In celebration of the performance and recognition of the vibrancy of Métis culture, UBC Opera with UBC School of Music presented a five day conference which engaged attendees in an exploration of Métis experience and performance inspired by the legacy of Louis Riel. The Symposium coincided with public performances by the UBC School of Music Opera Program of the 1967 opera Louis Riel written by Mavor Moore with music composed by Harry Somers.
Invited to participate in the Symposium in a session devoted to Indigenous Dramatic Expression, U of A Department of Music professor of Musicology Mary Ingraham presented her research on the intersection of policy and culture in the musical representation of Canada's First Nations Peoples between 1867 and 1967.
"My research examines the evolution of musical 'citizenship' - for example, the status or authority of narrative voice - of First Nations Peoples in Canadian operas by examining the role that music and text have played in constructing and maintaining social and political expressions of cultural tolerance and control," said Ingraham.
With a doctorate in historical and analytical musicology from Nottingham University (UK), and a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Victoria (Canada), Ingraham's primary area of research is the examination of the social and cultural context for music creation, with current research into issues of identity and cultural politics in 20thcentury Canadian opera.
"From the assimilationist policies of the first Indian Act in 1876 to the integrationist strategies of its amendment in 1951 and subsequent multicultural discussions leading up to the federal policy on Multiculturalism adopted in 1971, consecutive democratic governments have attempted to control and institutionalize 'difference' in native and non-native cultures," said Ingraham of her symposium presentation. "Examination of important examples of cultural expression across this period reveals similarly constructed musical identities, in which assimilation gives way to integration and, ultimately, to a form of parallelism and individuation."
In 2007 Ingraham compiled and published a preliminary catalogue of Canadian operas and has since presented her research on aspects of musical citizenship in Canadian opera at conferences in Canada, the UK, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2009 she received a SSHRC Workshop Grant to coordinate a national working group to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on music in Canada. The author of three successful web-based projects for the Canadian Music Centre (Influences of Many Musics, Sound Progressions: Canadian Music in the 20th Century and Sound Adventure, an award-winning educational website for young learners), Ingraham understands the importance of researching Canadian music as a unique signifier of cultural tolerance.
"This research explores the role that music plays in reinforcing contemporary political and social goals," continued Ingraham. "Bringing First Nations culture into the mainstream of Western models, rewriting history through the stories told in dramatic texts, and reducing First Nations songs and dances to musical stereotypes are found to have supported Canada's early nation- and identity-building goals for promoting the majority culture with a benevolent spin towards 'others.'"
Ingraham's research further explores the notion that, deprived of any direct influence on these political and cultural endeavours, First Nations Peoples appear primarily as 'supporting actors' (Mackey 2002, 39) in the stories and music of Canadian opera.
A former professional pianist and artist manager, Mary is involved in the Canadian performing arts community as a member of the Prairie Regional Council of the Canadian Music Centre, and she is a Founding Director of the Turning Point New Music Society in Vancouver and a Founding Director and Past President of the Piano Six Foundation. She is currently Assistant Professor of Musicology in the Department of Music at the University of Alberta.
Invited to participate in the Symposium in a session devoted to Indigenous Dramatic Expression, U of A Department of Music professor of Musicology Mary Ingraham presented her research on the intersection of policy and culture in the musical representation of Canada's First Nations Peoples between 1867 and 1967.
"My research examines the evolution of musical 'citizenship' - for example, the status or authority of narrative voice - of First Nations Peoples in Canadian operas by examining the role that music and text have played in constructing and maintaining social and political expressions of cultural tolerance and control," said Ingraham.
With a doctorate in historical and analytical musicology from Nottingham University (UK), and a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Victoria (Canada), Ingraham's primary area of research is the examination of the social and cultural context for music creation, with current research into issues of identity and cultural politics in 20thcentury Canadian opera.
"From the assimilationist policies of the first Indian Act in 1876 to the integrationist strategies of its amendment in 1951 and subsequent multicultural discussions leading up to the federal policy on Multiculturalism adopted in 1971, consecutive democratic governments have attempted to control and institutionalize 'difference' in native and non-native cultures," said Ingraham of her symposium presentation. "Examination of important examples of cultural expression across this period reveals similarly constructed musical identities, in which assimilation gives way to integration and, ultimately, to a form of parallelism and individuation."
In 2007 Ingraham compiled and published a preliminary catalogue of Canadian operas and has since presented her research on aspects of musical citizenship in Canadian opera at conferences in Canada, the UK, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2009 she received a SSHRC Workshop Grant to coordinate a national working group to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on music in Canada. The author of three successful web-based projects for the Canadian Music Centre (Influences of Many Musics, Sound Progressions: Canadian Music in the 20th Century and Sound Adventure, an award-winning educational website for young learners), Ingraham understands the importance of researching Canadian music as a unique signifier of cultural tolerance.
"This research explores the role that music plays in reinforcing contemporary political and social goals," continued Ingraham. "Bringing First Nations culture into the mainstream of Western models, rewriting history through the stories told in dramatic texts, and reducing First Nations songs and dances to musical stereotypes are found to have supported Canada's early nation- and identity-building goals for promoting the majority culture with a benevolent spin towards 'others.'"
Ingraham's research further explores the notion that, deprived of any direct influence on these political and cultural endeavours, First Nations Peoples appear primarily as 'supporting actors' (Mackey 2002, 39) in the stories and music of Canadian opera.
A former professional pianist and artist manager, Mary is involved in the Canadian performing arts community as a member of the Prairie Regional Council of the Canadian Music Centre, and she is a Founding Director of the Turning Point New Music Society in Vancouver and a Founding Director and Past President of the Piano Six Foundation. She is currently Assistant Professor of Musicology in the Department of Music at the University of Alberta.