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Composer , Sir Lennox Berkeley He was bor n in Oxford, En gland, and edu- cated at th e Drag on School, Gresham's School and Mer ton Colleg e, Oxford. In 1927, he went to P aris to study m usic with Nadia Boulang er, and there he became ac- quainted with Francis P oulenc , Igor Stravin- sky, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honeg ger and Alber t Roussel. Berkeley also studied with Maurice Ravel, often cited as a key influence in Berkeley's tec hnical dev elopment as a composer . The French influence w ould contin ue to be felt in his m usic . He w orked for the BBC during the Second W orld W ar, and later became president of the Perfor m- ing Rights Society . He was knighted in 1974. He held the ch air of Professor of Composi- tion at the Royal Academy of Music from 1946 to 1968, and his pupils th ere incl uded Richard R odney Bennett, David Bedford and J ohn T a v ener . He enjo yed a long asso- ciation with Benjamin Bri tt en , anoth er old boy of Gresham's School, with whom he collaborated on a number of works; these included Mont J uic, and V ariations on an Eliza- bethan Theme (th e latter also with four other composers). In later years , his adoption of serialism marked a dark er and more brood- ing style .

L yricist, P aul Dehn He was born in 1912 in Manchester , Eng- land. He was educated at Shrewsbur y School, and atten ded Brasenose Colleg e, O xford. [1] W hile at Oxfor d, he contr ibut ed fi lm r e- views to weekly underg raduate papers. He beg an his career in 1936 as a film reviewer for several London newspapers . During W orld W ar 2 he was stationed at Camp X in Canada. One of several training facilities operated by Special Operations Ex ecutiv e to train spies and special forces teams . He was the P olitical W arfare officer from 1942-44 and held the rank of Major. Dehn took par t in missions in France and Norw a y . [2] He narrated the 1951 film W aters of Time and later wrote plays , operettas , and musicals for the stage. He wrote the lyrics for tw o films , The Innocents (19 61) and Moul i n Rouge (195 2 ). In 1949 or 1950, Dehn star ted a pr o fes- sional relationship with composer J ames Ber nard, who later became his life par tner. Dehn asked Ber nard to collab orate with hi m on the original screen sto r y for the Bo ulting Broth ers film Se ven Da ys to Noo n (1950). T hrough the 1960s, Dehn concentrated on espionag e films, notably Goldfinger, The Spy W ho C ame in fr om the Cold (1965 ), and T he Deadly A f fair (1 967). He later wrote th e Pla net of the A pes s equels and th e libr etto for William W alton's opera The Bear.

Sour ce: Wikip edia Encyclopi di a

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, Baritone Dragged kicking and screaming from the relative safety , security and ob- scurity of the tech. boo th, Michael is making his retur n to th e stag e a fter a several-year hiatus during whi ch he has “p erfor med” as stag e manag er for many Little Opera Company productions. Prior to Michael’ s fascination with man ag ement his stag e credits in cluded 20 years as a mem ber of th e elite chorale, T he Winnipeg Singers. He also appeared in principle and ensemble roles with Rainbow Stage, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society , T he Kildon an Players and The Littl e Opera Company – mo st notable of which (arguably) was his role as the witch in Hansel and Gr etel. The Princess and the Pea marks the secon d time he has assumed a “skir t” rol e (i s th er e a them e emerging h er e? ). T he multiple roles of Do c- tor , Ogre and Esperanza have been especially challenging to Michael and he very much appreciates the patience of the Stag e Director, Music Director, Stage Manag er, Ar tistic Director and especially his fellow cast members in h elping hi m along the way! Margot Harding ,

Dramati c Colora tu ra Soprano Margot has w on several major vocal competitions , including the J ohann Strauss Scholarship for Canada which allow ed her to study in Salzburg, Austria, with Grace Bumbr y and Kerstin Meyer. While there, Margot was selected to appea r in th e Prei skonzer t for outstanding perfor mers from the Mozarteum and also appeared in various concer ts around Aus- tria. Retur ning to Canada, she was one of the winners of th e Metropoli- tan Opera Competition, Winnipeg Music F estival, the Manitoba Provin- cial Music F estiv al as well as being selected Most Outstanding P er - former, and was a finalist at the National Music Fest in Calgary , Alberta. She made her professional debut with the Mani toba Opera as Josef's mo ther in Ran dolph Peters’ Nosferatu, and later sang the soprano solo in Murray Shafer’ s’ F alcon’ s Trumpet at the Winnipeg New Music F estival, recorded and broadcast on CBC Stereo . She was also fea- tured on Arts and Minds on the Bravo television channel. Marg ot won the coveted role of Sharon Graham in the Canadian premiere of Terrence McNally’s Master Class at the Na- tional Ar ts Cen tre in Ottawa, Ontario an d th e Mani toba T h eatre Cen tre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Marg ot has app eared with the Win nipeg Symphon y numerous times sin ging th e V engeance aria from Mozart’ s The Magic Flute in the Mad about Mozart series and has been a featured ar tist in th eir Light Classics series. Marg ot has twice perfor med the rol e of the Queen of the Night with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Mark Godden’s’ production of The Magic F lute. She also appeared with them in Ottawa to present the ballet/opera at the National Arts Centre company. Also in October of 2006, she sang the role of the Queen of the night in a joint musical play with The Winnipeg Symphony an d Dr y Cold Pro duc- tions called “Mozar t Comes Alive!” Marg ot has perfor med in many productions with The Little Opera Company, and loves being able to join them in bringing the joy of opera to everyone. A member of the Manitoba Registered Music Teachers’ Association, she is an active vocal teacher with a variety of students in various styles of singing. She performs across Canada and also teaches a music program in Winnipeg’ s inner city daycares.

