6 Indigenous composers you need to know in 2024
Meet the incredible composers who are championing new stories in Canada's music scene
Written by Sami Anguaya
Whether you're a choral music lover, an opera superfan or just looking for something exciting and fresh, these six talented Indigenous composers have you covered with their bold and innovative new music.
Their works explore the intersections of genre, celebrate the reclamation of traditional languages and forge musical paths to the future.
Read on to discover the rich tapestry of cultures, inspirations and stories these composers are representing in their latest projects, and learn what lies in store for them in 2024 and beyond.
Sonny-Ray Day Rider
Sonny-Ray Day Rider is an emerging Blackfoot composer from the Kainai Blood Tribe who explores emotionality, ceremony and his connection to nature through his work. Fresh out of his master's from the University of Lethbridge, Rider has hit the ground running in his creative stride, garnering recent commissions and being named one of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's three Next Gen composers for its 2024-25 season.
Exploring Indigenous methodologies in his music rather than strictly adhering to a "traditional" sound palette, Rider's work invites listeners to dive beneath the surface to uncover hidden stories and inspirations. His recent cycle of pieces, The Blood Song Winter Count, is a prime example. Here, Rider explores the complex nature of grief through winter count, a method of pictorial record-keeping by the Kainai people. Rather than using images, Rider creates a series of sonic symbols to guide listeners through his own personal stories of grief, love and loss. Listen to the Calgary Philharmonic's rendition of The Blood Alchemist Wateraga, one of the stunning pieces that make up Rider's The Blood Song Winter Count, streaming above.
Olivia Shortt
A lone performer walks onto the stage, colourful makeup, a bright glittering blazer and a saxophone. Slowly, they begin looping short phrases into their microphone; sliding vocals coupled with deep saxophone riffs. The texture gets thicker, atmospheric and a bit unsettling. As the music continues, the audience is suddenly braced with a new and dramatic element of Olivia Shortt's Makwa, a projected short film starring cute cats, abstract visuals and a dreamlike dialogue of philosophical musings.
It's this effortless combination of sonic exploration and unabashed creativity that earns Shortt's many titles beyond that of just a composer. This Anishinaabe curator, noisemaker, storyteller and self-described "trouble-maker" is a force of nature in the North American new-music scene, working with ensembles like Jack Quartet and opera houses such as the COC, Long Beach Opera and Probably Theatre. In 2024, Shortt was appointed Carleton University's artist in residence and will be performing a string of exciting festivals and concerts during the summer months. Catch both Shortt and their work at the upcoming Cluster new-music festival in Winnipeg, and at the eighth annual 2-Spirit Cabaret hosted by Buddies in Bad Times Theater in Toronto.
Sherryl Sewepagaham
A rising star in the Canadian choral scene, Sherryl Sewepagaham uses her music as a powerful tool to reclaim and uplift the Cree language. Combining her experience as a professional performer (Asani trio) with her background as a music educator, Sewepagaham creates deeply intuitive and vibrant works that bring the Cree language and musical practices to classical ensembles, classrooms and concert halls across the country. In 2023, Sewepagaham was commissioned by the Kodály Society of Canada to compose "Mahti Mamawi Nikamotan" ("Let's All Sing Together"), and this year, her work was brought to the biennial Podium choral festival by the Juno-nominated ensemble musica intima.
As with many of Sewepagaham's works, "Mahti Mamawi Nikamotan" not only provides singers with an exciting and joyful singing experience, but an invaluable lesson in the values found in Cree culture. The piece calls on people from all walks of life to sing together, acknowledging and celebrating the connection between young and old.
Ian Cusson
"I'm a big fan of operas that use music to tell the story just as much as the text," says Métis and French Canadian composer Ian Cusson, and if you've seen his and librettist Kanika Ambrose's recent history-making production, Of the Sea (2023), you'll know this quote rings true. Combining African mythology with the painful history of the slave trade, Of the Sea tells the story of a father and daughter who find themselves in a magical underwater kingdom after being thrown overboard during transport over the middle passage. Here, Cusson masterfully paints both the physicality of the opera's oceanic world alongside the hope and heartache felt by each of the central characters. From moments of quiet reflection to the unbridled rage of a violent storm, Cusson's music flows with an exciting mix of sensitivity and power.
If you're a fan of Cusson, you'll have much to look forward to in 2024. As part of the Art of Healing program, Cusson will receive his TSO premiere with his piece Ikiru. Cusson also has several new operas in the works, including an adaptation of Thomas King's novel Indians on Vacation produced by Toronto's Against the Grain Theatre, set to hit stages in 2025.
Jeremy Dutcher
After the acclaim of his first album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa in 2018, Jeremy Dutcher is back with his sophomore release, Motewolonuwok (October 2023) — a stunning combination of languages, instrumentations and musical inspirations culminating in the composer's most intimate work to date. Dutcher, who's Wolastoqiyik from Tobique First Nation, is keeping busy in 2024, bringing this masterful second album to both Canadian and international stages, embarking on an exciting summer tour with stops at the NAC, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and many more exciting venues.
Described by Dutcher as a "personal excavation," Motewolonuwok is powerful, inspiring and at times, deeply painful. Through a soaring exploration of Indigenous land sovereignty in the album's opening track, "Skicinuwihuk," to the sombre brass accompaniment depicting the tragedies of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples in "The Land That Held Them," Dutcher invites his audience to listen and learn from Motewolonuwok's captivating collection of sonic stories.
Cris Derksen
Driving drum-machine beats, soaring electric cello lines and a deep understanding of how to "braid the traditional and contemporary" together to create something new — these are the musical characteristics composer and performer Cris Derksen brought to the Carnegie Hall stage this year with her piece Controlled Burn. Commissioned by Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Controlled Burn is a dramatic and energetic piece inspired by the ancient practice of selectively burning portions of a forest to prevent larger and more unwieldy forest fires later on. To see Derksen, who's from the NorthTall Cree Reserve in Treaty 8 territory, achieve this incredible milestone in her career is truly impressive, but what is even more impressive is Derksen's ability to remain unapologetically herself despite the "prestige" of the concert hall she finds herself in. Quoted as wanting to "bring the cello to street-level" through grounded sounds, contemporary techniques and by embracing the multiplicity of her musical heritage, Derksen truly builds bridges with her work, and the world is better for it.
Derksen will perform this summer as part of the Ottawa Chamber Fest, and Controlled Burn will be hitting Canadian stages with the Saskatoon Symphony in 2024 and the Calgary Philharmonic in 2025.