VANCOUVER, B.C.– Vancouver’s acclaimed vocal ensemble, musica intima, welcomes two of Canada’s most distinctive Indigenous musical voices. Cree composer Andrew Balfour and Cree-Dene educator and composer Sherryl Sewepagaham will join the ensemble as guest singers for mâmowintowin: a gathering on 7pm, August 14 at West Vancouver United Church and 7:30pm, August 15 at Vancouver Unitarians. The two concerts will be recorded live for an album release planned for Spring 2027.
The evening opens with Andrew Balfour’s Missa Tekakwitha: The Seven Stones of Grandfather’s Prophecies, a monumental seven-movement work inspired by Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first female Indigenous saint. Sung entirely in Mohawk, Balfour joins musica intima as a guest singer in the performance of his own work, bringing his composer’s perspective directly to the stage. Balfour first encountered the story of Kateri Tekakwitha while visiting Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montréal with his late wife in 2018. “I thought, ‘Who’s that? I’ve never heard of her.’ Since then, I’ve been fascinated and interested in the complexities involved in her being an Indigenous woman, a
Catholic saint, and all those deeper issues of colonization and what she means to different people.”
The second half of the concert celebrates the music of Sherryl Sewepagaham, whose Cree-language works have become favourites with choirs across Canada. Rooted in Cree language, family, and the natural world, her music reflects both personal lived experience and cultural tradition. Joining musica intima as a guest singer, Sewepagaham performs in mîtosak (Trees), yôtin (The Wind), mîskanaw (The Road), picikîsksîs (Chickadee Chant), The Sleepy Song, and okâwîmâw askîy (Mother Earth).
Named after the Cree word meaning “to gather,” mâmowintowin brings together languages, cultures, histories, and musical traditions while celebrating two artists whose voices continue to shape Canada’s choral landscape.
Visit www.musicaintima.org for more information and tickets.
