Empire of Wild; music by Ian Cusson, libretto by Cherie Dimaline, is based on the latter’s novel of the same name and will feature as part of the COC’s main stage season in May 2027. Last Wednesday the COC orchestra with soloists performed five excerpts from the opera in the RBA. The summary version is that it’s most unusual. It’s very grand, it’s tonal, it has numbers yet there is something very modern about it. I suppose one could just say it’s very Ian Cusson!

The first excerpt; “The Wake at the Church Hall” is for the wake of a local elder where the community dance them into the next world. It’s like a very grand fiddle tune for large orchestra and sounds a bit like how Britten sometimes treats dance music. It also demonstrated just what a great sound Johannes Debus gets out of the COC orchestra.

“No, Not a Vision” is a trio for Joan; the opera’s main character (sung here by Elisabeth St-Gelais), her mother (Ariana Maubach) and her grandmother (Queen Hezumuryanga). Joan has just seen her “disappeared” husband Victor preaching in a Walmart parking lot but he denies that he is Victor. Joan tries to convince the others that it’s him. It starts in quite a conversational way with the characters singing their lines separately then turns into a proper operatic trio. Again it sounds very “grand” even though the orchestra yesterday was a bit smaller than we’ll see for the main stage. I was trying to think what, if anything, it reminded me of. Janáček came to mind but it’s less conversational. It’s its own thing.

“You Poor Man” is an aria for Cecile; a sort of business manager for the Ministry of the New Redemption (sung here by Alex Hetherington). It’s basically an offer to share power with Rev Woif (Victor as was) which will be rejected with scorn. It starts very playful then builds to something much grander. A proper aria.

“I Never Wanted to Share This” is an aria for the entrepreneur Thomas Heiser (who is backing the Church as a front for oil exploration and about whom there is something very odd) sung here by Gordon Bintner. He is explaining to the leaders of the Church how he found and “adopted” the Rev Wolf (though somewhat lacking in candour!). There’s something sinister about the music here.

“My Prayer is Small” is Joan’s Act 3 aria where she looks forward to rescuing Victor both from the Church and the Rougarou (the werewolf like character who plagues the Métis community). It’s quite poetic and rather beautiful and was sung very gorgeously by Elisabeth.

I talked to Ian afterwards to try and confirm my impressions and “fill in the gaps”. It’s not wrong to call it a “grand, numbers opera”. It’s through sung but it has distinct arias, duets, trios and ensembles (and a forty person chorus). What we heard was tonal but apparently there’s some “weirder” music particularly for the scenes involving the Rougarou. I think I remember seeing an early version of a Rougarou scene on Youtube back during the Plague. And all that said it doesn’t sound like a 19th century opera and it certainly does’t sound like a movie soundtrack with a monotonous prosy libretto sung over it either. It;’s completely individual and rather exciting. I can’t wait to see the finished work in its entirety.

Photo credit: Karen E. Reeves