It’s that time of year when we reflect on the intersection of Truth and Reconciliation with opera. So yesterday I attended a lecture/recital by young Métis singer and scholar Camryn Dewar in the RBA at lunchtime. The title was The Evolution of Indigenous Female Representation 1879-Present and the domaine was Canadian opera; so no room for La fanciulla del West or Doctor Atomic. In fact, truth to tell, there Wasn’t much Indigenous female presence in Canadian opera until quite recently. There’s the really awful colonialist Canada’s Welcome by Dixon and Clappé which was dealt with. Somers’ Louis Riel which got a brief mention but doesn’t have much in the way of female characters. Victor Davies’ The Ecstasy of Rita Joe which didn’t get (or deserve) a mention. Perhaps Jani Lauzon’s I Call myself Princess might have deserved a mention even if it’s about opera rather than being an opera.
So May Day greetings and hello again. And here are some things you might care to see this month during your eight hours for “what you will”. It’s a bit belated for reasons previously announced but it’s here and I’m back.
