2011-12 Yearly Report - Department of Music - University of Calgary

Department of Music
2011-12 Yearly Report
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2011/12 Department of Music
Yearly Report
Legend for Concert Series attendance tables:
â
C = Celebration Series
D = Discovery Series
O = Organ Series
J = Monday Night Jazz Series
S = Special Series
SEPTEMBER 2011: During the month of September, Canadian Flutist Christie Reside accompanied by pianist
Kathleen van Mourik kicked off the Department of Music’s concert season with The Blackbird Sings: Music for
Flute and Piano.
MASTERCLASSES:
1. Christie Reside, flute: Principal flute in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
September 17/11 Christie Reside (C) 208 Eckhardt-Gramatté
OCTOBER 2011: In the month of October, Tommy Banks performed in our Monday Night Jazz Series, Canadian
organist Christina Hutten played in a co-production between the Department of Music and Mount Royal’s Organ
Festival and Charles Foreman performed his third of six Liszt concerts.
MASTERCLASS:
1. Christina Hutten, organ: Up and coming Canadian organist and harpsichordist
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
October 3/11 Tommy Banks (J) 258 University Theatre
October 18/11 Christina Hutten (O) 117 Eckhardt-Gramatté
October 22/11 Charles Forman (C) 215 Eckhardt-Gramatté
NOVEMBER 2011: November was brimming with music performances including contemporary pianist Yoko
Hirota, Montreal jazz quartet Donato-Bourassa-Lozano-Tanguay and tenor Timothy Shantz with pianist Marilyn
Engle performing the entire Winterreise cylce. We also hosted the 2011 E-Gre Winner’s Tour and French organist
Jean-Willy Kunz.
MASTERCLASSES:
1. Donato-Bourassa-Lozano-Tanguay: Montreal Jazz quartet
2. St. Lawrence String Quartet: Stanford based String quartet
3. Paul Merkelo, trumpet: Renowned North America trumpet player
1. Jean Willy Kunz, organ: Montreal organist
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NOVEMBER Cont’d
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
November 5/11 Yoko Hirota (D) 107 Eckhardt-Gramatté
November 7/11 Donato-Bourassa-Lozano-Tanguay (J) 111 Beat Niq
November 19/11 Timothy Shantz/Marilyn Engle (C) 247 Eckhardt-Gramatté
November 20/11 Erica Iris Huang (EG Winner) 27 Eckhardt-Gramatté
November 29/11 Jean Willy Kunz (O) 47 Eckhardt-Gramatté
DECEMBER 2011: The UCalgary String Quartet began their first of three Celebration of Brahms performances.
CONCERT DATE ARTIST ATTENDANCE VENUE
December 2, 2011 UCalgary String Quartet (S) 150 Eckhardt-Gramatté
Fall 2011 Student Ensemble Stats Table
DATE ENSEMBLE TICKETS ATTENDANCE CONCESSION VENUE
Nov.14/11 Jazz Ensemble 100 102 Open UT
Nov.22/11 Mostly Guitars 75 62 Open EG
Nov.24/11 Orchestra 100 114 Open EG
Nov.27/11 Wind Ensemble 150 232 Open EG
Nov.28/11 World Music 250 248 Open EG
Nov.30/11 Brass & Percussion 50 66 Open EG
Nov.30/11 Chamber Music Free Recital Hour Closed EG
Dec. 1/11 Chamber Choir 150 144 Open EG
Dec. 2/11 Chamber Music Free Recital Hour Closed EG
Dec. 5/11 Symphonic Band 125 181 Open EG
Dec. 6/11 University Chorus 250 255 Open EG
Dec.7/11 Collegium Musicum 75 86 Open EG
Fall Semester Community Performances: None
JANUARY 2012: This month Charles Foreman played his fourth of six Liszt concerts, New York big band
conductor Maria Schneider performed with the Calgary Jazz Orchestra and the U of C Jazz Ensemble and the RBC
Concerto Competition took place. The Department of Music also hosted the Cantos Pipe! Pipe! Hooray! organ
program and the Happening 2012 Festival of New Music and Media.
