“aqsarniit / Aurorae“ Available on All Services!

After a bit of reworking and remastering, and quite a bit of work finishing the actual scores, my piece “aqsarniit / Aurorae” has been released onto the streaming services, and iTunes Music Store! There’s new cover art too (see below)!

This piece has always been one of my own personal favorites, because it recalls a time when I was a young man, that I had the good fortune go on a once-in-a lifetime adventure to experience Canada’s arctic, feel the warmth and welcome of the Inuit community, and learn some of the amazing stories, legends and myths that flow from their long, hardship-filled and turbulent, but ultimately life-affirming oral history. More than any other event in my life, this nearly year-long experience, left me deeply in love with the Inuit culture, art, and people. When the time came to try to encapsulate the experience musically, I went back to my notes and my fond memories and composed a series of 9 songs, written for full orchestra and choir, that tells the story of the Aurora Borealis (called “aqsarniit” in the inuktitut language), and the traditional belief that they contain the spirits of ancestors, and if you fall asleep while they are in the sky overhead, your ancestors can speak to you in your dreams.

The narrative that the music accompanies, is contained in the booklet which accompanies the album when purchased from the iTunes Music Store , which is why I recommend purchasing the album from there, as the booklet comes along with it. If you’re streaming the album on Apple Music, Spotify, or other streaming service, I’m making the booklet available to everyone below, to download and follow along while you listen.

The original version of this piece (from 2015), is available at this previous blog post, if you’re interested in listening for the differences! The original score was gifted to the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and was in the planning stages of getting performed, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic started and orchestras across Canada shut down for a couple years. I do not know where it sits in the calendar for performance by the NACO orchestra (if at all) after the pandemic. In any case, there are new scores which reflect the updates that have been made to arrive at this version. With the increasing recognition of Inuit music, culture and history that is occurring across Canada at present, now would be a great time to perform this piece, if any orchestras are reading this (hint, hint!).

I hope that you listen and enjoy ”aqsarniit / Aurorae”! It’s a love-letter from me to a culture which changed my life for the better.