The Creators

John Estacio: Composer
John Murrell: Librettist
Kelly Robinson: Dramaturge & Stage Director

John Estacio: Composer
John Estacio has served as Composer in Residence for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Pro Coro Canada, the Calgary Philharmonic and Calgary Opera. He has written for the Vancouver Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, CBC Radio Orchestra, the 2001 Banff International String Quartet Competition and he composed the scores for productions of Othello and Twelfth Night at the Citadel Theatre. The Houston Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Royal Conservatory Orchestra, Orchestra London, and Thunder Bay Symphony are some of the ensembles who have performed his works.

His most recent opera, Frobisher, with libretto by John Murrell, premièred in Calgary and Banff in 2007. His first opera, Filumena, also with Murrell, premièred in 2003 and was re-produced in 2005 at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa; at the 2005 Banff Summer Arts Festival; and at Edmonton Opera. Filumena was filmed for television and received its national television première in 2006.

John Estacio studied music and composition at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of British Columbia. He began his professional career after receiving an award in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Canadian Composers Competition, in 1992. His choral work Eulogies received the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors’ 1999National Choral Awards for Outstanding Choral Composition. He has also received the Syncrude Award for innovative artistic direction for the Young Composers Project, which he initiated while at the ESO. Estacio has received numerous SOCAN Awards for Young Composers and has twice received SOCAN’s Jan V. Matejcek Concert Music Award.

John Estacio currently resides in Edmonton. He recently premièred a cantata by four different choirs and is at work on his second symphony (Victoria Symphony), his third opera (Vancouver Opera), and his first film score, for the upcoming film The Secret of the Nutcracker.


John Murrell: Librettist
John Murrell is one of the most frequently produced of Canadian playwrights, as well as a highly respected arts advocate, mentor and consultant. His plays have been translated into 15 languages and performed in more than 30 countries around the world. He has worked as head of the Banff Playwrights Colony (1986–89), as head of the Theatre Section of the Canada Council for the Arts (1988–92), as artistic director/executive producer of Theatre Arts at the Banff Centre (1999–2005) and as executive artistic director of Performing Arts at the Banff Centre (2005–2007). His work for the stage includes Waiting For The Parade, Memoir, Farther West, Democracy, and The Faraway Nearby.

In February of 2003, the successful new opera Filumena, a co-production between The Banff Centre and Calgary Opera, with music by John Estacio and libretto by Murrell, was premièred in Calgary and in Banff. Filumena was produced by The Banff Centre in April 2005 as the centrepiece of The Alberta Scene at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Presented by Edmonton Opera in November 2005, Filumena was filmed for CBC-TV’s Opening Night series and has twice been nationally telecast. Frobisher enjoyed its world première at Calgary Opera in 2007.


Kelly Robinson: Dramaturge & Stage Director
Kelly Robinson is a director and choreographer whose career spans opera, theatre, film and television. He has worked extensively in the United States with critically acclaimed productions of Die Zauberflöte, La bohème and La belle Hélène for the opera companies of Dallas, Utah, Portland and Arizona to his credit. In Canada, he has presented opera audiences in Edmonton, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver with new productions of works ranging from Les pêcheurs de perles and Eugene Onegin to Britten’s The Turn Of The Screw and La Cenerentola. Kelly Robinson’s work has been seen at the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Canadian Stage Company (Toronto), the Palace Theatre (New York), the Vineyard Theatre (New York) and the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Centre. He is currently Director of Theatre Arts at The Banff Centre.
Kelly Robinson made his directorial début in London’s West End with the world première of Peggy Sue Got Married. His successful productions of The Sound Of Music and Guys And Dolls at Ontario’s renowned Stratford Festival broke all attendance records. He has staged Sweeney Todd for Calgary Opera and Arizona Opera, Le nozze di Figaro for The Banff Centre, Un ballo in maschera for L’Opéra de Québec, Roméo et Juliette for Opera Ontario and the Canadian première of Dead Man Walking and the world premières of Filumena and Frobisher for Calgary Opera.