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
January 10/12 RBC Concerto Competition 222 Eckhardt-Gramatté
January 14/12 Charles Foreman (C) 181 Eckhardt-Gramatté
January 23/12 Maria Schneider (J) 410 University Theatre
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2012 Happening Festival of New Music and Media
CONCERT DATE CONCERT NAME ATTENDANE VENUE
January 25/12 Preludes & Beneath the Forest Floor 76 Eckhardt-Gramatté
January 26/12 Sixtrum 90 Eckhardt-Gramatté
January 27/12 Debussy to Westerkamp 51 Eckhardt-Gramatté
January 28/12 Debussy 150th 205 Eckhardt-Gramatté
FEBRUARY 2012: In February the Department of Music hosted three concerts involving Quebec violin and
guitar twosome Duo Aperio, organist Neil Cockburn and the Chris Andrew Quintet. We also hosted the Alberta
International Band Festival.
MASTERCLASSES:
1. Peter Kolkay, bassoon: Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Centre
2. Davie Shifrin, clarinet: Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Centre
3. Ensemble Nikel: International contemporary music quartet
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
February 7/12 Neil Cockburn (O) 91 Eckhardt-Gramatté
February 11/12 Duo Aperio (D) 141 Eckhardt-Gramatté
February 27/12 Chris Andrew Quintet (J) 69 Beat Niq
MARCH 2012: In the month of March, the UCalgary String Quartet performed their second Celebration of
Brahms concert, Ensemble Made in Canada performed a premiere piece by John Burge and electric guitarist Chris
Tarry joined jazz quintet Verismo to perform in the Monday Night Jazz Series.
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
March 2/12 UCalgary String Quartet (S) 135 Eckhardt-Gramatté
March 24/12 Ensemble Made in Canada (C) 175 Eckhardt-Gramatté
March 26/12 Verismo (J) 119 University Theatre
MASTERCLASSES:
1. Eric St. Laurent Trio: Montreal jazz trio
2. Susan Hoeppner, flute: Flutist and faculty member of the U of T and the Royal Conservatory of Music
3. Ensemble Made in Canada: One of Canada’s premiere piano quartets
APRIL 2012: This month the Department of Music held two concerts with performances by the world music Safa
Ensemble and the Alex Goodman/Brent Mah Quartet.
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
April 14/12 Safa Ensemble (D) 98 Eckhardt-Gramatté
April 23/12 Alex Goodman/Brent Mah Quartet (J) 72 Eckhardt-Gramatté
MASTERCLASSES:
1. Andrew McCandless, trumpet: Principal Trumpet of the Toronto Symphony
2. Stile Antico – British voice ensemble
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Winter 2012 Student Ensemble Stats Table
DATE ENSEMBLE TICKETS ATTENDANCE CONCESSION VENUE
Mar. 4/12 Orchestra 100 83 Open EG
Mar. 19/12 World Music 250 175 Open EG
Mar. 27/12 Mostly Guitars 75 26 Open EG
Mar. 27/12 Jazz Ensemble 100 127 Open UT
Mar. 28/12 Chamber Choir 150 91 Open EG
April 1/12 Wind Ensemble 250 99 Open EG
April 2/12 Chamber Music Free Recital Hour Closed EG
April 2/12 Brass & Percussion 50 54 Open EG
April 3/12 Orchestra 100 77 Closed EG
April 4/12 Collegium Musicum 75 44 Open EG
April 4/12 Chamber Music Free Recital Hour Closed EG
April 5/12 Symphonic Band 125 155 Open EG
April 12/12 University Chorus 200 197 Open EG
Winter Semester Community Performances:
1. Various U of C Chamber Music ensembles performed at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer as part of
the Calgary Public Library’s “Music in March Series.”
MAY 2012: In the month of May, the Department of Music hosted the 2012 Graduate Student Conference
“Confounding Expectations – Music and the Creative Act.” Presenters for this two-day event hailed from
various universities including British Columbia, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Newfoundland,
Massachusetts and Padua Italy. The UCalgary String Quartet also performed their final Celebration of
Brahms concert with the world-renowned pianist Anton Kuerti.
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
May 18/12 UCalgary String Quartet (S) 226 Eckhardt-Gramatté
JUNE 2012: The Contrasts Chamber Music Festival featured performances by the UCalgary String Quartet,
members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, U of C and Beijing Conservatory music faculty, alumni, and
guests.
