Sienna Dahlen

Today was a big day, where we brought all the singers from all the groups together in one room for the first time, and special guest vocalist Sienna Dahlen came by, en route from Montreal to Toronto. What a joy to have all those voices together, and to have Sienna with us for this project.

Here's more about her:

Juno award-winning performer, Sienna Dahlen (Vocal Jazz Album of the Year 2014-" Notes on Montreal" with Mike Rud), makes her living as a professional vocalist, instrumentalist, educator and composer of jazz and other styles of creative music. She has had the immense pleasure of performing her music for audiences throughout most of Europe, parts of the US, Mexico, Argentina and across Canada. Her voice is also featured on the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning film, "The Danish Poet". (Torill Kove/Kevin Dean)

Sienna's newest album entitled, "Verglas" (Justin Time Records) is dedicated to the late, great, Lhasa de Sela. The featured rhythm section on the album includes Karl Jannuska (drums FR), Pierre Perchaud (guitar FR), Andrew Downing (cello CA) and guest guitarist, Justin Haynes (CA).

"Sienna Dahlen has made a beautifully compelling record that is soulful and unique." Ron Sexsmith, International award-winning Canadian singer/ songwriter 

“Dahlen has an extremely alluring voice, one that could sell rainwater in a snowstorm.” Pascel-Denis Lussier, All About Jazz

"...Verglas goes from the good to the great with “Carrie,” the last of its seven cuts and a stunningly memorable, rage-filled anthem against an impending death." 

Peter Goddard (Toronto Star) 4/4 stars

http://siennadahlen.com (Official website)

http://siennadahlen.bandcamp.com/ (Album website)

Requiem for Fourteen Roses Poster

The rose petal mandala was created by Bonnie Gold Bell and David Sun Todd. www.bellandtodd.com

And the poster was created by Marilee Townsend-Alcorn.

Thank-you!

Requiem tickets available at four locations in Ottawa

Tickets are available at the following locations:

• Alcorn Music Studios/GigSpace - 953 Gladstone, Ottawa ON www.alcornmusicstudios.com

• The Leading Note - 370 Elgin Street, Ottawa ON www.leadingnote.com

• Herb & Spice - 1310 Wellington Street W, Ottawa ON www.herbandspicewellington.com

• Compact Music - 785 1/2 Bank Street, Ottawa ON www.compactmusic.ca

Thank-you so much to our community ticket vendors! Please note that these ticket sales are cash only.

Tickets are also available from choir members, and online at www.eliseletourneau.com. Ticket sales are non-refundable.

CBC's Adrian Harewood will host Requiem for Fourteen Roses concert

Adrian Harewood is anchor of CBC’s local weekday television newscast, CBC News Ottawa at 5 and CBC News Ottawa at 11 p.m. 

Adrian grew up in Ottawa’s west end, and attended elementary and high school at Ottawa’s Ashbury College.  He studied Political Theory and History at McGill University, where he was also station manager of the campus radio station CKUT.

Before coming to television, Adrian was the host of the number-one rated All in a Day on CBC Radio One in Ottawa. He has been a guest host on national CBC programming including: As it Happens, Sounds Like Canada and The Current. 

Adrian has a keen interest in community involvement. He spends hundreds of hours every year at events in Ottawa and the surrounding area.

Requiem concert tickets are now available online

Concert tickets to "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" on Saturday December 6, 2014, in Ottawa ON, are now available online.

• Online ticket sales have a $2 convenience fee added to cover handling and processing fees.

• You will receive an email confirmation that your order has been received and processed.

• Your ticket/s will be waiting for you in an envelope with your name on it in the "WILL CALL" box.

• As a courtesy, there will be a separate line for people picking up their pre-paid tickets.

• You do not need to sign up for a PayPal account to use the online ticket service.

• Ticket sales are non-refundable.

• For added peace-of-mind, please print your receipt and present it when you check in.

Click HERE to purchase tickets online.

Fundraising and Bronze Pass winner...

Hello Friends!

Been working hard on the scores. Can't believe rehearsals begin in 10 days. It's almost here!

Thanks so much to all of you for your generosity and support of this project. The IndieGogo crowd funding campaign raised $7820.

I'm still getting emails and requests to donate from people - thanks so much! If you missed the crowd funding campaign, but you'd still like to contribute towards Requiem for Fourteen Roses, you can make a cheque payable to Elise Letourneau, put "Requiem" in the memo, and mail it or drop it off to my attention at Alcorn Music Studios, 953 Gladstone Avenue, Ottawa ON, K1Y 3E5. I'd need to receive it by October 31 to be sure you are included in the concert programme as a supporter.

