Noteworthy

By Kelly Boutsalis

Wolastoqiyik song carrier, composer, ethnomusicologist, and classically trained vocalist Jeremy Dutcher knows the importance of seeing contemporary artists merging Western and Indigenous ways on stage. 

About eight years ago, Dutcher—a member of the Tobique First Nation and a Two-Spirit artist—watched Cree cellist and composer Cris Derksen perform on a national broadcast of the Indspire Awards. That moment “unlocked a door.”

“It was such a light to realize that maybe you don’t have to choose between this kind of music or that kind of music, and it’s the blending that is the most beautiful thing ever,” he says.

On June 21, during Pride Month and on National Indigenous Peoples Day, Dutcher will perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lucas Waldin, in a celebratory concert.

Dutcher belongs to what he describes as a “very small cohort” of Indigenous People in classical music. This cohort includes Andrew Balfour, Sonny-Ray Day Rider, and Melody McKiver, who are tight-knit and supportive of each other’s work. In a full-circle moment, a performance of Derksen’s piece Round Dance will kick off the second half of the program.

“It’s a real moment right now in this fusion space [with] classical music,” Dutcher says. “It’s different than when I encountered that blending in school. It was always from the outside perspective, taking our melodies or an instrument from our culture and putting it into the orchestral setting. It’s a way to do it, but, for me, it’s not really honouring an equal partnership. As much as we can resist that extraction and create in our own landscape and in our own ways of knowing, for me, that’s where the sauce is.”

The gravity of the date of his special TSO performance is not taken lightly by the musician, even though he jokes that June is his month. 

“Get out of my way. It’s Pride. It’s Indigenous Peoples Day,” he says, before turning serious. “It’s cool to be in this cultural moment where we’re thinking about who’s been left out—up until very recently, queer and Indigenous voices have not been heard in an authentic way. That’s why it’s important to be in those spaces, as somebody who was raised with culture and was guided by elders, knowledge keepers, and matriarchs to hold that space and say we’re here too.”

Dutcher holds space in his music, blending his community’s traditional songs with his operatic tenor training. He did this to wide acclaim in his 2018 début album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, which brought together ancestral voices singing in Wolastoqey—preserved on wax cylinders from the early 1900s—and his own operatic voice and piano. That album picked up a JUNO Award and a Polaris Music Prize, the latter of which he won again for his second album, Motewolonuwok. This album features an expanded orchestra—led by fellow Polaris winner Owen Pallett—a choir, experimental pop and jazz, and singing in both English and Wolastoqey. 

Attendees of his upcoming performance can expect songs from both albums, which are expanded upon and translated into something much larger for the TSO space. He credits those who helped him transform his albums for the concert hall: Lucas Waldin, who arranged the first album for orchestra, and Bram Gielen, who arranged the second. Dutcher will also perform a few features with the orchestra by some of the musician’s favourite Indigenous composers. 

“Especially in the classical music space, we tend to venerate these, honestly, white European men,” says Dutcher. The night of June 21 will instead be about acknowledging the community that has brought the evening together, the arrangers, the orchestra, Dutcher’s peers, and the Indigenous language speakers and community. 

Speaking and singing in Wolastoqey, an endangered language with fewer than 500 speakers, is core to Dutcher’s work. He finds it to be a fundamental problem that he can’t turn on a radio and hear Wolastoqey speakers. His way of addressing the silence? Bringing the language to life on venerated stages, like Roy Thomson Hall. 

“These languages come from here, and they only live here,” he says. “It's not just words. They are distinct philosophies that come from this place and are intrinsically tied to the land. When we speak our language, we connect ourselves back into that space.” His mother, who started the first immersion school for the language, will be in attendance for Dutcher’s performance. “She’s not going to miss her baby singing and playing with the symphony. Come on!”

It’s a dream to perform with an ensemble at the level of the TSO, he says, adding that bringing Indigenous languages into the space is a win. 

“It’s a statement of resilience, that we’re still here. It’s super specific to [Indigenous Peoples], but we all have that story of resilience. It’s a human story,” he says. “I hope even non-Indigenous people can see themselves reflected in that and can find some kind of truth.”

And yes, there will be fashion. Known for showing up in jaw-dropping outfits by the likes of multidisciplinary Anishinaabe/French artist Caroline Monnet and gender-nonconforming brand L’Uomo Strano, Dutcher promises it will be “stunning.”

His style is an important part of his performance—beautiful sounds need to be paired with beautiful visuals—which may be an unexpected element for the classical world. “A lot of people are assumed to be male, so you have a suit option where you could get a little creative with your tie, but that’s not going to cut it for me.”

“I grew up as a shaved-head weirdo in New Brunswick—we didn’t have access to fashion,” he laughs. “When I first got to Toronto, it allowed me to up my game, and be playful with what I wear. I try to celebrate that whenever I can.”

Long braids. Technicolour outfits. A voice that bridges centuries. This is a concert that holds space—for identity, community, and joy.

Join Jeremy Dutcher and your TSO for a one-night-only Special Performance during Pride and National Indigenous Peoples Day. Saturday, June 21 at 8:00pm at Roy Thomson Hall. Get your tickets now at TSO.CA.

Make a night of it with our Summer Solstice Party on the Roy Thomson Hall patio after the performance—featuring a DJ, light bites, a complimentary drink, and the chance to mingle with Jeremy and TSO musicians. Learn more at TSO.CA/SolsticeParty.