presents The Sex Lives of Vegetables And Other Delicious Distractions on Saturday, April 20 at : a nutritious (and sometimes naughty) jaunt down the garden path, investigating bees, weeds, and the surprising sex lives of vegetables.
This multidisciplinary evening pairs Governor General Award-winning poet Lorna Crozier with musicians AK Coope (clarinet), Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa (piano), and Heather Pawsey (soprano) in a chamber music celebration of the gardens glories. Featuring composer Leslie Uyedas settings of Croziers notorious vegetable poems, and the world premiere of Canadian composer Leila Lustigs Eve to Adam, this extraordinary concert is the first public performance in VanDusens Visitor Centre.
Gardens sustain us nutritionally, emotionally and artistically, says Pawsey, artistic director of Astrolabe Musik Theatre. During a time of environmental uncertainty, when hunger is the norm for many across the globe, we are eager to honour the multifaceted gifts of the garden. Where better to do this than in one of Vancouvers most celebrated gardens.
Mirroring the distinct personality of each of Croziers poems, Uyeda uses a wide variety of compositional styles, from jovial and playful to sinister and uncomfortable. Onions, lettuce and potatoes receive a spiky, non-narrative treatment to match their dark themes, while the sexy stories of watermelon and yams are paired with jazzy, extroverted harmonies. Croziers inspired readings frame the 15-song work (performed here for the first time in its entirety) in a pungent bouquet of metaphor and melody.
Other delicious distractions include works that encourage an appreciation for the physical, emotional, and spiritual treasures we receive from gardening.
Canadian composer Jean Coulthards Gardens celebrates natures beauty, while Paul Reades The Victorian Kitchen Garden explores nutrition. Johanna Beyers Bees pays tribute to these critical, busy workers, and Terence Greaves A Garden of Weeds acknowledges the unappreciated species in a flowerbed.
A site-specific concert, The Sex Lives of Vegetables ... And Other Delicious Distractions makes creative use of the Visitor Centres voluptuous lines, with lighting by Mark Eugster, and edible vegetable bouquets by Hornby Island visual artist and organic farmer Elaine Savoie.
Audience members are invited to explore the VanDusen Botanical Garden, including the feted heirloom vegetable patch, prior to the concert (free garden admission with concert ticket, 6:30 to 7:30pm, concert night only).
