Write Now! Presents: Luke Hathaway and Daniel Cabena

Luke Hathaway

Luke Hathaway is a poet, librettist/lyricist, and performer, who collaborates with artists and ensembles near and far in the work of collective storytelling, bringing mythopoeic word-worlds to page, screen, and stage. He is particularly passionate about telling the trans and queer stories that are close to his heart. Recent projects of note include Caeneus, a new work of music theatre (with James Rolfe, composer, and ANIMA); Eurydice Fragments, an XR opera (with re:naissance opera, Vancouver), and The Sign of Jonas (with Arkora, Toronto).

Luke teaches English and Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s University in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, and mentors emerging lyricists through the Amadeus Choir’s Choral Creation Lab. With Daniel Cabena, he directs ANIMA, an ad hoc collective devoted to the (re)queering of early European textual and musical sources.

His work has been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Arts Centre Creation Fund, and has been recognized by Arc Poetry Magazine (Confederation Poets’ Prize and Critic’s Desk awards), the Hamilton Arts Awards, the NL Arts & Letters Awards, and the New York Festivals Radio Drama Awards; he has performed his work at venues and festivals across Canada.

Daniel Cabena

Daniel Cabena sings, plays, writes, and teaches. He is also a curator of texts and music; and with Luke Hathaway he shares the artistic direction of ANIMA Early Music. Together they program concerts, commission new works of text and music, and create new works for the ear and for the stage.

To his work of curation and creation, Daniel brings a background in early music and liturgical music scholarship; an interest in how music functions in different performance contexts and traditions; and a curiosity about the ‘why’ of music, as well as its ‘how’.

Daniel teaches singing and historically-inspired performance at the Laurier Academy of Music & Arts (LAMA), where he also leads the Community Consort, a multi-instrumental, multidisciplinary community of practice and inquiry.

Daniel’s music-making and teaching are informed by the Alexander Technique, in which field he is a teacher. He also makes music with his hands, playing modern and Baroque violin, as well as vièle, viola da gamba, and recorders.

Daniel holds an Honours Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Doctorate of Music from l’Université de Montréal. He is a past recipient of the Bernard Diamant and Virginia Parker Prizes from the Canada Council for the Arts, and he holds a Master in Specialized Early Music Performance from the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland.

About Write Now!

This talk is part of Writing 2520A (Write Now! - Writers on Writing) offered by the Department of English & Writing Studies at Western University. Writing 2520A is organized around a series of lectures by writers. Every week, a new writer visits the class to read from their work, talk about their writing and their career, and answer questions. Guest lectures are open to Western students, staff and faculty.

For more information about this course, please visit our course information page.

Everyone is welcome!