Loved / Lost

On September 22, 2015, the Canadian county of Renfrew was shocked by the brutal murder of three women, ex-partners of the perpetrator. These crimes left a deep scar on the rural community of the Outaouais Valley, where baritone Joshua Hopkins grew up. His sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, was one of the victims. In collaboration with composer Jake Heggie and writer Margaret Atwood, Hopkins transformed his grief into Songs for Murdered Sisters, a condemnation of all forms of gender-based violence. In contrast, mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan performs Schumann’s Frauenliebe und-leben, a 19th-century ideal of feminine devotion.