CONCERT DATE ARTISTS ATTENDANCE VENUE
May 25/12
UCalgary String Quartet, Lev
Nesterov, Brett Gunther &
74
Eckhardt-Gramatté
Michalis Androniku
May 27/12
Adrianna Lebedovich, Lana
Henchell, Jeremy Brown, Russell
96
Eckhardt-Gramatté
Broom, Rod Squance & Gwen
Klassen
June 1/12
Yan Tao, Xu Yulian, Yan Rui, Li
Ziang, Edmond Agopian, Rod
108
Eckhardt-Gramatté
Squance & Marilyn Engle
June 3/12
Krill Kalmykov, Julia Haager &
Edmond Agopian
70
Eckhardt-Gramatté
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Grant Support
The Department of Music applied for AFA (Alberta Foundation for the Arts) grants and received the following
support for the 2011/12 Season:
Celebration/Discovery Series - $9,400
Organ Series - $2,500
Happening Festival of New Music and Media - $1,400
CONTRASTS Chamber Music Festival- $3,650
2011/12 Department of Music Related News Articles
*Please see attached articles
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Local pianist takes on
hyphenated Liszt
By Bob Clark, Calgary Herald (October 20, 2012)
Foreman now halfway through series of six ‘shows’
Atouch of Lisztomania, perhaps. No, we’re not talking here about the kind of mid-19th-century hysteria —
swooning and screaming female fans — that greeted piano superhero Franz Liszt’s prodigious public bouts
of keyboard legerdemain and showmanship.
Nor are we talking about the rock operatic 1975 Ken Russell Hollywood fantasy starring Roger Daltrey of
the Who as Liszt (with Ringo Starr as the pope).
Rather, we’re speaking of the six-concert, three-year Liszt series performed by Calgary pianist Charles
Foreman.
The third instalment of Foreman’s ambitious cycle is a show — and performances of all-Liszt programs do
tend to be “shows” — titled The Hyphenated Liszt. (Foreman gave Beethoven and Chopin similar cyclic
treatment, in previous seasons)
The concert takes place on Saturday at the Rozsa Centre’s Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall.
The title comes from the fact that Liszt, whose vital dates are 1811-1886, transcribed just about everything
by others he could get his hands on: songs, orchestral and instrumental pieces and operas, you name it.
And when you do that, it’s customary to attach your name to that of the actual composer with a hyphen.
Thus, Schubert-Liszt, Wagner-Liszt, and so on.
“If I’m doing a six-concert series of Liszt, I need to at least make a nod towards his transcriptions —
because he did so many of them,” says Foreman.
The first half of his program on Saturday features transcriptions of two wellknown songs by Schubert, two
by Chopin and two of Schubert’s Soirees de Vienne (waltzes). The set ends with Liszt’s take on Camille
Saint-Saens’s evergreen Halloween (and Fantasia) classic, Danse Macabre.
After intermission comes A Night at the Opera (“but not as funny,” Foreman quips), offering music by
Wagner, Donizetti, Verdi and Gounod — as seen through the miraculous hands and very original musical
mind of Liszt.
Liszt’s transcriptions, which fall into the category of literal, paraphrase or over-the-top fantasy, served a
very useful purpose in an age that long predated recordings, Foreman says.
It was a time when, if you didn’t live in a major city, you couldn’t hear orchestral concerts. (And if you did,
they were probably badly played, at least according to the eyewitness accounts of bad boy French composer
Hector Berlioz).
“So for music lovers to get to know this music, either you had to be adept enough to (sight) read a score, or
you had to have some other version (of the music), such as Liszt’s piano transcriptions of the big orchestral
pieces — which would have been very convenient for a decent amateur pianist,” Foreman says.
Foreman’s virtuoso Liszt show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets: At the door, or 403-2207202.
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Playing to royalty
Music instructor’s winning composition to be performed for the royals.
by Jennifer Myers
Zachary Wadsworth, a composer and instructor for the music department, submitted the winning entry to a
competition sponsored by the King James Bible Trust for an original musical score. The competition is part
of the 400th anniversary celebrations of the King James Bible.
Wadsworth’s composition, created for choir and organ, will be performed at Westminster Abbey in
London, England in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh,
and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on November 16. It will be the featured anthem in a service
that will close of a year of celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James
Bible. Wadsworth’s composition will also be published by Novello, a prestigious publisher of sacred
music.
