Tenor Jeremy Dutcher mixes ancient and new via the Chan Centre, September 25

The Polaris-winning opera star has made a name reimagining the traditional songs of his Indigenous ancestors

New Brunswick tenor Jeremy Dutcher melds the operatic and the Indigenous.

A digital production presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, online from September 25.

IF YOU HAVEN’T heard Jeremy Dutcher’s incomparable fusion of classical opera, Indigenous tradition, and contemporary strains, you’re in for a treat.

A member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Dutcher was raised at home with a mother who still spoke the Wolastoq language. After later operatic training, he spent uncountable hours at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau listening to the 1907 wax-cylinder recordings of his people’s songs. His response to that music resulted in the album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, which rightfully earned him a 2018 Polaris Music Prize.

Here's a chance to hear what the fuss is about--an almost indescribable meld of deeply expressive singing and piano playing, anchored in traditions and spirituality that trace back thousands of years. His virtual event is presented in collaboration with UBC’s Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the UBC School of Music as part of Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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