Karen and Joyce: A Unique Mother-Daughter collaborative Team

Collaborative Works (with Joyce’s Text and Karen’s Music)

Karen and Joyce have completed numerous works that explore family stories and the intersections of Indigenous -Settler relations and philosophies. The following is a list of works, beginning with the most recent. (UPDATED OCT. 2025)

2026

nitatisipwētānān - We are Leaving - for soprano solo and baroque orchestra. Commissioned by TafelMusik and to be premiered April 28 2026. LENGTH: ca. 7 min.

• This text in the voice of our ancestor Margaret Kipling, daughter of an English Hudson Bay Factor and his Indigenous wife (whose identity was not recorded in archives) explores tensions between the highly competitive Fur Trade society during the Pemmican Wars, and the communal values of the emerging Métis Nation in 1816 leading to the 'incident at Seven Oaks, a confrontation between Métis leader Cuthbert Grant and his men, and the then governor of the Hudson Bay.

2025

Water, Reeling and Kin - for 8 violoncelli and Narrator. Commissioned by Agassiz Music with the support of the Canada Council for the arts. LENGTH: ca 11 min.

• Our English Métis family was created when Scottish/Orkney voyageurs of the fur trade formed relationships with Indigenous wives, retiring to farm near Lower Fort Garry, at Mapleton, MB where they built churches and schools. The text and music celebrate water, rapids, wind and paddling northern lakes and rivers.

pisimwak-Moons II: sākipakāwipīsim, otēhiminpīsom, pāskāwāwipīsim, ohpahowipīsim (Budding Moon, Heart-berry Moon, Egg-Hatching Moon, Flying-up Moon) - for SATB choir, violin and piano. Commissioned by the Grand Philharmonic Choir in Kitchener Waterloo. Premiered on March 22m 2025, Kitchener, Ontario.

• Cree worldviews follow the lunar cycle of thirteen moons in a year. I (Joyce) loved recalling the images of spring and summer in my childhood home creating this piece. As I walked to school, and worked in gardens, birds returned in a cacophony of sound, nesting, and raising their clutches, strawberries ripening, and everchanging colourful meadows. Cree words are used to describe the moons

2024

The Great Flood - There are TWO versions of the piece. The original is for Wind Ensemble and SATB Choir, the second versions is for Chamber Ensemble and SATB soloists. Original version was premiered in September 2024, the chamber ensemble version was premiered on January 22, 2025. Commissioned by the University of Manitoba Desautels Facutly of Music.

• This compelling story was first told to me by Elder Stanley McKay of Fisher River Cree Nation in the 1980's. I (Joyce) was delighted because the legend described formation of landscape of my childhood following the melting of glaciers. Karen and I developed this engaging story of animals working together to build a raft to escape the flood and building their home at the flood's recession. Test was developed with the support of The Rev. Dr. Stan and Dorothy McKay to celebrate the opening of the Desautels Faculty of Music as part of the University of Manitoba's Indigenization program.

2023

Enbroidered with Jagged Patterns - for violin, cello, and piano. Commissioned by the Women’s Musical Club, Winnipeg.

• Karen used a line from Joyce’s poem (Lives Entwined - see below) for the title of this piece, otherwise there is no text in this piece.

pisimwak-Moons: Eagle Moon, Goose Moon, Frog Moon - for SSA children’s choir. Commissioned by Classical Movements. Premiered by the Medicine Hat Girls’ choir in May 2024.

• The Cree moons of late winter-early spring are celebrated in this piece that follows the return of the eagle, to the sounds of frog-song as the earth warms. Text includes Cree words.

Jack the Fiddler - for violin, piano and narrator. Commissioned by Elation Pauls with the support of SOCAN, WAC, MAC, and private donations. Premiered by Elation Pauls (violin), Will Bonness (piano), and Karen Sunabacka (narrator).

• This piece explores the life of Joyce’s father (Karen’s grandfather), Jack and the ways the fiddle helped him survive a difficult childhood, WW2 and illness. Joyce writes: My father Jack was the son of Scottish English settlers who were austere, and disapproved of the music Jack loved, and denied him the education he aspired to. He was welcomed into the hospitality of my mother's Métis family and became a gifted fiddler in a teenaged band with my mother and her siblings. Music was a source of joy and healing throughout his life.

2022

The Place Where the Creator Rests - for violin, cello, piano and spoken voices. Commissioned by Andromeda Trio and premiered in May 2022.

• "Manitoba" in Cree is translated as 'place where the Creator rests.' Research for this work included exploring historic texts, speaking with Elders with knowledge of Indigenous experience, and academics with knowledge of Mennonite settlements. Our text contrasted differences in world views, and understandings of 'community'. The expectations and resistance of the Red River Métis to removal from lands is outlined, as is the resulting 'silencing' of Métis identity.

2021

…our inner lives were entwined…embroidered with the same pattern - for solo piano. Commissioned by Naomi Woo and Virtuosi Concerts. Premiered ONLINE by Naomi Woo in March 2021.

• Karen used text by Joyce as the pieces’ titled. Joyce writes: My sister Beverley two years older, suffered a birth injury, and was institutionalized for decades. On her discharge, she visited overnight monthly throughout Karen's childhood. Karen was inspired to write this playful piece based on Beverly's generous and infectious spirit as she celebrated birthdays and holidays with us. Despite the years we were separated, we were spiritually close. Our shared memories rooted in the singing forests of childhood brought joy to our lives. (LINK to YouTube video)

2019

I Wasn’t Meant for This - for viola d’amore, percussion and spoken voice (viola d’amore player speaks the text!) Commissioned by Park Sounds and premiered in October 2019.

• This work offers a glimpse into the life of my (Joyce’s) mother artist-activist Lenore Birston in response to the abrupt change in her life from being a Meteorological Observer at pilot training stations to marriage with three toddlers within three years.

2015

Mama’s Painting: Louis Riel’s Dream - for piano quintet (2 vlns, vla, vc, pno) and Narrator. Commissioned by the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival. Premiere in June 2015.

• The text is taken from a collection of poems/prose that Joyce wrote in the late 1980’s. Karen chose 5 poems from that collection and used that as the narrator part, that begins each of the 5 movements. This was the first collaboration between Karen and Joyce. Joyce writes: This piece is based on a series of poems I developed from stories told by my mother, artist and Métis activist Lenore Clouston, as she explored the experiences of women of her silenced Indigenous heritage. In her final years she began a five-part series of paintings depicting Louis Riel's vision: one day children of many nations will join hands and live in harmony in the Métis Homeland on the prairies.  Lenore passed away before she was able to complete the series. Karen's composition affirmed the work of her grandmother, and in this composition drew together my poetry in Lenore's voice, as well as the art of extended family members to complete her grandmother's unfinished project.