Hearing Her Voice

Amanda Forsythe

Soprano

Recognized internationally as a leading interpreter of baroque repertoire, soprano Amanda Forsythe has performed with the Handel and Haydn Society, Music of the Baroque, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Boston Baroque, and Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF). She was awarded the 2026 GRAMMY for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Telemann: Ino – Opera Arias for Soprano, recorded with the BEMF orchestra. She sang the role of Eurydice in Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers, awarded the 2015 GRAMMY for Best Opera Recording.

Amanda is a regular soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, and has also performed with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, and Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Opera engagements have included major roles in the houses of Geneva, Munich, Philadelphia, Rome, Seattle, Berlin (Komische Oper), and the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro. Amanda is featured as soloist on Tafelmusik’s 2025 album release, A Handel Celebration.

Karen Sunabacka

Composer

Karen Sunabacka is a composer with deep roots in the Red River Settlement and is strongly connected to Métis culture through her mother, Joyce Clouston, and late Grandmother Lenore Clouston (née Birston). She exists within the intersection of her Métis, Cree, Scottish, Swedish, and Finnish heritage, which encompasses conflicts and new perspectives that she finds both interesting and challenging. Her music often explores puzzles, her mixed heritage, and the sights and sounds of the prairies and the rugged Canadian Shield. In demand as a composer, Karen enjoys the challenge of finding a balance between teaching, composing, performing, and keeping up with her favourite science fiction and fantasy series. Karen is an Associate Professor of Music at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo.

Joyce Clouston

Librettist

Joyce Clouston is a writer, an Indigenous Cultural Carrier, and social worker based in Winnipeg. She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Manitoba, and a PhD from Wilfrid Laurier University. Joyce has transcribed, edited, and co-edited five books based on Indigenous spiritual/cultural stories, and has authored a sixth. Numerous articles and resources focus on supporting the self-esteem of children and strengthening families. Academic research affirms Indigenous worldviews where all children are gifts of the Creator offering spiritual insights to loved ones. Images in her writing are guided by the sights and sounds of her childhood in the Métis Homeland near Selkirk, Manitoba, an area rich in stories, music, and play.