A new opera looks to explore the intersection of classical music and Indigenous culture, and advances the role of art in national dialogue and reconciliation
Pacific Opera Victoria has collaborated with City Opera Vancouver to create and produce Missing, a poetic story of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women. The new chamber opera is an expression of loss and hope, set appropriately in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and along the Highway of Tears.
It was written by Métis playwright Marie Clements, scored by Juno-winning composer Brian Current and performed by a cast of First Nations singers, in English and Gitxsan.
“There is no doubt art can evoke emotion,” said Ian Rye, executive director of Pacific Opera Victoria.
“This opera reflects an important part of our collective history and it is our responsibility to tell it.”
He said the decision to use an opera to tell the story parallels the artistic way, be it by creating a totem pole, holding a potlatch, playing music or dressing in regalia, that First Nations transmit history.
“We have also used a Métis playwright so that the community at large can hear a First Nations voice on stage and share a connection with Indigenous Peoples,” he said.
Although the opera debuts next month, word of the project has already spawned interest from across the country.
“We have already had a strong response from the artistic community, with interest from opera companies as far as St. John’s,” Rye said.
There is talk of organizing a regional tour along Highway 16, the Highway of Tears, and in communities in the north of the province, where many of the missing and murdered Indigenous women were last seen.
The Community Fund for Canada’s 150th, a collaboration between the Victoria Foundation and the Government of Canada, is also supporting Dialogues, Pacific Opera Victoria’s community engagement program.
Along with the opera, the public program will engage and educate the community with a series of conversations, forums, panels and exhibits to further explore the opera’s social, historical and cultural context.
The opera will be performed in Victoria Nov. 17 to 25 at the Baumann Centre, 925 Balmoral Rd.
For more information, go to pov.bc.ca.
