An a cappella arrangement of the traditional American folk song "Shenandoah", suitable for SATB or SABdiv. Medium difficulty. Lush and expansive harmonies that remain accessible to the average choir. Nicely spotlights the guys in the choir. Recording by The Fieldown Singers. Arranged by Elise Letourneau www.eliseletourneau.com

Shenandoah

GONE: Lament for Over 1,200 Indigenous Women
- composed by Elise Letourneau

This piece is to help remember and raise awareness of the more than 1,200 missing and murdered Indigenous women who have come to the attention of the RCMP, as well as for the unnamed and unnumbered additional women who have yet to be counted. May the light find you and your spirit. You are not forgotten. You are our sisters.

A lament is a passionate expression of grief, often born of regret or mourning, in poetic or music form, representing a cry of need in a context of crisis. In many early and modern oral traditions, the lament has been a genre usually performed by women.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police lists more than 1,200 Indigenous women who have been murdered or who are still missing. There are as many stories as there are women, and the details and legalities surrounding the cases are often not straightforward. But the children and families of these women and their supporters have been calling for the recognition that there is something going on in our society that is beyond criminal. The level of violence, and the ease with which it is overlooked, ignored or minimized, is a sign of a sociological problem that allows violence against Aboriginal women. This systemic and reprehensible attitude needs to be identified, examined, admitted, and rectified.

As a composer, I have often processed things that I find upsetting by going to the piano. For a while, I've been aware of the grassroots efforts being made on behalf of Canada's missing and murdered Indigenous women, but on Tuesday March 31-2015, when I was listening to CBC reporting on the acquittal of Bradley Barton in the Cindy Gladue murder case, I experienced a creative tipping point within me, and "GONE: Lament for Over 1,200 Indigenous Women" is my humble contribution to help further the path to justice.

The initial concepts for "GONE" came together rather quickly. Over the course of that one day I created a representational score. I felt a strong responsibility to see the idea through, since the composition had arrived so spontaneously, and also because I had the resources to record it as a sound-art performance piece that very evening.

I spent about a year writing "Requiem for Fourteen Roses" for the 25th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre. That creative process required me to visit, alone, some of the darkest places I've ever been as a composer. For better or for worse, the pathways to those places became well-worn and well-marked for me, and this is probably what allowed me to compose "GONE" so quickly. But what was new for me was to not have to go to that dark place alone this time. I salute and admire the gutsy women who trusted my creative process and vision enough to take that walk with me, in real time and with very little notice, to make a piece that captures rawness and emotion, outrage and concern.

Please accept this as our tribute to all Indigenous women who have experienced the loneliness and degradation of our country's silence.

With respect,
Elise Letourneau & Friends

Vocalists: Lauren, Jane, Diane, JoAnne, Patricia, Kathy, Marjorie, Mary-Ellen, Marie, Diane, Clare, Anna, Sylvie, Katy, Penny, Pam

Cello: Joan

Piano: Elise

Conductor: Rachel

Editing: Normand


GONE: Lament for Over 1,200 Indigenous Women

Music by Elise Letourneau
Text by Harry Pickens
Recorded by The Fieldown Singers at Morning Anthem Studio in Cumberland Ontario Canada

Prayer

Sonata Fantasie Impromptu - for viola solo

For Scott P. Crago's memorial service, Sunday October 4-2015 in Clearfield PA. Love you, Scott.

Music by Elise Letourneau
Text based on a public domain poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye, with additional lyrics by Elise Letourneau

Guitar - Tim Bedner
Vocals - Elise Letourneau
Recorded live at home for our friend.

I Did Not Die

Sanctus & Benedictus is from the double-CD release of most of the music from "Requiem for Fourteen Roses", a concert-length work for choir, vocal soloist, and 8-piece chamber ensemble. The work was composed by Elise Letourneau to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre of December 6, 1989 in Montreal QC and to remember the young women who were lost that day. 

The work itself features a partnership of classical and jazz sensibilities, and the intertwining of texts in English, French, and Latin. The concert premiere featured a blend of professional and community musicians, received wonderful community support to help bring the work to fruition, and was presented to a capacity audience. 

Disc 1, Choral & Vocal Selections, was recorded live at the world-premiere in Ottawa ON on December 6, 2014 - twenty-five years to the day after the tragedy occurred. 

Disc 2, The Fourteen Miniatures, was recorded by the composer at Morning Anthem Studio. The pieces are presented here as piano works, but they are designed to work with varying instrumentations. 

Geneviève Bergeron 
Hélène Colgan 
Nathalie Croteau 
Barbara Daigneault 
Anne-Marie Edward 
Maud Haviernick 
Maryse Laganière 
Maryse Leclair 
Anne-Marie Lemay 
Sonia Pelletier 
Michèle Richard 
Annie St-Arneault 
Annie Turcotte 
Barbara Klucznik Widajewicz 

we remember you... 
nous nous souvenons de toi... 
December 6, 1989

credits
released November 13, 2015 

For CD#1 

Choir: Aram Adjemian, Mariam Al-Naser, Penny Annand, Bethany Armstrong, Chris Armstrong, Laura Buckland, Lee Carter, Philip Cartwright, Sandra Clarke, Marjorie Cooper, Marie Delorme, Patrick Denison, Errol Fletcher, Normand Glaude, David Hudson, Diane Jesmer, Pam Ladouceur, Tim Lash, Barbara Lyon, Jane MacDonald, Sylvie Marcil, Lynn McGuigan, Ross Mickelson, Kieran Milne, Mark Mitchell, Fauzya Moore, Karen Moore, April Norris, Joanne O’Connor, Kathleen O’Leary, Clare Pearson, Mary-Ellen Pitts, Katy Quinn, Sylvie Rimbach, Diane Ross, Janet Siltanen, Mike Steinberg, Rebecca Taylor, Anna Torgerson, Bill Tyson, Marc-André Veselovsky 

Composer: Elise Letourneau 
Conductor: Rachel Beausoleil 
Vocal Soloist: Sienna Dahlen 
Additional vocalists: Rachel Beausoleil, Elise Letourneau 
Flute: Mike Tremblay 
Cello: Joan Harrison 
Piano: Elise Letourneau (3-14), Mark Ferguson (1-2) 
Double Bass: John Geggie 
Flugelhorn: Nicholas Dyson, Roberta Archibald 
Trombone: Mark Ferguson, Ryan Purchase 
Stage Manager: Carlo Verdicchio 

Producers: Normand Glaude & Elise Letourneau 
Concert Recording: Wayne Hawthorne 
Mixing & Mastering: Normand Glaude - Morning Anthem studio 
CD jacket design & layout: Marilee Townsend-Alcorn 
Back cover photo: Claude Brazeau 

*** 

For CD#2 

Piano: Elise Letourneau 
Engineer: Normand Glaude 
Recorded at Morning Anthem Studio, Cumberland ON

Sanctus & Benedictus

Music by Elise Letourneau (©2016)
Poem by William Wilfred Campbell (public domain)
A spirited piece for SATB mixed choir, piano, and spoons or bones. Reminiscent of a kitchen party.
View PDF or order for your choir at www.eliseletourneau.com
Demo recorded by The Fieldown Singers

A Canadian Folk - Song

The ninth section of the cantata, "The Virgin Mary to the Child Jesus", for SSAA choir. Text by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Music by Elise Letourneau.

The Virgin Mary to the Child Jesus

IX Art Thou a King

Elise Letourneau is a performer, composer, arranger, and educator.