And congratulations to Nathan Corr, whose name was drawn for the 2 Bronze passes for the 2015 TD Ottawa Jazz Festival!

CKCU interview with David Yazbeck

Had a lovely chat this morning on CKCU 93.1FM on Thursday Morning Special Blend with David Yazbeck. We talked mostly about the concert and the IndieGogo fundraiser.

If you'd like to listen in, you'll find it HERE.

If you don't have time to listen to the entire program, the Requiem part starts at about 72:45.

Thanks so much David!

CBC interview on Ottawa Morning

Early yesterday morning (Tuesday August 12) I was interviewed on CBC Radio 1 91.5 FM on "Ottawa Morning" about Requiem for Fourteen Roses.

If you missed it and would like to hear it, you can find it at http://www.cbc.ca/ottawamorning/episodes/ - and you'll need to scroll down in the player to Requiem for 14 Roses.

And in case you've ever thought musicians aren't up that early, you're generally right. Unless they are still up from the night before. Or, as in my case, it's a great time to write, because the inner critics are still asleep, and composing is pure joy without premature editing.

But that doesn't mean I'm entirely at home outside my home at the crack of dawn. It was too early for coffee!!!

NEWS: You could win Jazz Festival passes!!!

A big shout-out and THANKS to Catherine O'Grady and the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival! They have made passes available to next summer's edition of the jazz festival available as a way to encourage donations to the Requiem for Fourteen Roses crowd funding campaign.

So, everyone who donates to our IndieGogo fundraising campaign will automatically have their name entered into a draw for a chance to win two Bronze passes to the 2015 Ottawa International Jazz Festival.

Please click HERE if you'd like to be part of Requiem for Fourteen Roses in a very real way. All donations of any size will be eligible for the draw, but also be sure to check out the rewards available at the various donation levels. Thank-you for your support!

And be sure to visit the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival website to learn more about their activities leading up to next summer's festival.

Progress Report 1

Things have been quiet here at the blog, but for good reason. I'm happy to report that the compositional sketches for the soloist are complete, and the last choral sketch got finished yesterday. So things are on track to have scores fleshed out and made legible for choir rehearsals beginning in September. Stay tuned!

Concert Program Advertising Information

Would you like to advertise in the Requiem for Fourteen Roses concert program? All advertising proceeds support the project.

Ads will be displayed in black and white. Artwork must be received in JPG format by Monday November 14, 2014.

The concert program will be a booklet measuring 8.5 x 11 (after folding).

Back Cover

7.5 x 10

$250

Inside Front Cover

7.5 x 10

$200

Inside Back Cover

7.5 x 10

$150

Full Page

7.5 x 10

$100

Half Page

7.5 x 4.75

$75

Quarter Page

7.5 x 2.25

$50

Business Card

3.375 x 2.25

$35

To contact us for additional information, please CLICK HERE. Thanks!

Elise Letourneau shortlisted for The 2014 American Prize in composition

I'm humbled and pleased to announce that I've been shortlisted for The 2014 American Prize in the choral composition category. This in itself is gratifying, but what makes me especially happy as a composer is that, having also been shortlisted in 2013 with completely different music, it tells me I've been writing consistently, and consistently well.

The American Prize is a series of non-profit national competitions in the performing arts unique in scope and structure, providing cash awards, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition. Each year, The American Prize rewards the best recorded performances by individual artists and ensembles in the United States at the professional, community/amateur, college, university, church and school levels.


http://theamericanprize.blogspot.ca/2014/06/composer-finalists-chorus.html

NEWS: Indiegogo Crowdfunding campaign has launched

Our crowd funding campaign for Requiem for Fourteen Roses has launched!

Essentially, the success of this campaign will determine how amazing the concert can become, and what our technical options for documenting and sharing the concert will be. We are set up for the Flex Funding option, which means that if we don't reach the $10,000 goal, we will still receive the money that is raised. But we will have to reevaluate some of our budget details. And bite our nails over ticket sales. Regardless, we are committed to delivering this project, however our campaign plays out.

We are grateful to have received a Corel Award towards this project from the Ottawa Arts Council. A successful crowd funding campaign will free up additional hours to focus on the creative aspects of this project, rather than dedicating additional resources to researching grants and writing time-consuming applications that may or may not result in funding.

