“Life Reflected, the biggest creative project ever undertaken by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, didn’t start out as a feminist manifesto, according to music director Alexander Shelley,” writes Lynn Saxberg in Wednesday’s (3/6) Ottawa Citizen (Canada). “ ‘When we created it, our question was how to commission music and narratives that tell a story about Canada that is interesting and deep and meaningful,’ Shelley said of the ambitious multi-media production that premiered in 2016, toured Canada in 2017 and … will be presented in Paris and Gothenburg when the orchestra tours Europe in May as part of its 50th-anniversary celebrations. Life Reflected consists of four pieces … each one composed by a Canadian and inspired by the life of a Canadian woman. Dear Life is based on a short story by Alice Munro with music by Zosha Di Castri, while I Lost My Talk is based on a poem by Mi’kmaq writer Rita Joe with music by John Estacio. Composer Jocelyn Morlock wrote the music for My Name is Amanda Todd, based on the story of Amanda Todd, … who took her own life after being cyber-bullied, and Nicole Lizée composed the music for Bondarsphere, inspired by Canada’s first female astronaut, Roberta Bondar.”
Posted March 12, 2019
