Musical Sustenance: GroundSwell opens 2024-25 season with new works for violin
This Sunday, September 15th at 7:30pm at St. Andrews River Heights United Church, Winnipeg’s GroundSwell is kicking off their 2024-25 season with a concert called Sustenance.
Miriam Webster defines Sustenance as “a means of support; nourishment...being supplied with the necessities of life; and something that gives support, endurance, and strength.
The concert on Sunday explores these themes as a reaction to the new life chapter born out of the days of isolation and silence that started in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
Created and curated by Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra violinist Elation Pauls, the Sustenance concert will feature one world premiere and five Manitoba premieres. It will highlight the music of David Braid, Serouj Kradjian, Karen Sunnabacka, Kelly-Marie Murphy amongst others.
This performance is in anticipation of Elation Pauls’ upcoming album called Sustenance that is due to be released later this fall, as part of a collaboration with SOCAN, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Pandemic as Catalyst
The Sustenance project came as a direct result of the pandemic. As Pauls explains, “During that time I was really searching for an avenue, a way of connecting... I started asking friends to send me music because I had nothing to play and nothing to practice...and it just of grew from there.”
The composers Pauls asked to send her music, just happened to be some of the finest and most prominent Canadian composers on the scene today. Pauls commissioned works from Composer/ Pianists David Braid, and Serouj Kradjian, Iman Habibi and Kelley-Marie Murphy. There were also a commissions that came in from Indigenous Cellist and composer Cris Derksen, and Metis cellist and composer Karen Sunabacka. This music would end up becoming the basis for Pauls’ CD called Sustenance that is due out later this fall.
Music about Necessities of life
One of the common themes that all the pieces dealt with was the necessities of life. Whether it be physical, psychological, or bolstering of the human spirit.
Physical needs are confronted head on in such as Iman Habibi’s piece Offering of Water, that deals with value and sacredness of water, and Cris Derksen’s piece Country Food for Violin and piano, which deals with the topic of food shortages in the North.
Psychological needs are touched on in Kelly-Marie Murphy’s piece FIRE-AND-ICE-BODIED-DOUBLED-UP-WITHDRAWAL-ANXIETY, that musically deals with the anxieties and fears created by the COVID lockdowns.
The need to have a balm for the soul, especially during challenging times, is crucial. David Braid’s work Three Songs for Violin and Piano and Serouj Kradjian’s piece Sari Aghtchig (Girl from the Mountain) serve to perfectly sooth the soul by giving both the performer and the audience beautiful melodies that they can enjoy and get lost in. As Pauls describes Braid’s melodies, “They are the sort of melodies that sort of play in your mind...after the recording session my mind was still working on them... they were still playing there.” In regards to Kradjian’s melodies she says, “It’s gorgeous, it is just gorgeous music.”
In addition to these pieces, there are also works on the program by Arvo Pärt, and Canadian composer and songwriter Carmen Brayden.
All of this new and wonderful music, will provide both Sustenance to the listener for both the mind and the soul, while at the same time celebrating the joy of being together and hearing live music, which is something none of us will ever take for granted now that the pandemic is in our rear-view window.
This is a concert that is not to be missed!
This show Sustenance takes place this Sunday, September 15th at 7:30pm at St. Andrews River Heights United Church.
For more details on GroundSwell's presentation of Sustenance click here
