Intermountain Opera Bozeman Presents Streaming Video Of Works By Indigenous Composers & Performed By Indigenous Artists
The program featured traditional Native American songs performed alongside contemporary opera written by living Indigenous composers and poets.
By: Stephi Wild Jun. 01, 2021
Intermountain Opera Bozeman has announced the streaming video recording of Circle of Resilience - a recital of vocal works written by Indigenous composers and performed by Indigenous artists. Made possible by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, the streamed video will be available on the Intermountain Opera Bozeman website (www.intermountainopera.org) on June 16-30, 2021. two performances are scheduled on Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15 at the Rockin' TJ Ranch in Bozeman.
"This recital series sought to demonstrate how rich, creative, and active the Indigenous musical landscape is today. Montana has one of the highest populations of Native Americans per capita of any state," says IOB's Interim Artistic Director Michael Sakir. "There are few opera companies better suited to present this program than Intermountain Opera Bozeman."
Programming for Circle of Resilience was curated by Emmy Award-winning composer Jerod Tate (Chickasaw) along with Timothy Long (Muskogee), Music Director of the prestigious Eastman School of Music's Opera Department.
Long is keenly aware of the lack of Native American representation in the opera industry. "In my world, I am the first and only Native most people know," Long says. "If people don't know Native Americans, then they don't have any humanity for us."
Originally performed live on May 14 & 15, the program featured traditional Native American songs performed alongside contemporary opera written by living Indigenous composers and poets.
"We also wanted to demonstrate the scope of the performers' talent," adds Sakir. "The singers performed their favorite Italian arias from operas like Tosca and Rigoletto. These are multi-faceted and multi-talented professionals who sing everything beautifully."
Performers included baritone Grant Youngblood (Lumbee) whose credits include The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Tenor and trans-activist Holden Madagame (Odawa) has been featured in the New York Times and is a regular soloist in opera houses throughout Europe. Hailed as an "outstanding singing actress" with a "beautiful, ethereal, fiery" voice, soprano Kirsten Kunkle (Muskogee) recently made her Carnegie Hall debut and has also appeared with the Toledo Symphony, Wilmington Concert Opera, and OperaLancaster. Mezzo-soprano Katelynn Morton (Cherokee) is a recipient of the 2021 Timothy Long Prize and 2019 President's Scholarship at Oklahoma City University where she majors in vocal performance and Spanish. Bozeman's own musician and educator Shane Doyle (Crow) will round out the program with traditional Native songs and drumming.
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