Cree-Métis Two-Spirit baritone Jonathon Adams to take up summer residency at Early Music Vancouver
The singer will write essays, host a panel on diversity, and perform three works at the Bach Festival
Edmonton-born, Montreal-based Adams has performed in places from the Netherlands to China.
CREE-METIS TWO-SPIRIT baritone Jonathon Adams is set to take up a first-time residency at Early Music Vancouver this summer.
Adams will be writing a series of essays, producing and participating in a panel talk, and performing in three events for this year’s Vancouver Bach Festival, July 26 to August 6.
Edmonton-born, Montreal-based Adams possesses a beautifully lyrical baritone voice and has an affinity for Johann Sebastian Bach; see video below.
In concert, Adams has appeared as a soloist with Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, and Vox Luminis, among others. Adams is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, and was a fellow of the Netherland Bach Society in 2020 and perform regularly with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. Career highlights include a solo debut at the Bruges Concertgebouw and concerts with Amsterdam Baroque in China, Japan, and at the Château de Versailles. In late 2020, they performed a solo concert in MESSIAH / COMPLEX, the internationally lauded virtual interpretation of Handel’s Messiah roduced by Against the Grain Theatre and the Toronto Symphony Orchestr, filmed against iconic Canadian landscapes and showcasing multilingual translations.
It’s the first time that EMV will have a dedicated artist-in-residence for the summer. Newly installed artistic and executive director Suzie LeBlanc has previously said she intends to forge a more diverse future for the organization, exploring the links between early classical music and that of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
Adams’ essays, focused on themes of diversity and inclusion, will be published in June and live on the EMV website. For July, Adams has curated a panel discussion with other leading Indigenous musicians and scholars on Indigenous music’s inclusion in early music. Adams’s repertoire for the Bach fest includes works by Henry Purcell, Bach, and Cree and Métis songs sung in Cree and French.
“I am deeply honoured and incredibly excited to be EMV's first official artist-in-residence,” said Adams in the announcement today. “The music of Bach has long been close to my heart and I am thrilled to be performing his music, amongst other repertoire, with many of my close friends from across Canada during the Bach Festival. As a Cree-Métis artist, I hope my time in residence will help build bridges between EMV and Vancouver's Indigenous communities while widening horizons of possibility for the performance of historical musics."
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