Please click HERE if you'd like to be part of Requiem for Fourteen Roses in a very real way. Thank-you for your support!

Chamber Ensemble lineup is complete

Just finished lining up the chamber ensemble that will perform the Requiem for Fourteen Roses on December 6, 2014. Am very grateful and excited to be working with these excellent musicians and wonderful people. Thank-you!

Sienna Dahlen - vocal soloist

Tina Fedeski - flute

Nicholas Dyson - flugelhorn 

Roberta Archibald - flugelhorn 

Mark Ferguson - trombone 

Ryan Purchase - trombone 

Steve Boudreau - piano

Peter Rapson - cello

John Geggie - double bass

Bell & Todd's CenterPeace Mandala

About 10 or so years ago I was visiting my friend Janet in New York City. In a stationer's store I first encountered the work of Bell & Todd in the form of their Healing Mandalas calendar. The "CenterPeace" mandala was a part of that calendar. I still have it, because I just couldn't bear to part with the lovely images at the end of the year, all made up of flower petals. I chose "CenterPeace" as the visual representation of "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" partially because I have loved it for so long. If you look quickly, you see a beautiful geometric image, but if you take the time to look close you see the petals. "CenterPeace" is made completely from roses. I also like it for this project because it's a photo of roses that doesn't look like a greeting card. As it turns out, the artists created the image when they were on a healing journey of their own. I find that the more time I spend with the image in the context of creating "Requiem for Fourteen Roses", the more I find my focus moves from negative feelings associated with the event to a place of wholeness and healing and peace, which is just where we need to be moving after 25 years. What Bell & Todd have achieved with their image is what I am trying to accomplish with the music: not a forgiving and forgetting, but a remembering and acknowledging and a focus shift to community building, seeing the good in ourselves and each other, and recalling why we need each other. Husband & wife team Bonnie Gold Bell and David Sun Todd create healing art sourced in natural objects. In the case of "CenterPeace", they cut rose blossoms from their garden and placed them directly on their digital scanner to create a vibrantly beautiful mandala. Their artistic statement tells us: "Each Bell & Todd image begins with a photograph of Nature, remixed to reveal its inner glory. We use computer software as a tool for this visual alchemy. We often work with sacred geometries to create symmetrical mandalas and spiritual icons. Another style of our work features Nature scenes that open windows into the living world. Every image showcases Earth’s astounding palette and patterns, re-combined with reverence for her spirit. The colors and designs of the arts cover a wide gamut, and yet they all share the essence of joyful wonder."

Below is Bonnie and David's meditation to accompany their mandala.

CenterPeace Meditation

This image is a mandala. That word, which comes from the Hindu tradition, means “sacred space”. Mandalas are balanced symmetrical images with a clear center point. Images like these create a visual focus that supports integration and harmony. When we gaze on this kind of image, our human brains use this pictorial data to help us center ourselves and integrate all the parts of our being into a coherent whole.

Start by taking a few deep breaths. As you gaze on the CenterPeace image, your breath will ease and your body will open, enabling the reception of blessing through your eyes.

This image is created from a photograph of multi-hued rose petals. Take in the colors and textures and patterns made by the petals. Connect with the radiant energy of Nature that comes through the flowers and draw it into your system.

While you are looking at the image, let yourself really feel it. See the CenterPeace image with your entire body from the vantage of your heart, rather than your head. Your eyes may close as your contemplation progresses. No problem. You can still “see” inwardly what is coming to you through the image. Your whole body can perceive the peaceful vibrations coming through this picture. 

As you gaze on the image, hear this message:

On a carmine field, a sphere of petals shines like a pastel sun. Both deep and soft, its rosy contours invite you in. Let the flowers lead you to your own heart-core. Refuge, haven, CenterPeace. May this mandala’s power be amplified by your regard and be a beacon of serenity for the world. 

