Greek-Canadian Children participate in professional recording: Candada's Next Opera Stars?

MONTREAL, Canada (CHROMA MUSIKA/ www.chromamusika.com) - 22 Canadian children of Greek descent participated in the first ever CD recording of a Greek opera based on 'The Selfish Giant' by Oscar Wilde. The children, drawn from the Socrates, Demosthenes and Gardenview Elementary Schools, were auditioned in June of 2003.

Rehearsals began in October 2003 and recording took place at the Oscar Peterson Hall of Concordia University in February and March of 2004.

The CD, to be bundled with a book, which is the Greek adaptation of the classic children's story, will be launched in Montreal on November 26th at the Hellenic Community Center, 5777 Wilderton Avenue at 7.00 pm.

The Selfish Giant is published by one of Greece's largest publishing houses, Kedros Publishers, who entrusted the recording of the accompanying CD to Chroma Musika, a Montreal-based company promoting Hellenic Classical music in North America.
The recording of the Selfish Giant was a wonderful learning experience for the children who got an opportunity to sing with a symphony orchestra, and observe how a classical cd is recorded and edited.
They also got the opportunity to train vocally with the soloists and meet the composer of the Opera, Dr. Nikos Xanthoulis who flew in from Athens to conduct the work.

Featuring the voices of tenor Dimitris Ilias and soprano Maria Diamantis (founders of Chroma Musika), the work also features 12 narrators (most of them children), the 23-piece Chroma Musika Sinfonietta and was engineered by Dr. Mark Corwin of Concordia University.
The Greek adaptation and lyrics were done by Maria Bourani while Katerina Veroutsos illustrated it. Ms. Veroutsos is a graduate of the Concordia School of Fine Arts and is one of the foremost llustrators of children's literature in Greece.

The project has the full support of the Hellenic Community of Montreal, which always promotes such events as part of their cultural agenda. This is the third collaboration of the Hellenic Community of Montreal and Chroma Musika.
Also many Greek businesses have sponsored the project.
The launch on November 26th will feature extracts of the opera, together with dignitaries from Canada and the Greek community. The book/CD will be distributed in Canada and Greece and will be available in most major book and music stores.