SPHERE is a multi-disciplinary festival that spotlights connections between art, humanity, and nature, and takes place in Ottawa between September 10 and 20. The 2024 edition of SPHERE turns its focus to rivers and waterways, and offers a series of performances, talks, visual arts exhibitions, and more.
The National Arts Centre opens the festival, and the 2024-2025 season, with the world premiere of UAQUE in Southam Hall.
Selected Highlights
The festival includes a range of events and activities, including family-friendly fun, talks, and free events, including the finale celebration on September 20. Here’s a look at just a few of the concerts that are in store.
UAQUE (September 10 & 11)
NAC Dance and NAC Orchestra co-commission
The SPHERE festival opens with UAQUE by Colombian-Canadian choreographer Andrea Peña & Artists, a work that blurs the lines between dance, visual arts and music. UAQUE means “kin, relative, neighbour, friend” in the Indigenous Muisca language from Peña’s native Colombia. The music will alternate between orchestral selections performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and electronic pieces composed by Eƨƨe Ran, with striking visuals by internationally acclaimed Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky.
Electronic music experimentalist and techno producer Eƨƨe Ran, aka Félix Gourd, is based in Montréal. He has become known for his hardware live sets, and is the co-founder of Humidex records.
Edward Burtynsky’s work highlights the impact of humanity on the natural landscape. The native of St. Catherines, Ontario, has become known worldwide for his large format images of industrial landscapes. His images accentuate the performance by ten dancers and live accompaniment by the NAC Orchestra and conductor Alexander Shelley.
Jeremy Dutcher with the NAC Orchestra (September 13)
Jeremy Dutcher will perform works from his latest album Motewolonuwok live in Southam Hall with the NAC Orchestra. It’s been more than five years since Jeremy shot to international fame with his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, winner of both the Polaris Music Prize and a JUNO Award. Motewolonuwok is Dutcher’s first album written and performed in English, with a message about collective healing and connections.
Renée Fleming: Voice of Nature (September 20)
Alexander Shelley and the NAC Orchestra accompany three exceptional women artists in a tribute to nature that crosses musical borders.
American soprano Renée Fleming is a GRAMMY Award-winning artist, and she’s bringing a repertoire built on her album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene to perform onstage as a new multimedia work. It includes an original film that was created for this performance by the National Geographic Society.
The renowned soprano will sing works that range from Handel to The Lord of the Rings to Burt Bacharach, Björk, and back again. Her performance will be accompanied by videos that capture the world’s diverse landscapes, and illustrate our relationship with nature in all its complexities.
Guest artists include pianist and environmental activist Mahani Teave. The native of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) will be making her Ottawa debut to perform Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
Maestro Kala Ramnath is the lates of a line of seven generations of musicians who have worked in both the Western and Indian classical traditions. The acclaimed violinist will perform Concerto for Hindustani Violin, which she co-wrote with Indian American composer Reena Esmail. The work revolves around the elements of earth, water, fire, air, and sky.
- There is much more to experience at the Sphere festival, which takes place in Ottawa from September 10 to 20. Find out more, and get tickets, [HERE].
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