The Jade Bracelet
A Peking Opera in Chinese and English with surtitles
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2021
Shenkman Centre
2021 PROGRAM
An afternoon of Peking Opera supported by ARTicipate and produced at the Shenkman Arts Centre with both live audience and streamed online. The program featured Kun opera “The Peony Pavilion” (William Lau and Jin Wang); Chinese-Canadian Guzheng musician Unissia Huang; as well as the comic opera “The Jade Bracelet” (William Lau, Marc Lo and Laura Astwood) in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Master of Ceremony Marjolaine Fournier.
THE PERFORMERS
William Lau is a graduate of York University’s Master of Fine Arts program in dance. A refined performer, he was trained in both Chinese traditional dance and Western classical ballet and now specializes in the Dan (female roles) in Chinese opera. William has been an ambassador for Chinese performing arts for the past 25 years, conducting workshops, lectures and demonstrations at various academic institutions and artistic companies as well as museums and cultural organizations and has shared the richness of Chinese dance and opera with a wide range of audiences nationally and internationally. He has pushed the boundaries of traditional art practices by collaborating with professional artists of different artistic disciplines and diverse cultural backgrounds.
Laura Astwood is a creator and performer of original theatre works as well as a coach and teacher of physical theatre skills. She has led numerous stilt workshops in Ottawa and elsewhere, specializing in teaching the use of stilts as a theatrical tool. She was the Artistic Director of the Ottawa Stilt Union for 9 years. With the OSU she was involved in the creation of 20 original performances and performance events. In Ottawa, Laura has also collaborated with Zoopyra Productions to create Six: at Home, a site-specific work that won two Rideaux Awards, and with Two Little Birds on and then it happens, which appeared in the 2012 Undercurrents Festival. Laura collaborated with Sarah Conn on Split, produced by STO Union for the 2015 SubDevision Festival.
Marcos Kim Hung Lo
Marc moved to Toronto from Hong Kong. Though employed in finance, he has practiced Cantonese Opera for many years, following Master Zhang Yan Yan for Basic Training of the stage technic and Master William Wai Kok Li for vocal training.
He has performed over 15 pieces of short and long Cantonese Operas in Hong Kong, Vancouver and Toronto. In addition, he is honoured to learn “ 韋陀架” from Master Kam Wing Soong “An master of JI Yue 擊樂” to play a role of “ 韋陀”
Marjolaine Fournier A graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec, Marjolaine has been a member of the double bass section of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1991. Long-time cohost of the podcast “Explore the Symphony”, she enjoys studying and playing music of times and places other than her own and is always ready to adopt a new sound. She is a member of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra and the children’s concert duo “Les Marjo”, dedicated to creating original kids’ musical adventures.
Jin Wang Wang loves dancing and music. She studied violin for over 10 years when she was young. She was a key member in the Shanghai Youth Orchestra. She has been involved in Chinese dance performance and teaching in Ottawa since 2000. She has been actively involved in organizing performances in festivals and cultural exchange events such as Ottawa Tulip Festival, Ottawa Lumiere Festival, Sound of Light at Casino du Lac-Leamy, Ottawa Carnival of Cultures, the China Exhibition in the Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese New Year's celebration events and various multi-culture events in the National Capital Region. She and her dance group performed collaboratively with the national master dancers from China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater at the NAC in 2009. She founded the non-for- profit organization Silk Road Art Studio Canada which focuses on cultural exchange and performing Chinese dances.
Unissia Huang Born in China, Ms Huang started learning Guzheng and Piano at a very young age and graduated from the Sichuan Conservatory in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Performance. Clarity and elegance emerge from Unissia Huang's playing; her beautiful and sensitive touch on the strings creates abundant articulations and colours in her music. The depth and the authenticity of her music transport the audience through a wide spectrum of emotions. She has won several medals in different music competitions and performed on stages across the world including in China, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
THIS PERFORMANCE MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE GRACIOUS SUPPORT OF
