Soundstreams & Canadian Stage to Partner for North American Premiere of JULIE

Soundstreams today announced its inaugural collaboration with Canadian Stage, as the acclaimed theatre company revealed Julie, a chamber opera by Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans, as one of the anchor productions of its globetrotting 2015/2016 season.

Recognized internationally as one of the pre-eminent composers of his generation, this marks the first time Boesmans' work will be performed in North America. Based on the play Miss Julie by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, Julie will feature an all-Canadian cast and will be directed by Canadian Stage Artistic Director Matthew Jocelyn with music direction by Les Dala, whose most recent appearance with Soundstreams saw him conducting the company's 30th anniversary tour to China.

"Soundstreams and Canadian Stage share the same passion for breaking down barriers among genres and disciplines" says Soundstreams Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney. "We are thrilled to be able to collaborate in Julie, a truly fresh, new venture that opens the door for the presentation of medium-scale opera in Canada on a national and international level. The 850-seat Bluma Appel Theatre is the perfect venue to realize this dream, and the exquisitely expressionistic music of Philippe Boesmans' Julie is the perfect vehicle for our first collaboration."

In 1888, Swedish playwright August Strindberg debuted Miss Julie, a hallmark of naturalistic theatre that has since been performed around the world in a variety of adaptations and formats. A tale of the narrowing realities of life and the human aspiration to break free of those constraints, two servants and their countess grapple with the complexities of desire, ambition and inevitable loss. "If operas were always of the quality of this Julie, our musical life would be considerably richer" -­ Le Monde, Paris

Tickets will be available as part of Soundstreams' 15/16 subscription beginning February 2015, with single tickets on sale in late April.