THE CIPHER CLERK
April 5 - 18, 2021
THE PROJECT
The Cipher Clerk is the third complete opera commissioned by Calgary Opera from composer John Estacio. This commission follows on the Calgary Opera world premieres of Estacio's operas Filumena and Frobisher. It is the opera's second collaboration with librettist Clem Martini and a continuation of a long-established relationship with director and dramaturg Glynis Leyshon. This workshop was the third and final workshop of The Cipher Clerk and the first workshop that included the music of the final act.
The Cipher Clerk is the true story of events that took place in Ottawa at the end of World War II. Just as the war was ending, Igor Gouzenko, a clerk at the Soviet Embassy responsible for decoding secret missives from Moscow, happens to decode a letter that indicates his imminent fall from grace in the eyes of the Soviet Government. Gouzenko decides to save himself and his family by alerting the Canadian, American, and British governments that Russia has been spying on the countries covertly, effectively initiating the Cold War.
THE TEAM
JOHN ESTACIO - COMPOSER
John Estacio ranks as one of Canada’s most frequently performed composers. His works, both symphonic and operatic, have been praised for their assured command of lyricism, depth of expression and brilliant dynamism. His residencies with the Edmonton Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic yielded numerous orchestral compositions that have gone on to receive multiple performances including Borealis, Wondrous Light, Bootlegger’s Tarantella, Such Sweet Sorrow, Spring’s Promise, A Farmer’s Symphony, and his most performed composition Frenergy which has been transcribed for concert band and published by Boosey & Hawkes.
In 2003, Calgary Opera gave the world premiere of his first opera, Filumena, to a libretto by John Murrell. Filumena has been filmed for television and was commemorated by Canada Post with its own postage stamp in 2017. He has gone on to compose four more operas and has written several chamber and choral works, including the cantata The Houses Stand Not Far Apart.
CLEM MARTINI - LIBRETTIST
Professor Clem Martini is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter with over thirty plays, and thirteen books of fiction and nonfiction to his credit, including the W.O. Mitchell Award-winning Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness, The Unravelling, and The Comedian. Recently made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he teaches in the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary.
MARK MORASH - CONDUCTOR
Mark Morash is a conductor and pianist originally from Halifax, Canada and is currently Calgary Opera’s Interim Music Director. Most recently, he was Director of Musical Studies for the Opera Center of San Francisco Opera. There, he conducted for the Merola Opera Program, the Adler Fellow Showcase and Western Opera Theater. He also led performances of A Streetcar Named Desire, La Serva Padrona and Trouble in Tahiti for Opera Santa Barbara, Rigoletto for Opera Colorado, and Don Giovanni and The Turn of the Screw for the Lincoln Theater in Yountville, CA. San Francisco Opera Center performances have included Gianni Schicchi, Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, The Barber of Seville, The Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring, Così fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Pasatieri’s The Seagull. Recent performances include conducting debuts with Canada’s Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as well as with Hawaii Opera Theater leading Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire.
GLYNIS LEYSHON - DIRECTOR
Glynis Leyshon is one of Canada’s most respected theatre and opera directors. She has served as Artistic Director of both the Belfry Theatre in Victoria and at the Vancouver Playhouse, where she directed over 20 productions including the Governor General Award winning premiere of Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring for both the Luminato and Magnetic North Festivals.
She has also directed acclaimed theatre productions for companies across Canada including many seasons at the Shaw Festival, Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Bard on the Beach, the Citadel, Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects, where her production of The Virgin Trial won the 2019 Betty Mitchell Award as best production of the season.
Glynis has established herself nationally as an opera director, working from coast to coast with companies including Calgary Opera, Vancouver Opera, and l’Opera de Montreal . She has directed over 40 productions for Pacific Opera Victoria, most recently directing/dramturging the world premiere of The Flight of the Hummingbird by Yahgulanaas/Goulet in a coproduction with Vancouver Opera.
She also dramaturged and directed the world premiere of the Estacio/Chafe WW1 opera OURS at Opera on the Avalon and is thrilled to work again with John Estacio and Clem Martini on their latest work, commissioned for Calgary Opera – The Cipher Clerk.
TYLER FITZGERALD – BARITONE | EDWARD STETTINIUS, CHORUS
Originally from Nanaimo B.C., Tyler is a Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program graduate. He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Notable performances include Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Kelowna, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony), and Haydn's The Creation (Peterborough Singers). Other recent performances include The Governor/Judge in Candide, Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia), Marquis d'Obigny (La traviata), Don Inigo Gomez (L'heure espagnol), baritone soloist in Carmina Burana, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Pistola (Falstaff), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), King Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and Le Marquis (Dialogues des Carmélites).
DOMINIC VEILLEUX* – BARITONE | GEORGI ZARUBIN, CHORUS
Bass-baritone Dominic Veilleux has been praised for his rich and powerful voice, as well as his strong comic and dramatic skills. Mr. Veilleux has performed numerous roles including Leporello in Don Giovanni and Agamemnon in La belle Hélène on tour with Jeunesses Musicales Canada, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Prague Summer Nights Festival, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Accademia europa dell’opera, D’Estillac in La veuve joyeuse, Erster Priester in Die Zauberflöte, Marco in Gianni Schicchi, Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata with Opéra de Québec. Dominic holds an Artist Diploma from the Music Conservatory of Quebec City, and a Masters degree from Université de Montréal.
