Dreams Unseen

Soprano Voice and Chamber Winds

A number of traumatic global events over the past year have tested humanity. The global pandemic, racism, human rights issues, the discovery of thousands of unmarked Canadian Indigenous children’s graves and climate change are testing humans’ willingness to listen, hope and seek change. This three-movement work is a journey through silence, resistance and hope.

Dreams Unseen begs the question, “Are we listening?”

As people around the world endure and cope with significant loss, isolation, uncertainty and fear, Dreams Unseen contemplates the journey through uncertain times and is fraught with the complexities of today. As we continue to endure loss and uncertainty, we must have faith in resilience, goodwill and hope for a brighter future.

Jacquie Dawson, August 2021

Note from the composer

When composing Dreams Unseen I was faced with a variety of decisions and complexities. Initially commissioned with the idea of conveying joy and hope as we emerged, or hoped to emerge, from a pandemic, too much happened around us in the world – locally, globally, and personally – that made the initial goal of the piece something that didn’t represent so much that I saw.

This made the selection of texts particularly difficult.

As time passed, the texts originally selected became less and less appropriate to what I wanted to say, and, as the unmarked graves of murdered Indigenous children were uncovered throughout Canada on a daily basis, I felt compelled to move away from joy and the promise of hope to instead write about listening, to put hope in a more fragile, truthful context, to be grateful for those who never gave up, those who stood up in the face of all that was happening – the scientists, the leaders, people we’ve never met, people we know. It felt that the only way I could say all that I wanted to say as a composer was to write my own words.

The first movement, In Silence, I ask us not to just hear, but to listen. It is only once we understand the truth that we can truly begin the process of reconciliation. The second movement, In Resistance, is my amazement at those who stood up in these times of adversity – specifically the scientists who saved our lives and those who continue to fight for what it right in the face of a seemingly impossible situation. I continue to believe that, because of those people, love will win, and lyrically I wanted to pay homage to that; The Beatles “In My Life” and Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech are both referenced.

The final movement, In Hope, also takes existing words as an inspiration. The Rodgers and Hammerstein song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” has been a song so close to my heart throughout my life, in the good times and difficult times alike. None of these times have been more difficult than losing a friend during the pandemic. His fight with cancer was driven by hope. A wonderful musician and human, he would also turn to “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – so I chose this final movement to pay homage to the song, to my dearly missed friend, and to the idea that hope – for a better future, for a win against an almost unstoppable disease, for those whose voice is so often not heard to be listened to, and that Dr. King’s words will come true – is everything.

Pete Meechan, August 2021

Commissioned by Jacquie Dawson, Director of Bands, Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba

With funds from:

Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba – Jacquie Dawson, Director of Bands
University of Kansas – Paul Popiel, Director of Bands

And the following commissioning partners:

Arizona State University – Jason Caslor, Director of Bands
Georgia State University – Robert Ambrose, Director of Bands
Marietta College – Nils Landsberg, Director of Bands
New Mexico State University – Michael Mapp, Director of Bands
Oregon State University – Erik Leung, Director of Bands
The Desert Winds – Charles Maguire, Artistic Director
University of Colorado Boulder – Donald McKinney, Director of Bands
University of Missouri – Brian Silvey, Director of Bands, and Amy Knopps, Associate Director of Bands
University of North Florida – Erin Bodnar, Director of Bands
University of Texas – Jerry Junkin, Director of Bands
University of Toronto – Gillian Mackay, Director of Winds Conducting
Valdosta State University – Ben Harper, Director of Bands
Wright State University – Shelley Jagow, Director of Bands