The “River of Light” premiered as part of the 2019 Vancouver Opera Festival. The show included seven movements and featured soloists (opera singers and poetry readers), choir, and orchestra. Each movement was based on a different spiritual text “that describe the mystical journeys towards an exalted state,” as explained the program. All in the all, the pieces were beautiful separately but did not create the exalted journey it aspired to.
Part I: “The Heavenly Halls” was a powerful opening. The choir and orchestra began, joined by Martin Renner Wallace as a soloist tenor describing the first three stages of the Seven Heavenly Halls. I don’t know the history of the Heavenly Halls, but watching the performance I felt myself move from a conflicting heaviness, to easy lightness, and ending in force like I was no longer in control of my own life.
Part II: “Heaven’s Eye” featured Caitlin Wood as soprano as well as a narrator reading “The Will of Heaven” in Mandarin by the Chinese philosopher Mozi. At times the poetry was hard to hear over the orchestra. Wood, though, exemplified grace and ease in her singing.
Part III: “Naka” was the most accessible piece. Mason Mantla narrated Richard Van Camp’s text about the northern lights shining over their community in the Northwest Territories. The choir perfectly accompanied the orchestra, who seemed to be flying through the air with their music. Mantla used props and his own body to illustrate sounds into the microphone, making the piece seem like anyone could be part of it.
In Part IV: In “Love is Woe”, Wood sang through a delay pedal to create an echoing, haunting song that never stopped flowing. This was my favourite piece; I could watch Wood sing forever. It was like listening to the sun sparkle on snow.
Part V: “Magnificat” was for the choir alone. Although the choir had wonderful energy together, this piece did not achieve the easy flow of the others.
Part VI: “Light Upon Light” moved between sprinkling lightness to deep intensity.
Part VII: “Three Fires: Agni, Indra, Surya, Three Rivers of Light” was the perfect piece to end on because it swept the other movements away and brought the audience on a new emotional ride. It opened with four singers from the choir speaking from the back of the stage, which were sometimes hard to hear.
The music started light and airy, then transitioned to a more jarring mood. From that, fun started to build up as the choir did a call and reply that was very effective. By the end, it gently brought the audience back down to feel peaceful and satisfied. Afterwards, what stayed with me was the joy of the Vancouver Bach Adult Choir. It was a delight to watch them turn their pages, like birds flying across the stage. They brought a wonderful energy to the stage that I carried with me out of the theatre.
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– Bethany Dobson