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DRAMA TIS PERSONAE The Earl o f Dunmow ........................................................................................... Mic hae l Dun b ar The Cou ntess o f Dun mow ..................................................................................... Mar g o t Ha r ding Susan the daugh ter .................................................................................................... Dean n a S mith Mrs. Kneebone ....................................................................................................... Lind a D e Pauw HRH the Grand Duchess o f Monteblanco ............................................................ Eliza beth Rotoff HRH Prince Phillipe ..................................................................................................... Mich ael A u A n Er rand Boy ...................................................................................................... Dar r yl Br unger

Ar tistic Dir ector ............................................................................................. Spen c er Dun ca nson Stage Dir ect or ............................................................................................................ Ted Ste bbin g Music Dir ecto r ..................................................................................................... Michael McK ay Rehearsal and Perfor mance Accompanist ................................................................ Mic hae l McK ay Stage Manager ............................................................................................................... Jan Burdon Assistant St age Manager ...................................................................................... Gor don Steindel Sta ge Hand .................................................................................................................... Br ent Pfe il Se t D es ign & C o nst r u cti o n ................................................................................... Ian F illingham Lighting Design .......................................................................................... Edward Le e S t ebbin g Costume Constr uction ........................................................................................ K atie M ari e Poole Pr operties Master .................................................................................................. Hug hette Calvez Poster / Pr ogram Cover Design ................................................................................ Miles Linklater Pr odu cti on M anag er ........................................................................................................ Br ent Pfei l Media & Pr omotion / Webmaster ............................................................................... Don Larsen Hou se Management ............................................................... R obe r t Campbell, Frances Seaton Pr o gramm e Design ........................................................................................................ Leit h Clar k Digita l Titling .............................................................................................................. Don Larsen

Piano—Michael McK ay

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Jan Burdon, Stage Mana ger A few years back T ed Stebbing who introduced J an to stag e manag ement and Gor d with the Sun do g Pro du c- tion's presentation of The Apple Tr ee. Since then Jan has worked on productions with g roups including T he Bunch of Grapes, Rainbow Stage, Royal Winnipeg Bal- let School, Rainbow Harmony Projects , W ASO and The Fringe F estival and the Little Opera Company . J an is delighted to be reconnecting with T ed and Gord and meeting th e g reat cas t an d cr ew in this p roduction of th e Li ttle Op era Company's A Dinner Engagement. Enjo y!! Gordon Stein d el, Assi stant Sta g e Mana g er Gord Steindel has been inv olved in the off- stage as- pects of the Wi nnipeg community and semi- professional theatre scene since the early 70's . Over the years his involvement has included scener y constr uc- tion, lighting design, technical direction, stag e manag e- ment an d supp or ting technical roles with Sun dog Pro- ductions , the Sarah Sommer Chai F olk Ensemble, Winnipeg J ewish Theatre, MTC W arehouse, Rady J ew- ish Comm unity Centre, Rainbo w Stage , Gra y Academ y , and Garden City Collegiate. After a minor suppor ting technical role with the Little Op era Company production of T he Brothers Grimm, Gord is ver y appreciative for th e oppor tunity to be par ticipatin g ag ain in a stag e man a g e me n t ca - pacity . Br ent Pfeil, P r o d u c tion Ma n a g e r Brent has dabbled in music and theatre o ver the years with perfor mances at Rainbow Stage, the Fringe Festi- val, and with various local theatre groups and chor uses. Lately , he has performed with the Little Opera Com- pany in the cho r us of Amahl an d the Night Visit ors, Gianni Schicchi, and in Black Ties: a tribute to Black Histor y Month and as C uthber t Crow in The Snow Queen. Other activities include coaching high sc hool v olleyball and playing various sports. A for mer high school Computer Science and Cal- culus teacher, Brent is cur rently working as a Computer Prog rammer at MTS .

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ABOUT THE LITTLE OPERA COMP ANY T he Little Opera Compan y i s a no t-for-profit chari t abl e org a nization , whose missio n i s the promotion o f opera and the promotion o f the talented arti sts that contribute t o th e pro- duct ion o f opera in Winnip eg. W e have been produc ing operas showc asin g the signific ant t alents o f lo cal sin gers and m u- si cian s sin ce 1995. App e alin g to seasoned and novice audiences alike, our pro ductions explore less known historic w orks and some of the rich twen tieth century repertoire that i s often more accessible t o n ovice audiences . Our purpose is as m uc h about developing artists as it is about staging operatic w orks . The Littl e Opera Co mpany: develops emerging vocalists and instrumentalists, providing coaching and practi- cal exp eri ence within the context of i ts p roductions provides opportunities for artists and artisans to advance their skills in the design of costumes, sets and lighting develops production personnel, by providing opportunities to assist in produc- tio ns T he LOC offers a uni que op por tunity t o expe rien ce cha mber op era i n Engl ish , an d t o experience opera that engages individuals of diverse backgrounds. W e are com mit ted t o selecting re p er toire tha t no t on ly pr ovi des access ibl e en ter t ainm ent fo r in dividuals wh o ar e new t o the genre, but that is also a refreshing and educational foray into realms o f opera not frequently explored within our community .