Composer Karen Sunabacka often finds inspiration from puzzles, stories and her Métis and mixed European heritage. She has deep roots in the Red River Settlement (what is now known as Manitoba, Canada) and feels a strong connection to the Métis, Scottish, Swedish and Finnish cultures. This mix of cultural connections sometimes creates conflicts and new perspectives which she finds both interesting and challenging. Her music reflects this cultural mix through the exploration of the sounds and stories of the Canadian prairies.
She often collaborates with her Métis mother, Joyce Clouston, who is a writer, an Indigenous Cultural Carrier, and social worker. Together they have completed numerous works that explore family stories and the intersections of Indigenous -Settler relations and philosophies. Recent pieces include: Place Where the Creator Rests (2022) commissioned and premiered by the Andromeda Trio, …our inner lives were entwined…embroidered with the same pattern… for solo piano (2021) and commissioned and premiered by Naomi Woo and Virtuosi Concerts, I Wasn’t Meant for This for viola d’amore and percussion (2019) commissioned and premiered by Park Sounds and Mama’s Painting: Louis Riel’s Dream for piano quintet (2015) commissioned and premiered by the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival.
In September 2022 she released her first album titled Curlicue with pianist Darryl Friesen which includes all her solo piano music to date. The album was released by Ravello Records and full program notes and links to stream or purchase and download can be found here: https://www.ravellorecords.com/catalog/rr8074/.
Inspired by the natural beauty of Manitoba winters she wrote #DryColdConversations (2018) which was commissioned and premiered for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra premiered her work “The Prairies” which was part of a bigger piece called De Natura Sonorum (2017), a commissioned work with four other composers to celebrate 150 years of Confederation. De Natura Sonorum was nominated in Québec’s 21st Prix Opus in the category Création de l’année (composition of the year). In 2009 she won the CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composers’ Competition with her work And There Was a Great Calm about a Prairie storm, which was premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
In demand as a composer, Karen enjoys the challenge of finding a balance between teaching, composing, performing, and keeping up with her favourite science fiction and fantasy series. Karen is an Associate Professor of Music at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo.
October 2022 | Photographer: Gabrielle Touchette
“Soloist Mélanie Harel premieres the English Horn Concerto by Métis-Canadian composer Karen Sunabacka, whose music is notable for its poetry and charm”
—Concert Notes, Orchestre Métropolitain “Sunabacka creates a brilliant sense of space, placing musical events next to recorded speech, amplifying the concept of conversation. Sunabacka displays an incredibly in-depth knowledge of instrumental technique, finding string effects with a near perfect imitation of crunching snow.”
—Kevin Baldwin on #DryColdConversations “The resulting composition was a powerful testament to a family of artistic visionaries, and, more importantly, one Metis woman's journey toward uncovering her historically lost identity.”
—Claudia Garcia de la Huerta on Mama's Painting: Louis Riel's Dream “The piece was inspired by the grasslands of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and that was easily recognizable. With a firm beginning featuring brass and drums, the piece soon gave way to strings which made it easy to imagine soft, gentle breezes blowing through the grasslands. Through multiple build-ups, the piece finished with an emphatic and powerful climax.”
—Jeff Dedekker on Across the Grasslands
In fall 2018, Colette Simonot-Maiello published a scholarly article titled “Decolonizing” Riel, that analyzes Sunabacka’s work Mama’s Painting: Louis Riel’s Dream. The article can be accessed through Project Muse.