The Lost Words: A Spell Book
The Lost Words weaves together words, music and visual images into a magical world where whimsy meets wonder. Inspired by the best-selling book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, the work features evocative compositions by ten Canadian composers, along with large-screen projected images.
Join us as reader Kit Pearson breathes life into twenty of Macfarlane’s short poetic “spells,” then enjoy hearing them sung by the forty voices of Elektra, accompanied by six instrumentalists. At the same time, immerse yourself in the visual delights of gorgeous original watercolours.
It’s a unique and spellbinding experience, a literary reconnecting of children and adults alike with the beauty and wonder of the natural world.
Background:
In 2007, a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary eliminated around forty common words from nature, like “fern” and “heron,” to make room for digital newcomers like “broadband” and “voice mail.” Displacing the outdoor and natural in favour of the indoor and virtual struck many as a worrying sign of the growing gulf between childhood and the world of nature. In response, Macfarlane and Morris created a “spell book” to conjure back, through the magic of word and paint, twenty of these lost words, and the beings they name. It was the start of a grassroots movement to re-wild childhood.
Elektra’s Artistic Director and conductor, Morna Edmundson, commissioned ten Canadian composers to each create musical settings of two of the “spells.” When voices and instruments are combined with Macfarlane’s spoken texts and Morris’s projected images, the result is a unique, full-length, immersive experience, which has delighted audiences in Canada and abroad.
This Victoria performance will be Morna Edmundson’s final appearance as Elektra’s Artistic Director, after almost four decades of inspired and inspiring leadership.
Tickets
General Admission $35 / Students $15
On sale now via eventbrite.ca
More info: