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March 2004 , Eileen joined the Stratford Concert Choir and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony for the first time, to perform Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. She enjoyed her fourth season as a member of the Stratford Festival Company in productions of Inherit the Wind, as Mrs. McClain and The Sound of Music. The Mother in Hansel & Gretel 2000-1 Holiday season saw "the performers.....are nothing short of breath taking....Smith has such power and control..." (Kitchener-Waterloo Record Jan.3, 2001). Eileen has also performed at the Charlottetown, Sunshine, Showboat and Banff Festivals. Producing concerts, and children’s theatre under the auspices of "Hermione Presents" for six seasons has been rewarding. Eileen enjoys Stratford life with three beautiful daughters, husband, kilt-maker Robert Pel and hounds Hermione and Isadore. She also teaches voice in Toronto and Stratford. |
For
the 2004 Christmas season, Eileen played Ma Bailey in the London
Grand Theatre production of It's a Wonderful Life, directed by
Bernard Hopkins. She returned to the Canadian Opera
Company, in the fall of 2004, for the Canadian debut of Margaret Attwood's A
Handmaid's Tale, a production of Lucia and in
spring
2005, for La Boheme. 2003/4 Season productions included Peter Grimes,
Tosca, Turandot and Falstaff. More than 40
productions with the Canadian Opera Company have given Eileen the opportunity to
work with wonderful directors and artists like, Robin Phillips, Diana Leblanc,
Francois Girard, Stephen Wadsworth, Robert McQueen, Brian Mcdonald and many more.