Canadian Winterreise Winter Journey

Donation protected

It's long been a passion of mine to bring a large scale music work inspired by Schubert's Winterreise song cycle to fruition here in Canada. Winter is, after all, a major defining element in our culture as Canadians. A Canadian Winterreise will use Canadian landscape as a metaphor for a woman in the Winter of her life.

The work will be a monodrama 75 minutes in length and written for Piano and Mezzo Soprano. Marianne Jones, poet and author from Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Lavinia Kell Parker, composer from Lethbridge, Alberta, have enthusiastically agreed to join me on this endeavour. Marianne is a wonderful poet and a septuagenarian uniquely qualified to bleed words appropriate for the experiences of her generation. In turn, Lavinia's genius as a composer and her compassion and connection with Marianne's poetry make her uniquely qualified to set Marianne's words to music.

I'm very excited about this project, for the subject matter, its relevance to the largely unvoiced stories of a significant group of Canadians, and for the love and respect it will show them by making sure they are seen.

Costs are significant with such a large scale project. Grant writing is happening but cannot cover the full cost. Donations are gratefully received.