A return to in-theatre, live-audience performances, will see the Okanagan Symphoney Orchestra feature multi-talented First Nations artist Csetkwe Fortier.
鈥淚 have no words to describe how much I am looking forward to welcoming Csetkwe as our guest artist and to getting back on stage with our OSO musicians,鈥� music director Rosemary Thomson said. 鈥淭here is much that has transpired in the world and I hope that this concert will offer meaningful reflection and a sense of hope in a new dawn.鈥�
Csetkwe鈥檚 name is pronounced chuh-set-quah; it means Lights Reflection on Water. Her new dawn performance with OSO takes place in 琉璃神社 Saturday, Oct. 23 and in Vernon Sunday, Oct. 24. For patrons who are not yet ready to return to the theatre, livestream access to the Oct, 23 performance, through , is available by donation.
Holding the respect of being a sqwuy (mother to a son), stamiya (Two Spirit) and a Traditional Knowledge Keeper, Fortier (of the Syilx Nation and Secwepmec peoples of the Kamloops territory) works mainly in performance art, song/ poetry writing, painting and illustration. She is a graduate of the En鈥檕wkin Centre of Indigenous Art, receiving a National Aboriginal Professional Artists鈥� Training certificate and Nsyilxcn Language Program certificate.
Whispers of the Mountain, which was premiered by the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, is a creative collaboration between Csetkwe and Quebec-born composer Katia Makdissi-Warren.
鈥淐setkwe sent me her song 鈥楽unrise on the Water,..鈥� and I was immediately inspired to write something in response鈥ertain aspects of Aboriginal music imitate sounds of the natural world, and I wanted to explore this idea too while still maintaining respect for the artistic elements of Csetkwe鈥檚 song and culture鈥he result is an orchestral work that aims to re-create the larger natural environment in music,鈥� Thomson said.
A work by Fortier receives its world premiere on this program. Cuwix, which means 鈥淐ome here,鈥� memorializes the 215 children whose remains were found at the site of the Kamloops Residential School earlier this year.
The OSO also celebrates home-grown talent with three works by Okanagan composers: Anita Perry from Summerland, Nicholas Kelly from Penticton and Dryden Bennett from 琉璃神社.
Perry is a good friend of the OSO with a long association. Her Fantasy for Chamber Orchestra was written in 1986 but complements this month鈥檚 program wonderfully.
鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely delighted [that the OSO is performing it]. I know my music is safe in the hands of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra. That is a wonderful feeling,鈥� Perry said.
Bennett is a youth orchestra player and Grade 12 student who only began composing at the start of the pandemic in 2020. His whimsical and lighthearted Tangerine Trees was inspired by a children鈥檚 book he created, about a boy who sets off to sail the world, and discovers an island with a tangerine tree on it.
鈥淒ryden is very accomplished for someone who has only been composing for 18 months,鈥� said Thomson.
Dryden describes the feeling of having a professional orchestra perform his piece as, 鈥溾�wesome. It already feels like I鈥檝e accomplished one of my life goals.鈥�
Kelly鈥檚 evocatively titled piece The Sunken City paints an image of an underwater world that despite some initial darkness is still full of optimism.
Other highlights on the program include The Light of Three Mornings by American composer Gwyneth Walker, a three-movement work for chamber orchestra inspired by the purity and beauty of mornings spent in the composer鈥檚 studio in Braintree, Vermont. Hailing from Newfoundland, Peter Gardner鈥檚 work 2 Metres for Socially Distanced Chamber Orchestra is just that 鈥� written in response to the restrictions imposed on orchestras by the pandemic.
Tickets and livestream access (Saturday鈥檚 performance only) are available at .
While the pandemic is not over, as evidenced by audience capacity restrictions and mask mandates, the OSO continues to be committed to following all public health directives. Ticket holders are required to show their BC Vaccination card, as proof of vaccination to access the theatres.
