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‘Wave of Light’: Manitoba Musicians Unite to Shine Hope Through Music
This Friday night at 7:30 p.m., Jubilee Place at MBCI will host a special event that celebrates the profound ability of music to “heal, unite, and make a tangible difference in our community.” The Manitoba Band Association, in partnership with the Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation, will present the world premiere of Wave of Light, a powerful new composition by renowned composer Peter Meechan. The piece will be performed by the University of Manitoba Wind Ensemble and Concert Band under the direction of Dr. Jacquie Dawson, marking the beginning of a province-wide initiative that will see communities across Manitoba perform the work throughout May to raise awareness and funds for cancer research and care.
The Dream That Sparked a Movement
Meechan explained that the inspiration for Wave of Light began nearly two years ago. “This started actually with Jacquie a year and a half ago when the Louis Riel School Division put on an honor band for all their different students,” he recalled. “They played a couple of my pieces that both have their sort of roots in friends’ journeys with cancer.” It was at that concert that Meechan met Sherelle Kwan from Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation. “A few weeks later, she dropped me an e-mail and said, ‘Hey, that was really quite a wonderful experience for everyone involved.’ Joining music and the healing properties and the properties of hope that we all sort of need. So how can we maybe commission a piece of music that can help do that for other people and raise funds in Manitoba for the foundation?”
At first, Meechan admitted he wasn’t sure how such a project could work. “I couldn’t really see how we would do that, or if we did do it, how it would be a profitable thing for the amount of time and work and effort it would take. And so the beauty of Sherelle is that she’s such a, she’s a dreamer… She knew that if she just kept poking enough that I’d eventually come up with something.” That persistence paid off. “Sometimes in life I think the best thing about being around dreamers is they make you sort of get rid of any notion of how do we do this and how do we afford this and how can this possibly happen and you start with what would the dream be? What would the ideal thing be?”
That ideal became Wave of Light—a musical initiative designed to include everyone, regardless of skill level. “Why not have a piece of music that everybody in Manitoba can take part in, whether that is as a performer, of a wind or brass or strings instrument, or percussion instrument, or whether as a singer,” Meechan said. “The ideal is that everybody within Manitoba could have a piece of music that they could take part in if they wanted to.”
Building a Piece for All Levels
Creating a composition accessible to beginners yet satisfying for professionals was a challenge. “This is one of those times where you come up with a great idea, but have absolutely no idea how you’re going to actually do it,” Meechan said. Through “lots of sleepless nights and taking my dogs for long walks,” he developed a system of reverse engineering. “I wrote a piece in a short score… maybe just piano. That was kind of the basis of the piece. So I knew that this piano part could be played along with the beginners… and then when we get to sort of the high school version… they get to do all the twinkly bits. It gives everybody a chance to enjoy music together, no matter what your level.”
For Brent Johnson, the Executive Director of the Manitoba Band Association, the idea resonated deeply. “I was fortunate to be at that concert that Pete was talking about, the Louis Riel School Division Honor Band, about a year and a half ago, and I too was blown away by the sentiment in the room and that musical journey,” he said. “It immediately resonated, not only with me personally—I lost my father to cancer eight years ago—but with the priorities of the Manitoba Band Association, which include making band accessible to everyone in our province and reaching Manitobans in all corners of Manitoba with band music. And this has turned into just a magical way to do that.”
Meechan described the composition process as one of the most complex of his career. “This is one of the few pieces that I’ve written where the conceiving of the piece was maybe harder than the composing of the piece,” he explained. Because the project’s name was already Wave of Light, Meechan realized that “just using the words Wave of Light meant that straight away no one had to learn words because we knew them.” He also ensured the melody was simple and singable so that audiences could participate. “I wanted to take out a complication level each time so you kind of have that first chance to sort of find where you’re at and get your pitch correct before being able to belt it out with the words towards the end.”