“I have written a lot of sacred music and performed it, but this is the first competition that spoke directly to
my area of expertise,” says Wadsworth, who completed his Doctorate from Cornell University just last
spring. “I have been singing from Novello’s scores for years, so the idea that I get to be a part of this
tradition is very special.”
Entrants were asked to select passages from the King James Bible that have not previously been set to
music. Wadsworth chose several sections from the Book of Job.
“Most sacred music uses poetic texts,” says Wadsworth. “This bible is mostly in prose, so I looked for
passages that seemed to have a kind of rhythm. The Book of Job does. It also articulates dramatic nature
imagery and the mystery of god. It is beautifully written in old Shakespearean language. The best texts
encourage you to make good compositional decisions.”
The piece, titled Out of the South Cometh the Whirlwind, will be performed by the Choir of Westminster
Abbey, which also performed at the recent royal wedding, and conducted by James O’Donnell. The
Archbishop of Canterbury will preside over the service.
Wadsworth will travel to London with his family for the event. Following the service, he and other guests
will be treated to a reception in the Jerusalem Chamber, the room in Westminster Abbey where eminent
churchmen of the time originally translated the King James Bible to English in 1611. The Prince of Wales
is the Patron for the King James Bible Trust and is also slated to attend the reception.
Wadsworth teaches courses in music theory and musicianship for the Department of Music. Various of his
compositions have been performed previously by the Boston Metro Opera, the Washington National Opera
Chorus and the Richmond Symphony Chorus to name a few.
Photo caption: Zachary Wadsworth is congratulated by the Dean of Westminster Abbey in spring 2011
when his composition was selected as the winner by the King James Bible Trust.
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Organist attains prestigious diploma
By Caitlyn Spencer
The University of Calgary’s John Bouz, an organist, composer, and music MA student, ran a full concert
schedule last year, at one point playing four concerts in four days. This year, however, saw him focusing on
rigorous study in preparation for the Royal Canadian College of Organists’ Fellowship Diploma, the
highest certification offered by the RCCO.
“Since the institution’s founding about 100 years ago, there have been roughly 100 diplomas awarded by
examination in Canada,” says Bouz.
Though nine months of focused study and practice preceded his taking the examination, Bouz, who began
playing organ at eleven for the Catholic church in Sundre where he grew up, counts years of experience as
the real preparation. His hard work paid off: not only did Bouz pass, but he also received the Willan
Scholarship for highest marks nation-wide and the Doreen Porter Prize for the highest practical
examination marks.
Bouz attributes much of his success to a semester of organ lessons with Neil Cockburn, one of the
performers in this year’s Organ Series. “I owe much of my success to Neil’s encouragement and expertise,”
Bouz says. “Calgary is very fortunate to have a musician of Neil’s caliber.”
Bouz’s achievements aren’t limited to the organ: he also plays piano and keyboard, and identifies primarily
as a composer. “I began composing – though I didn’t involve myself in writing the music out – before I
started piano lessons,” he says.
Beyond a regular schedule of work playing for weddings, funerals, and church services, Bouz is looking
forward to attending organ concerts as an audience member this year. He is especially excited for the
Calgary Organ Festival, Oct. 6-21, which will include a performance by Christina Hutten presented by the
University of Calgary music department.
In the meanwhile, Bouz will be TAing and working on his MA thesis, supervised by Friedemann Sallis
(music) and Suzanne Curtin (psychology). “My thesis presents the argument that principles of auditory
perception ought to play a foundational role in music analysis, although not at the exclusion of other
methods of analysis,” he explains.
Learn more about the Fellowship Diploma and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. For more
information on the Department of Music’s Organ Series, beginning October 18, click here.
CALGARY - Lola Rozsa, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 92, was a great lady in the old
tradition of grace, kindness and generosity of spirit, but also just a real dear when it came to putting a
nervous arts reporter at ease.
The first time I met Lola was in June 2000, several years after moving to Calgary and a few months after
arriving at the Herald.
The Calgary Philharmonic had struck a new annual award — the Gold Baton Award — to honour local
philanthropy towards the orchestra.
The inaugural recipients were to be Lola and her retired oilman husband, Ted, both longtime CPO boosters.
