Invermere stop on Cree artist’s tour

Submitted

Alberta-based Cree artist Jessica McMann is on tour and plans to stop in Invermere on May 27 to showcase her award-winning classical album ‘Prairie Dusk’.

The album, presented by The Jessica McMann Trio, is a beautiful and important collection of compositions deeply rooted in Indigenous narratives of home, family and land, evoking the expansive landscapes of the prairie, foothills and Rocky Mountains.

The Trio’s performances include music, visuals, storytelling and incredible artistry.

“Prairie Dusk is so much more than I could have ever imagined,” says McMann. “I allowed myself to be free from restriction and to write my own reality through my instrument. It is a vulnerable work, and I am so incredibly happy to those who stepped into this journey with me.”

McMann will be re-joined by original album collaborators Navajo pianist Connor Chee from Arizona and violist Holly Bhattacharya from Okotoks, Alberta.

The free concert will start at 6:30 p.m. at Columbia Valley Centre on Tuesday, May 27.

As a multi-disciplinary artist, McMann interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, and language throughout her dance and music creation/performance practice. A classically trained flutist, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University.

Her work fuses together traditional language and dance with her own contemporary experiences as an Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit person.

Prairie Dusk is a follow-up album to her award winning first Indigenous classical album Incandescent Tales (2021). This won the 2022 YYC Music Classical Album of the Year and gold medals in the Global Music Awards. Her musical, composition, and soundscape work focuses on land-based creation and ideas of connection, disconnection, and home.

McMann currently resides in Cochrane, Alberta, where she works for the City of Calgary as curator of Indigenous art.

Connor Chee is a Diné (Navajo) composer and pianist known for blending Western classical music with the rich cultural heritage of the Navajo people. His compositions often draw inspiration from traditional Navajo stories and beliefs, creating a powerful and evocative sound that speaks to both his heritage and his classical training. Chee is dedicated to music education and cultural preservation, inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Chee made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 12 after winning a gold medal in the World Piano Competition and is a graduate of both the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Chee has released five studio albums; his latest album, Across the Desert: The Long Walk Home, honours the resilience of the Navajo people and the journey back to their ancestral lands.

Holly Bhattacharya was born in Durham, UK to two musician parents and she began learning the violin at the age of four. She was a pupil at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and later studied at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Richard Deakin, Wen Zhou Li and Christopher Rowland (chamber music). She toured Europe and Kasakhstan as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom she played for four years. Since graduating from college, Bhattacharya has enjoyed a varied career, spanning orchestral, chamber, theatre and commercial music as well as teaching, coaching and invigilating for music competitions. Her theatre work has included almost eight years of performances with The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End, Quadraphenia on tour, Thursford Christmas Spectacular and The Independent Opera Co. (Old Vic Theatre, London).