Image and words © 2000-2011  Bonnie Bell and David Todd

CenterPeace Mandala courtesy of www.bellandtodd.com

NEWS: Project support received from the Corel Endowment via the Ottawa Arts Council

Am feeling blessed, humbled, and grateful to have received project support for "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" from the Corel endowment via the Ottawa Arts Council (formerly the Council for the Arts in Ottawa). Thanks so much! *** From the Council for the Arts in Ottawa's website: In 1996, Corel Corporation elected to consolidate requests for funding in the various local arts disciplines by establishing the Corel Endowment Fund for the Arts. The fund would be accessible to individual artists working in all arts disciplines, with 25% of annual disbursements going to those whose work involves new technology and the arts. Through the provision of various services, the Council for the Arts in Ottawa is in touch with the general arts community on a day to day basis. The CAO was deemed by Corel to be the most appropriate body to administer the annual disbursements of the earned interest throughout the arts community that it is mandated to represent. Focusing on the visual arts, a joint venture between Corel and the CAO resulted in a juried exhibition and auction sale of paintings and sculptures by international and nationally known artists as well as those of Ottawa and the National Capital Region (100 kms surrounding Parliament Hill). This took place at the Château Laurier, on October 9, 1996. The event, Corel VIVA! les arts was organized by the CAO and was supported by significant involvement of the City of Ottawa, using many community volunteers. It was generously funded by Corel through both direct funding and provision of services. Corel VIVA! les arts was extraordinarily successful from educational, informational and promotional standpoints. There was a financial return of $30,000.00 made up of donations from Corel and from the dealers and artists whose works sold at the auction. This is the capital upon which the Corel Endowment Fund for the Arts is built. The Fund was further augmented by a second fundraising initiative completed in October 1997, and future collaboarations are planned. The Board of Directors of the CAO, having examined numerous options, decided to investigate the appropriateness of the Community Foundation of Ottawa-Carleton (CFOC) as the capital investment administrator. The understanding between the CAO and Corel Corporation is that designated funds are to be deposited with the CFOC, where the principal, being outside the reach of our organizations, becomes a permanent part of our community assets, managed by the CFOC to ensure the optimum return. Interest from the capital will be designated in perpetuity to the CAO for annual disbursements to qualified applicants in our area. The CAO will ensure that no more than a 20% maximum may be retained by the CAO for operational expenditures, while a minimum of 80% of the money will be distributed throughout the arts disciplines in our community.

http://www.arts-ottawa.on.ca/awards/awards-corel-en.php

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a brilliant man of many talents. He wrote poetry, short stories,  songs, novels, plays, essays, and he was a painter. He is perhaps best known for being the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He was knighted in 1915 by King George V, but he repudiated his knighthood in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.

Some of the texts in "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" are from his book, "Gitanjali", which translates to "song offerings".

***

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of the modern Indian subcontinent, being highly commemorated in India and Bangladesh, as well as in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At age sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics. He graduated to his first short stories and dramas—and the aegis of his birth name—by 1877. As a humanist, universalist internationalist, and strident nationalist he denounced the Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy endures also in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

Source: Wikipedia

Who commissioned this work?

When people learn about the existence of this project, I'm often asked "How did this project start?" or "Who commissioned this work?" or some other variation of the question.

I was talking with a friend in late November or early December of 2013, and we were discussing the (then) upcoming 24th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre, and the years since it happened. I said something along the lines of "Somebody's gotta write a requiem for the 25th anniversary."

And then the idea just wouldn't go away, and it percolated and developed in my mind and heart and ears as I went about the rest of my stuff. And after a bit I found I had collected a series of texts that would be appropriate. After another bit I realized that enough of it was sketched out that I could reasonably expect to finish the project, and perhaps I should start talking to people about potentially performing it.

When Sienna Dahlen agreed to perform as the soloist, there was no longer any "maybe" about the project, and I was fully committed to pulling together the resources to perform it. Since then the project has been finding its feet. A venue was secured for the anniversary date, instrumentalists agreed to perform, and poets granted permission for the use of their work as texts. The details just started falling into place, and I continued composing.

So, in answer to the original question, from my perspective it really seems that the work commissioned itself, and it's up to me to keep up with it. It is simply something that must be done. And it's so worth doing.

To the Immediate Families of those who were lost on December 6, 1989.

Earlier this morning, I switched on CBC and heard quite literally the last note of something musical. Then the commentator said that it was part of a performance that was dedicated to Amanda Todd, and unfortunately her Mom hadn't been informed about it in time to attend, though she would have liked to had she known.

I don't know any of you beyond your children's names and their photographs online. But somebody out there does, and hopefully the internet will work its magic. I'm certain you have plenty of ways of remembering your loved ones and honouring them over time. But if you would like to attend the performance of "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" and I am made aware of it, I will be sure there is a seat for you.

About Requiem for Fourteen Roses... so far...

