Sounding Thunder

Written by: Timothy Corlis - Composer Armand Garnet Ruffo - Librettist In consultation Brian D. McInnes and Jodi Baker Contin

Performed by: Jodi Baker Contin - Singer, Song Writer, Actor Keenan Keeshig - Actor Brian D. McInnes - Narrator, Cultural Consultant James Campbell - Clarinet Larry Beckwith - Conductor, Actor Beverly Johnston - Percussion Mark Fewer - Violin Christian Sharpe - Bassoon Rachel Thomas - Trombone Guy Few - Trumpet Joel Quarrington - Double Bass

Gabriel Cropley - Stage and Lighting Designer Jennifer Norton and Emile Surette - Projection Design Alanis King - Dramaturge

Produced and commissioned by: The Festival of the Sound James Campbell Artistic Director Michael Martyn Executive Director

A musical journey into the life of the renowned Ojibwe WWI sniper and decorated officer of the Canadian military, Francis Pegahmagabow. Composed by Tim Corlis and written by Ojibwe poet Armand Garnet Ruffo, Sounding Thunder is a complex work divided into three acts, exploring Pegahmagabow’s early years immersed in the world of the Anishinaabe spirits, his extraordinary accomplishments in the trenches of WWI, and finally his political life as Chief of the Wausauksing Ojibwe and founder of the early Indigenous political moment in Canada. Based on archival sources, and the book Sounding Thunder by Brian McInnes who provides new perspective on Pegahmagabow and his experience through a unique synthesis of Ojibwe oral history, historical record, and Pegahmagabow family stories, Sounding Thunder: the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow is a one of a kind musical-theatre experience.

Please be mindful of distance between yourself and others when choosing your seats.