NNSL (Jun 01/98) - Wolfgang Bottenberg is the first to admit that his production of "Inook" still has a long way to go.

But if everything happens according to plan, residents of Nunavut could be watching a chamber opera as part of the celebrations of the new territory in 1999.

The semi-retired music professor from Concordia University in Montreal says the idea of taking "Inook" on the road came about after he met the artistic director from Arbos, an Austrian theatre company.

"He saw the score and he was convinced that it was an interesting project and he wanted it to be an Austrian-Canadian project," says Bottenberg, who adds that "Inook" will also be performed in Austria in the fall of 1999.

"He wanted it rewritten as a chamber opera so we could take it on the road and we thought we should contact the Inuit community and see if they were interested in having it as part of the opening ceremonies of Nunavut. We did and the response has been good so far," Bottenberg says.

He first contacted July Papatsie, an employee of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and "he said he has to convince the Inuit artistic community. That's the only possible way we'll do this," he says.

"In the beginning, he was a little bit reluctant and he said he had to check it over very carefully."

While Papatsie was unavailable for comment, Bottenberg says that he has since given "Inook" his blessings.

"He's become convinced that the story -- it's not a genuine mythological tale but it has been made to fit the mentality of the Inuit -- has nothing in it to possibly offend Inuit sensibilities.

"My goal, frankly, more than anything else, is a little bit deeper than just performing the opera. There is a great deal of beauty in the Arctic and people from a European background can learn from the Inuit people."

Adapted from a play by Henry Beissel entitled "Inook and the Sun" Bottenberg's tale is about Inook, an adolescent Inuk who battles nature before he is able to find his place in it.

"The play has been translated into many languages and it's in the school books in Germany and it's high time the Inuit become involved and have a voice in shaping it."

To achieve this, Bottenberg would like to hire Inuit musicians, singers and a stage director to lend authenticity to the production and he has asked Pauktuutit to design the costumes.

Eva Adams of Pauktuutit has agreed to help if Bottenberg gets funding and says "after looking at the video and seeing the costumes, they are in dire need of help."

Adams says she has included the designing and sewing of the costumes into the curriculum of Pauktuutit's National Clothing Project which is expected to get off the ground later this month.

Adams also says she supports the opera in its description of Inuit culture.

"I don't know about the accuracy, but as to the concept of the opera, you'll find it fits into what the Inuit culture had been, the reliance upon caribou for survival of the culture. It pretty much tells the story of the way it used to be. It tells about the despair of starvation and it tells the story of an Inuit community up here."

Anyone interested in helping Bottenberg on his project can contact him at bott@alcor.concordia.ca.