Date/Time
Date(s) - September 17, 2022
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
Annex Theatre
Categories No Categories
Daughter of Absence by Farangis Nurulla-Khoja
For solo cello (Isidora Nojkovic) and string quintet
A Soul’s Keening for her Beloved by Anna Pidgorna
For solo voice and 9 strings
Minx (2010) by Rudolf Komorous
Hummingbird Lovers (2022 new version) by Rita Ueda
In partnership with Kinbrace Refugee Housing and Support, Turning Point Ensemble opens its 22/23 season with a concert that will help shine a light on refugee support in Vancouver and draw attention to the global displacement crisis. As of 2022, more than 100 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuses.
This concert features composers who have immigrated to Canada in the past decades and will include the premiere of Daughter of Absence composed by Tajik-Canadian Farangis Nurulla-Khoja for TPE cellist Isidora Njokovic and dedicated to the refugees of our time. Ukrainian-Canadian composer Anna Pidgorna’s A Soul’s Keening for her Beloved for solo voice and strings, which fuses Ukranian folk vocalizations and classical vocal technique and is an intense and timely work. And music composed for TPE by Rudolf Komorous and Rita Ueda.
About Anna Pidgorna
Anna Pidgorna (b. 1985, pronounced /pid-ɦɔr-nɑ/) is a Ukrainian born, Canadian raised composer, artist and vocalist, who combines everything from traditional music making, to visual arts, to writing, to carpentry in her multimedia practice. Characterized by “a balance of bold colour palettes, strong melodic profiles, and unexpected performative elements” (Nick Storring for MusicWorks Magazine), her work traverses both acoustic and electronic realms.
Anna was born in Ukraine and is heavily influenced by her heritage. Thanks to a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Anna spent three months recording folk songs in Ukraine in the fall of 2012 and again in 2013. Her folk-inspired works include her multi-award winning chamber opera On the Eve of Ivan Kupalo, Like doves with grey wings embracing, Weeping and Bridal train. Anna is also developing her own singing style which expands the folk singing style past its traditional boundaries. She is working on a cycle of songs for her own voice and varied instrumental ensembles, and currently includes Weeping for a dead love, What else can I give him?, Teach your daughters and Drown in the depth.
About Robyn Driedger-Klassen
Described in the London Times as “outstanding in her impassioned embodiment of the drama”, Robyn Driedger-Klassen has been seen on many recital, concert and opera stages. Known particularly for her zeal for contemporary music, she has performed and premiered many fascinating works of living composers: R Murray Schafer, Kaija Saariaho, Jocelyn Morlock, Jeffrey Ryan, Ana Sokolovic, David McIntyre, Larry Nickel, Brian Current, Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, Emily Doolittle, Kati Agocs and Leslie Uyeda just to name a few.
Some of her favourite operatic roles include: Sophie (Werther), Naiade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Marzelline (Fidelio), Alexandra (Regina), Zaide (Zaide), Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), and Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro). Currently, Robyn is Head of Voice at the Vancouver Academy of Music.