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I took a cab to their comfortable but unostentatious house in Canyon Meadows, regretting not having
written down questions beforehand to ask a couple with a reputation for giving an awful lot of money —
more than $13 million to date, through the Rozsa Foundation she and Ted established in 1990 — to help
fund arts groups, galleries and musicians across Alberta. (Their philanthropy was also felt in the Calgary
medical community.) I needn’t have worried.

Music to Move and Inspire
By Bob Clark, Calgary Herald (January 19, 2012)
No, it's not the title of a gospel concert, nor of an evening dedicated to You'll Never Walk Alonetype music
of inspiration.
It's a concert of original Big Band compositions written by New York-based band leader Maria Schneider,
who conducts two Calgary groups in the performance of her music on Monday at the University Theatre -
the Calgary Jazz Orchestra and the University of Calgary Jazz Ensemble.
Admittedly, there aren't many women conducting Big Bands today, nor have there ever been (if any)? I
venture.
No, says Schneider, whose high-profile career was launched in 1994 with the release of the recording,
Evanescence, consisting of music she composed for her own 17-member collective, the Maria Schneider
Orchestra.
"The whole jazz world is mainly men," Schneider says. "I mean, jazz evolved mainly out of a culture, and
that culture existed in jazz clubs late at night in an era when women were raising families.
"There weren't that many women at that time who found a way to do both things."
Today, however, with the growing prominence of jazz and jazz ensembles - in high schools and on college
campuses, for example - the whole picture is changing, Schneider points out.
"But, for me - honestly, I have to tell you my energy has not been focused on that (issue)."
Asked whether big band music today has become part of an active repertoire, Schneider replies, "It depends
what you're talking about."
Turns out a lot of people in New York and elsewhere are starting up large jazz ensembles to showcase their
own work.
So, lots of original stuff from a growing number of jazz composers? Yes, says Schneider, whose own music
has been described as a stylistic blend of avant-garde jazz and modern classical.
She cites the influence and inspiration of one of the great mentors of contemporary jazz composers, Bob
Brookmeyer, who passed away a month ago.
"It was inspiring to a generation of people who didn't see such big divisions between the world of classical
music and jazz, who somehow wanted to connect what they loved about both."
After speaking with Schneider, you come away with the sense that large jazz ensembles are indeed alive
and well, and can fend quite well for themselves in a post-golden age of the big band.
Says Schneider: "I don't do this as some kind of reverence to an era gone by that we need to keep alive. Far
from it."
Sure, she adds, "there are musicians out there who are very reverential about the history of jazz and their
place in it.
"But me, I'm just trying to make music I like - and that's hard enough without politics and tradition, and all
the things that go with them, added into the mix.
"I'm just trying to write good music."Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets: At the door, or call 403-220-7202.
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Soundwalking With Hildegard Pt. 1
Carey Rutherford, examiner.com (January 25, 2012)
What would you do if you were sitting in a formal concert hall, dressed for a night of highly educated
performances by acclaimed composers, and you began hearing a cricket, very clearly, and no-one seemed
particularly perturbed, and it began to develop harmonically and chronologically, transforming into
something quite beyond the normal sound of a single cricket, developing rhythmically and musically until it
swims through your awareness like a goldfish? Or a horse-sized cricket.
Losing your mind? Acid flashback? Another dream like those you’ve been having while driving (I’ll just
get out here, if you don’t mind . . .)?
Or, Hildegard Westerkamp’s famous “Cricket Voice” (1987), intended to draw your awareness to the
subtleties of sound and silence which most urban dwellers (and many rural dwellers) have lost contact with.
“We have unlearned to use our ears in our society, so to me it’s still very important to be able to speak
about this; to work with people, faculty, students, anybody really, on ‘How do we listen?’ To bring people
to the awareness of their own listening, and to understand ‘What kind of listener are we?’ ‘What is our
relationship via the ear to the environment?’ and ‘Do we know what’s going on out there aurally?’
“In my compositions I’m putting that into an artistic context, where the listening is transformed into a
contemplation of a place or a situation in a more musical sense.”
