WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2023 - CANADIAN CHAMBER CHOIR - Paul Davenport Theatre Talbot College - Western University
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CANADIAN CHAMBER CHOIR
with Sherryl Sewepagaham
& Western University Singers
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2023
Paul Davenport Theatre
Talbot College – Western University
ARTISTS
Soprano Bass
Julia Brotto - ON Paul Aitken - NS
Julia Davids - ON Thomas Cherney - ON
Artistic Director Christopher Lane - NB
Julia Frodyma - ON Luke MacLean – NS
Catherine Lippitt - AB Christopher Mallory – ON
Danielle Sirek - ON Joel Tranquilla - BC
Tricia Wrigglesworth - ON Associate Conductor
Singer Apprentice Jereme Wall - MB
Alto Soloist
Karla Ferguson - MB Sherryl Sewepagaham – AB
Sandy Jasper - MB Singer/Composer
Margo Nightingale - NWT
Naomi Russell - MB Technician
Andy Rice – BC
Tenor General Manager
Chris Bowman - NS
Tristan Cleveland-Thompson - NL
Chenuka Lakwijaya – BC CDs are
Michael van der Gaag - NS for sale
in the
lobby!
LEARN MORE ABOUT TONIGHT'S PERFORMERS
Click here for biographies
PROGRAM
Nipîy* Sherryl Sewepagaham (AB)
Sun on Water Hussein Janmohamed (BC)
I Go Among the Trees Jeff Enns (ON)
Sherryl Sewepagaham
Where Waters Meet Carmen Braden (NWT)
Sherryl Sewepagaham, soloist
Water Memories
Nibi
In Local News, Water
McIntyre
Where Waters Meet
INTERMISSION
Peace Flows Into Me* Paul A. Aitken (NS)
Western University Singers
Dr. Mark Ramsay, conductor
Singkap Siaga Tracy Wong (ON)
Dr. Tracy Wong, guest conductor
Winter Proverbs Frances Farrell (NS)
2. Winter's Dance
4. How Long the Winter
Song for a Winter’s Night Gordon Lightfoot (ON)
Chris Bowman, soloist arr. Jacob Gramit (BC)
Au clair de la lune Paul A. Aitken (NS)
Auprès de la baie Justin Lapierre (ON)
Unimagined Light* Edward Enman (QC)
*CCC with Western University Singers
LEARN MORE ABOUT TONIGHT'S REPERTOIRE
Click here for program notes
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The CCC wishes to thank the organizations below whose support made this tour possible, along with many individuals too numerous to be named. As a note of especial gratitude, we wish to acknowledge the dedication of singer, board member and donor, Dr. Danielle Sirek. Support the Canadian Chamber Choir Donations (one-time, or recurring monthly) make a big difference in sustaining the CCC’s operations and community-building activities. Please click here. (Registered charity #857809883RR0001. Tax receipts are available.)
WHERE WATERS MEET As an organization, the Canadian Chamber Choir (CCC) is striving to learn from Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing, and to use our art to engage actively with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action. In acknowledging (re)conciliation as action-based, in 2017 the CCC commissioned Yellowknife composer Carmen Braden to compose a multi-movement work about water from both non-Indigenous and Indigenous perspectives. The piece, entitled Where Waters Meet (WWM), includes texts by the composer, by the singers, and by Indigenous poet Yolanda Bonnell. Yolanda Bonnell, who is from Fort William First Nation Indian Reserve in Thunder Bay, is an emerging performer and playwright of Ojibwe and South Asian descent. Two of Yolanda’s poems are set to music in Where Waters Meet: Nibi (which means ‘water’ in Ojibwe) and McIntyre, which refers to the McIntyre River that runs through Thunder Bay, Ontario. The McIntyre is also called the River of Tears because of the history of violence against Indigenous peoples there. Since 2000, seven Indigenous youth have been pulled from the river. Where Waters Meet contains aleatoric elements and will continually bring in different voices and engage with local issues of water in each place we visit. It premiered in Yellowknife, NWT with fiddler Wesley Hardisty from the Dene First Nation in October 2019. Additional performances took place in fall 2022 in Nova Sotia with Mi’kmaw singer/drummer Aaron Prosper. Cree- Dene singer/composer/educator Sherryl Sewepagaham will join the CCC in Ontario for multiple performances in 2023. In addition to an ever-evolving cast of collaborators, Where Waters Meet contains aleatoric elements, continually engaging with local issues of water that are unique to each place the CCC visits. Click here to learn more.
FEATURED SOLOIST
Sherryl Sewepagaham is of
Woodland Cree and Dene
ancestry from the Little
Red River Cree Nation in
northern Alberta and lives in
Edmonton. She holds M.Ed
and B.Ed degrees from the
University of Alberta and a
Bachelor of Music Therapy
(BMT) degree from Capilano
University in BC. Sherryl
is an experienced children’s
choir director, a K-6 elementary music specialist, and Orff-Schulwerk
specialist focusing on Indigenous music, pedagogies, and worldview
through music and song. With Land as her teacher, Sherryl is furthering
her knowledge of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being while learning
traditional practices on the land and waters in her territory.
Sherryl is a published composer of Cree choral repertoire and First Nations
songs. She is also a music producer having co-produced and composed the
soundtrack for the documentary Re-ken-si-le-a-shen by Métis filmmaker,
Jamie Bourque. Her 2014 debut solo album, Splashing the Water Loudly,
received a 2015 Indigenous Music Award nomination and is featured in
APTN’s Chaos and Courage series and All Our Relations. Sherryl composed
“Music Alive” for the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program (MAP),
which has been shared with elementary schools across Canada. Sherryl also
created and co-created three teacher resources for the MAP program and
created a secondary music resource called Kanata: Contemporary Indigenous
Artists and their Music with MusiCounts Education Charity. She continues
to develop Indigenous music programs and teacher resources in education
locally and nationally.
