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The Owl and the Pussycat – evening performance | Young People's Theatre, Toronto
The Owl and the Pussycat – evening performance | Young People's Theatre, Toronto
Songs for young people about the animal kingdom
date: February 13, 1989
The raison-d’être of this programme, commissioned by Musical Mondays at the Young People’s Theatre, was a performance of a new work by Harry Somers, his setting of Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat, commissioned with the assistance of the Canada Council. Our four vocal soloists included a fine boy treble, Jesse Clark, who had performed with us the previous year in the premiere of Derek Holman’s Nicholas Knock, which sets a narrative poem by Dennis Lee. That work provided our final item here. Other repertoire included a number of songs by Benjamin Britten and also a fair amount of humorous material, ranging from Rossini (attrib.) to some familiar favourites by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann – one of which, The Gnu, was “sung” by Artistic Director Stephen Ralls. For the benefit of the mostly young audience, songs were introduced by the singers; in the afternoon matinée, whose audience was entirely composed of schoolchildren, most of the non-English songs were omitted.
| Song | Artist | Composer | Poet |
|---|---|---|---|
| I bought me a cat: Children’s Song (Old American Songs) | Clark, Jesse, treble; Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Copland, Aaron | anon. |
| Villanelle des petits canards | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Chabrier, Emmanuel | Gérard, Rosemonde |
| Le Paon (Histories naturelles) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Ravel, Maurice | Renard, Jules |
| Lob des hohen Verstands (Lieder aus “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”) | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Mahler, Gustav | anon. (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) |
| Tit for Tat (Tit for Tat) | Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Britten, Benjamin | Mare, Walter de la |
| Les Chevaux de bois – Scherzo, Op.22/4 (Jeux d’enfants) | Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Bizet, Georges | n/a |
| Robinson Crusoe (Ten English Rhymes) | Clark, Jesse, treble; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Beckwith, John | anon. |
| The north wind doth blow (Ten English Rhymes) | Clark, Jesse, treble; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Beckwith, John | anon. |
| Cuckoo! Op.7/3 (Friday Afternoons) | Clark, Jesse, treble; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Britten, Benjamin | Taylor, Jane |
| Ee-oh! (The Fox and his Wife), Op.7/4 (Friday Afternoons) | Clark, Jesse, treble; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Britten, Benjamin | anon. |
| Cats’ Creed (Paul Bunyan, Op.17) | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Britten, Benjamin | Auden, Wystan Hugh |
| The Owl and the Pussycat | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Stravinsky, Igor | Lear, Edward |
| The Owl and the Pussycat | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano; Ralls, Stephen, conductor | Somers, Harry | Lear, Edward |
| Duetto buffo di due gatti | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | anon., attrib. Rossini, Gioachino | anon. |
| Die Forelle, D550 | Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Schubert, Franz | Schubart, Christian |
| Marienwürmchen, Op.79/14 (Liederalbum für die Jugend) | Clark, Jesse, treble; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Schumann, Robert | anon. (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) |
| Le Grillon (Histoires naturelles) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Ravel, Maurice | Renard, Jules |
| The Serpent (Songs for Leontyne) | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Hoiby, Lee | Roethke, Theodore |
| The Gnu | Ralls, Stephen, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Swann, Donald | Flanders, Michael |
| The Warthog | Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Swann, Donald | Flanders, Michael |
| Nicholas Knock | Clark, Jesse, treble; Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Holman, Derek | Lee, Dennis |
| The Hippopotamus – ENCORE | Clark, Jesse, treble; Jones, Gaynor, soprano; Evans, Glyn, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Swann, Donald | Flanders, Michael |