The Six SeasonsYear: 2024
Medium: Performance, Video, Opera
Duration: 40 min
The Six Seasons is an operatic multimedia live video performance created and directed by Tyson Houseman that combines reactive live video projections, dynamic theatrical set pieces, and small scale object performance, with an electroacoustic musical score performed live by Devon Bate and featuring lyrics sung in nehiyawewin by baritone vocalist Jonathon Adams (Cree-Métis).
The visual elements of the performance depict dreamlike landscape and wildfire scenes from the foothills and Rocky Mountains to convey an ecological notion of non-linear, cyclical, deep time on a geologic time-scale and interpret nehiyaw cosmological teachings from my Elders about time, space, and connections to land at a critical moment of ecological crisis in human history. The sonic elements of the performance are composed and performed live by Devon Bate (producer - Jeremy Dutcher's Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa) along with lyrics sung in nehiyawewin by Jonathon Adams, which were written collaboratively by myself and my grandfather, Ken Roan, who also translated the lyrics.
Photos by Van Hongbin Kim