York music prof. re-imagines famous Greek tale

Courtesy Of Amy Stewart

Director of ‘The Aeneid: A Compendium of Scenes from Virgil,’ Michael Coghlan.

Louvre Open file

A scene from an ancient Greek drama. York’s show will breathe new life into a classic re-told for contemporary audiences.

The Aeneid: A Compendium of Scenes from Virgil is an interdisciplinary presentation of Virgil’s masterpiece compressed into an hour and 20 minutes.
    The play is comprised of 12 musical and mixed media tableaux, corresponding to the 12 books in the epic poem. The Aeneid is about the difficulties experienced by Aeneas and his refugees, the survivors of Troy and ancestors of the Roman people, as they search for a new homeland.
    Conceived, composed and scripted in English and Latin by York music Prof. Michael Coghlan, the cycle of tableaux, or cantatas, include opera, dance, spoken word and audio visuals such as slides of Italian scenery that foreshadow the soon-to-be-established Rome.
      The show is a real York affair, featuring faculty, students, CUPE members and alumni such as choral conductor Lisette Canton, undergrad student Zoe Ackah and alumna soprano Leigh Anne Martin. Not to be outdone, guest stars include the Mississauga Children’s Choir and internationally acclaimed trumpeter Guido Basso.
    “That’s the wonderful thing about our discipline, that we can work together on the level of the discipline,” Coghlan explained.
     He joked that, in the department, they can hire and exploit each other in the pursuit of art: “I like to think of it as having fun.”
     York Prof. Michael Herren will be reading passages in Latin, lending authenticity and solemnity to the piece. Speeches like the epic’s invocation of Arma virumque cano, Anna’s appeal to Dido, and O luce magis dilecta sorori also underscore the classical tradition of the epic, blanketed by the overarching theme of the enormous task of founding the Roman race.
   The event is part of York’s 50th anniversary celebration and is perhaps a comment on York’s own history.
    As The Aeneid functions as the founding story of the Roman people, so too do we like to think that York rose from the ashes of another local university.
   “Out of one culture or one established world, another is often born. There’s the idea that York was born out of [the University of Toronto],” Coghlan explained. “I don’t know who Helen would be in this scenario,” he added.
   The show is particularly moving considering all of the work that went into putting it together after its postponement due to the strike. Without a set date, it was just not feasible to schedule everyone involved or to rehearse.
   “Once we got three weeks into the strike, this thing was dead. There wasn’t enough time. Since we didn’t know how long the strike would last, when would you schedule it? In that sense, it’s a little bit like Aeneas wandering around the Mediterranean; longer than you thought,” Coghlan said.
    The performance has been rescheduled for Remembrance Day, which is fitting given the battle scenes in the epic poem, the sense of loss and the theme of the futility of war. Virgil also questioned the role of the hero, a hot-button issue that is still relevant today.
    Coghlan points out the hypocrisy of Aeneas’s supposedly dutiful nature, after the hero abandons Dido in the fourth book and leaves the women behind in the fifth.
     “It’s very awkward for the contemporary mind to get. He’s the hero, but do you like the guy? He’s kind of merciless,” Coghlan said.
    “Anyway, that’s the story,” he continued, “It’s one of the things we can’t tap into the same way because we’re conditioned by literature and stories to think differently about things.”
    Perhaps this is why Hollywood has turned its back on an Aeneid sword-and-sandals epic movie, with the exception of an aside or two in Troy.
   “[The Aeneid] would make a great film: you’ve got love, war, the elimination of a great culture. Why hasn’t this been done?” Coghlan asked, adding that he hopes the event will inspire its audience to read the book.
    “I hope they go and buy it, get a copy, enjoy it. It’s such a great story.”

- The Aeneid: A Compendium of Scenes from Virgil will be performed on Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Accolade East building’s Tribute Communities
Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students