THE WINTER
OF OUR
DISCONTENT
"they started the night off by straight up blowing my mind...it was poignant, electric..."
Greg Finney, Schmopera
ABOUT
The Winter Of Our Discontent is an unconventional voice, lute and guitar trio that combines texts by William Shakespeare with the contemporary guitar music of Hans Werner Henze and the 16th century lutesong of John Dowland, Thomas Campion, and Robert Johnson to conjure the spirits of Shakespeare’s most dramatic characters. This staged recital steps past the boundaries of conventional musical and theatrical performance, and allows audiences to interact with Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Richard the Third, Juliet and other famous characters in an entirely new way.
Since its debut, The Winter Of Our Discontent has been presented at the 2015 Venice Biennale, the 2015 Shakespeare and Scandinavia Conference at Kingston University (UK), Garrick’s Temple To Shakespeare (UK), as well as the 2014 Doctors in Performance Festival and Conference in Finland and the 2014 EuroClassical Online Festival. During the 2015 - 2016 year, the project debuted at the Lux Musicae Festival, the Aine-Ackté Chamber Music Festival and the Tampere Guitar Festival in Finland, and at the Liederwölfe Opera Peep Show in Toronto.
BIOGRAPHIES
Debi Wong is a Canadian singer, actor and director. As a soloist, Debi has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, The Early Music Guild of Seattle, Early Music Vancouver, The Oregon Bach Festival, The New Haven Symphony, Montreal’s Les Voix Baroques, and Le Festival Lyrique International de Belle Ile En Mer. She also tours regularly with her lute and voice duo, White Sparrow. In its debut season, the duo was awarded first place in the Nordic Early Music Federation’s competition. With White Sparrow, Debi has given recitals at the BRQ Vantaa festival and BarokkiKuopio in Finland, The Stockholm Early Music Festival, The Copenhagen Renaissance Festival as well as the Gotham ARTEK concert series in New York City.
Debi received her bachelor of music from the University of British Columbia and she hold a master of music from Yale University. She is currently pursuing a doctor of music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Otto Tolonen, one of Finland’s most successful classical guitarists, has won prizes in almost two-dozen international competitions between 1995-2009. Among these are the first prizes of the Andrés Segovia Competition, Herradura, Spain and the Markneukirchen Instrumental Competition, Germany.
Mr. Tolonen’s repertoire ranges from Renaissance music to the most recent contemporary works. Lately, his focus has been on works of the 20th and 21st century. His performances of, among others, the guitar works of Henze have won him international acclaim, making Tolonen a highly sought-after interpreter of the composer’s music. Previously, another passion – French music – had kept Tolonen occupied for many years. As a result, his first solo CD, tiento français, was published in April 2013 and immediately won him wide critical acclaim.
Tolonen has given concerts in Argentina, Brazil, Japan, the United States and all over Europe.
OTTO TOLONEN, Guitar
DEBI WONG, Voice
MIKKO IKÄHEIMO, Lute
Guitarist and lutenist Mikko Ikäheimo studied at the Sibelius-Academy in Finland and Basel Musik Akademie in Switzerland. He was a laureate in several competitions and won the Stafford Guitar Competition 2003 in Great Britain. Now based in Helsinki, Ikäheimo works with composers in order to widen the repertoire of his instruments. He performes internationally playing both contemporary music for guitar and early music with period instruments.
MEDIA
The Winter Of Our Discontent Promotional Video
"Gloucester" by Hans Werner Henze
"And Is It Night?" (from Juliet)
CONTACT US
The Winter Of Our Discontent
is based in Helsinki, Finland.
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