JEFFREY STRAND* – TENOR | NORMAN ROBERTSON, CHORUS
Jeffrey Strand recently performed Don José in Carmen with Mercury Opera, covered Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at Sarasota Opera, Manrico in Il trovatore at Central City Opera, Don José in Carmen at the Brott Opera, and Lennie in Of Mice and Men at Tulsa Opera. He sang Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte as a Young Artist at the National Arts Centre and performs with Phoenix Opera. On the concert stage he appeared as the Tenor Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Mass in C, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Vaughan Williams' Hodie, Handel's Messiah, as Uriel in Haydn's Die Schöpfung, and the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion, with the Phoenix Opera Orchestra, Westchester Oratorio Society, Chandler Symphony, Canyon Symphony Orchestra, and others.
JEREMY DUBÉ* – BARITONE | IGOR GOUZENKO, CHORUS
Canadian-Australian baritone Jeremy Dubé completed a Bachelor of Music (Performance) and Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His operatic roles include Figaro and Count Almaviva in Opera Australia's NSW Schools Tour production of The Barber of Seville; Leporello in Don Giovanni, Les Gendarme in Les mamelles de Tirésias and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Mercurio in La Calisto, Hymen and Winter in The Fairy Queen (Sydney Conservatorium of Music); Elder Ott in Susannah (Opera New England).
SCOTT RUMBLE* – TENOR | COLONEL MOTINOV, RCMP OFFICER, DRIVER, ROGER HOLLIS, CHORUS
Scott Rumble is a member of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program and participated in the Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program for Vancouver Opera’s 2018/19 season. He holds a Master of Music in Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia, and an Artist Diploma and Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Voice Performance from the University of Western Ontario. Recent credits include St. Brioche in The Merry Widow (Vancouver Opera), Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Highlands Opera Studio), Bob Boles in Peter Grimes (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), Luigi in Il Tabarro, Lensky in Eugene Onegin (University of British Columbia) and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy). Mr. Rumble has also performed as the tenor soloist for Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Handel’s Messiah.
EDEN TREMAYNE* – SOPRANO | SVETLANA GOUZENKO (ACT 1), CAROL WIGGINS (ACT 2), CHORUS
Canadian soprano Eden Tremayne is recognized for her heartfelt singing and dynamic stage portrayals. She is a member of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program and was previously featured as an Apprentice Artist with the San Diego Opera and the Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program with Vancouver Opera. Recent engagements include Clotilde in Norma (Calgary Opera), Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto (San Diego Opera), soloist for Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem (The La Jolla Symphony and Chorus), Violetta in La Traviata (Jeunesses Musicales du Canada), Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Lucinda in the Canadian premiere of Dark Sisters (Vancouver Opera), and Rowan in The Little Sweep (Bodhi Tree Concerts).
KALLIE CLAYTON* – SOPRANO | CAROL WIGGINS (ACT 1), SVETLANA GOUZENKO (ACT 2), CHORUS
Soprano Kallie Clayton hails from Red Deer, Alberta and is currently based in Vancouver, BC. She received a Master of Music in Opera from UBC and her undergraduate degree in voice from the University of Alberta. While at UBC she performed the title role of Massenet’s Manon, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and Mimí (La Bohème). Other role highlights include Noémie (Cendrillon), Cupidon (Orphée aux Enfers), Linfea (La Calisto), and Fifth Handmaiden (Elektra). Kallie has been featured as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and has been heard in concert with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, Burnaby Lyric Opera, and Opera Kelowna as well as Toronto’s MYOpera and Against the Grain Theatre. Most recently, Kallie made her role debut as Adina in Burnaby Lyric Opera’s production of L’elisir d’amore.
LILLIAN BROOKS* – MEZZO-SOPRANO | FRANCIS ELLIOT, CHORUS
Lillian Brooks, praised for her “legato, lyric sound” (Ludwig von Toronto), and “easy handling of coloratura” (Schmopera), has appeared in many operatic roles and as an oratorio soloist throughout Ontario. Her past operatic roles include Amahl’s Mother in Christmas at the Opera (Calgary Opera, 2019), Bradamante in Alcina, Third Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Flora in La Traviata, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. Ms Brooks has sung as a soloist in many prestigious venues in Ontario, including Koerner Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, and the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
ALANNA FRAIZE* – MEZZO-SOPRANO | OTTAWA CITIZEN REPORTER, CHORUS
Canadian Mezzo-Soprano Alanna Fraize is originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. She has been described by Opera News as having an “ample and robust ” voice. Operatic roles have included Cherubino in I due Figaro, Signora Guidotti in I due timidi; Aunt Hannah Watkins in Emmeline; Tisbe in La Cenerentola; Annio in La Clemenza di Tito; Meg Page in Falstaff; Florence in Albert Herring; Maman, La tasse chinoise and La libellule in l'enfant et les sortilèges and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Notable performances have included being the Mezzo Soprano soloist in The Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Requiem with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. A student of Joan Patenaude Yarnell, Alanna holds Bachelor and Master degrees (Voice) and a Professional Studies Certificate (Voice) from The Manhattan School of Music.
*Members of the 2020-21 Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Development Program
RÉPÉTITEUR
Mel Kirby
PRODUCTION TEAM
Shelby-Jai Flick – Stage Manager
Cody Stadel - Technical Director
Sam Hindle – Zoom Presentation Facilitator
Lyall Jovie – Tech Support
Marc Lavallée – Video Technician
James Bundy – Audio Engineer