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Welcome to La Scena Musicale’s weekly Highlights, a roundup of classical music news from Canada and beyond. The country has been left wondering about the identity of singer-songwriter and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie after a CBC investigation unearthed evidence that contradicts her decades-old claims to Indigenous heritage. Meanwhile, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has partnered with a French record label, and applications for the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School have opened.
Buffy Sainte-Marie “pretendian” allegations
The CBC article and accompanying Fifth Estate investigation, published on Oct. 27, feature experts who claim Sainte-Marie’s comments in interviews are consistent with those of “pretendians”, people who appropriate Indigenous culture by falsely claiming to be a member of their communities, often for social or financial gain. Although she was traditionally adopted into a Piapot Cree Nation family around 60 years ago, the publication presents testimonies from Sainte-Marie’s family alongside her birth certificate and marriage license that appear to disprove some of the singer-songwriter’s claims to Indigenous identity.
A day before the investigation went public, Sainte-Marie released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, denying the claims to come: “I have always struggled to answer questions about who I am… I may not know where I was born, but I know who I am.”
This wasn’t enough for some community members. Indigenous Women’s Collective has since called Sainte-Marie’s 2018 Juno Award for Indigenous album of the year to be rescinded.
“Based on the overwhelming evidence presented, we believe that Buffy Sainte-Marie engaged in a great deception regarding her origin story,” reads the collective’s statement on X. “We invite the Juno Awards to revisit this 2018 category and explore ways of righting a past wrong.”
Issiqut Anguk, sister of late Indigenous artist Kelly Fraser who was nominated for the same 2018 Juno Award, made a post on Facebook after the story was released: “I miss my baby sister so much. She respected Buffy so much and it hurts to hear that maybe, just maybe it would’ve changed Kelly’s life. If she won the Juno award and Buffy didn’t.”
In an interview with CBC, Cree writer Michelle Good says these revelations mean Sainte-Marie has “some work to do in terms of sorting all of this out,” but believes the claims don’t invalidate all the good she’s done for Indigenous communities.
“When you stood in a concert with Buffy going wild with her amazing music and her amazing presentation, your feeling was real. You don’t have to give up that feeling that you had,” Good says. “You don’t have to give up your admiration for the talent and for the encouragement that she gave Indigenous people.”
Recent and Upcoming Shows
The Coup de Coeur Francophone festival is on from Nov. 2 to 12 in Montreal. Check out La Presse’s artist roundup to discover who’s playing.
Société du philharmonique du Nouveau Monde is performing Mozart’s Requiem at the Notre-Dame basilica (Ludwig Van) on Nov. 4. The performance will feature around 200 musicians, including soprano Ania Hejnar and bass-baritone Alexandre Sylvestre.
Toronto’s New Orford String Quartet is launching its 2023-2024 season with a Nov. 5 concert (Ludwig Van) featuring works by Beethoven, Ravel, and Ana Slokovic.
The New Orford String Quartet
On Nov. 18, Vancouver New Music will present the provincial premiere of Voiceless Mass (Stir), which does away with the church choir to allow the instruments to take centre stage. It’s written by Raven Chacon, the first Indigenous Pulitzer Prize-winner in music.
Recordings
Toronto Symphony Orchestra will be partnering with French record label Harmonia mundi (CBC) to produce several albums over the next three years. A live recording of Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen, featuring pianist Marc-André Hamelin and conductor Gustavo Gimeno, will be released on Feb. 2 next year. Albums for Pulcinella, by Stravinsky, and The Miraculous Mandarin, by Bela Bartók, will follow.
Awards, Appointments, and Competitions
Calgary Opera performing at the Banff Centre (Photo by Don Lee/The Banff Centre)
Paul Baay has been appointed the temporary administrator at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. This comes after the Alberta government purged Banff Centre’s 10 board members, who disagreed on how to handle a 2022 workplace harassment complaint the former CEO filed against a board member.
Yair Klartag, Josef Bardanashvili, and Jordan Nobles have won this year’s Azrieli Music Prizes. Juan Trigos is also the first ever laureate of the Azrieli Commission for International Music, which is awarded to a composer whose proposed work engages with their diverse cultural heritage.
Local News
Until Dec. 1, applications for the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School are open. Enrolment is limited to 130 students a year.
The Royal Conservatory Building (image courtesy of The Royal Conservatory of Music)
In a four-part series, La Presse explores the ins and outs of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s audition process.
What does Gen Z think of classical music? Live concerts, social media presence, and classical-pop fusions could provide the answers, according to Trill Mag.
Houston Grand Opera is partnering with Apple Music Classical to bring their music to “a worldwide audience,” the ensemble’s general director said in a press release. This marks the second classical ensemble to partner with Apple.
Obituary
Composer and conductor for Tel Aviv’s Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Arieh Levanon (Slipped Disc), has passed away at 91.
Tigran Alikhanov (Balalaika), head of the Department of Chamber Ensemble and Quartet at Moscow Conservatoire, died at 80 last week.
Zdeněk Mácal (The Violin Channel), a Czech conductor of over 170 orchestral performances, has died at the age of 87.
Marina Considera (Slipped Disc), a leading Brazil soprano born in England, has succumbed to cancer at 46.
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This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Francais (French)
