Vivek Shraya Returns to Her Album ‘Part-Time Woman,’ Now With the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

Vivek Shraya. Photo courtesy of the artist.

When Vivek Shraya released Part-Time Woman in 2017, the Polaris Prize–nominated album was celebrated for its intimacy, vulnerability, and stunning collaboration with the chamber-pop ensemble Queer Songbook Orchestra. What audiences didn’t know at the time, was the project potentially had a companion album, “Part-Time Woman in Songs,” in reference to the post-Lilith Fair compilation albums Women & Songs that were released in the mid-90s and early 2000s.

“When Part-Time Woman came out, I found myself thinking a lot about pop songs that had shaped my own sense of girlhood,” Shraya says. “I kind of was actually sitting on the idea, [thinking] ‘I wonder if this is maybe a 10-year anniversary project.”

That idea will now arrive in full form with Vivek Shraya: One Night Only, a collaboration between Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, One Yellow Rabbit, and Shraya as part of High Performance Rodeo. The concert weaves together orchestral arrangements of songs from Part-Time Woman, covers of formative pop tracks (including Shania Twain, TLC, and Christina Aguilera), and readings from Shraya’s books.

Vivek Shraya. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The timing for the project crystallized in 2024, when Shraya received an email from the Artistic Director of Calgary Philharmonic about a possible collaboration in the 2025–26 season. The invitation prompted Shraya to return to the spark of an idea that had followed her quietly for years.

“I remember when I was reading from my first book, God Loves Hair, there was a period of time where I would read the story called ‘Dress Up’ and before I would read it or after I'd read it, I'd also include a snippet of Shania Twain's ‘The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You)’ acappella… And now as part of the show, I'm going to be reading that exact same passage and I'll get to do The Woman In Me with the full orchestra. So it feels like the realization of this seed that I planted many many years ago,” says Shraya.

“I never imagined that I'd get to actually perform the song with a full orchestra, let alone not acappella.”

Shinning light on these songs with new arrangements from composer La-Nai Gabriel has been an incredible creative partnership. “A relationship built on mutual admiration,” Shraya says, noting how rare it is to find collaborators who who truly understand what you're trying to do.

“In all my years as an arranger, I've never had the opportunity to revisit a previous piece and expand it,” said composer La-Nai Gabriel. “This has been an incredible experience, almost like visiting my past self. Rarely does one get the chance to really examine how far they've come as an arranger and musician like I have working on ‘One Night Only’ with Vivek.”

Gabriel originally arranged the scores for the tracks “Hari Nef,” “Brown Girls,” and eventually the title track “Part-Time Woman,” in 2017, saying “I felt a deep appreciation for the work I had done then, and how some of my ideas were really hip (to me) and held up well with time. As well, I saw places where now, with almost 10 years experience accumulated, I could improve upon ideas that then were in their infancy.”

Expanding those works from the Queer Songbook Orchestra’s relatively small ensemble to the size of the Calgary Philharmonic was challenging they note, but also an incredibly joyful experience. “I've always loved large ensemble writing, the colours and textures you could achieve with that many players at once are infinite. The energy of an orchestra is unparalleled. Expanding my previous arrangements for the philharmonic has given new life and energy into the songs.”

Gabriel highlights one of the cover selections as a particular favourite. “I don't want to spoil anything, but there's a TLC cover in the show that Vivek arranged the form, vocals, and drums, and I adapted it for orchestra and beefed it up a little,” she shares. “There are some songs in the show that I've loved my entire life, and I'm proud of the work we've done to make them come to life for the philharmonic.”

While reflecting on the selection of cover songs included in the show, Shraya shares that many of them are her childhood favourites, songs she listened to on repeat while growing up as a gender non-conforming child in Alberta, offering her a sense of escape.

“Pop music, even at its most basic form, can still be a home for queer and trans people to find ourselves… I'm sure Shania Twain was not thinking about trans people when she wrote [The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You)] but I remember the first time, being in my parents' bedroom, watching their little television and seeing [her music video] and it just resonating so deeply with me.

“I didn't have the language of of queer, or non-binary, or gender non-conforming… but that song just affected me so deeply and allowed me to tap into myself in a way that nothing else could. Pop music gave me a way for me to feel and realize a deeper part of myself that I hadn't even named.”

Revisiting Part-Time Woman nearly a decade later has also brought complicated emotional terrain. The album was written during the early period of Shraya’s public coming out, and in a vastly different political climate.

“I wrote all the songs around the time that I came out as trans and… even though I didn't realize this at the time, I think [part of coming out] was that I felt safe enough to do so… it makes me sad to think about where we are now, and that I couldn't have imagined that this is where we'd end up 10 years later.”

When reflecting on her youth growing up in Edmonton, and on her time spent as a professor at the University of Calgary, Shraya shares an anecdote that feels particularly timely for this moment in Alberta politics. “At the beginning of last year when Trump passed the executive orders, specifically the ones around “gender ideology,” I couldn't get out of bed for a whole day. It really, really had an effect on me. Then, when, I was in Calgary, a week or two later launching a show at the Contemporary art gallery, I saw a friend of mine who told me her young child is now identifying as non-binary. It was such an interesting juxtaposition to be like, right, there will always be laws that maybe get passed, or that don't get passed. But at the same time, there will always be young people who continue to come out.”

Shraya says seeing an artistic institution like the Calgary Philharmonic stand proud in its celebration of queer and trans artists feels necessary at this moment in time.

“I think art and music can be such a special place for us to find comfort… we are able to find our homes in the most unexpected places… my hope is that this show is a reminder of that, especially in this moment,  where our feelings of home or places where we feel like we can be ourselves are limited. I'm hoping the show is a reminder that there are other places [like music] that no one else can touch.”

Tickets for Vivek Shraya: One Night Only are available now from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.