Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Today’s second Artist Spotlight is Unsettled Scores’ Artistic Director, Composer and Librettist Dr. Spy Dénommé-Welch.
Photo by Lady Luck Photography
Dr. Spy
Dénommé-Welch (Anishnaabe)
is a multi-disciplinary scholar, composer, producer, and librettist/playwright.
He wrote and co-composed the Dora Mavor Moore-nominated opera Giiwedin.
Other credits (as writer and co-composer) include: Contraries: a
chamber requiem (2018, premiered at the Royal Conservatory of
Music), Sojourn (2017; commissioned by Signal Theatre for the
dance opera Bearing, premiered at Luminato Festival); HATE
MAIL & Irreconcilable Trolls (2017; premiered at Native Earth’s
Aki Studio); Bottlenecked (2017); Victorian
Secrets (2014, presented at Native Earth’s Aki Studio); Spin
Doctors (2014); Bike Rage (2013).
Spy’s
academic research focuses on Indigenous topics in education, arts, and
decolonizing through music and performance. He is Principal Investigator of two
SSHRC-funded projects. His project, Beyond the Rainbow: Investigating
representations of gender and sexuality in Indianist music and production,
received SSHRC-Insight Development Grant funding (2016-2019), and examines the
implications of gender and sexuality representation in historical Indianist
music and cultural production. His second project, Sonic Coordinates:
Decolonizing through land-based music composition, received the inaugural
New Frontiers in Research Fund Award (2019-2021), and explores land-based
approaches to Indigenous music, visual culture, and
decolonization.
Spy is
Artistic Director of Unsettled Scores, an Associate Composer with the Canadian
Music Centre, a member of the Canadian League of Composers and the Playwrights
Guild of Canada, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at
Brock University.
Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Today’s second Artist Spotlight is our Project Knowledge Carrier/Project Grandmother Jean Becker.
Jean Becker is Inuk and a member of the Nunatsiavut Territory of
Labrador. Jean has lived in Ontario for forty years and has been involved in grassroots
urban Indigenous community building throughout that time in Wellington and
Waterloo regions. As the Senior Advisor Indigenous Initiatives at Wilfrid
Laurier University, Jean is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction
of the university related to Indigenous activities. She continues to be involved
in Indigenous ceremonies and advocacy work for Indigenous people outside of the
academy and is actively engaged with local Indigenous communities.
Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Today’s second Artist Spotlight is singer Nicole Joy-Fraser.
Nicole Joy-Fraser (Bear Clan/ Dene Zaa, Métis, European) has had the opportunity to work across Turtle Island with many celebrated companies such as Mirvish Productions, Factory Theatre, Native Earth, Red Sky, Nightwood, YPT, Stratford Festival, Blyth Festival, Charlottetown Festival, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, TSO, National Ballet, Nathaniel Dett Chorale and most recently Carousel Players as Mary Jane Mosquito. She also enjoyed performing across the pond in the multi-award-winning musical “Jerry Springer-The Opera” (West End) and in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (UK and Athens Tour). Nicole is grateful and honoured to be collaborating with these talented artists and loves storytelling with Spy and Catherine. She still cherishes singing in their Dora-nominated, premiere production of “Giiwediin” which helped kickstart the reclamation of her Indigenous identity and healing journey. She currently lives in Niagara-On-The Lake with her partner and son.
Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Today’s second Artist Spotlight is singer Rebecca Cuddy.
Métis/Canadian Mezzo-Soprano Rebecca Cuddy’s recent career highlights include performing La Métisse, in the world premiere of Riel; Heart of the North (Steele/Weissensel) with Regina Symphony Orchestra, Mercedes (Cover Carmen) in Carmen, Frau Viehmann in Brothers Grimm and Toronto Concert Orchestra’s tour of Voice of a Nation in which she premiered a Métis song cycle by Ian Cusson.
Rebecca is proud of her Métis heritage and has a keen interest in Indigenous relations and music, along with contemporary composition. Earlier this season she joined Tapestry and Opera on the Avalon for the world premiere of Shanawdithit as Kwe/Spirit Chorus (Nolan/Burry). Rebecca is very pleased to join Unsettled Scores for Contraries and looks forward to her next Indigenous classical music performance in Soundstreams’ Two Odysseys in November 2019.
Rebecca completed her MA in Voice at the Royal Academy of Music, UK in 2017. www.rebeccacuddy.com
Research at Brock University is featuring Dr. Spy this week for their “Find the answer” series. In this video, Dr. Spy talks about land-based composing and how he views the land as an artistic collaborator.
Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Today’s second Artist Spotlight is singer Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk.
Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk is a singer and
steel-string guitarist who draws inspiration from his heritage, fusing Métis
folk traditions with contemporary musical genres and styles. He
holds a Bachelor of Music in classical voice performance from the University
of Ottawa. In addition to his performance practice, he has
worked extensively as a presenter and workshop facilitator, sharing his passion
for Métis history, Canadian music, and creative processes. He is currently
a JD candidate at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.
Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Today’s second Artist Spotlight is trombonist Justin McLean.
Justin McLean is an Ojibwe Bass Trombonist from Sudbury, Ontario. Since 2013, he has performed on bass Trombone with the Timmins Symphony, Sudbury Symphony, the Northern Brass Choir, Pembroke Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony, and has made appearances on CBC Radio. Although Justin is primarily a bass trombonist, he also performs on euphonium, and tuba. Justin regularly assists and mentors amateur and semi-professional groups throughout the Sudbury area, including directing the Hark Wind Ensemble’s recording for Mozart’s Grand Partita. He performed in the premiere of “Contraries: a Chamber Requiem”, in 2018. Most recently he completed a residency with the inaugural “Indigenous Dramaturgies Gathering” at the “Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.”
Leading up to our show at Celebration of Nations on September 7 we will be featuring each of our artists! Our first Artist Spotlight is singer Everett Morrison.
Everett Morrison is an Aboriginal (Cree) bass-baritone. Everett is originally from Moosonee, Ontario and now resides in Wikwemikong, Ontario. Everett is a band member of The Crees of Waskaganish Quebec.
He is a graduate of Cambrian College’s Music Program (Voice) and a Graduate from Laurentian’s Music Program (Voice).
Everett has studied with Marion Harvey-Hannah and Dr. Robert Hall. He has performed throughout Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec. Everett also facilitates Voice Workshops for Aboriginal Youth. Everett made his professional debut spring of 2017 with the Canadian Opera Company. He sang the role of the Wandering Spirit war chief of the Crees in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of the Canadian opera Louis Riel. Everett also sang at the National Arts Centre of their production of Louis Riel in June of 2017. Then in July of 2017 in Quebec City for Opéra de Québec / Festival d’opéra de Québec in Louis Riel.
Everett made his Opera in Concert debut singing the role of David Joe in Victor Davies world premiere of the opera The Ecstasy of Rita Joe March 2018. Everett sang the bass solos for unsettled scores. Contraries a requiem which was based on Residential school. It was in partnership with The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto June of 2018.
