Sounding Thunder

By Armand Ruffo and Tim Corlis

A musical journey into the life of the renowned Ojibwe WWI sniper and decorated officer of the Canadian military, Francis Pegahmagabow. Composed by Tim Corlis and written by Ojibwe poet Armand Garnet Ruffo, Sounding Thunder is a complex work divided into three acts, exploring Pegahmagabow’s early years immersed in the world of the Anishinaabe spirits, his extraordinary accomplishments in the trenches of WWI, and finally his political life as Chief of the Wausauksing Ojibwe and founder of the early Indigenous political moment in Canada. Based on the book Sounding Thunder by Brian McInnes who provides new perspective on Pegahmagabow and his experience through a unique synthesis of Ojibwe oral history, historical record, and Pegahmagabow family stories.

CAST

Larry Beckwith, conductor

Brian D. McInnes, narrator

Jodi Baker Contin, singer, actor

Keenan Keeshig, actor

Mark Fewer, violin

James Campbell, clarinet

Christian Sharpe bassoon

Beverley Johnston, percussion

Guy Few, trumpet

Rachel Thomas, trombone

Joel Quarrington, double bass