Vancouver Foundation

For more information about City Opera Vancouver visit cityoperavancouver.com. To support innovative community projects like this, call Kristin in Donor Services at 604.629.5186 or visit vancouverfoundation.ca/give. Photo: Andrew Adams/Courtesy Brian Current F a l l 2 0 1 6 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l p a g e 2 5 support the creation of the opera, which has since brought on board renowned composer Brian Current of Toronto and dra- maturge Paula Danckert of Montreal. "Vancouver Foundation is supporting artistic process and engagement with community. I think it's extraordinary, " says Clements. e opera nurtures an empathetic viewpoint of the missing women that humanizes and elevates them above grim statistics. Rather than simply being "missing," they are profoundly missed—mourned—by their families and communities. As Charles Barber, Conductor and Artistic Director of City Opera Vancouver says, the opera is written from the per- spective of a woman whom no one remembers. "is is the paradox and the purpose," Barber says. "It is a painful and necessary story." A chamber opera is smaller and more intimate than a grand opera, featuring about half a dozen musicians, rather than dozens. It also has fewer actors; in the case of Missing, there are seven, four of whom are Aboriginal. As with grand operas, which are mostly writ- ten in Italian and feature sub- titles for English audiences, Missing will also have subtitles to translate Gitxsan, a First Nations language spoken in northwest- ern B.C., that peppers the script. "It's intimate," says Current. "e singers can sing quietly and almost whisper in your ear. Chamber opera is not only about telling a story but casting a spell." Current won a Juno in 2015 for Classical Composition of the Year for his chamber opera Airline Icarus, which uses the myth of Icarus to explore themes of hubris mixed with technol- ogy. He will be working on the music for Missing this fall. In Missing, Ava strives to overcome the ongoing physical effects of the accident, and eventually bears a baby with fellow law student Devon—an infant who is inexplicably inconsolable much of her waking hours. In one scene, shot with brushstrokes of magic realism, the Aboriginal girl appears in a mirror in Ava's home, and begs to hold her child. Such a small but intimate act of human connection illuminates the sorrow embedded in the relentless predation of Aboriginal women—of lives that should have been lived well and long, filled with happiness, love and children. As Angus, the Aboriginal girl's grieving 25-year-old brother, tells an RCMP officer: "She was going to graduate, she was going to go to law school." Her mother's final, keening lament is "Where did you go, girl?" Although Clements had never written a chamber opera before, she says that the clean dialogue suited her poetic style of writing. "Librettos are written very sparsely compared to play writing," she says. "ere's an economy of words that has to rep- resent emotion and dramatic drive and ideas all at once. When the words and the music come together, you have a full picture." Clements is cautiously optimistic about the ability of Missing to bring about societal change. "It is one way to get to know each other's stories, and generate the empathy needed to connect. ere is an awakening. We are at a really exciting time in history that potentially can really effect change." Missing will have a private premiere on November 1, 2017, to which only the families of the murdered and missing women will be invited to attend. It will then be staged by City Opera for five nights at the York eatre in Vancouver and an additional five nights at Pacific Opera Victoria. Brian Current Chamber opera is not only about telling a story but casting a spell. " " —Brian Current

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