Journey to a Collaborative World Premiere

by Sara Joy

Thanks to the AC Innovation grant, students in the Appleby Choir and vocal program will premiere a new work commissioned from Sherryl Sewepagaham in collaboration with high school students in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. The origins of this project can be traced back to December 2019 when I began teaching virtual vocal lessons with students at Nisichawayasihk Neyo Ohtinwak Collegiate (NNOC). At first, I was flabbergasted by the challenge of teaching vocal music online, but a few months after this program started, everything moved online so I became much more comfortable teaching in this environment. As I got to know the students at NNOC over the next two years, I started considering how to launch a project that could be a valuable collaborative experience for both NNOC and Appleby students.

Students in the Appleby Choir and vocal program will premiere a new work commissioned from Sherryl Sewepagaham in collaboration with high school students in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation.

During the school years so heavily affected by the pandemic, I had a lot of time to think about areas of growth for the music program at Appleby and one area stuck in my mind: commissioning new works from contemporary Canadian composers. Not only can we support current Canadian artists through commissioning, but we can also take an active role in supporting the development and championing of Canadian music. As I was thinking of this project, I started listening to new music from contemporary composers and attending workshop presentations about new Canadian choral pieces. In May 2022, I was thrilled to attend a conference where Sherryl Sewepagaham was presenting and, later that spring, I studied two of her pieces in a choral setting. Sherryl is Cree-Dene from the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta. She is an educator, musician, workshop leader, and composer. Her 23-year career with the Indigenous women’s trio Asani earned a Juno nomination and a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2010. Sherryl writes choral arrangements in Cree for children, youth, and adult choirs, and is an advocate for language revitalization through the arts. Her compositions are accessible for high school choirs, and I loved singing her music with a choir. 

Not only can we support current Canadian artists through commissioning, but we can also take an active role in supporting the development and championing of Canadian music     

After I received the news that I was a recipient of one of the AC Innovation grants, I reached out to Sherryl to see if she was available and interested in this collaborative project – and I was excited to hear that she was interested. Sherryl and I connected over the phone to talk through the project and the logistics of this collaborative work. Though Sherryl speaks a different dialect of Cree (Woodland) than the students at NNOC (Rocky), she decided that this composition would have a mix of both dialects. The composition is set to be completed by January of 2023 and then students from Appleby and NNOC will have the chance to learn directly from Sherryl in three virtual workshops leading up to the premiere in the spring of 2023. I’m grateful for this collaborative opportunity and I look forward to sharing more of this journey with the Appleby community.