Written to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre, "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" is a concert-length work for female vocal soloist, choir, flute, 2 flugelhorns, 2 trombones, cello, contrabass, and piano. It begins with 14 tolls of a bell while roses are laid, and continues with instrumental, vocal, and choral music.

Though not written specifically as a religious work, the choir does sing some sections of the traditional mass, as well as the 23rd Psalm, in French. The choir also has sections to sing in English, using texts by Rabindranath Tagore, who won a Nobel prize for his work. These texts are in the public domain.

The female soloist sings music composed to contemporary sonnets from the Governor General's Award-winning book, "Woman at a Piano" by poet Ted Blodgett, who has graciously granted permission for his work to be used in this context. Sienna Dahlen, the vocalist from the "Notes on Montreal" CD that received this year's Juno award for vocal jazz, has agreed to perform the works.

Author-poet Coleman Barks has also granted permission for his interpretations of Rumi's poems to be included as texts.

Interspersed among the vocal works are fourteen short instrumental vignettes to be performed by the brass quartet, one for each of the young women who were murdered.

This project has significance for me as a composer of vocal music, but also as a Canadian woman. Like many of the young women who were lost, I was born in the second half of the 1960's. I have often stopped to wonder what they might be doing now had their lives not been cut short. The 25th anniversary is significant because 25 years represents a generation of Canadians, and a generation is long enough to forget. For many, the event and its memorials have come to represent violence against women, and though this is important, I view this music project in larger terms. There are so many forms of violence in our society: against women, children, men, animals, the Earth, our very selves, and more. Simply put, we must learn to be good to each other, and in addition to the fourteen young women who lost their lives on December 6 - 1989, I dedicate this work to the good that resides in each of us.

NEWS: Permission received for use of Rumi translations

Am feeling lucky and lifted and lighter because I've just heard back from author-translator-poet Coleman Barks, who has written several books translating and rendering Jelaluddin Rumi's works for Western readers. Rumi was a 13th century Sufi mystic and poet, and Barks' interpretations of his works have been a deep well for me. I feel a huge relief at finally pinpointing what will be the closing movement of the requiem and knowing I may proceed with the text. Thank-you Mr. Barks!

About the École Polytechnique tragedy

The École Polytechnique Massacre, also known as the Montreal Massacre, occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Twenty-five-year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained Mini-14 rifle and a hunting knife, shot twenty-eight people before killing himself. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism" and calling the women "a bunch of feminists," he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. Overall, he killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men in just under twenty minutes before turning the gun on himself. Lépine was the son of a French-Canadian mother and an Algerian father, and had been physically abused by his father. His suicide note claimed political motives and blamed feminists for ruining his life. The note included a list of nineteen Quebec women whom Lépine considered to be feminists and apparently wished to kill.

Since the attack, Canadians have debated various interpretations of the events, their significance, and Lépine's motives. Many feminist groups and public officials have characterized the massacre as an anti-feminist attack that is representative of wider societal violence against women. Consequently, the anniversary of the massacre has since been commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action of Violence Against Women. Other interpretations emphasize Lépine's abuse as a child or suggest that the massacre was simply the isolated act of a madman, unrelated to larger social issues. Still other commentators have blamed violence in the media and increasing poverty, isolation, and alienation in society, particularly in immigrant communities.

The incident led to more stringent gun control laws in Canada. It also introduced changes in the tactical response of police to shootings, which were later credited with minimizing casualties at the Dawson College shootings.


Source: Wikipedia

The Fourteen Roses

Fourteen women:

• Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
• Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
• Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
• Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
• Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
• Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
• Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
• Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
• Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
• Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
• Barbara Klucznik Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student
  
  

  

  Plaque on the exterior wall of École Polytechnique commemorating the

  victims of the massacre. Memorial plate on the side of École Polytechnique.

Why the blog?

So many people have asked me about this project and have expressed a genuine interest in it. They have talked about how important it is to get the word out about this project. And they've also asked about the process of going about a project like this.

I'm so gratified by people's responses when they learn about "Requiem for Fourteen Roses", because it's a big undertaking, and I can't do it justice all by myself.

And it IS important to get the word out, because people will need to know about it in order for the project to get off the ground.

As far as the process goes, I don't think there is any one way of going about a project like this, but I'm glad to share the ups and downs along the way from my perspective as a composer. I've composed lots of music, but this is my first time taking on a full concert-length work, with a fixed and looming deadline, and a topic that is so important.

Truth is, I'm figuring it out as I go along. But I'm happy for the company along the way. Thanks for reading!