radio Two program Two New Hours (94.1 FM).

                   The opera was created during Louie's tenure as Composer-in-Residence at the Canadian Opera Company, and takes the form of an erotic ghost story based upon a 17th Century Kabuki play.

                   The performance for broadcast is a recording by Two New Hours (produced by Neil Crory) of the world concert premiere of Tuesday, April 23, 2002, by the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, conducted by Richard Pittman.

                   The Scarlet Princess evolves as a tale of passion, wherein a beautiful princess and lovelorn monk are caught up in a maelstrom of illicit passion, betrayal and murder. The libretto for the opera can be seen on the CBC's Two New Hour's Web site at the web address http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/2newhours/scarlet.htm

                   The cast of singers includes soprano Valdine Anderson, mezzo-soprano Colleen Skull, baritone Doug MacNaughton, tenor David Pomeroy, baritone Steven Horst, and bass-baritone Olivier Laquerre.

                   Alexina Louie has twice been named the most performed Canadian Composer of contemporary classical music by SOCAN, and is a recipient of both the (Jean A.) Chalmers National Music Award and the Jules Leger Prize in chamber music. She received the prestigious Order of Ontario in 2001 and, most recently, was given the first National Arts Centre Award. Alexina Louie holds an Honourary Doctorate from the University of Calgary.