It was an emotional moment when the Ukrainian team entered B.C. Stadium during the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games. The athletic event for injured military and service personnel featured global music stars Katy Perry and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, along with B.C.-born Nelly Furtado, multi-platinum artist Noah Kahan, and rising Quebec singer Roxanne Bruneau.
The Invictus Games is also bringing another cultural treat to Vancouver on Sunday (February 9). Anishinaabe author Armand Garnet Ruffo’s The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow will be performed as an opera at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts for the Invictus Games. The show begins at 3:30 p.m.
Pegahmagabow was an Ojibwe sniper in the First World War—and a decorated officer and Indigenous political activist. Throughout his book, Ruffo employs the Ojibwe concept of “two-eyed seeing”, which combines strengths of western and Indigenous ways of knowing.
The name of the opera is Sounding Thunder: the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow. Pegahmagabow’s great grandson, Brian McInnes, will serve as the narrator in the opera by Silent Dawn Productions and the Galiano Concert Society.
Ruffo is part of writing team
In addition to McInnes, the cast includes Jodi Contin Baker as Deer Spirit and Sage Cloud as Francis. Larry Beckwith is the actor and conductor.
Ruffo, a member of the Chapleau (Fox Lake) Cree Nation, is part of the writing team and is credited with the story. He teaches at Queen’s University and has twice been a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Other members of the writing team are Baker, McInnes, and composer Timothy Corlis.
There is also an impressive list of soloists: James Campbell (clarinet), Guy Few (trumpet), Beverly Johnston (percussion), Joel Quarrington (double bass), Karl Stobbe (violin), Holly Bryan (horn), Rachel Thomas (trombone), Christian Sharpe (bassoon), Eric Wilson (cello), and J. Warren Long (contrabass).
Silent Dawn Productions and the Galiano Concert Society for the Invictus Games will present Sounding Thunder: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday (Gebruary 9) at the Chan Centre for the Performing Art. For tickets, visit the Chan Centre website.
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