by RETURNS
September’s calendar is filling up with interesting events. I’ve just booked seats to see a Finnish-themed music theatre work by an MFA grad with a Finnish name. As immigrants ourselves, my husband and I were quite intrigued by this program description:
RETURNS is a music theatre work. It is Pessi Parviainen’s MFA Graduating Project in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University.
Part concert, part theatre, the piece visits four generations of Finnish immigration with original music, storytelling, and video segments. ‘Returns’ navigates the gaps between Finland and Canada, past and present, fact and fiction.
As source material, Parviainen uses his family’s immigration stories and 8mm home movies from the 1950s and 1980s. The music Parviainen has composed draws from Finnish folk music, tango, contemporary classical music and free improvisation.
Studio II Theatre
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Mountain Campus
Burnaby, BC
September 13, 14, 15, all shows at 8 pm
Free admission
Seating limited. Call SFU Theatre Box Office to reserve seats: 778-782-3514
The website for the show has a nice snippet of music that sounds like a mix of kantele and guitar that you may enjoy. And new-to-me is the sponsor, The Finnish Institute of Suomi, which I’m going to keep an eye on.
UPDATE: The performance was great! The old videos, the snippets of familiar folk music blended into new music, the stories of immigrant life all had an evocative feeling for us. Even Pessi Parvianen’s very Finnish looks made me think of my father and another old friend, except that he’s VERY tall (which is beside the point). An enjoyable evening of unique music and images.
