Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie Confront Gender-Based Violence • February 2021
Houston, Texas
On the morning of September 22, 2015, in Renfrew County, Ontario, a single man went on a killing spree, brutally murdering three ex-partners in their separate homes. They were victims in a crime now recognized as one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Canadian history. The murders devastated the rural Ottawa Valley community where baritone Joshua Hopkins grew up – his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, was one of these women.
Hopkins has since set out on a journey to use his voice to wake people up to the global epidemic of gender-based violence – and their part in it. His call to action was answered by two exceptional creators. Jake Heggie, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as “the world’s most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer,” agreed to write the music, and Margaret Atwood, the Booker Prize-winning author of more than 50 books of fiction and poetry, including The Handmaid’s Tale, wrote the searing words.
The result is a set of 8 songs, collectively titled Songs for Murdered Sisters. Conceived as both a chamber piece for voice and piano, and as a fully orchestrated piece for voice and symphony orchestra, the work was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. Though the originally scheduled live premieres in Houston and Ottawa have been postponed due to COVID-19, Songs for Murdered Sisters is now accessible to worldwide audiences through a digital album and an accompanying film.
Press Release: Powerful new songs by Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie to be released as a film and album
Press Release: Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie confront gender-based violence
Composer Jake Heggie and baritone Joshua Hopkins always had a photograph of Joshua's sister Nathalie watching over them during their recording sessions.
Selected Coverage
ABC News: Margaret Atwood pens poetry for new songs about violence against women
CBC News: Brother testifies about 'beloved big sister' at intimate partner violence inquest
BBC World: Singing for my murdered sister helps me heal
BBC World The Cultural Frontline: Remembering my sister in song
Houston Chronicle: A real-life murder leads to music in Houston Grand Opera’s latest presentation
The Guardian: ‘It’s devastating’: Margaret Atwood on a musical project honouring women killed by partners
Opera News: Light in the darkness
Wall Street Journal: ‘Songs for Murdered Sisters’: Where relationships and violence meet
Limelight Magazine: Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie tackle gender-based violence in bold new song cycle
Houston Press: Remembering a Tragedy: Songs For Murdered Sisters at HGO
Le Devoir: Pain transcended in the work of Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood
Musical America: Jake Heggie’s Songs for Murdered Sisters is not for the faint of heart
CBC As It Happens: Atwood Songs
Chatelaine: A musical tribute to victims of gendered violence, with poetry by Margaret Atwood
Opera Canada: Songs for Murdered Sisters: Eking beauty out of tragedy
San Francisco Classical Voice: Latest Jake Heggie song cycle addresses violence against women
Canadian Press: Margaret Atwood joins music project to raise awareness for gender-based violence
BBC Music Magazine: Jake Heggie: Songs for Murdered Sisters
Financial Times: Margaret Atwood writes Songs for Murdered Sisters
VAN Magazine: What happens when the haunting imagery of “Winterreise” darkens into pathology?
ArtsFile: Don’t miss Songs for Murdered Sisters Film to be aired Feb. 19
Veja: Margaret Atwood writes poems in honor of victims of femicide
Mercury News: Sorrowful Songs
The Globe and Mail: Opera singer Joshua Hopkins pays moving tribute to his slain sibling in Songs for Murdered Sisters