Festival (Canadian TV series) season 4

The fourth season of Festival aired from 2 October 1963 (1963-10-02) to 24 June 1964 (1964-06-24). Twenty-nine new episodes were produced for this season.

William Shakespeare is highlighted this season, commemorating the quatercentenary of his 1564 birth, traditionally observed 23 April (despite his baptism on the 26th). Preparation began in 1963 with the BBC TV / Danmarks Radio co-production of Hamlet at Elsinore on location at Kronsberg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark, starring Christopher Plummer, who first played Prince Hamlet seven years prior with the Stratford Festival, Ontario.^[1] Hamlet at Elsinore debuted as a three-hour Festival special on 15 April 1964.^[2] In the U.K., BBC broadcast it on 19 April 1964 (1964-04-19).^[1] Additionally, Robert Allen adapted Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for a Stratford Shakespeare Festival stage production, broadcast as a two-hour, thirty-minute Festival special on 8 April 1964 (1964-04-08). Further, Verdi's opera Otello based on Shakespeare's play Othello re-aired on 22 April 1964 (1964-04-22) as a two-hour, fifteen-minute special. Two of Molière's 1666 plays are represented; his farce Le Médecin malgré lui, performed in French by Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, and his comedy of manners play Le Misanthrope adapted as a musical called The Slave of Truth by Miles Malleson and Stan Daniels. Also adapted was, James Hogg's novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), Turgenev's novella First Love (1860), and Alexander Ostrovsky's 19th-century Russian comedy Diary of a Scoundrel (1868). Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya (1899) and Shaw's drama Major Barbara (1905) are performed. Modern offerings include, Fletcher Markle's television adaptation of Katherine Anne Porter's short novel, Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939); Jean Anouilh's modern version of Oedipus' daughter, Antigone (1944); Max Frisch's radio play The Firebugs (1953), and Arnold Wesker's 1958 play Roots. Executive producer Robert Allen introduces John Mortimer's I Spy and N. F. Simpson's A Resounding Tinkle. Jack Pulman's Still Life, Bernard Slade's A Very Close Family, and Charles Israel's The Labyrinth also aired.

Festival also celebrates the 100th birthday of Richard Strauss in three episodes, with his compositions performed by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, soprano Lois Marshall, baritone Hermann Prey, pianist John Wustman, with Dr. Heinz Unger (conductor); Vienna Philharmonic concert master Willi Boskovsky directs CBC L'Heure du concert orchestra with German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; and Zubin Mehta conducts the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Place des Arts performing Strauss' Ein Heldenleben with Calvin Sieb and Joseph Masella. Frenchman composer Pierre Boulez also conducts the CBC L'Heure du concert orchestra performing Stravinsky, Debussy, and Boulez's own work. Dr. Wilfrid Pelletier and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra present talented young Canadians in concert; baritone Victor Braun, conductor Boris Brott, award-winning Pierre Hétu, pianist Diedre Irons, soprano Sheila Piercey, and oboist Jacques Simard. Canadian pianist Glenn Gould performs Beethoven, Sweelinck, J.S. Bach and Webern. Chilean Claudio Arrau plays piano sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven, and a variety of performers play music "miniatures" by Mozart, Webern, Schumann, Enrique Granados, Stravinsky's, Brahms, Debussy, Haydn, and Claudio Monteverdi.

The fourth season premiered with a Gilbert and Sullivan comedic opera, The Mikado (1885), a Japanese fantasy that satirises British institutions, society and politics. Avon Theatre players performed to a live studio theatre audience, with music conducted by Louis Applebaum, featuring Maurice Brown as The Mikado, and nine singers including Eric House, Howell Glynne, and Heather Thomson.^[3] This is the fourth running season to feature a Gilbert and Sullivan production. Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Joan Sutherland presents historic opera roles, with tenor-baritone Richard Conrad, and Richard Bonynge conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra. Selections include Benedict, Bellini, Donizetti, Ricci, Rossini, and Verdi. Claude Kenneson conducts the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and CBC Symphony Orchestra as Arnold Spohr leads the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in two performances; George Balanchine's ballet Pas de Dix and Agnes de Mille's The Bitter Weird with music by Trude Rittmann. A "triple play" of styles presents: ballet choreography by Ray Powell and performed by the National Ballet of Canada to music by Josef Strauss; folk songs by Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson; and jazz compositions by Phil Nimmons.

In addition to individuals cast this season, organizations include the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard String Quartet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Avon Theatre players from the Stratford Festival, and the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde company in Montreal.

Notes:

• Weeks not indicated were pre-empted by special broadcasts such as Camera Canada,^[4] Horizon or Intertel.
• In some but not all markets,^[5] NHL hockey playoffs pre-empted the Festival episode "Twelfth Night"^[6][7] on 8 April 1964.^[8]
• "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" aired twice this season; 23 October 1963 (1963-10-23),^[9] and 18 March 1964 (1964-03-18).^[10]
• "Diary of a Scoundrel" aired twice this season; 25 December 1963 (1963-12-25),^[11] and 1 April 1964 (1964-04-01).^[12]
• The week of 15 April 1964 (1964-04-15), Festival was broadcast as a Special Edition at 8:30 PM EST^[2] to accommodate the 3-hour (170 minute) debut of the BBC TV / Danmarks Radio co-production of Hamlet at Elsinore^[1] to commemorate Shakespeare's 400th birthday.^[13]
• "Othello"^[14] re-aired this season on 22 April 1964 (1964-04-22)^[15] in honour of Shakespeare's 400th birthday. It originally aired in season three on 22 April 1963 (1963-04-22).^[16] Its duration of 2 hours and 15 minutes is substantially longer than other episodes (60-90 minutes).

In the Spring of 1964, the Festival episode, "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" was nominated for an Emmy Award in the international category.^[70]

• Festival at IMDb