Charles Hope
From the Banff Summer Arts Festival
The Banff Centre goes all out for 75th anniversary
All summer long the sound of music will be reverberating throughout the mountains around Banff. It’s The Banff Centre’s 75th birthday and its annual Summer Arts Festival has an extra special lineup to mark the occasion. The festival opened on May 1 and runs until September 5.
With more than 150 performances 400 artists and all disciplines from music to dance theatre and visual arts the scope is so broad it’s difficult to choose highlights. “The Banff Summer Arts Festival is an open house for the world to see the artists that come here to study under the masters. It’s an opportunity for the public to see the stars of tomorrow” says festival producer Casey Prescott. Throughout the year The Banff Centre offers workshops training and residence opportunities for artists both in the early and mid stages of their careers. “In the past 10 years the festival has become more diverse energetic and has more impact. We’ve programmed more cutting-edge works and events and artists that probe the imagination.”
The festival’s 75th anniversary gala weekend runs from July 3 to 5. With a nod to the centre’s Aboriginal Arts and Aboriginal Leadership and Management programs the weekend will see the première of Red Sky’s new show Tono (Higher Faster Stronger) that looks at the similarities between the indigenous peoples of Mongolia China and Canada. Along with dancing it will feature Mongolian throat-singing. The weekend will also include performances by Banff Centre alumnae including pianist Jon Kimura Parker Juno-nominee Jill Barber and opera singers Tracy Dahl and Richard Margison.
Opera has had a strong presence at The Banff Centre (particularly when the Theatre Arts Department was under the directorship of playwright and librettist John Murrell). In late July and early August three operatic events will take place on Banff stages including Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and an operatic cantata Phaedra .
Music always plays a crucial part in the festival. Several jazz concerts have already taken place. Canadian Celtic folk-rock band Spirit of the West will appear at an outdoor concert on June 29. On the classical side of things The Banff Festival Orchestra will stage several concerts throughout August including a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 on August 17. Renowned pianist Anton Kuerti will also make an appearance.
Another highlight of this year’s festival is the debut of the centre’s new dance program. The program is a partnership between seven of Canada’s leading ballet companies. “It involves assembling a super troupe out here of young dancers who are breaking into the profession who are blossoming and just need a higher temperature to take them to the next level” says Prescott. The dance program is the brainchild of the National Ballet of Canada’s ballet master Lindsay Fischer. “There has been dance in Banff for 60 years so the idea of having a dance program is not new” says Fischer. “For the first time though we actually have explicit collaboration from ballet companies across Canada. We need to build a dance culture across Canada otherwise we get too regionalized.”
For five weeks 26 dancers go through a training regime a professional rehearsal schedule and one week of performance. “I’ve found people do the most growing when they’re injured and they have to stop for awhile. I hope it will give artists that kind of mental space a stimulus that makes people think differently about themselves and their art” Fischer says of the program.
The troupe will perform both traditional and new works including Balanchine’s “Divertimento #15” a “tiara and tutu” dance a work that teacher Peggy Baker developed for students at the National Ballet School which incorporates a North African jazz fusion influence as well as a new work choreographed by the winner of the Clifford E. Lee Award in Choreography.
Theatre is also making a return to The Banff Centre after a 10-year hiatus. It’s the result of a new collaboration between the centre and Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre. The new drama program will involve 15 weeks of training and performance. Participants will be in Banff for eight weeks and then move to Edmonton for the remaining seven. The product of their efforts is an August staging of a new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice . The show will also open the Citadel’s 2008-09 season. “This program is unique in Canada” says Prescott. “It gives participants a festival experience and a large theatre experience all in one.”
In addition to the performing arts several speakers will be making appearances including science writer and broadcaster Jay Ingram CBC Ideas host Paul Kennedy and environmentalist Bill McKibben. “McKibben is one of the world’s leading environmentalists” says Prescott. “It’s quite a coup to have someone of his stature come out to Banff.”
The festival wraps up on September 5 with a presentation of The Fiddle and the Drum the collaboration between Alberta Ballet and Joni Mitchell.
“I think that The Banff Centre is in a unique position” says Prescott. “We’re in the province of Alberta and ultimately are an international destination. Where we’re headed in the future? You’ll be seeing much more aggressive commissioning and support of the creation of new works.”
