Indigenous Artists Kick Off The Concert Season At Koerner Hall

Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Aysanabee has been added to Tanya Talaga's The Knowing book launch on September 23, presented in partnership with RamsayTalks. He will open and close the evening with brief performances.

Aysanabee is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter whose striking sound is equal parts hypnotic and melodic, which has been compared to Bon Iver, Matt Corby, Don Ross, Kim Churchill, Kings of Leon, and Sam Smith. His debut album Watin was followed by Here and Now, in which he moved towards his own experiences of love's end and his process of unflinching self-examination. In March 2024, Aysanabee made history as the first ever Indigenous Artist to win the Juno Awards for Alternative Album of the Year and the coveted Songwriter of the Year, for Here and Now. He followed up the wins with a memorable performance on the awards broadcast with a tribute to Robbie Robertson and Gordon Lightfoot alongside Allison Russell, William Prince, Julian Taylor, Shawnee Kish, Logan Staats, and the Rainbow Coalition.

Through her best-selling books, acclaimed documentaries and podcasts, her Globe and Mail columns and powerful lectures (including the 2018 CBC Massey Lecture), Talaga amplifies Indigenous voices and stories across Canada and the world. She offers audiences her deep knowledge of Indigenous culture and history, humanizing the legacy of colonization, and offering hope for a more equitable future.

Ms. Talaga will read from her book and discuss it, then participate in an interview with Mark Sakamoto, author of Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents, and answer questions from the audience. Each ticket includes admission to the event and a copy of The Knowing. Limited quantities of premium tickets include an exclusive pre-event reception with the author and a signed copy of The Knowing, along with a complimentary drink. 

For the third year, Indigenous artists gather at The Royal Conservatory to honour those affected by residential schools and offer hope for the future on October 1 in an event to Commemorate Truth and Reconciliation, as part of Culture Days. Co-curated by Denise Bolduc and Mervon Mehta, the evening features an Indigenous roster of artists.

As people arrive, they will be greeted by a big drum outside, in the Reta Lila Weston Music Court.

The event is hosted by the CBC's Falen Johnson. Johnson, Mohawk and Tuscarora from Six Nations Grand River Territory in Southern Ontario, is a playwright whose writing has been featured in the Brick, The Canadian Theatre Review, and Granta magazine. She has also written for television productions such as Urban Native Girl and Merchants of the Wild (APTN), and the 2020 Indspire Awards (CBC). Falen has guest hosted “Unreserved,” “Day 6,” “Helluva Story,” “What on Earth,” and “Q,” all with CBC Radio 1. Falen also produces and co-hosts the “Secret Life of Canada” with CBC Podcasts, which is now in its sixth season. 

The commemoration also includes a residential school survivor story; a performance by the Manitou Mkwa Singers, an all-female drum and vocal group; a set by Emma Pennell, a trailblazing two-spirit classically trained soprano with Mi'kmaw roots from South River, Northern Ontario, who is a student in the Artist Diploma Program at The Royal Conservatory's Glenn Gould School and the recipient of a full-tuition Temerty Foundation Scholarship, accompanied by pianist David Eliakis.

The headliners of the event will be two Polaris Prize-winning Indigenous artists – Lido Pimienta and Tanya Tagaq. Pimienta is a multidisciplinary visual artist, art critic, curator, composer, and musical producer of Afro-Indigenous (Wayuu) ancestry from Colombia, who was the first female of colour to ever compose an original score for the New York City Ballet Orchestra and is also the first ever black and Indigenous woman to be debuting as a TV host, writer, and creator of a network show, LIDO TV, a variety show that explores themes like feminism, colonialism, and success, with a hilarious twist and the help of puppets. Pimienta's music and visual work navigates politics of gender, race, motherhood, and the construct of the Canadian landscape in the South American diaspora and vernacular.

Internationally celebrated Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq performing Qiksaaktuq (Inuktitut word for grief) with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Jennifer Tung and Christine Duncan. Written by Tagaq, Duncan, and Jean Martin, the piece is dedicated to missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls, and those who grieve for them. From Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay, Nunavut), internationally celebrated artist Tanya Tagaq is an improvisational singer, avant-garde composer, and bestselling author. A member of the Order of Canada, Polaris Music Prize, Juno Award winner, and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates, Tagaq is an original disruptor, a world-changing figure at the forefront of seismic social, political, and environmental change. Dora Award nominated Chinese-Canadian conductor (Gould's Wall) Jennifer Tung leads a uniquely versatile career as a conductor, collaborative pianist, and soprano. She is Artistic Director of Toronto City Opera, Assistant Conductor of Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, and was named a conducting fellow with Tapestry Opera's Women in Musical Leadership in 2020.

A Postlude concert in the Leslie & Anna Dan Galleria, will follow the Koerner Hall event with Layla Staats, a Mohawk, Turtle Clan from the Six Nations of the Grand River activist, musician, film maker, and change artist.

Additionally, during the evening, the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto will set up a marketplace in the Leslie & Anna Dan Galleria where the audience will be able to purchase a wide selection of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit handcrafted jewelry as well as many beautiful gift ideas.

The Royal Conservatory is proud of its consistent record of engagement with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people, its work with underserved youth in low-income communities, its work with new Canadians, and in uniting all Canadians through music and the arts. In Koerner Hall, Indigenous artists such as Tomson Highway, Tanya Tagaq, Richard Van Camp, The Jerry Cans, Sarain Fox, Nimkii and the Niniis, Rebecca Cuddy, Ian Cusson, Elliot Britton, Andrew McAnsh, Susan Aglukark, Lacy Hill, and Buffy Sainte-Marie have shared their work, and several of those have received Honorary Fellowships.

In addition to the Truth and Reconciliation event and Tanya Talaga's book launch outlined above, this season we also welcome three Indigenous artists as part of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods in concert on December 28, 29, 30, and 31: Nicole Joy-Fraser (Cinderella's Stepmother), an actor, singer, and dancer of mixed Cree and European descent who has performed for some of Canada's leading Indigenous theatre companies, Emma Pennell (Cinderella's Mother) who is also performing in the Commemorate Truth and Reconciliation Day on October 1, and an Anishnawbe Ojibwe storyteller from Garden River First Nation in Ontario Dillan Chiblow (Rapunzel's Prince).

The National Residential School Crisis Line is available at all times, free of charge: 1-866-925-4419. Free support is also available through the Hope for Wellness chatline at 1-800-721-0066.

Tanya Talaga: The Knowing

Monday, September 23, 2024 at 7pm; Koerner Hall; from $60

Commemorate Truth & Reconciliation

with Tanya Tagaq, Lido Pimienta, and others

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 8pm; Koerner Hall; from $45

The Royal Conservatory of Music

TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto

A limited number of Rush Tickets are available starting 3 hours before all performances presented by The Royal Conservatory. Ticket prices will vary.

Rush Tickets are limited to two tickets per person. 

Seat locations are assigned at the discretion of the box office and locations may vary.

Rush Tickets are available by phone only, on a first-come first-served basis.

Tickets and subscriptions are available online at www.rcmusic.com/performance, by calling 416.408.0208, or in person at the Weston Family Box Office

To post a comment, you must register and login.