Director stays calm as world’s fiery end looms
“Apocalypsis is the most monumental show ever staged in Toronto,” Jorn Weisbrodt remarked while sipping bouillabaisse at a bistro on Queen St. W.
I am not inclined to argue that point with Luminato’s tall, bearded, eloquent artistic director, who was bracing himself for weeks of formidable preparations yet showing no sign of stress.
No one could accuse Weisbrodt of thinking small or lacking vision. He’s putting his reputation on the line with this overwhelmingly huge extravaganza, running for three performances at the Sony Centre on the closing weekend of this year’s annual arts festival (June 26 to 28).
Epicure was the name of the restaurant where we were having lunch. “Epic” is the only word to describe the venture we were discussing and even that seems inadequate to suggest the size, scope, logistics and prep that might discourage a more cautious impresario than Weisbrodt.
Veteran Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer’s staggeringly ambitious piece was written in the late 1970s and staged just once in full, 35 years ago. How it came to be resurrected reveals the essence of Weisbrodt and his vision.
Three and a half years ago, Weisbrodt — who had recently become Luminato’s artistic director — was driving to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a preview of the Robert Wilson/Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach, which came to Luminato months later.
In the car, he happened to catch a CBC radio program about Toronto composer Schafer, whose work he did not know at that time.
“I could see the goose bumps on my hands gripping the steering wheel when the opening bars of Apocalypsis came on,” Weisbrodt recalls.
He was astonished by the excerpt he heard from this hybrid of an oratorio and opera about the destruction of the universe and the possibility of a new world.
Weisbrodt recognized this masterpiece of Canadian contemporary music as the equal to Mahler’s 8th Symphony and Handel’s Messiah.
He knew immediately that to stage this epic pageant would be the “perfect expression of what Luminato is and what we can do in this city.”
Clearly, it would also be pushing the limits of what is financially and artistically possible. But Weisbrodt was determined to find a way to bring Apocalypsis back to life.
He wasn’t deterred by the challenges that have kept this epic on the shelf for 35 years. Commissioned by the CBC in the days when it had generous government funding, Apocalypsis was staged in 1980 at Centennial Hall in London, Ont.
With close to 1,000 singers, dancers and actors, 20 conductors and a lot of technical support, it takes a cultural army to stage both parts of Apocalypsis.
Weisbrodt knew who would be the ideal general to lead the charge. The director and choreographer is Lemi Ponifasio, whose work leading his Auckland, New Zealand, company Mau (seen at Luminato in 2014 with Stones in Her Mouth) has given a contemporary spin to Pacific dance and culture.
The music director is the ubiquitous Toronto conductor David Fallis. And solo performers include Brent Carver, Denise Fujiwara, Tanya Tagaq and Kawiti Waetford.
John’s Vision (part one) is about the fiery end of the world as described in the Bible. Credo (part two), by contrast, is an upbeat meditation celebrating hope and life.
The cost of mounting this extravaganza for three performances is about $1.5 million, which is mega, especially since the festival’s annual budget is $10.5 million. But considering its vastness, that sounds like a bargain.
Luminato tried to find co-commissioning partners, but none signed on.
Luckily the production is officially “presented by BMO” and supported by the Hal Jackman Foundation, with additional support from Gretchen and Donald Ross. And festival officials say this production would not be possible without the collaboration of the Sony Centre, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of Toronto’s music department and the main choirs taking part.
Translation: It would cost way more to produce Apocalypsis if a lot of people had not stepped in to help keep the budget from soaring out of control.
Just glancing over the long, winding road of this month’s seemingly endless rehearsals of this choir and that, plus musicians, dancers and speakers, is a scary, exhausting experience.
At the end of our lunch, Weisbrodt said, “To me, this is the type of work Luminato was created for: to celebrate artistic ideas on a large and informed level. This is not just about a string quartet giving a concert. It’s epic in scope. It’s the work of a great Canadian composer. It breaks boundaries.”
Weisbrodt is right about that. Luminato’s mission has to be to astonish Toronto, to take us beyond the normal.
When you think about the most sublime and most memorable experiences Luminato has given arts lovers in its first eight manifestations, what springs to mind are the big productions we could never have seen if the festival did not exist, such as Einstein on the Beach and the Mark Morris Dance Group’s L’Allegro.
There are many other tempting choices besides this one on offer at the 2015 edition of Luminato. But I’m betting that 10 years from now, Apocalypsis is the one we’ll remember.
“That’s why this festival was founded,” says Weisbrodt, “to make the impossible possible.”
Now it’s up to Toronto audiences to say: “Yes.” mknelman@thestar.ca