On Mar. 9, the Regina Symphony Orchestra will premiere an original dramatic musical based on Louis Riel’s life and his love for his homeland, the heart of the north, and his quest to establish this area as a homeland for the Métis people.
Riel: Heart of the North is part of the Regina Symphony Orchestra Masterworks series and is an orchestral and vocal work composed by Neil Weisensel, with vocals written by librettist and Métis poet Dr. Suzanne Steele. The show has been a sizable undertaking for the organization, but music director Gordon Gerrard is confident that it has come together.
“It is a big spectacle, as I said, the forces are quite large: full orchestra, a large choir, five soloists, a fiddler, a narrator,” said Gerrard. “It's a big work, lots of moving parts, and it's a very celebratory look at the work and the life of Louis Riel, a figure that I think we’re still sort of trying to unpack his place in the development of what we now know as this place, Saskatchewan.”
Steele and Weisensel began consulting Métis communities on the project nearly two years ago, and Weisensel spent many months researching Métis fiddlers and fiddle tunes to inform his composition.
“[Steele and Weisensel] did a lot of that work before they even started writing anything, and that was a big part of the project,” said Gerrard. “So it's a big milestone for [Regina Symphony Orchestra] as an organization, and also I think a big milestone in our season, and we’re excited that it's almost here.”
Riel: Heart of the North incorporates the Métis people’s past, present and future and displays it through a framework of reconciliation and truth. The work will be presented in English, French and Michif, an inclusive homage to prairie history, and will be performed by some Métis and First Nations talent.
Melody Courage, soprano, is an artist passionate about her Métis heritage, much like Métis-Canadian Rebecca Cuddy, mezzo-soprano. Marion Newman — who identifies herself as partially Kwagiulth and Stó:lo First Nations — will be joining Courage and Cuddy as a mezzo-soprano, as well as James McLennan, tenor, and James Westman, baritone.
Playing alongside the soloists will be Jordan Daniels, a Saskatchewan fiddle prodigy from the Mistawasis First Nation, as Heart of the North features a traditional Métis fiddle tune that is at times the prominent voice in the orchestra, and at other times a foundation upon which the music is built.
Heart of the North will be performed alongside Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, a choice Gerrard describes as interesting due to the nature of the two works.
“The reason that these two pieces go together is that Beethoven's symphony is all about the land, and nature, and our place in it, and it felt like this question of examining what homeland means for all of us, even in 2019,” said Gerrard.
The idea of feeling at home is an important concept in the work and ties into the reason Heart of the North is being debuted in Regina, in Treaty 4 Territory.
“I think that, obviously, this part of Canada has a lot of direct ties to Louis Riel and the Métis people and that part of our history, which I think few of us really understand in great detail,” said Gerrard. “So it seemed to me that if anyone was going to help tell the story and bring it to the stage, it should be us, in this part of the country.”
“I thought this was a great fit for us, to help examine our community, and our history and our shared past, and how we got here,” said Gerrard. “It seems that these are the questions that we need to continue to ask, especially as we try and sort out what our own individual roles are in this notion of reconciliation.”
More information about the event can be found at the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s website. Tickets can be purchased online at reginasymphony.com, by calling the Box Office at 306-586-9555 during the week, or at the door one hour prior to the concert.
