Nelson performance benefits Jumbo awareness Two public performances of Requiem for a Glacier will take place on Thursday, July 25th at 6:30 pm and 8:30pm at the Nelson United Church, 602 Silica Street in Nelson, BC.
The Requiem is an oratorio in four parts, composed by artist Paul Walde and performed by the Requiem Volunteer Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of Ajtony Csaba, conductor of the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and are available at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson, at Sunnyside Naturals in Kaslo, or online at www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca.
All proceeds from this event will fund a performance on a glacier later this month, to raise awareness about climate change and resort development. For more information about this project, or to make a donation, please visit www.indiegogo.com and search Requiem for a Glacier. (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/requiem-for-a-glacier)
Requiem for a Glacier is a 4 movement oratorio composed by Victoria-based artist Paul Walde. The requiem is the most recent and ambitious work by Walde, whose work explores the interconnectedness between landscape, identity and technology. The performance has been conceived for the glacier alone; there will be no audience, other than those contributing to the presentation.
To bring such a large-scale work to fruition Walde is collaborating with a team of roughly 100 people. In addition to the forty-person choir and the thirty-person orchestra, there will be a conductor, a soloist, mountaineers, a film crew, writers, journalists and photographers in attendance. All of the musicians will gather in Nelson for a three-day workshop during the last week of July under the direction of Ajtony Csaba, conductor of the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Central European Chamber orchestra.
Walde and arts curator Kiara Lynch’s recent call for musicians and volunteers was met with overwhelming support by Kootenay residents. “The community response has been enormous, and we hope the response to the Indiegogo campaign will be just as strong,” says Lynch, who is independently curating this project with the support of the Langham Cultural Centre in Kaslo and Oxygen Art Centre in Nelson where the work will be exhibited in October 2013, and January 2014 and the support of the Nelson Civic Theatre.
Located in the Purcell Mountain Range in eastern British Columbia, the Jumbo Glacial Range or Qat’muk, is a high altitude range of five glaciers that have been spared some of the environmental degradation of other glaciers due to its altitude. However with continued global warming, this geographical advantage will soon be lost and in fact the glaciers are already in retreat. To compound matters a $450M resort proposal has recently been given final provincial governmental approval. As Professor David Schindler of the University of Alberta warns, “ski lifts and skier traffic on the surface of Jumbo Glacier will hasten its melting, and compromise one of the important headwater sources of the Columbia River system”.
Area residents have been vocal in their opposition to the proposed development of a year-round resort at Jumbo Glacier. The local Ktunaxa First Nation have declared themselves “expressly opposed” to the development, as have many environmental groups. “I strongly believe that the arts are one of the most powerful tools available to us to respond to issues of concern to our society”, says Lynch. “Our hope is that the ambitious and spectacular nature of this performance will serve to broadcast the message outside this region: Jumbo is too precious to lose to development. Of course the umbrella issue is climate change and the unprecedented rate at which these 10,000 year old glaciers are melting.”
For more info contact: requiemforaglacier@gmail.com
Nelson performance benefits Jumbo awareness
Two public performances of Requiem for a Glacier will take place on Thursday, July 25th at 6:30 pm and 8:30pm at the Nelson United Church, 602 Silica Street in Nelson, BC. The Requiem is an oratorio in four parts, composed by artist Paul Walde and performed by the Requiem Volunteer Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of Ajtony Csaba, conductor of the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and are available at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson, at Sunnyside Naturals in Kaslo, or online at www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca.
All proceeds from this event will fund a performance on a glacier later this month, to raise awareness about climate change and resort development. For more information about this project, or to make a donation, please visit www.indiegogo.com and search Requiem for a Glacier. (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/requiem-for-a-glacier)
Requiem for a Glacier is a 4 movement oratorio composed by Victoria-based artist Paul Walde. The requiem is the most recent and ambitious work by Walde, whose work explores the interconnectedness between landscape, identity and technology. The performance has been conceived for the glacier alone; there will be no audience, other than those contributing to the presentation.
To bring such a large-scale work to fruition Walde is collaborating with a team of roughly 100 people. In addition to the forty-person choir and the thirty-person orchestra, there will be a conductor, a soloist, mountaineers, a film crew, writers, journalists and photographers in attendance. All of the musicians will gather in Nelson for a three-day workshop during the last week of July under the direction of Ajtony Csaba, conductor of the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Central European Chamber orchestra.
Walde and arts curator Kiara Lynch’s recent call for musicians and volunteers was met with overwhelming support by Kootenay residents. “The community response has been enormous, and we hope the response to the Indiegogo campaign will be just as strong,” says Lynch, who is independently curating this project with the support of the Langham Cultural Centre in Kaslo and Oxygen Art Centre in Nelson where the work will be exhibited in October 2013, and January 2014 and the support of the Nelson Civic Theatre.
Located in the Purcell Mountain Range in eastern British Columbia, the Jumbo Glacial Range or Qat’muk, is a high altitude range of five glaciers that have been spared some of the environmental degradation of other glaciers due to its altitude. However with continued global warming, this geographical advantage will soon be lost and in fact the glaciers are already in retreat. To compound matters a $450M resort proposal has recently been given final provincial governmental approval. As Professor David Schindler of the University of Alberta warns, “ski lifts and skier traffic on the surface of Jumbo Glacier will hasten its melting, and compromise one of the important headwater sources of the Columbia River system”.
Area residents have been vocal in their opposition to the proposed development of a year-round resort at Jumbo Glacier. The local Ktunaxa First Nation have declared themselves “expressly opposed” to the development, as have many environmental groups.
“I strongly believe that the arts are one of the most powerful tools available to us to respond to issues of concern to our society”, says Lynch. “Our hope is that the ambitious and spectacular nature of this performance will serve to broadcast the message outside this region: Jumbo is too precious to lose to development. Of course the umbrella issue is climate change and the unprecedented rate at which these 10,000 year old glaciers are melting.”
For more info contact: requiemforaglacier@gmail.com
