International Choral Kathaumixw has become one of those events where people just seem to come out of the woodwork. And not just locals either. Many guest performers have returned biennially for a decade or more, travelling from across the world to take part in an artistic spectacle that seems to have grasped a long list of talented people and kept them coming back for more.
Tobin Stokes is one of those people. Sure, the trip the composer makes for each Kathaumixw may only be across a brief stretch of water, but his musical projects now extend as widely around the globe as some of the festival’s farthest visitors. Some would still say the former Powell River resident is just returning home from Victoria for a visit, but organizers have hardly put him on a visitors’ schedule.
In addition to serving as Kathaumixw’s composer-in-residence for the past several festivals, Stokes can also be found sitting on the jury and sometimes even singing in the festival chorus, playing percussion, sight-reading a piano part, or doing whatever else artistic director Don James happens to throw his way during a dress rehearsal.
James still calls him Toby, dating back to Stokes’ days as a charter member of Powell River Boys’ Choir, long before he’d go on to compose the anthem for the festival that features not only that choir but 22 others this year as well.
But despite his busy schedule as one of Canada’s most in-demand composers, Stokes continues to return for the choral spectacle that he grew up with, usually bringing a composition or two with him. This year, two new commissions will be performed at Kathaumixw’s closing ceremonies on Saturday.
Back at his studio in Victoria, Stokes has many things on the go. An exciting assortment of projects exist in various stages of completion for clients ranging from City Opera Vancouver to the BBC.
For Stokes, the more variety the better. The composer doesn’t limit himself to one style, instrumentation, or texture and in recent years he has penned everything from vocal percussion pieces to full symphonies. “That’s what makes it so fun,” he said. “I never know what’s coming.”
Workshops for two new chamber operas written by Stokes took place in recent months; one for Rattenbury, a production with The Other Guys Theatre Company in Victoria and another for Fallujah, created through City Opera Vancouver.
Fallujah is the first opera to be written about the Iraq war and post traumatic stress disorder. Stokes worked with American librettist Heather Raffo on the project, which has received recent coverage worldwide through the Associated Press. Two years ago, Fallujah received the largest single commissioning grant in Canadian history, $250,000 US from the Annenberg Foundation in connection with the philanthropic multimedia organization Explore. The work has since emerged after an extensive development phase and is currently being marketed to opera houses worldwide.
The plot is centred around the real-life experiences of United States Marine Corps Sergeant Christian Ellis during the Battle of Fallujah in 2004. On its website, City Opera Vancouver describes the story as that of “two lives—one American, one Iraqi—that intersect with dread consequence...It examines the agonies of guilt and conscience and pride when a warrior returns home.”
Stokes’ Rattenbury, on the other hand, tackles a completely different subject. That work is based on the life and death of Francis Rattenbury, the famed architect of much of Victoria’s downtown waterfront.
Unlike Fallujah, Stokes is writing the libretto for the Rattenbury opera himself. It’s a detailed process involving much research and many books. Even at a quick glance, the architect’s story is a very intricate one.
Born in Leeds, England in 1867, Rattenbury apprenticed at the Lockwood and Mawson Company before relocating to Canada in 1891. He soon won a contest to design the BC legislative buildings, which were completed in 1898, and married his first wife Florence that same year just as his career began to take off.
However, risk and ambition took their toll on Rattenbury and both he and his designs soon fell out of favour. He began an affair with a 27-year-old pianist Alma Pakenham and the controversy and fallout surrounding this very public affair caused many friends and former clients to turn their back on him. He and Alma left Victoria briefly amidst the drama, and later for good.
After returning to England in 1929, his second marriage also became strained and Alma began an affair with the family’s 18-year-old chauffeur. The series of events that took place during the decade that followed are certainly prime fodder for opera, culminating in 1935 with the murder of Rattenbury, a court case that saw the chauffeur charged with the crime and the guilt-ridden suicide of Alma after her own acquittal.
So where does a composer or librettist even begin in telling this very detail-rich story? Stokes said he starts with an idea and some character descriptions, defines the central theme and forms an outline. “And then I just start writing words and music at the same time, sort of whatever parts of the story might inspire me at that moment,” he said.
“I try to come up with an idea for what that singer would say...and how they would say it in that particular part of the story,” Stokes added. “That’s what makes the workshop so great. You just take all of these ideas and throw them at singers and they sing it back to you and then you start to say ‘oh, this needs to be expanded, this needs to be thrown out,’ that sort of thing.
“The outer story of Rattenbury, that’s just part of it,” Stokes said. “What I’m trying to get into is into his mind and get into his personality. Why was he so ambitious? It’s fascinating to see how his ambition eventually ruined him.”
Stokes has even incorporated historical items from Rattenbury’s life into the opera, including court documents, telegrams and even Alma’s suicide note. “It’s a real puzzle,” he said.
Stokes doesn’t have to have the puzzle solved quite yet, though. “Just enough of it to put on a compelling concert,” he laughed. That concert will take place on September 29 and 30 at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, a fitting location given that Rattenbury designed the building and met Alma there.
“And in fact, one of the scenes in the opera originally took place in [the room where it will be performed],” Stokes said. “It’s neat to bring it back there but also kind of eerie almost.”
The composer remarked at the wide appeal of Rattenbury’s story, one which the other artists involved must have seen as well. Several big names have signed on for the project, including tenors Richard Margison and Ken Lavigne and soprano Kathleen Brett. Maestro Arthur Arnold, another longtime returnee to Kathaumixw, will also take part.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Stokes of his choice of conductor. “[Arthur’s] got a busy schedule but he’s been really accommodating.”
But Stokes certainly has a busy schedule of his own. After all, he’s been signed up for a week of Kathaumixw jury duty, two world premieres and of course, whatever else is thrown his way during a dress rehearsal.
