Post by davidhr on Nov 17, 2020 8:53:13 GMT -5
This past week Lara introduced to her audience the building to be used by the Star Academie to house their contestants in the coming season. She put the following link on her FB site:
www.facebook.com/staracademietva/videos/405110117539151
As noted in the accompanying text, the home ‘Manoir Maplewood’ is located in Waterloo, Quebec, which is less than an hour from Montreal. It was built in 1865 and has been completely renovated. At 17,000 square feet and 25 rooms, it is the biggest Academy space that TVA has ever used for the program. The on-line info indicates that it is nestled in a wooded landscape (which we see) of 5 acres, and, at least in the on-line listing, has a swimming pool, spa and sauna.
Lara said “Admit that this is the most beautiful Academy you have ever seen! 😍🤩
The director and the faculty look forward to welcoming the new crop of Académicians.”
On her Instagram site, Lara put the following picture,
http://instagram.com/p/CHd-RdrBk5g
with the caption, “So happy to present to you our magnificent Academie.”
Lara discussed the history of the building a bit in the video, but here’s a more complete version (https://manoirmaplewood.com/en/history/):
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The wealthy business man and Senator Asa Belknap Foster was born in the Ù.S. in 1817. After almost 15 years living in the U.S. working for his uncle, A.B. Foster moved back to Quebec when he was 35. He then began to establish a network of railroads between the U.S. and several cities in the province of Quebec. Between 1852 and 1872, he invested in several businesses which he helped administer and managed a bank. He also had, at his own personal cost, a train station and mechanic workshop built in Waterloo hoping to make it a hub for the railway industry in Quebec. In 1860 he acquired the entire southern portion of the Waterloo village where he built crossroads, passable roads such as Foster Street, a park, an imposing hotel as well as several brick homes. During this period he also helped build an important sawmill, he financed diverse religious communities to build churches and offered reasonable prices to anyone wishing to buy land in order to build homes, stores or shops. Between 1857 and 1875 the population of Waterloo went from 200 to 2000.
At the peak of his popularity in 1860, A. B. Foster decided to undertake the building of his luxurious residence at the top of a maple tree covered hill, looking over the accomplishments he helped to achieve. For this project, the services of well-known architect John William Hopkins were retained. He was one of the most popular architects of the time in Montreal. Construction began in 1864 and ended in the fall of 1865. Asa Belknap Foster died prematurely on November 1st 1877.
Following his death and several financial issues, the majestic Waterloo residence was sold for a symbolic amount to the religious congregation of Saints-Noms-de-Jésus-et-de-Marie in 1882. Until 1961 the Maplewood Convent brought rigorous and religious education to some young women from its surroundings as well as certain families from the U.S. bourgeoisie. Following the 1960 reform in education the vocation of the site changed to a resort of sorts and was used as a retreat and for convalescence for its congregation. In 1989, the religious population decline lead the Congregation to dispose of the old Maplewood Convent.
Between 1989 and 2012 two owners succeeded each other and the manor was left abandoned and its condition degraded considerably until its current owners purchased it in July of 2012. After more than 2 years it was given a new breath of life permitting this jewel of Canadian heritage to showcase the historic values, stories and people which it contains. It is now once again up for sale.
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Given the ‘religious passion’ with which many singers approach their craft, it could be thought appropriate that they will be housed in a residence long used for religious instruction. .
As to how the Star Academie will actually use this place, the Journal de Montreal had the following article (https://www.journaldequebec.com/2020/11/11/photos-voici-la-nouvelle-maison-de-star-academie):
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Here is the new home of Star Académie!
After having visited no less than 35 places since June, the production of Star Académie has decided on the prestigious Manoir Maplewood, located in Waterloo, to house its 15 academicians from February 14.
At the other end of the line, producer Jean-Philippe Dion is jubilant. “It's a deliverance! Looks like I can't believe we're here to announce the academy. It's a little stressful, because this is real!”
With its 17,000 square feet and 25 rooms, it is the largest academy in the history of the show. It is also a return to the Eastern Townships for Star Académie , whose last edition, in 2012, took place in Frelighsburg.
Endowed with an exceptional character, the Maplewood Manor, currently for sale for the sum of $ 2.7 million, was built in 1865 by the first mayor of the municipality. The place housed a convent for almost 80 years. The mansion has also served as an inn for the past few years.
“The mansion quickly became a favorite,” commented Jean-Philippe Dion. "I don't know how many people have called me to suggest this place to me. It is as if all the stars are aligned. So I went in June and finally it was the right place.”
The Manoir Maplewood is located just over an hour from Montreal. Academicians will return to Studio Mel's every Sunday for the variety gala. “We spoke to candidates from past seasons, and they all told us how much they didn't mind taking an hour and a half on the bus to live in the countryside,” explains Jean-Philippe Dion.
The redesigned interior
The interior will be unveiled in the coming weeks. Until then, the artistic direction team will work to transform the place, without altering the historic place, he says.
We will review the decor, the selection of furniture and the layout of the rooms, including the dormitories. The production will also have to fit out a classroom, a lounge where the Sunday evening post-mortem will take place, the office of the director Lara Fabian and the new musical Lab, filled with instruments and technical equipment available to academics. We will of course install microphones and cameras.
“I don't want it to look like a TV studio,” says the host and producer. "This is their home and I don't want them to feel that there are false cardboard walls. I want everything to be true, it's important.”
Star Académie had already unveiled its faculty in September. In addition to Lara Fabian, Patrice Michaud will host the variety galas on Sunday, and Gregory Charles and Ariane Moffatt will respectively be voice and music teachers, and musical creation.
Sanitary conditions
The next step? The choice of academics. The first auditions ended on Sunday. Jean-Philippe Dion and his team will first make a choice of the 100 best auditions, and from next week, “we are locking ourselves in to choose the 60 candidates who will make the selection camp, which will be shot at the end of November."
If quarantine is considered for candidates before entering the academy, the precise sanitary conditions that will have to be respected have not yet been determined, explains Jean-Philippe Dion.
"It's in discussion with Public Health," he said. "We have different scenarios, which range from no physical distancing inside, to respecting two meters. This is also why we wanted a great academy.”
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Since there’s no way to know what the status of the pandemic will be during the winter, different scenarios are definitely needed. Good luck to them.
In other news, Lara resumed her more personal interaction with fans by putting on her Facebook site the cover of the book “Mes chere fantomes”
http://instagram.com/p/CHfjRkCBor2
with the caption, “My sublime friend and author @elodiehesme has just released her novel ... A must-read ... I recommend it 🙏🥰💖💋💋💋 Love”
As we know Elodie Hesme has been a co-writer with Lara on her last two albums. According to ‘Bookreads’ the (translated) plot of the novel is:
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Perched on her heels, Barbara runs through the streets of Aubusson to open her beauty salon. Here, no one is surprised anymore by the beautician's escapades, from her rock'n'roll life to nights longer than days. Nothing seems to be able to thwart her mad race against time until Ava, dead for a year, plays a Beethoven piano sonata for her! Is it madness that awaits her? Barbara has no choice but to accept the obvious: she is a medium and must help the dead find eternal rest. The opportunity for her to finally make peace with her own past.
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As a follow-up to the comment from several weeks ago about Lara never having given a full concert in Italy – and so somewhat unknown in that country – there’s a very cute video of two native Italians evaluating Lara’s singing of Caruso. It can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrKwQurgxWg
On the video they question why they did not know of her, commenting that she speaks Italian like one of them. It’s perplexing to them that a singer of that magnitude, with that natural command of Italian, isn’t better known (to Italians), and why she isn’t there. So true.
The Lara Fabian Netherlands FB site has been putting together interesting collections of Lara youtube videos around specific themes and one of their categories is Lara in American films and English songs. In particular they posted the link of Lara doing a beautiful remastered rendition of Evergreen, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTa1MdPN-Io
See their list (of November 10) at “facebook.com/LaraFabianTheNetherlands” for the 27 youtube videos in this category.
Interesting photo(s) of the week: Another ‘Happy Director’ picture of Lara with the new Academy building (posted by the Lara Fabian est ton autre site from the Instagram account of Junior Bombardier):
www.facebook.com/larafabiantonautre/photos/a.646180015435666/3412150082171965/
Lara with Igor Gulyaev (from 10 years ago), posted by the Lara Fabian Par Amour site
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianParAmour/photos/a.104024841462291/150371943494247/
What makes it especially ‘interesting’ is that Lara is wearing a fur, and that has brought some degree of condemnation from fans. Igor Gulyaev’s latest collection, which includes furs, can be seen at www.dn-mag.com/news/20200405-igor-gulyaev-fw20-mbfw-russia-april-2020/.
And finally, a “good morning” photo of Lara from the Lara Fabian America site
www.facebook.com/larafabianamerica/photos/a.353726431791949/1011075242723728/
and a “goodnight world” picture of Lara, posted by the Lara Fabian Italia site,
www.facebook.com/larafabianitalia/photos/a.3079548632060728/4054106054604976/
As implied in the 'journal de quebec' article, next week Lara will probably be "locked in" helping to choose the 60 candidates who will make the Star Academie selection camp, with results being made known at the end of this month. Presumably we will also soon be getting ‘looks’ inside the Academie building; a glimpse of this can be seen in the article at (https://www.envedette.ca/potins-stars-quebec/television/star-academie-jean-philippe-dion-devoile-les-premieres-photos-de-la-maison-1.12928748). So don’t be surprised if subsequent news updates look more like “Home and Garden” rather than “Rolling Stone” .
Stay safe everybody,
David