Missing, created by B.C.’s foremost Indigenous playwright and filmmaker, Marie Clements, with music by Juno award-winning composer Brian Current, gives voice, in English and Gitksan, to the story of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Set in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and on the Highway of Tears, Missing is a poetic expression of loss and hope. Pacific Opera tours the opera in November 2019, with performances in Victoria, Regina and Prince George.
Co-produced and developed by Pacific Opera Victoria and City Opera Vancouver, Missing had its world premiere in Vancouver and Victoria in 2017 and sold out performances in both cities. Pacific Opera Victoria and City Opera Vancouver are proud to partner with the Prince George Symphony orchestra and Prince George Native Friendship Centre to remount Missing for presentation November 15, 16, and 17 in Prince George.
The creative team and many of the opera artists who premiered the production in 2017 have reunited. Distinguished director, Peter Hinton, who has significantly impacted the evolution of contemporary Canadian theatre through his commitment to new play development, Indigenous theatre and revisionist productions of canonical works, and conductor Timothy Long, Music Director of Opera at the Eastman School of Music and founding conductor of The Coast Orchestra, a Native American orchestra of classically trained musicians, are joined by an accomplished cast of singing actors.
Returning cast members include Coast Salish mezzo-soprano Rose-Ellen Nichols, Kwagiulth and Stó: lō mezzo soprano Marion Newman, Alberta-born soprano Caitlin Wood, and mezzo-soprano Heather Molloy. Joining the cast for the 2019 tour are tenor Jan van der Hooft, baritone Kyle Lehmann, and Saugeen Ojibway soprano Joanna Burt, who made her Canadian Opera Company debut in 2017 as Sarah Riel in Louis Riel.
Scenic and projection design is by Andy Moro with costume design by Carmen Thompson, lighting by John Webber, and sound design by Sandy Scofield.
Performed in English and Gitksan, with English subtitles, the opera is approximately one hour and 45 minutes long, with no intermission. General seating. Doors open 30 minutes prior to performance.
Prince George:
Missing is presented November 15 and 17 at 7 p.m. and November 16 at 2 p.m. at Uda Dune Baiyoh, 355 Vancouver Street, Prince George. Tickets are $35 | $15 students and available through Eventbrite at missingprincegeorge.eventbrite.ca
Cultural and mental health support workers will attend all performances to assist any audience members experiencing trauma or trauma triggers.
This touring production is made possible by the support of funders including the Canada Council for the Arts; the Government of Canada through the Department for Women and Gender Equality, and the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage; Sask Culture; K&S Potash Canada; the City of Regina; and TD Bank.
Pacific Opera is also profoundly grateful for the confidence, faith, and vision of funders who supported the commission and the 2017 world première of Missing, including the Vancouver Foundation; the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program; Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia; the Community Fund for Canada’s 150th, the Victoria Foundation, the Koerner Foundation, and an anonymous Foundation.