Dr. Dawson, who has long performed Meechan’s works, spoke about what makes his music so distinctive. “Although it’s very simple, it’s very hard sometimes,” she said. “What might appear, oh, you know, the lines are moving slowly or it doesn’t look at a glance like it’s going to be that complicated, but it’s very, very sophisticated.” She admires the “harmonic language, pacing, and intent behind the music,” describing each piece as purposeful. “Every piece has a different message. There’s always real intent behind the music in terms of why it was written.”
Collaboration, Education, and Community Impact
The Wave of Light project has grown beyond a single performance. Educators and communities across the province will be able to access recordings and learning materials at waveoflight.ca. Johnson explained, “There are beautiful recordings of all three leveled versions of the piece available at waveoflight.ca, along with and without the optional voice parts… and Brandon University School of Music and Faculty of Education are developing classroom learning resources to support further learning.”
The initiative’s major push will occur in May, which Manitoba recognizes as Music Month. “We thought, let’s aim for May,” Johnson said. “It’s a month where we recognize the importance of and celebrate the positive impact of music education across Manitoba.” He noted that Wave of Light encourages collaboration between bands and choirs—something not often seen in school programs—and symbolizes “the power of music to bring people together, to tell our stories, share and experience emotion together, and to do some good through all of that by also raising funds for cancer care.”
At its heart, Wave of Light turns music into a powerful fundraising tool for the Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation. Each performance of the piece—whether by school bands, community ensembles, or professional musicians—becomes an opportunity to raise both awareness and vital funds for cancer research and patient care. Participating groups are encouraged to host their own concerts throughout May, Manitoba’s Music Month, inviting audiences to donate directly through the foundation’s dedicated online platform at waveoflight.ca. With every performance shared across the province, the initiative creates a ripple effect of generosity, transforming the universal language of music into tangible support for families affected by cancer.
Meechan praised Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation for their partnership, noting their support in building the project’s website and fundraising tools. “It’s great to see the infrastructure that they have in place,” he said. “Music and cancer don’t divide us—they unite us. In my sort of brain, this was just one giant provincial performance that might take place over a whole month… it’s something that we’re all still doing together no matter where you’re from.”
A Concert of Hope
The premiere concert will feature both the University of Manitoba Concert Band and Wind Ensemble, with guest tuba soloist Patrick Sheridan performing Rob Teehan’s Tuba Concerto. “It is virtuosic tuba writing. Like, it’s virtuosic,” Dawson said with enthusiasm. She also teased “a surprise performance at the end of the program that’s not even listed on the program,” and highlighted the inclusion of Love and Nature by contemporary composer Gala Flagello. “All but two composers on the program are living composers. So we’re big advocates and it’s going to be a great show.”
When asked what they hope Wave of Light will accomplish, Meechan said, “There’s never going to be a reason for less music or for less fundraising, especially for cancer treatments and research.” He sees the project as “service to our communities through music.” Johnson described performing the piece as deeply moving: “It was very emotional for me, someone who’s lost a close family member to cancer… The piece definitely is kind of a vehicle for all of those emotions.”
Dawson echoed those thoughts. “We have to see that broader picture and how [music] can be part of a healthy and vibrant society that is there for each other and that comes together and is not divided,” she said. She compared Wave of Light to Meechan’s earlier work Song of Hope: “I see this as like another version of that in a completely different scope… another anthem.”
For those who wish to participate or learn more, resources and donation tools are available at waveoflight.ca. The message at the heart of the project is simple and resonant: as Meechan put it, “Music and cancer don’t divide us—they unite us.”
The Wave of Light concert with the University of Manitoba Wind Ensemble and Concert Band takes place Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Jubilee Place. More details can be found at mbband.org/light.
In the end, Wave of Light is far more than a concert—it’s a movement of hope, harmony, and humanity. It invites Manitobans from every corner of the province to stand together, not just as music lovers, but as a community united by compassion and purpose. Each note played and each voice raised shines a little brighter against the darkness that cancer brings, reminding us of the strength we find when we act together. Whether you attend the premiere at Jubilee Place, perform in your local ensemble, or donate to the cause, you become part of this radiant wave—a living testament to music’s power to heal, connect, and change lives. Don’t miss your chance to be part of something truly extraordinary.
