Salon at the Vancouver Playhouse
Sustaining the Arts: A Conversation on Cultural and Environmental Responsibility
This event is free to the general public. Please reserve your seat.
Join Early Music Vancouver for a thought-provoking panel exploring what sustainability means in the arts sector today. Led by EMV’s Artist-in-Residence, Magali Simard-Galdès, an acclaimed soprano with a degree in Sustainable Development from HEC Montréal, the panel brings together voices from across disciplines in Vancouver including Dr. Vanessa Timmer (Executive Director, One Earth Living), Barbara Adler (Director of The Only Animal), Rande Cook (Founder of the Awi’nakola Foundation), Chloe Meyers (Concertmaster of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and co-director of the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme, and Natalie Mackie (violone player in the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and leader of the PBO player’s committee). Together, they’ll explore how artists and arts organizations can respond to the climate crisis, build more equitable and resilient cultural practices and narratives, and reimagine legacy through a sustainable future. This panel will also invite audiences to consider the vital intersection of artistic expression, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous knowledge.
Programme
1 hour panel
30 minute Q & A
Mingling
Magali Simard-Galdès | Sponsored by Denise and Eric Pugash, Host
Quebec soprano Magali Simard-Galdès is distinguished by a broad repertoire ranging from Baroque music, which she is particularly fond of, to contemporary music, for which she possesses all the precision required.
On the operatic stage, Magali imposes a celebrated presence and theatrical ease. Her ability to blend in with each character has enabled her to take on roles as diverse as Agnès (Benjamin, Written on skin), Musetta (Puccini, La Bohème), Micaëla (Bizet, Carmen), Tytania (Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Gilda (Verdi, Rigoletto), Roxane (DiChiera, Cyrano de Bergerac), Constance (Poulenc, Dialogues des carmélites) and Nicette (Hérold, Le pré aux clercs), performing in many prestigious venues, such as, the Vancouver and Montreal Operas, Opera Carolina, Toledo Opera, Tapestry Opera and the Wexford Festival Opera, not forgetting the Cologne Opera and the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille.
On the concert platform, Magali displays the charisma, performing with world renowned specialist ensembles such as Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Les Violons du Roy, Arion Orchestre baroque and Ensemble Caprice.
She performs just as regularly with symphonic ensembles and conductors such as Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre Classique de Montréal, the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, the Houston Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre Métropolitain and Orchestre du Festival Classica in Quebec, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jacques Lacombe, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Bernard Labadie, Jean-François Rivest, Mathieu Lussier, François-Xavier Roth, Jérémie Rhorer and Alexandre Bloch.
Alongside a busy international career, Magali can be regularly heard on Radio-Canada ICI Premiere as an sustainability consultant.
Vanessa Timmer, Panelist
Vanessa Timmer is a social change expert and co-founder of One Earth Living, where she integrates sustainability, systems thinking, and storytelling to inspire transformative action. With over 25 years of experience bridging research and practice, she has led global projects on sustainability, systems change, and futures. Vanessa is a Senior Research Fellow at Utrecht University and a recognized thought leader, earning accolades such as YWCA’s Woman of Distinction for Environmental Sustainability and Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 under 40. Holding advanced degrees from Queen’s University, Oxford University, and UBC, Vanessa’s work spans advising governments and international organizations, teaching sustainability and systems thinking, and fostering collaboration across sectors. She is passionate about envisioning positive futures as a catalyst for social change.
Barbara Adler, Panelist
Barbara Adler is an interdisciplinary artist whose work brings together literary performance, composition, live event production and arts education to explore the intersections between text, music, sound and theatre. Her work has been presented through multiple solo and band albums, publication in spoken word anthologies and performances at major music and literary festivals.
Barbara is a veteran of Canada's spoken word community, recognized for her solo work, her interdisciplinary collaborations and for her role as a founding member of the acclaimed folk-poetry band The Fugitives. She continues to explore the musicality of language under the banner of Ten Thousand Wolves, an intimately collaborating ensemble whose projects gather together songwriting, storytelling and poetry to create performances for thinking, laughing and dancing.
