JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your recent completed projects or the ones you are actively working on. What is each one, why is it, and how was/is it done?
STACIE DUNLOP: This has been an interesting time for me as I have been collaborating with two incredible contemporary circus artists, Angola Murdoch and Holly Treddenick, on the second of two projects we have created together. The first one (in 2016) was a reimagining of John Cage’s “Aria”, a work we titled Ascension for a show called Balancing on the Edge. We are now reimagining Claude Vivier’s iconic work Lonely Child, which also includes a new arrangement of the piece (originally scored for orchestra to be reduced to an ensemble of 8 players) created by composer/arranger Scott Good. In this reimagining we have brought the Lonely Child to life by weaving story and choreography both on the ground and in the air. And, yes, I will be in the air, so have been training on silks since mid-2018. The first workshop stage of the project, which was supported by a creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, was completed in March 2019, and we are very fortunate to be supported again by the Canada Council for the Arts for a second stage workshop that will include 8 musicians. In the first stage we performed with recorded sound, so this next stage will involve musicians playing live and our intention is to integrate them into the narrative. We will embark on this next stage of creation in October 2019 through to April 2020.
JS: What kind of audience will this project interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why? to both questions.
SD: When this project enters its next stage of development, after the second workshop stage, the scale will be much larger…a full show that we have just begun the conversation about what it will look like…but I can say that this show will be of interest to everyone: music lovers, especially of contemporary classical music, contemporary circus lovers, visual arts lovers and theatre lovers. There will be music, story and spectacle.
JS: In what ways was/is this project easy to do and in what ways was/is it difficult to realize? How long did/does it take to do and why that long?
SD: This has been a relatively easy project to realize because of the people involved in it, and so far, we have been very fortunate to have had the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for both workshop stages, which also gives a certain ease to bringing a project to life. We began talking about this project in November 2016, and it is still in development. We are not exactly certain when the full-scale project will come to life, but it I would expect it to happen in at least a few more years from now.
JS: How are you planning to promote, market, and sell this project to the public?
SD: As we are still in the workshop stage, this will not be shown to the public just yet. However, we will have a “test audience” showing at the end of the workshop. We are planning for that to happen mid-April 2020. We are currently looking for partners and already planning the next stage of the project, so stay tuned for further developments.
JS: Please give us a brief autobiography that is relevant to this project?
SD: Stacie Dunlop is a singer, producer, and multi-faceted creative being who is passionate about reimagining existing iconic works for voice and bringing them to life through the integration of theatre, story and contemporary circus. Her current project is centred around Claude Vivier’s Lonely Child, a work that was introduced to her by her mentor, composer/producer David Jaeger. This project marks her second collaboration with contemporary circus artists Angola Murdoch and Holly Treddenick. Their first project, Ascension, was in a similar vein, as they took “Aria” an iconic work by John Cage, and created a new version of the work that was choreographed on an aerial ladder and on the ground, weaving together theatre, story and contemporary circus as part of a program called Balancing on the Edge which took place at the Harbourfront Theatre in November 2016.
JS: What’s next in your creative life?
SD: At the moment I am preparing for my premiere with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. I will be performing on their opening concert on September 21st, and will be premiering a new work called The Mermaid and the Fisherman for soprano and trumpet soloists by Abby Richardson-Schulte (composer in residence with the HPO) with text by poet Phoebe Tsang. Principal trumpet of the HPO, Michael Fedyshyn, will be the trumpet soloist and Gemma New will be conducting this piece along with the Sibelius Luonnotar, which I will also be performing on the program. It’s going to be one heck of a concert, that’s for sure!