Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie's SONGS FOR MURDERED SISTERS Will Make U.S. Orchestral Premiere

On the morning of September 22, 2015, in Renfrew County, Ontario, one man went on a killing spree, brutally murdering three ex-partners in their separate homes. They were victims in a crime recognized as one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Canadian history. The murders devastated the rural Ottawa Valley community where baritone Joshua Hopkins grew up – his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, was one of these women. Hopkins has since set out on a journey to use his voice to wake people up to the global epidemic of gender-based violence – and their part in it. 

His call to action was answered by two exceptional creators. Jake Heggie agreed to write the music, and Margaret Atwood, the Booker Prize-winning author of more than 50 books of fiction and poetry, including The Handmaid’s Tale, wrote the searing words.

"I have known two women who were murdered, both by jealous former romantic partners, so the killing of Joshua’s sister resonated with me,” shares Atwood. “I made the ‘sisters’ plural because they are indeed – unhappily – very plural. Sisters, daughters, mothers. So many."

Released during the pandemic as a film and Juno-nominated album, Songs for Murdered Sisters was also the centerpiece of an emotional pilgrimage to communities across Ontario with Hopkins and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2023. The set of eight songs, described by BBC Music Magazine as “at once powerful and tender,” will now receive its long-awaited U.S. orchestral premiere in January 2025. Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead The Philadelphia Orchestra in performances of this impactful work at Philadelphia’s Marian Anderson Hall on January 9 and 11, 2025, and New York’s Carnegie Hall on January 15, 2025.

“For years, I felt numb about Nathalie’s murder – it was something too shocking to comprehend,” says Hopkins. “Margaret’s haunting words and Jake's extraordinary music helped me face this loss head-on and process it emotionally through my art. I am honored that Yannick has now chosen to champion this work, and I hope audiences are compelled to explore their own hearts and recognize that we all have a role to play in ending gender-based violence."

Hopkins hopes that sharing this harrowing story through song will inspire others – particularly men – to own their responsibility to end violence against women. He aims to motivate 10,000 men to take the White Ribbon Pledge, promising “never to commit, condone, or remain silent about all forms of gender-based violence.” Hopkins also shared his powerful testimony with a governmental inquest in Canada, convened to recommend policy changes to better protect survivors of intimate partner violence in rural communities. Since then, nearly 100 municipalities in Ontario have declared intimate partner violence to be an epidemic.

"It shouldn't have taken my sister's murder for me to be made aware for the first time how pervasive intimate partner violence is," Hopkins said.  "As a society, we seem to accept that men can't control themselves and we find it understandable when they exhibit unhealthy behaviors. It seems clear to me that this acceptance is one of the many negative outcomes of the deep-seated misogyny that is ingrained in our society."

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