Cait Nishimura (b. 1991) is a Canadian composer based in Waterloo, Ontario. She was also an instrumental music educator before committing herself to composing full time. She has written for many genres, including chamber and choral works, often inspired by her love of nature and the outdoors. She rose to prominence in the wind band world thanks to her win in the 2017 Canadian Band Association Composition Competition for Chasing Sunlight. She is also the co-host, with Dylan Maddix, of the Band Room Podcast. See more about her at her website, the Association of Canadian Women Composers, and the Wind Repertory Project.
Nishimura wrote Boreal Pines in 2021, as she describes in the program notes on her website:
Boreal Pines was commissioned by Ashley Brockway and the Ecole McTavish HS band to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta. This forest fire devastated over 7000 square kilometres of forest and the entire town was evacuated. As one can imagine, this was a highly traumatic event that has had lasting impacts on all who call Fort McMurray home. [Watch this documentary about their story]
Fort McMurray is situated within the boreal forest, which is a bioregion that supports an extensive network of plants, animals, and fungi. The coniferous forests of this region are resilient and, in many cases, have adapted to depend on fire for regeneration. Some species have pine cones which only release seeds under extreme heat; a forest fire can set this cycle of the forest into motion. The pines of the boreal forest are known for their ability to bounce back after hardship, and so are the people of Fort McMurray.
This piece consists of nature-inspired imagery and reflects the mixed emotions of the community as they rebuild: aleatoric passages represent uncertainty, while hopeful melodies encourage finding and creating light within the darkness.
One dollar from every purchase of this piece will be donated to Tree Canada’s Operation ReLeaf, an ongoing program working to reclaim the loss of trees from the 2016 wildfire. Thank you for helping us support this initiative.
No public, live recording of Boreal Pines exists yet, but the MIDI version is available on SoundCloud:
See more about the piece at Nishimura’s website, Murphy Music Press, and Theodore Front Musical Literature. As Nishimura links in her program notes, there is also documentary on the Fort McMurray wildfires: