The Wolf of Lafontaine: Song & Dance

Alex Prior returns to the Winspear Stage to conduct a provocative musical journey befitting his big personality. This concert will shine a spotlight on some of today’s brightest composers. Chronos Vocal Ensemble will be featured during several exciting pieces. Ballet Edmonton will join the orchestra for the ESO premiere of Ian Cusson's Le loup de Lafontaine - Suite for Orchestra in Three Scenes, which brings the legend of The Wolf of Lafontaine to life on the Winspear stage.

Program to Include

IAN CUSSON Le loup de Lafontaine - Suite for Orchestra in Three Scenes (ESO Premiere)
JOCELYN MORLOCK Night, herself (ESO Premiere) & “One Black Spike” for a capella choir
EMILIE CECILIA LEBEL They do not shimmer like the dry grasses on the hills, or the leaves on the trees (ESO Premiere)
STUART BEATCH Chosen Family (text by John Barton) for a capella choir

Program subject to change.

This concert will include an intermission.

Featured Artists

Alex Prior, Conductor and Curator
Ballet Edmonton (Wen Wei Wang, Artistic Director and Choreographer)
Chronos Vocal Ensemble (Jordan Van Biert, Artistic Director)

Le loup de Lafontaine

Set to Ian Cusson’s Le loup de Lafontaine: Suite for Orchestra in Three Scenes, this new work by Wen Wei Wang was initially a co-commission from Dance Victoria and the Victoria Symphony, first performed with the Victoria Symphony at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, BC, in April 2023. Ian Cusson is a composer of art song, opera and orchestral work. Of Métis and French-Canadian descent, his work explores the Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures. His musical composition is inspired by Le loup de Lafontaine by Thomas Marchildon, a cautionary tale that takes place in the small French-speaking Ontario community of Lafontaine in 1902. During the time of Marchildon’s story, various settler and Indigenous communities lived in close proximity, yet rarely intermixed. Each had a deep mistrust of the other. When a wolf arrives, they unite (but at a cost) with the common goal of ridding the community of the intruder.

CHOREOGRAPHY Wen Wei Wang
MUSIC Le loup de Lafontaine: Suite for Orchestra in Three Scenes
COMPOSER Ian Cusson
COSTUME DESIGN Linda Chow
LIGHTING DESIGN Dorrie Deutschendorf
PERFORMERS Full Company