Harbourfront Centre - Fresh Ground new works

voice-box: a competitive concert in a boxing ring by interdisciplinary collective urbanvessel. Featuring some of Canada's most unique vocal performers in the worlds of jazz, cabaret and opera, voice-box draws upon vocal techniques ranging from scat-singing and sound poetry to throat-singing and gospel. voice-box plays with gender and power dynamics, as vocal improvisation and boxing bring body and voice together in a battle for victory. Audience members engage with the work through interactive roles as judges, fans and gamblers, while performers shift fluidly between boxers, coaches, referees and commentators.

The Collaborators

urbanvessel is an interdisciplinary collective creating performance works rooted in the sounds and spaces of the urban environment. It was founded in 2006 by composer Juliet Palmer and architect/artist Christie Pearson. To date the Toronto-based collective has collaborated with choreographers Marie-Josée Chartier and Yvonne Ng, writer/actor Anna Chatterton, improvising vocalist Christine Duncan and director Ruth Madoc-Jones. Works include: SLIP, a multi-disciplinary performance at the Harrison Baths (2006 X Avant Festival, Toronto); and the Dora-nominated a cappella opera STITCH for 3 women and 3 sewing machines (Theatre Centre's 2008 Freefall Festival/World Stage).

Julia Aplin is a dancer and teacher, active as a choreographer since 1989. Her work has been commissioned by the Luminato Festival, Dusk Dances, York University, the Madawaska String Quartet, Art in Open Spaces, The Theatre Centre, Dancemakers, Company Blonde and the Canadian Brass and has been presented across Canada and in Europe.
radixlbody.com

Anna Chatterton is a librettist, playwright and performer whose work is rooted in rhythm, rhyme, soundscape and sound poetry. Her work focuses on women's societal roles, constraints and obsessions, both historical and contemporary. Anna is a member of Tarragon Theatre's Playwright's unit and was a member of CanStage's Play Creation Group and Factory Theatre's Playwrights Lab. She was recently commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company to write a full length opera with James Rolfe (2011/12).
independentauntie.ca

Juliet Palmer is a composer and artistic innovator working in diverse media from music theatre and opera to sound installation and chamber music. Her works have been presented at festivals and concerts in Europe, North America and Australasia.
musiccentre.ca

Jim Ruxton is an artist and engineer working in installation, performance, theatre, dance and film. He uses electronics as a medium to create works that are kinetic and interactive. Jim is also a founder and Director of Subtle Technologies, an organization that creates links between artists and scientists, with events throughout the year and during its annual Subtle Technologies Festival. He teaches hybrid media at the Ontario College of Art and Design.
subtletechnologies.com

Christine Duncan is a vocal artist at home in the worlds of theatre, opera, gospel, jazz, experimental improvisation and other forms of mayhem. A musical chameleon with a near five octave range, Duncan uses her voice as an instrument, exploring its full tonal, timbral and textural range.
barnyardrecords.com

Savoy Howe is the founder of the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club where she coaches a new generation of women boxers. Savoy has a degree in theatre and sings with The Boychoir of Lesbos.
torontonewsgirls.com

Patricia O'Callaghan trained at the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Patricia has recorded four solo CDs with international distribution and touring and is working on her fifth. Billboard hailed her as "...the most promising cabaret performer of her generation..." Patricia's opera/theatre credits include roles with Soulpepper, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Tapestry.
patricia-ocallaghan.com

Vilma Indra Vitols moves effortlessly between the worlds of Baroque Opera, cabaret and contemporary music. Recent performances include those with Opera Atelier, Vancouver Opera, Modern Baroque Opera and The Canadian Opera Company. Vilma recently won her first amateur boxing bout.
vilmavitols.com

voice-box

Commissioned in 2008

To be presented Spring 2010

Fresh Ground new works is made possible by the generosity of several major individual donors who have actively assisted in the creation of new Canadian artworks: Peter Allen, Lionel F. Conacher and Joan Dea, Margaret and Jim Fleck, John Kazanjian and Susan Soloway, Michael and Sonja Koerner, Judy and Wil Matthews, George E. Myhal, and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the J.P. Bickell Foundation.

Fresh Ground new works

Commissions

voice-box

The Collaborators