Rose-Ellen Nichols was a beautiful Coast Salish mezzo-soprano from the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. I met Rose-Ellen in 2017, when I arrived in Vancouver to conduct the world premiere of Missing, by Marie Clements and Brian Current. Missing is about the 4,000 missing Indigenous women and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s lack of action in finding them. Rose played the Native Mother, who had an aria of extreme pain while she waited and hoped for her daughter to return. To align with the public’s view of Indigenous loss, the Native Mother and Native Daughter were not given names, but Rose-Ellen rose up within the opera to a place of great power and ended the entire opera with the words “What are you missing?”. She was beautiful, powerful, funny, giving, and she was an inspiration to all of us.
Rose-Ellen was 41 years old and died of cancer. We will remember her and cherish her for all time.
Please check out her story at https://www.createastir.ca/articles/rose-ellen-nichols-obituary