Newswire | Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie confront gender-based violence with Songs for Murdered Sisters

OTTAWA, Canada – January 18, 2023 – Released during the pandemic as both a film and a Juno-nominated album, Songs for Murdered Sisters is “at once powerful and tender,” writes BBC Music Magazine. “The cycle ultimately transcends the terrible circumstances of its conception to offer both social activism and an affecting work of art.” The set of eight songs was created in response to one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Canadian history. On the morning of September 22, 2015, in Renfrew County, Ontario, one man went on a killing spree, brutally murdering three ex-partners in their separate homes. One of these women was Nathalie Warmerdam, the sister of Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins.

In his grief, Hopkins resolved to use his voice to wake people up to the global epidemic of gender-based violence – and their part in it. His call to action was answered by two exceptional creators. Jake Heggie, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as “the world’s most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer,” agreed to write the music, and Margaret Atwood, the Booker Prize-winning author of more than 50 books of fiction and poetry, including The Handmaid’s Tale, wrote the searing words.

Praised by Opera News as “a superb, timeless song cycle that resonates universally,” Songs for Murdered Sisters will finally receive its long-awaited orchestral world premiere this February. Hopkins will join Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, which co-commissioned the work with Houston Grand Opera, for performances across Ontario. Under the baton of Alexander Shelley, performances will take place at Southam Hall in Ottawa on February 9 and 10, 2023; at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto on February 11, 2023; and at the Isabel Bader Centre in Kingston on February 14, 2023.

The Kingston performance will be live-streamed for free internationally via the Isabel Digital Concert Hall. The performance will then be available to watch through February 21, 2023.

“I felt so numb after Nathalie’s murder,” says Hopkins. “But Margaret’s words and Jake’s music have created meaning, transforming my grief into a more peaceful and hopeful experience. I’m so grateful to be sharing this emotional pilgrimage with these communities in Ontario, close to where I grew up. I hope audiences are moved to look into their own hearts and recognize that we all have a role to play in ending gender-based violence.”

Hopkins hopes that sharing this harrowing story through song will inspire others – particularly men – to own their responsibility to end violence against women. Through a #WhiteRibbonSisters social media campaign, Hopkins aims to motivate 10,000 men to take the White Ribbon Pledge, promising “never to commit, condone, or remain silent about all forms of gender-based violence.” Take the pledge at whiteribbonsisters.com.

Songs for Murdered Sisters
Orchestral World Premiere

About Joshua Hopkins

Widely respected as one of the finest singer-actors of his generation, Juno Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins brings his “glistening, malleable baritone of exceptional beauty” (Opera Today) to a repertoire spanning four centuries. His versatile artistry is frequently on display on the stages of The Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Glyndebourne, Washington National Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company. His recent seasons have featured signature roles including Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title role in Billy Budd. In concert repertoire, he has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra.

About Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Dearly, her first collection of poetry in over a decade, was published November 2020. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. It is the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series. She lives in Toronto.

About Jake Heggie

Jake Heggie is the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking, Moby-Dick, It’s A Wonderful Life, If I Were You, Great Scott, and Three Decembers, among others. He has also composed nearly 300 songs, as well as chamber, choral and orchestral works. The operas – most created with Gene Scheer or the late Terrence McNally – have been produced on five continents. Dead Man Walking (McNally) recently received its 70th international production, making it the most-performed American opera of our time. New York’s Metropolitan Opera recently announced it will produce Dead Man Walking in a bold new production by director Ivo van Hove, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.