A Manitoba Métis Fulbright Scholar gives voice to Indigenous women through opera

A Manitoba Métis singer who conducts research on Indigenous opera has received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to Canada, which she believes will give her a platform to continue sharing Indigenous stories.

Camryn Dewar is a Red River Métis and one of 14 Canadians honored with the award Fulbright Student Awarda highly sought-after US-Canadian exchange scholarship awarded to young professionals.

“When I found out… I remember running around the house jumping up and down and squealing and everything because I was so excited,” Dewar said.

The soprano from Stony Mountain, north of Winnipeg, says the scholarship – worth $25,000 for an eight-month academic year – will free her from the worries of having to work to pay tuition, allowing her to focus on her studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he focuses his research on indigenous opera.

She has already completed the first year of her master’s degree in opera performance, which she plans to graduate in the spring.

Thanks to the scholarship, “I have a platform to talk about… firstly, (that) indigenous people still exist – we are everywhere” and “we also make music and we make really good music – and not only that, we make opera.”

From rural Manitoba to Carnegie Hall

Dewar has stated that playing instruments “is in her blood” on her father’s side.

“Musicism, jigging and playing guitar and piano is a huge part of Métis culture… and I really credit my Métis experience for being musical in the first place,” she said.

At the age of four, Dewar followed her grandmother’s advice and began learning to play the piano, sing and hand drums. However, it wasn’t until she was 13 that she decided to become a professional performer after being cast in the children’s choir in a Manitoba opera production called Bohemia.

“I looked at the (Centennial) Concert Hall, the rows of seats with spotlights… everything is just as you imagine it, and I thought… ‘This is what I definitely want to do.’ “she said.

Her first exposure to Indigenous opera was during her undergraduate studies at the University of Manitoba, where she performed a selection Lost – an opera about missing and murdered Indigenous women by Métis playwright Marie Clements and composer Brian Current.

“I really felt like my soul was pouring out of my body – it was an extremely emotional experience,” she said. “Especially with Indigenous music, I really feel like it all comes out of you.”

As an emerging artist, Dewar found the support of the Métis community, and the Manitoba Manitoba Federation in particular, to be invaluable, opening doors with financial assistance while completing her bachelor’s degree at the University of Manitoba and leading to a career that has already included performances at prestigious venues such as Banff Center in Alberta and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Dewar’s lecture recital series – the culmination of her master’s degree – is focusing on the evolution of the representation of Native women in opera and the shift away from the “romanticization” of Native women in Eurocentric operas.

That shift included work examining violence against Indigenous women, which is “very powerful and important and huge,” she said.

And now “we’re at a point where we’re trying to kind of normalize indigenous people” in art and popular culture, including opera.

This normalization “is a huge part of equal representation because… we’re finally moving away from just stereotypes,” she said.

Mel Braun, director of the vocal program in the music department at Desautels at the University of Manitoba, met Dewar in coaching sessions when she was a first-year student and introduced her to Lost.

The pair collaborated for years, and Dewar “grew into her body as a singer,” Braun said, unlocking her vocal capabilities and technique while finding her portable voice.

“Her voice is beautiful” and “speaks for itself when she sings, but she is (also) a powerful advocate,” Braun said.

He said Dewar’s work in presenting music by Indigenous composers is an issue that “really needs to be addressed,” especially in the world of opera.

“In opera, usually a woman dies for some reason,” Braun said.

“There is a whole tradition of very strong female leadership in the matriarchy of indigenous culture… and the more we can encourage that, the better.”

Work to collaborate with Indigenous artists, “mentoring and promoting young Indigenous singers and songwriters – this is long overdue,” he said.

Dewar said she feels a responsibility to give a voice to Native stories and to support herself and other Native women on stage.

“Indigenous opera is really good, it is worth knowing and supporting,” she said. “We have to be in the same space as everyone else.”

She’s also excited about how this representation can impact the next generation.

“It shows little girls that they have so many opportunities ahead of them and so many different things they can do… but they would never have thought of it because they had never seen themselves,” she said.

“We deserve to have our voices heard as much as anyone else’s.”