U P C O M I N G

OPERA COMMISSION - “The Miss Chief Cycle” - Premiere 2030

Music by Dustin Peters • Libretto by Kent Monkman and Gisèle Gordon

An epic retelling of North American history from an Indigenous perspective — irreverent, unflinching, and utterly original.

The Miss Chief Cycle is a three-act adaptation of the best-selling book that rewrote North American history from a deeply Indigenous and gloriously queer perspective, The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. Miss Chief is a time-travelling, gender-fluid, supernatural being created at the dawn of time to walk among humans, loving and guiding them. But as the shadow of colonial settlement spreads across Turtle Island, she is tormented by the limits of her power—according to the laws of legendary beings, Miss Chief cannot directly intervene to alleviate her people’s suffering and can only bear witness at their side. The Miss Chief Cycle takes on the myths of North American nation-building, destroying them with devastating accuracy and a seductive kiss. Profound, provocative, funny, heart-breaking, and always fabulous, this is the story of Miss Chief: the story of these lands told in a way you have never heard before. The project brings together a core creative team with Cree Knowledge Keepers and an expanded roster of Indigenous musicians, dancers, and designers.

OPERA COMMISSION - City Opera Vancouver - Premiere 2028

Music by Dustin Peters • Libretto by Ann-Marie McDonald

This powerful new chamber opera brings that hidden chapter of Canadian history into vivid theatrical focus. Created for three principal singers and chamber ensemble, and unfolding over 80 minutes, the work gives voice to the individuals caught in the machinery of suspicion, secrecy, and discrimination—and to the resilience, love, and courage that endured.

With a libretto by acclaimed Canadian author Ann-Marie McDonald, celebrated for Fall on Your Knees, the opera transforms historical testimony and human experience into an intimate, urgent musical drama. In the compressed world of chamber opera, private lives meet public history, asking what happens when a government turns identity into evidence and difference into a crime.

ORCHESTRAL COMMISSION & PIANO PERFORMANCE - Fête Champêtre - Premiere 2027

Canadian Opera Company Orchestra • Johannes Debus • D. Peters

An exuberant new work for orchestra, plus previous commissions in performance  

A fresh orchestral work celebrating the spirit of the outsider, the maverick, and the rule-breaker. Written especially for the Bruce Bailey’s Canadian Fête Champêtre “The Surrealist Ball”, the piece revels in colour, energy, and collective possibility—a musical toast to the artists, dreamers, rebels, and risk-takers who challenge convention and move culture forward. Premiering en plein air, it celebrates a moment in support of a community where artistic and financial generosity can come together to make new things possible. Dedicated to arts patron, collector, and philanthropist Bruce Bailey.

CHAMBER WORK COMMISSION - Premiere 2027

Dr. David Dick, Trombone • Michael Angell, Piano

University of Regina

A new work for trombone and piano, commissioned by trombonist Dr. David Dick and pianist and educator Mike Angell. Active across a wide range of musical and academic settings, Angell and Dick bring together decades of experience spanning orchestral, chamber, jazz, and interdisciplinary performance.

Dr David Dick is Principal Trombone of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Professor of Music at the University of Regina as well as Dean of the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance. 

Mike Angell is a Lecturer at the University of Regina and Artistic Director of Perspective Festival. He completed his undergraduate degree at the Université de Montréal in music performance and French, followed by graduate and postgraduate work in music performance and musicology in Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Buenos Aires.