Songs for Murdered Sisters (European premiere)

Joshua Hopkins, baritone
Tabea Debus, recorder
Samuele Telari, accordion
Angela Hewitt, fortepiano and piano

Handel: Sonata in G minor for recorder and keyboard, HWV360
Bach: Trio Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 525 (arr. for recorder and keyboard)
Pärt: Pari Intervallo
Dowland: Lachrimae Pavane, or “Flow my tears”
Bartók: Pe Loc (No. 3 from “Rumanian Folk Dances”)
Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel
Villa-Lobos: Ária (Cantilena) – extract from Bachianas Brasileiras Nr. 5
Heggie: Songs for Murdered Sisters (words by Margaret Atwood)

On a September morning in 2015, a man in Canada went on a killing spree, brutally murdering three ex-partners in their homes. They were victims of a crime now recognized as one of the worst domestic violence cases in Canadian history. The murders devastated the community where baritone Joshua Hopkins grew up – his sister, Nathalie, was one of these women. Hopkins has since set out on a journey to use his voice to wake people up to the global epidemic of gender-based violence – and their part in it. His call to action was answered by two exceptional creators. Jake Heggie, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as “the world’s most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer,” agreed to write the music, and Margaret Atwood wrote the searing words.
The song cycle was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera (the chamber version premiered in March 2022 at the Rothko Chapel) and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa (where it receives its orchestral debut in February 2023). This will be its European premiere.
Preluding this moving work, we present the brilliant young artists Tabea Debus and Samuele Telari in a wide range of repertoire, setting the mood for what is to come.

There will be no interval.

Pre-concert talk with Eric Friesen and the artists at 8 p.m.