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A Gallery of Song - Spirit of the Land
May. 5th, 2015 08:48 pmOne of the best things about my slightly artsy life is that I get to witness some pretty amazing artistic collaborations. Today, my daughter participated in one that is especially cool.
Some years ago, the Kanata Children's Chorus commissioned a local composer, James Wright (who also happens to be one of the rehearsal pianists at my daughter's dance school), to write music for them. He selected nine paintings by The Group of Seven, some young people wrote poems inspired by the paintings, and he wrote music for the poems. The poems were then sung by the choir. A few years after that, another layer was added on as students from my daughter's dance school performed to each of those songs, with projections of the appropriate paintings above the stage. The first time, S danced to Tangled Garden, but last June she danced in Snow. Here's a link with a bit more of the history, and some of the pictures: https://carleton.ca/fass/2014/carleton-composer-pays-tribute-group-seven-nac-performance/. Today, Mr. Wright and the dance students performed again at Carleton University, this time with the junior choir from the vocal performance program at S's high school.
I have heard the music in rehearsal countless times, and I have two copies of the CD. It still gives me goosebumps. I wish more of it were available to share with you, especially with the dance pieces. Excerpts of A Tangled Garden and Scorned as Timber, beloved of the Sky can be found here: http://www.ottawachildrenschoir.ca/media.html. If you click on either of the bottom two links, you will find Snow: http://jameskwright.com/media/
Some years ago, the Kanata Children's Chorus commissioned a local composer, James Wright (who also happens to be one of the rehearsal pianists at my daughter's dance school), to write music for them. He selected nine paintings by The Group of Seven, some young people wrote poems inspired by the paintings, and he wrote music for the poems. The poems were then sung by the choir. A few years after that, another layer was added on as students from my daughter's dance school performed to each of those songs, with projections of the appropriate paintings above the stage. The first time, S danced to Tangled Garden, but last June she danced in Snow. Here's a link with a bit more of the history, and some of the pictures: https://carleton.ca/fass/2014/carleton-composer-pays-tribute-group-seven-nac-performance/. Today, Mr. Wright and the dance students performed again at Carleton University, this time with the junior choir from the vocal performance program at S's high school.
I have heard the music in rehearsal countless times, and I have two copies of the CD. It still gives me goosebumps. I wish more of it were available to share with you, especially with the dance pieces. Excerpts of A Tangled Garden and Scorned as Timber, beloved of the Sky can be found here: http://www.ottawachildrenschoir.ca/media.html. If you click on either of the bottom two links, you will find Snow: http://jameskwright.com/media/
