As open-minded as we like to think of ourselves in Canada, some of us have an easier journey than others. Many newcomers and other marginalized people face barriers in their daily lives. BOUND, a new opera film from Toronto’s innovative and progressive Against the Grain Theatre (AtG), aims to use the power of storytelling and music to illuminate current barriers and create a platform for these poignant stories.
Think for a second about why the world’s most famously loved operas continue to resonate with audiences centuries after they were written. The reason operas endure is because they tell great stories.
BOUND is ambitious when it comes to honouring that storytelling tradition. Impressively, it tells not one story, but four, in a convention-defying hybrid opera film. By mixing documentary-style interview segments with opera-inspired music and performances, the film takes us on a journey through an intersection of art and real life and leads us to a big, multifaceted question: “How welcoming are we as a country, as a city, as a community?”
BOUND’s four real-life storytellers come from different backgrounds, each of which has led to unique challenges.
After immigrating to Canada from Uganda in the 1970s, Dr. Zulfikar Hirji endured overt racism, while Newfoundland-raised Alberta oil-patch worker Cindy Rivers had to overcome years of struggle related to her gender identity. Toronto-born Dr. Nadiya Vasdani attended medical school in the Caribbean, ended up in the middle of the Flint, Michigan water crisis during a residency, and then found scary parallels to that crisis after returning to Canada. And Rania Younes discovered, after leaving a successful career in advertising in Kuwait, that her skills weren’t exactly valued in Canada.
“There are many stories that need to be told,” says Against the Grain Theatre artistic director Joel Ivany. “In working on this opera, we wanted to lift up the stories of those who are often overlooked and go beyond what many of us see.”
The music in BOUND takes its inspiration from the legendary classical works of George Frideric Handel. Composer Kevin Lau used Handel’s works – operas, melodies, and oratorios – to create a score that mirrors the transformation of the film’s four storytellers.
Bringing that score to life is the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nathan Brock. The stories, meanwhile, find life in song form through the singing of Juno-nominated soprano Miriam Khalil, tenor Andrew Haji, baritone Justin Welsh, and American trans woman and lyric soprano Breanna Sinclairé, who makes her Against the Grain Theatre and Canadian debut.
“We really feel that this music supports the stories that they are telling,” Ivany says.
The origins of BOUND can be traced back to the middle of the last decade when AtG set out to build an opera inspired by headlines ripped from the pages of print newspapers and the internet.
“The idea for this piece emerged in 2016 when Trump was elected in the United States,” Ivany notes. “It caused quite an upturn of ideas. And we thought we could use art and music as a way to protest.”
Over the last six years, the project evolved, becoming something more significant and, at the same time, more intimate thanks to the highly personal stories of its four subjects.
“When Trump didn’t get back into power, the conversation didn’t stop,” states Reneltta Arluk, Co-Director of BOUND, “and this is where we have arrived now: encompassing those stories, feeling those stories, and finding our way through them.”
BOUND is an opera that challenges the cozy Canadian narrative that everyone is welcome in Canada no matter their skin colour, sexuality, gender identity, religious beliefs or cultural background. It’s also a project that continues AtG’s long-running mandate of changing how we see opera in the 21st century.
Opera, for centuries, has positioned itself as a Eurocentric art form that’s staged in regal concert halls with opulent sets and period-specific pageantry. When the award-winning Against the Grain Theatre formed in 2010, it was with the goal of making opera for everyone – not just those who can name every one of Handel’s 41 full-length works, but for those, as well, who’ve grown up more immersed in the worlds of pop, rock and hip-hop.
In a tradition that includes the award-winning Messiah/Complex and continues with BOUND, AtG’s productions emphasize telling stories of those historically underrepresented in the works staged by traditional opera companies.
BOUND is offered free of charge with ticket registration and available to anyone with an internet connection — in Canada and around the world. AtG hopes to drive home the point that this enduring art form is indeed easily accessible to everyone for a new generation.
As operas have proven for centuries, the magic starts not just with the music, but with a moving story. Daring, forward-thinking and thought-provoking, BOUND has four of them. And they will leave you looking at the Canadian experience in a profound new way.
BOUND will be available to stream free, or by pay-what-you-can donation, from March 27 to April 24. You can register in advance and receive your link to watch the film when it’s released by going to https://atgtheatre.com/bound.
