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Topic spans: 1953 - 2002
The Stratford Festival: The First 50 Years
The Stratford Festival grew from humble beginnings in a leaky tent into a revered institution. The drama festival has continued to attract actors, critics and theatre-goers from around the globe. Paradoxically, this almost proved to be its undoing. With international directors at the helm in the early years, frustrated Canadians sat on the sidelines. Financial problems almost shut the festival down. But the curtain would rise again on a new golden era.
8 television clips
11 radio clips
'Shakespeare is dug by the craziest of cats'
Broadcast Date: May 15, 1957
"Shakespeare was down," says acclaimed jazz musician and composer Duke Ellington. Ellington has just completed his Shakespearean jazz suite Such Sweet Thunder which was commissioned by the Stratford Music Festival. Jazz fans can expect to hear the waltz Lady Mac, which tells the story of Lady MacBeth's ragtime soul. The album also includes Sonnet For Caesar, Sonnet for Sister Kate, Sonnet In Search Of A Moor, and Star-Crossed Lovers.This fall, Ellington will perform selections from his album at the Stratford Music Festival. Past Festival headliners include Count Basie, Billie Holiday, the Teddy Wilson Trio and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. CBC Radio talks to Ellington about his new album in New York City.
'Shakespeare is dug by the craziest of cats'
• Ellington took the phrase 'such sweet thunder' from the line spoken by Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "I never heard so musical a discord, such sweet thunder."• The Stratford Festival has featured great musicians including Glenn Gould, Oscar Peterson, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Gordon Lightfoot, Loreena McKennitt, Joni Mitchell and Anne Murray.
• By the mid 1970s the music festival was finding it difficult to meet the demands of the big musical stars and this component of the Stratford Festival slowly faded away. In Remembering the Bard, author Martin Hunter suggests that musical director Louis Applebaum was skeptical that the festival could be sustained on such a large scale.
• In 2001 John Miller resurrected a new Stratford Summer Music Festival.
'Shakespeare is dug by the craziest of cats'
Medium: Radio
Program: Assignment
Broadcast Date: May 15, 1957
Guest(s): Duke Ellington
Host: Maria Barrett, Bill McNeil
Interviewer: Harry Rasky
Duration: 5:48
Last updated:
July 7, 2009
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19 clips in this topic . page
Radio
26:54
The actor shares favourite moments from his hit TV series Due South with CBC Radio's Peter Gzowski in 1996.
Radio
10:17
June 30, 1980
The celebrated British actress, performing in three Stratford plays in 1980, shares her thoughts on the annual Canadian theatre festival.
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Christopher Plummer, star of stage and screen- Teresa Stratas, opera star and film actor
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- The Canadian Opera Company launches Surtitles
60 Years with the Canadian Opera Company
'Shakespeare is dug by the craziest of cats' .
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 7, 2009.
[Page consulted on Feb. 14, 2012.]