Marion Newman

Rosemary Thomson

Melody Courage

Yvette Nolan

Opera Kelowna

Ten years after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, institutions across the country have, in varying ways, responded to the 94 calls for action therein.  What kinds of change are we experiencing as individuals as a result of all this work?  What opportunities, and what burdens, have we created as a result of this process?

Wreckonciliation is a musical response to the last decade of learning, striving, and failing to reckon with Canada’s colonial past. Mezzo soprano Marion Newman, of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations with English, Irish and Scottish heritage; Métis soprano Melody Courage, and director Yvette Nolan (Algonquin), have teamed up with Opera Kelowna for an evening that upends expectations and invites everyone to take up the joy, and the work, of building a better future together.

Where do we begin? With the well-known genre of a talk show, of course. For folks that have laughed and sung along with the likes of Jimmy Fallon, the performance will be familiar in its rhythm of banter, and playfulness. Underpinning the wit is an exploration of how traditional Indigenous musics can walk alongside operatic traditions in ways that might inspire us all.