- Andrew Balfour Ambe
- Ian Cusson Dodo, mon tout petit*
- Barbara Croall Zasakwaa (There is a Heavy Frost)
- Edvard Grieg Peer Gynt
- ≈ 2 hours · With intermission
Ambe
Ambe Anishinaabeg
biindigeg Anishinaabeg
Mino-bimaadiziwin omaa
Ambe
Come in
Come in, two-legged beings
come in all people
There is good life here
Come in!
Celebrate the works of Canada’s Indigenous composers, with music by Andrew Balfour, Ian Cusson and Barbara Croall. Métis composer and long-time friend of the NAC Ian Cusson offers a moving new lullaby, and Odawa First Nations composer Barbara Croall greets the coming winter with Zasakwaa (There is a Heavy Frost), featuring the NAC Orchestra’s principal flutist, Joanna G’froerer and mezzo-soprano Marion Newman.
It’s impossible to be a regular consumer of TV or film without having heard Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s wonderful Peer Gynt, written in 1875 to accompany playwright Henrik Ibsen’s five-act play of the same name. Acclaimed Canadian actor and singer Tom Jackson narrates the story of Gynt, a lovable but imprudent scoundrel who fantasizes that he might someday be ruler of the world. If ever a piece of music was written that perfectly captures the story it accompanies, Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt is it!
*Commissioned by the National Arts Centre and the Canadian Opera Company