Sherryl was a 22-year, founding member of the retired 2006 Juno-nominated,
Edmonton-based trio Asani and received a 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award,
a 2010 Indian Summer Music Award, a 2005 Canadian Aboriginal Music
Award, and many other prestigious music awards nominations. Asani toured
extensively around the world performing at Carnegie Hall in New York, The
Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, BC,
and stages in Finland, France, South Africa, Hawaii, Boston, Newfoundland,
and Yukon.
THE CHOIR
The Canadian Chamber
Choir (CCC) creates,
celebrates, and communicates
Canadian identity through
choral performance and
education. As Canada’s only
professional choir with
national representation,
the ensemble is passionate
about building community
through choral singing in communities large and small across our country.
The CCC is a 22-voice professional choral ensemble made up of singers from
Newfoundland to British Columbia to the Northwest Territories, led by Dr.
Julia Davids (Artistic Director) and Dr. Joel Tranquilla (Associate Conductor).
Since its founding in 1999, the organization has been an ardent champion of
Canadian choral music, and the CCC almost exclusively performs repertoire
by Canadian composers and arrangers. Their first two recordings, In Good
Company (2010) and Sacred Reflections of Canada (2015) were widely
acclaimed. The latter was nominated for a 2016 JUNO Award for Classical
Album of the Year: Vocal and Choral. The CCC’s latest CD, Seasons of Life
and Landscape, was released in October 2019.
Soprano Tenor
Julia Brotto – ON Chris Bowman – NS
Julia Davids – ON Tristan Cleveland-Thompson – NL
Artistic Director Chenuka Lakwijaya – BC
Julia Frodyma – ON Michael van der Gaag – NS
Catherine Lippitt – AB
Danielle Sirek – ON Bass
Tricia Wrigglesworth – ON
Singer Apprentice Paul Aitken – NS
Thomas Cherney – ON
Alto Christopher Lane – NB
Luke MacLean – NS
Karla Ferguson – MB Christopher Mallory – ON
Sandy Jasper – MB Joel Tranquilla – BC
Margo Nightingale – NWT Associate Conductor
Naomi Russell – MB Jereme Wall – MB
ARTISTIC TEAM
Dr. Julia Davids is the Artistic Director of the Canadian
Chamber Choir, Canada’s professional-level ensemble
dedicated to building communities through choral
singing. She is passionate about the difference singing
makes in the lives of individuals and in the fabric of
our communities. A founding member of the CCC,
Julia has led the ensemble on concert and workshop
tours of every province. She directed the CCC’s 2010
debut recording In Good Company as well as their
Juno-nominated 2015 release Sacred Reflections – A
Canadian Mass, and their latest release Seasons of Life and Landscape. Julia
has led workshops and master classes for choirs and conductors throughout
Canada and the US. Julia is invested in mentoring the next generation of
choral singers and conductors and is committed to giving emerging and
established Canadian composers a forum for their work. A native of London,
Ontario, she grew up singing in the Amabile Youth Singers, the Ontario Youth
Choir, and the National Youth Choir, for whom she was the first Apprentice
Conductor.
Julia is the Stephen J. Hendrickson Professor and Director of Choral Activities
at North Park University, Chicago. She directs the University Choir, the
Chamber Singers, and teaches choral conducting and vocal pedagogy. Julia is
co-author with Stephen LaTour of the award-winning “Vocal Technique – A
Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers”, now in a second edition. Julia
is the Music Director of the North Shore Choral Society, a 120-voice amateur
community choir. She also serves as Director of Music Ministries at Trinity
United Methodist Church, Wilmette. Julia has earned degrees at Western
University, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. She lives
in Chicago with her husband, baroque violinist Martin Davids, and their two
astounding children.
Originally from Fredericton, Dr. Joel Tranquilla is a
conductor and music educator noted for his versatile
musicianship and creative programming. He is currently
the Director of Choral Activities at Trinity Western
University where he leads the choirs and teaches various
other courses within the School of the Arts, Media +
Culture. Recent tours have taken the TWU Chamber
Choir to Ottawa, New York City, Hong Kong, China,
Japan, and Taiwan. Joel is also the Artistic Director of
the Valley Festival Singers in Abbotsford and has served as the Associate Conductor of the Canadian Chamber Choir since 2014. In high demand as an adjudicator and clinician, Joel works regularly with singers across BC’s Lower Mainland and is a past Guest Conductor of the New Brunswick Youth Choir and the Manitoba Provincial Honour Choir. He holds degrees from Mount Allison University, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University where his doctoral research was in the area of Canadian choral-orchestral works. Joel lives outside Vancouver with his wife Meghan and their three kids. In December 2022, Halifax Camerata Singers announced Tranquilla as its new Artistic Director, effective July 1, 2023. Tranquilla will also become the new Chorus Master of Symphony Nova Scotia, effective the 2023-24 season. MAKE A DONATION Your support helps to build community through choral singing, all across Canada. The Canadian Chamber Choir is a registered charity, #857809883RR0001. Donations are gratefully accepted. Click here to make a donation to the Canadian Chamber Choir The CCC is actively recruiting board members. Learn more here or email info@canadianchamberchoir.ca. BUY OUR MUSIC In addition to physical CDs available for sale at this performance, we also have digital music for purchase. Click here to purchase tracks or albums from the CCC. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: @CanadianChamberChoir Instagram: @CanadianChamberChoir Twitter: @Canadian_Choir YouTube, etc.
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