As a curator and producer, Barbara's recent work explores the potential for live performance and artistic labour to create an ethos of critique and care in the public sphere.
Rande Cook (Kwa’kwa’ka’wakw), Panelist
Rande Cook (Kwa’kwa’ka’wakw) was born in 1977, in beautiful Alert Bay B.C. Canada. A small fishing village rich in culture and traditional values, located on Cormorant Island, along the Northeastern coast of Vancouver Island. Cook was raised by the strong teachings of his grandparents, Gus and Florence Matilpi. The Thunderbird, Sun, Kulus, Seagull and Sisiutul are his predominant family crest symbols.
While growing up, Cook and his grandfather observed and discussed the traditional art forms of their Kwa’kwa’ka’wakw heritage. More specifically drawn to the ceremonial masks and the art of the potlatch. Cook holds chieftainships from his maternal side and his paternal side. From his father’s side he is from the Gigalgam (The First Ones). Making the Thunderbird (Kwanusila) the crest of the “Namgis (Nimpkish) tribe. From his mother’s side, he is from the Seagull (Hamatam) of the Ma’amtagila (Matilpi Village) tribe.
In 1991, Rande Cook moved to Victoria B.C. to attend high school. Throughout this time, his passion for the arts started to evolve, as did his skills. Cook worked at perfecting both Indigenous and Western art forms. He found himself consistently drawn to the strong classical form of Northwest Coast art. Cook studied the styles and formlines of the different nations, focusing primarily on the northern tribes of Vancouver Island.
Natalie Mackie, Panelist
Natalie Mackie studied cello at the Conservatoire de Musique (Québec), followed by a degree from the School of Music, University of British Columbia. While at UBC she was introduced to the viola da gamba, and following graduation, she pursued further studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. Natalie has played with many ensembles in Canada and the US, including New World Consort, Les Coucous Bénévoles, Tafelmusik, Portland, and Seattle Baroque Orchestras, Les Voix Humaines, Tempo Rubato, Les Voix Baroque, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Victoria Baroque, and Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra among others. Natalie is a member of Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the chamber ensemble “La Modestine”- both Vancouver-based ensembles. She has toured throughout Canada, Europe, and the US and recorded for Radio France, German Radio, BBC, CBC, and NPR, as well as the Canadian label Atma Classique. Natalie is a regular performer in the Pacific Baroque Festival, held annually in Victoria, BC, and teaches in the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Program at the University of British Columbia.
Chloe Meyers | Sponsored by Jill Bodkin, Panelist
Violinist Chloe Meyers performs with early music ensembles across North America as leader, orchestra member, and chamber musician. She is the concertmaster of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and co-concertmaster of Arion Baroque Orchestra in Montreal. She has led or appeared as soloist with groups including the Victoria Baroque Players, Pacific MusicWorks, Ensemble Les Boréades, the Theatre of Early Music, Ensemble Masques, and Les Voix Baroques, of which she was a founding member. She has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with international violin stars, performing double concerti with Stefano Montanari, Enrico Onofri, Amandine Beyer, and Cecilia Bernardini. Chloe’s playing may be heard on many award-winning disks, including the 2022 Juno award winning recording “Solfeggio”… in which she leads the orchestra L’Harmonie des Saisons as concertmaster. In 2023 she was nominated as Best Musical Director for her work in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Edmonton Opera.
Alongside Chloe’s passion for performance and directing, is her love of teaching. As adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, she trains young artists in the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Program, chamber music and solo lessons. She has years of teaching children, university and students of all ages and levels! She is an active teacher in the summer Victoria Conservatory teaching programs, as well the UVic Collegium orchestral program.
Chloe lives in Ladner, BC, with her ever growing family and dog.
