Image: Members of the Tapestry Opera and OCAD U team celebrate their win at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards event. Photo courtesy: Tapestry Opera.
It’s not uncommon for OCAD University’s faculty and students to win multiple prestigious awards but playing a major role in winning Dora Mavor Moore Awards is a first!
At this year’s Dora Awards, Tapestry Opera, in collaboration with OCAD University, dominated the Opera Division, winning six out of seven awards – the most in any division.
Yes, that’s right – opera! Last spring, OCAD U’s Social Body Lab collaborated with Tapestry Opera to stage an original Canadian opera in the university’s Great Hall.
The dynamic opera, which explores humanity’s relationship to technology, was composed by world-renowned composer Nicole Lizée with libretto by Governor General award-winning writer Nicolas Billon.
“OCAD U’s collaboration with Tapestry Opera presented a unique opportunity for the university’s Social Body Lab to create unique wearable technologies and generate novel connections between art, music and design,” said Dr. Caroline Langill, Vice-President, Academic & Provost, OCAD University. “Congratulations to the cast, crew and production team on this incredible achievement!”
Tapestry Opera noted that the immersive, site-specific experience could not have been pulled off without OCAD U’s Social Body Lab.
OCAD U team leads, Kate Hartman, Director of the Lab and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Nick Puckett and Dr. Adam Tindale, both Digital Futures Associate Professors, developed wearable technology prototypes that were integrated into the performers’ costumes. They collaborated closely with the opera’s creative team to embrace the possibilities innovative technologies can bring to live performance. The Social Body Lab’s mandate is to question the relationship between humans and technology.
The collaborative approach of ideation and the cross-pollination of ideas has been a four-year process that involved the above faculty as well as Dr. Selmin Kara, Dr. Dot Tuer, Dr. Helmut Reichenbacher, Professor Doug Back and Dr. Caroline Langill in the early stages.
The annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, presented by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), celebrate excellence on Toronto stages and are the oldest and largest professional theatre, dance and opera awards program in Canada.
R.U.R. A Torrent of Light received six Doras in the Opera Division:
Outstanding Production: R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Tapestry Opera production in partnership with OCAD University
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble: Maeve Palmer, Annie Ramos, Jennifer Routhier, Sofi Gudiño, Katherine Semchuk, Emily Spearing and Brayden Cairns, R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Tapestry Opera production in partnership with OCAD University
Outstanding New Opera: Nicole Lizée (composer) and Nicolas Billon (librettist), R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Tapestry Opera production in partnership with OCAD University
Outstanding Musical Direction: Gregory Oh, R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Tapestry Opera production in partnership with OCAD University
Outstanding Direction: Michael Hidetoshi Mori, R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Tapestry Opera production in partnership with OCAD University
Outstanding Achievement in Design: Debashis Sinha (sound design/composition) R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Tapestry Opera production in partnership with OCAD University.