TD Encounters: Ancestral Voices

SOUNDSTREAMS TD ENCOUNTERS:

Ancestral Voices

Join us for an intimate evening of music and conversation featuring critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano Marion Newman and pianist Angela Park. This Soundstreams TD Encounters event will feature the premiere performance of Bramwell Tovey’s Ancestral Voices for voice and piano – a work originally composed for Marion and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Complementing Tovey’s work, the program also features Ian Cusson’s Breakfast for Barbarians, a setting of Gwendolyn MacEwen’s evocative poetry, and excerpts from Joseph Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne, a beloved collection of folk-inspired songs. Together, these three works explore the reinterpretation and reexamination of folk traditions, oral storytelling, and poetry through a contemporary musical lens, creating space for the continued evolution of these expressions of cultural identity.

Following the performance, Marion Newman will join us for an audience Q&A, offering insight into the repertoire and performance.

Soundstreams’ TD Encounters event series are free and hosted in venues across the city. Always offering something different, they are equal parts performance, artist discussion, and Q&A, and give audiences the opportunity to engage with artists and their work in an intimate and accessible setting.

Seats are free but space is limited. We ask you to reserve your seat here.

Supported by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.

MARION NEWMAN
Marion Newman is Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations with English, Irish and Scottish heritage. Born in Bella Coola, Marion grew up in Sooke, BC, immersed in and embraced by her community and culture. She is one of Canada’s most accomplished singers in repertoire ranging from Charpentier to Cusson and operatic roles including Carmen and Rosina (The Barber of Seville). Nominated for a Dora Award for her leading role in the world premiere of Shanawdithit (Nolan/Burry) with Toronto’s Tapestry Opera, Ian Ritchie wrote “she invests her character with towering dignity and courage”. Recent performances include “Songs from the House of Death” (Cusson) with Regina Symphony and Beethoven’s Ninth with Symphony Nova Scotia. With Opera Kelowna, Marion performed with soprano Melody Courage in “Wreckonciliation”, approaching classical opera works through an Indigenous lens. Marion created the role of Dawn with the Welsh National Opera world premiere of Migrations (Todd) and portrayed Isabelle Eberhardt in Missy Mazzoli’s “Song from the Uproar” with City Opera Vancouver. This season, Marion is Maddelena in Rigoletto with Pacific Opera Victoria. Upcoming new works include Mimi in Indians on Vacation, an operatic adaptation (Cusson/Vavrek) of the novel by Thomas King, with Edmonton Opera. A driving force for truth and reconciliation within the context of classical music, she is helping lead colleagues and audiences through long overdue discussions about the very nature of what it means to call something “Canadian music”. Marion is Assistant Professor of Voice at University of Victoria’s School of Music and is the host of CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.

ANGELA PARK
Canadian pianist Angela Park has been praised for her “stunningly beautiful pianism” (Grace Welsh Prize, Chicago), “beautiful tone and sensitivity” (American Record Guide), and for performing “with such brilliant clarity it took your breath away” (Chapala, Mexico). Angela’s versatility as both soloist and chamber musician has led to performances across Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe, Japan and Mexico. She is a founding member of the JUNO award-winning Ensemble Made In Canada, a group she performed with from 2006-2020. Angela has numerous projects with her duo partner, cellist Rachel Mercer, including the Mercer-Park Duo, St. John-Mercer-Park Trio with violinist Scott St. John, and the Seiler Trio with violinist Mayumi Seiler. Angela is also lucky to collaborate frequently with artists including clarinetist James Campbell, soprano Leslie Fagan, violinist Moshe Hammer, violist Rivka Golani, and violist Sharon Wei. Angela has recorded solo albums, and collaborative discs with cellist Rachel Mercer, St. John-Mercer-Park Trio, and Ensemble Made In Canada for labels including NAXOS Canadian Classics, Centrediscs, Leaf Music, and Enharmonic Records. From 2011-2014, Angela was Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano-Woodwinds at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She is currently Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano at Western University in London, Ontario. She is also co-Artistic Director of the 5 at the First Chamber Music Series in Hamilton, Ontario.