Songs for Murdered Sisters
This article contains distressing content.
After the terrible loss of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, singer Joshua Hopkins created Songs for Murdered Sisters, with composer Jake Heggie and writer Margaret Atwood to remember her and all women lost to the epidemic of domestic violence.
Songs for Murdered Sisters is available on a digital album and the accompanying film is available free for free until 30th April.
Five years ago, Nathalie Warmerdam was murdered by her ex-partner in one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Canadian history. The man also killed two other former partners, Anastasia Kuzyk and Carol Culleton that day. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2017.
Nathalie’s brother, Joshua Hopkins will never forget the tragic phone call he received in the late afternoon of September 22, 2015, that told him his sister, Nathalie, had been shot and murdered. He describes how at first he couldn’t comprehend the news and was struck by shock.
Joshua was in the midst of final rehearsals for “The Barber of Seville” as the lead role of Figaro. He remembers walking to rehearsal an hour later with his wife Zoe, both of them in a complete daze—their world had been turned upside down.
The day before his final Barber performance, Joshua and Zoe met with the artistic administration of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO). An idea had formed—to create a new musical work, not only to commemorate his sister but also to bring social awareness to the global epidemic of gender-based violence. The intention was to develop a song cycle, melding the power and beauty of poetry and music to tell, through his voice, this personal story as someone who had suffered a great loss.
Soon after, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) became a co-commissioner of the project. In 2016 Joshua was creating the role of Harry Bailey for the HGO world premiere of Jake Heggie’s new work, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. During the opera’s run, he met with Jake to pitch the project. The subject of bringing awareness to violence against women touched Jake deeply, and he jumped on board to find a way to share Nathalie’s story through song. Both believed strongly that the writer should be a Canadian woman. The following January Joshua was singing Papageno in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” in Toronto, and a close friend recognized world-renowned author and poet Margaret Atwood in the audience. Atwood came on board and wrote the poems of the cycle Songs for Murdered Sisters. Joshua said, “When he received the poems that he “was completely in tears, they spoke to me so deeply. I never could have imagined that my grief, my guilt, my anger, could have been so elegantly crafted into such beautiful and striking words."
Joshua is challenging other men to own their responsibility to end violence against women by making the White Ribbon Promise to speak out against all forms of gender-based violence. Please share your commitment using the hashtag #WhiteRibbonSisters. He is also asking people to give generously to support: Houston Area Women’s Center & The Women’s Home.
You can read Joshua Hopkins article for the Houston Chronicle here.