Note from The Isabel Voices’ Chair Dianna Bristol after Considering Matthew Shepard

Thank you! We are immensely grateful to everyone who attended our production of Considering Matthew Shepard, either in person, or by livestream. Thank you for listening to the story of Matthew, and for your support of all our friends in the LGBTQ2S+ community.  Love really does have home here.  

It was our honour to perform the breathtaking oratorio that is Considering Matthew Shepard, and to do our best to do justice not only to this work, but to the memory of Matthew, his parents, and the many critical causes that Considering Matthew Shepard champions. The basis of all those many causes, however, boils down to just two simple principles… equal rights and equal respect for all. 

We offer our deepest gratitude to Matthew’s father, Dennis Shepard, who Zoomed into our concert from Wyoming to talk about Matthew and the impact he hoped Craig Hella Johnson’s work might have on our audience members. We are overwhelmed by his generosity, and both his and his wife, Judy’s ability to move forward with such grace to help so many others after the tragic loss of their son.  Dennis and Judy, have dedicated what would have been their retirement years to erasing hate and “changing hearts and minds.”  (For more information on the Matthew Shepard Foundation, please see https://www.matthewshepard.org.)

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our incredible collaborative musicians, Katya Popylansky, violin, Julia McFarlane, viola, Wolf Tormann, cello, Chelsea Novak, bass, Kornel Wolak, clarinet, Jamie Drake, percussion, Jeff Hanlon, guitar, and Clare Marion, piano, for their beautiful playing and their incredible dedication to our production.  We would also like to thank GHY Cheung, who curated our Queer Pleasure art installation in the Isabel lobby and for bringing the following talented visual artists into our event: Meenakashi Ghadial, Zakary-Georges “Twisted Wind” Gagné, Kyle Vingoe-Cram, William Carroll, Joseph Vaughn. Proceeds from the sale of  their work will be donated to the four local not-for-profit organizations, mentioned below.  

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Hill Werth for trusting us to debut their newest piece, Love Has Home Here. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you to Reel Out, Trellis, Spectrum Voices, and Yellow House on Queen’s campus, for your support, as well as Forte - Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus, and Singing Out, also in Toronto. Your kindness, support and enthusiasm for this project meant so much to us.

We are beyond fortunate to work with the highly skilled technical team at the Isabel, and we thank them for the commitment, talent and dedication they brought to this production, and for their unwavering support of us each and every time.

 We offer sincere thanks to all our sponsors for their generous support and for making our concert season possible.  They are House of Angelis, Jack Creasy Design, Olivea and Riva Restaurants, Reid and Siemonsen Design, and Roald Smith Construction.  Special thanks to Joan Tobin and the Ballytobin Foundation for their incredibly generous grant supporting our production of Considering Matthew Shepard.

We cannot thank enough our Director, Grahame Renyk, for his incredible insight, talent and the many, many hours he dedicated to this production.  We were beyond fortunate to benefit from Grahame’s experience. His genuine care, generosity, and endless support of everyone changed the both the room and our production of Considering Matthew Shepard. It was such a pleasure to welcome you into The Isabel Voices fold, Grahame.

Lastly, thank you to our Artistic Director, Darrell Christie, and The Isabel Voices for the performance of a lifetime.  You poured your hearts and souls into Considering Matthew Shepard and I know it was extremely difficult for many of you at times to sing those words and to think about what really happened to Matthew, as well as the events that followed his murder. But with Darrell’s leadership and support, each and every one of you committed and worked through those difficult moments together, and you laid yourselves bare on that stage. I couldn’t imagine a more wonderful group of talented and dedicated people, and I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with all of you.

Warmly,

Dianna

Dianna Bristol (she/her)

Chair, The Isabel Voices