REVIEWS

The Lake/N-ha-a-itk: Spirits align for Ogopogo opera

The Globe and Mail – August 15, 2014
It was patriotism – and fate – that launched Heather Pawsey’s 19-year search for Ogopogo. It wasn’t Lake Okanagan’s mythical creature itself that she was after, but an opportunity to stage a Canadian opera about an Ogopogo sighting, in the actual spot where the real-life event had taken place. Written in the 1950s, that opera, titled The Lake, had never received a full production when Pawsey discovered it.
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Cultures and history meet in The Lake/N-ha-a-itk

The Georgia Straight – August 13, 2014
It’s taken six decades for Barbara Pentland and Dorothy Livesay’s The Lake to find a home—and now that it has, no more appropriate venue could be desired. When Astrolabe Musik Theatre, the Turning Point Ensemble, and Westbank First Nation team up to present the 1952 opera’s first full staging, at West Kelowna’s Quails’ Gate Winery this weekend, it’ll be a true homecoming, for the events depicted in Livesay’s libretto took place on that very same property 140 years before.
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Long forgotten B.C. opera resurrected on home territory

Vancouver Sun – August 13, 2014
Even given the current wave of interest in new opera, it’s nothing short of remarkable that one of the neglected treasures of the Canadian opera patrimony — Barbara Pentland’s 1950s high modernist opus The Lake — could become the nexus of a professional production in B.C.’s Okanagan wine country.
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Reaching back into two past Okanagan cultures

The Kelowna Daily Courier – August 12, 2014
You can’t help but think Susan Allison would be pleased if she were here today. On the idyllic slopes she named Sunnyside so long ago, beside her original log cabin, a world premiere production called The Lake/ n-ha-a-itk will be staged, bridging the cultures of historical Canadian opera and contemporary Syilx.
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60 Year-Old Opera about Real-Life Ogopogo Sighting in West Kelowna

Kelowna Now – August 11, 2014
The true life story of an Ogopogo sighting will come to the stage Friday in West Kelowna.
Over 60 years ago Barbara Pentland composed a chamber opera called The Lake / n-ha-a-itk, which tells the story of pioneer Susan Allison who saw na-ha-a-itk (Ogopogo) in 1873 from her home in West Kelowna.
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Ogopogo opera gets its première 62 years later Three remarkable women bring music to life

The Calgary Herald – August 8, 2014
Ogopogo opera gets its première 62 years later. Three remarkable women bring music to life
In 1995, opera singer Heather Pawsey was rummaging around the archives of the National Music Centre. She was looking for an aria to perform at the Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition. One of the scores she came across in the archives wasn’t even typed.
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Historic opera surfaces in Okanagan setting

The North Shore News – August 8, 2014
One might say it was providence that brought a little known opera to the attention of soprano Heather Pawsey. She was preparing for the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition in 1995 when The Lake literally fell into her presence.
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The Lake / n’-ha-a-itk:  A World Premiere 60 Years in the Making

First Nations Drum – August 6, 2014
Vancouver, BC – Astrolabe Musik Theatre & Turning Point Ensemble (TPE), in collaboration with Westbank First Nation, proudly present the world premiere production of The Lake / n’-ha-a-itk – August 15-17 at Quails’ Gate Winery in Kelowna, BC, in a fully-integrated evening of historical Canadian opera and contemporary syilx culture.
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Inventive Canadian opera companies on the move this summer

CBC Music – July 17, 2014
Running a small and nimble opera company opens the doors to some unusual collaborations that expand the reach of a production, as Vancouver’s Astrolabe Musik Theatre and Turning Point Ensemble prove in performances of Barbara Pentland’s opera The Lake this August.
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Astrolabe Musik Theatre & Turning Point Ensemble present The Lake / n-ha-a-itk

Food and Wine Trails Magazine – July 3, 2014
A world premiere 60 Years in the making will be performed in open air at beautiful Quails’ Gate Winery this August! This is a true-life, Canadian Opera written by Barbara Pentland in the 1950’s takes place on the grounds of Quails’ Gate – the former home of Susan Allison, the heroine of this opera.
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Schell: Story of Okanagan ancestors told on the grounds where it took place

The Kelowna Capital News – June 19, 2014
Co-producer and Canadian soprano Heather Pawsey, couldn’t be more thrilled to bring this extraordinary event to the Okanagan.  This unique story between the Allison family, who arrived here in the 1870s and whose log home still stands at Quails’ Gate, and the Westbank First Nations is magical.
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