WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.812 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.812 --> 00:00:04.025 align:middle line:84%
I'll do a few sound poems
for your entertainment.

00:00:04.025 --> 00:00:07.490 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.490 --> 00:00:10.010 align:middle line:84%
I had the very great
fortune last summer

00:00:10.010 --> 00:00:15.110 align:middle line:84%
in August to perform in an
opera by R. Murray Schafer,

00:00:15.110 --> 00:00:17.420 align:middle line:84%
an opera called The
Princess of The Stars.

00:00:17.420 --> 00:00:22.850 align:middle line:84%
R. Murray Schafer is probably
our greatest exported composer.

00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:24.380 align:middle line:84%
This opera is widely
considered one

00:00:24.380 --> 00:00:26.338 align:middle line:84%
of the most difficult to
perform in the history

00:00:26.338 --> 00:00:29.030 align:middle line:84%
of Canadian music, because it
takes place at four o'clock

00:00:29.030 --> 00:00:33.080 align:middle line:84%
in the morning in the remote
reaches of northern Canada

00:00:33.080 --> 00:00:34.400 align:middle line:90%
on an open lake.

00:00:34.400 --> 00:00:40.430 align:middle line:84%
And all the action takes place
inside giant canoes decked out

00:00:40.430 --> 00:00:43.820 align:middle line:84%
to be the characters
in these performances,

00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:45.800 align:middle line:84%
and there's a full
orchestra hidden away

00:00:45.800 --> 00:00:49.100 align:middle line:84%
in the woods in the
middle of nowhere

00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:50.870 align:middle line:84%
with all of these
acts on the lake.

00:00:50.870 --> 00:00:53.540 align:middle line:84%
It's a kind of living
dream that you get to watch

00:00:53.540 --> 00:00:55.640 align:middle line:90%
in the middle of the night.

00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:59.030 align:middle line:84%
The story concerns The Princess
of The Stars, an allegory

00:00:59.030 --> 00:01:01.400 align:middle line:84%
for the moon, who
falls out of the sky,

00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:03.110 align:middle line:84%
because she has
listened too closely

00:01:03.110 --> 00:01:04.640 align:middle line:90%
to the song of the wolf.

00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:07.820 align:middle line:84%
And she falls into the lake,
where, in fact, the action

00:01:07.820 --> 00:01:11.990 align:middle line:84%
takes place and is abducted
by the evil villain, the three

00:01:11.990 --> 00:01:13.490 align:middle line:90%
horned enemy.

00:01:13.490 --> 00:01:18.920 align:middle line:84%
Now, without meaning to do
so, the producers actually

00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:22.430 align:middle line:84%
opened this performance on
the very night of the lunar

00:01:22.430 --> 00:01:29.240 align:middle line:84%
eclipse, and while the opening
aria of the soprano occurred,

00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:32.960 align:middle line:84%
the lunar eclipse began
devouring the moon.

00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:34.700 align:middle line:84%
It was quite a
beautiful experience.

00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:37.020 align:middle line:90%
I was awestruck.

00:01:37.020 --> 00:01:39.360 align:middle line:84%
Now, you have to imagine
me playing, of course,

00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:44.370 align:middle line:90%
the villain in this opera.

00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:48.750 align:middle line:84%
I described my character
as a kind of crazy pirate

00:01:48.750 --> 00:01:53.820 align:middle line:84%
aboard a psychedelic submarine
barking orders at his crew.

00:01:53.820 --> 00:01:57.360 align:middle line:84%
You have to imagine I'm inside
this gigantic dragon-like

00:01:57.360 --> 00:02:00.030 align:middle line:84%
puppet, operating it,
while I'm performing

00:02:00.030 --> 00:02:01.920 align:middle line:90%
this particular aria.

00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:05.640 align:middle line:84%
Now, I should note that this
aria is never given to an opera

00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:10.289 align:middle line:84%
singer, because no, no
virtuoso performer would ever

00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:13.890 align:middle line:84%
risk their voice and their
career on such a performance.

00:02:13.890 --> 00:02:18.870 align:middle line:90%


00:02:18.870 --> 00:02:22.890 align:middle line:84%
I'll perform for you now the
aria of the three horned enemy.

00:02:22.890 --> 00:02:27.490 align:middle line:90%


00:02:27.490 --> 00:02:30.205 align:middle line:84%
I apologize for its
stentorian excesses.

00:02:30.205 --> 00:02:43.300 align:middle line:90%


00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:47.690 align:middle line:90%
(SINGING)

00:02:47.690 --> 00:02:48.560 align:middle line:90%
[INAUDIBLE]

00:02:48.560 --> 00:04:33.600 align:middle line:90%


00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:41.450 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:04:41.450 --> 00:04:45.000 align:middle line:90%