Place des festivals

QUEBECOR STAGE

An Ode to Ocean Life, a Collective Work Bringing Together Artists from Three Countries.

Oktoecho, in collaboration with the Australian collective Corrina Bonshek & Collaborators, presents Song to the Whales, a large-scale international musical project bringing together Inuit, Maori, and Indigenous artists, as well as other artists from Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. All are united around a common theme—whales and ocean

Inspired by traditional Maori, Indigenous, and Inuit songs, the work blends ancestral voices with contemporary instrumentation. The piece takes the form of an immersive show that combines music, storytelling, and the sounds of nature. It will be a sensory journey celebrating the symbolic power of the whale, a ritual of reconnection with the ocean, a moving incantation touching on the very sources of life,  a spellbinding experience that will leave joy and hope in its harmonious wake.

The project is co-directed and composed by Corrina Bonshek (Australia) and Katia Makdissi-Warren (Canada), in close collaboration with renowned artists:

• Whaia Sonic Weaver – Maori singer
• Uncle Bunna Lawrie – Aboriginal singer, storyteller, and activist
• Nina Segalowitz & Lydia Etok – Inuit throat singers and co-artistic directors of Oktoecho
• And musicians: Greta Kelly, Étienne Lafrance, Bertil Schulrabe, Michael Askill, and Jason Lee Scott

Song to the Whales, in the early days of a major North American tour, will premiere in Montreal as part of the 35th International Indigenous Presence Festival.

Concerts

• Song to the Whales August 6 and 7, 2025, at 9:30 p.m. – Montreal First Peoples festival (FIPA)
• Song to the Waters, August 15 and 16, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. – Niagara Parks
• Song to the Whales / Chant de la Baleine, September 6, 2025 – (venue to be confirmed) New York
• October 2026 – Tour in Australia