MCO 7 / SONGS OF RIVER & FIRE

7 / SONGS OF RIVER & FIRE
7.30pm, Thursday, April 30
Desautels Concert Hall, University of Manitoba
Melody Courage and Marion Newman, vocals
Anne Manson, conductor

Themes of motherhood, loss, and joy emerge in a program that spans opera, Indigenous voices, and folk tradition, with song and spirit rising together like flame and tide. 

Métis soprano Melody Courage gained national attention as The Native Girl “...played with ethereal grace...” in the 2017 world premiere of Marie Clements' and Brian Current’s opera Missing, co-produced by City Opera Vancouver and Pacific Opera Victoria. Missing gives voice, in English and Gitxsan, to the story of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women. 

Critically acclaimed and award-winning mezzo-soprano Marion Newman is Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations with English, Irish and Scottish heritage. She is one of Canada’s most accomplished singers in repertoire ranging from Charpentier to Cusson and operatic roles, including Carmen and Rosina in The Barber of Seville.

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Cassandra Miller
Perfect Offering

Marie Clements/Brian Current
Language Duet from "Missing"

Jacques Offenbach
Belle Nuit

Joy Harjo/Ian Cusson
Fire

Marion Newman
Kinanu

Gioachino Rossini
Una voce poco fa

Camille Saint-Saëns
Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix

Richard Strauss
Csárdás

Ian Cusson
Dodo, mon tout petit

G.F. Handel
Piangerò la sorte mia

Program subject to change