Tuesday, December 10, 2019
7:30pm in the Celebration Hall at Mountain View Cemetery
Free and fully accessible
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the legalization of homosexuality in Canada, No Straight Road views the work of the queer Spanish poet Federico García Lorca through a uniquely Canadian lens.
Known for his deeply sensual prose, outspoken socialist beliefs, and his unrequited desire for Salvador Dalí, Lorca was executed by Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, shot “twice in the ass, because he was a maricón (homosexual)”. Lorca’s poetry was banned until 1954 and censored until 1975, in part because of its homoerotic nature; nevertheless, his words went on to inspire composers as diverse as Francis Poulenc, Dmitri Shostakovich, Luigi Nono, and Joan Baez.
No Straight Road presents one of the most infamous/unusual/unique musical settings of Lorca’s words: the four books of George Crumb’s Madrigals (1961/69). Each book of Madrigals will be paired with a queer Canadian composer, who will create a new eight-minute work for the same voice + instrumentation, paying tribute to Lorca’s words and queerness from a local and contemporary queer perspective.
Madrigals Book One + NEW WORK by Patrick Giguère
Soprano: Stacie Dunlop, Double bass: Mark Haney, Percussion: Robin Reid
Madrigals Book Two + NEW WORK by Annette Brosin
Soprano: Dory Hayley, Flute: Mark McGregor, Percussion: Katie Rife
Madrigal Book Three + NEW WORK by Leslie Uyeda
Soprano: Heather Pawsey, Harp: Joy Yeh, Percussion: Robin Reid
Madrigal Book Four + NEW WORK by Justin Christensen
Soprano: Melanie Krueger, Flute: Mark McGregor, Harp: Joy Yeh, Double bass: Mark Haney, Percussion: Katie Rife