Though she’s participating in Happening 2012: A Festival of New Music and Media as a composer, if it
sounds like Ms. Westerkamp is a ‘listening counsellor, she doesn’t disagree:
“A bit, yes. Finding out whether we have a relationship in our listening sense to our environment, and,
though it’s always been important, why is that important now? That’s why we do soundwalks, because that
gives you the opportunity to spend an hour of extraordinary listening to the environment, which is an
unusual experience. We don’t do that normally. But that gives us a chance to practice that kind of listening
as if it was the kind of listening that we do in concerts. That experience of not speaking and just listening to
our environment usually has a strong impact on people because it’s new: they are beginning to subtly notice
things in the (sound) environment that you don’t when you’re preoccupied with work or whatever.”
Hildegard and her more prosaic contemporaries rub shoulders this week at the University of Calgary’s
Happening Festival from January 25 - 28, mostly ;in their amazing Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall. The daytime
and evening events will include world premieres, workshops, local and international performers and
composers, pre-concert talks before every performance, and, maybe, crickets.
“It’s hard to be a night in the desert/Without the crickets/You make it with stars” - Norbert Ruebsaat
More to come . . . .
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Student’s piece to be performed at Carnegie Hall
January 26, 2012
By Caitlyn Spencer
Composer Anna Pidgorna has been selected to take part in a workshop in New York in March that
will culminate with her piece and others being performed at Carnegie Hall. Photo by Gavin
SchaeferAnna Pidgorna, a composer in the Master of Music program, has won a place in an exclusive
workshop in New York, and on the Canadian submission to the International Society for Contemporary
Music World Music Days 2012.
Pidgorna’s piece for solo free-bass accordion, Light-play through curtain holes, will be included on the
Canadian demo CD for World Music Days, and may be selected for inclusion in the festival itself.
“I’ve never really won anything like this before, so I had to read the emails a few times to make sure I
understood them correctly,” Pidgorna says. “Then I proceeded to jump around my apartment squealing for
about ten minutes and call all my relatives.”
The workshop will be led by Kaija Saariaho, a Grammy Award-winning Finnish composer, and will feature
close collaboration between the six chosen composers and seven string players. Saariaho’s frequent
collaborator, cellist Anssi Karttunen, will mentor the string players.
The workshop will run from March 6-12 and will culminate in the works being performed at Carnegie Hall.
“I haven’t had much opportunity in the past to write for string instruments, so I am very excited to have this
intense week to learn as much as I can about them and to really connect with the sound,” Pidgorna says.
“And, it is naturally very exciting to have a premiere at Carnegie Hall.”
The premiere will be Pidgorna’s second international performance.
Pidgorna’s piece for the workshop is entitled The child, bringer of light, and is inspired by Carl Jung’s
archetype of the child. Pidgorna has already begun to work with her performer, sending him drafts of the
piece for discussion. “It’s very helpful to have this kind of back-and-forth with the performer,” she says. “It
gives you a chance to iron out major problem areas before the work is completed, and lets the performer be
more involved in the composition process.”
The benefits of Pidgorna’s recent wins are manifold. “Both of these opportunities are great exposure,” she
says. She looks forward in particular to networking with the other composers and string players present. “It
might lead to future collaborations, which is great for my growth professionally and artistically.”
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Lana Henchell: Superpianist
By Carey Rutherford, examiner.com (February 11, 2012)
After premiering William Jordan’s 24 Preludes at ‘Happening 2012: Festival of New
Music & Media’, Lana Henchell waxes philosophic about the nature of music, the future
of the performer’s life, and why she loves the challenge. It’s appropriate for her to speak
in such a manner, after presenting the first public performance of this Calgary composer
and instructor’s latest work, while rubbing shoulders with the like of sound art
researchers and soundscape artists, some of whom, like Hildegard Westerkamp, have
been at work for decades in Canada’s musical frontiers.
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“I really like performing contemporary music, but I think a lot of it is that I live with it
for awhile. So, in a piece like David Eagle’s that I played with Land’s End (a local new
music ensemble), it’s different (than ‘romantic’ classical music): with no traditional
melodies; the harmonies were not quite the same; individual lines occurring at the same
time, epitomizing the flight of a bird. So, (it is) more textural and less . . . . It was hard to
put your finger on what you were listening to. So this piece was quite strange. When I
first listened to it I thought, ‘Oh, this is different. I don’t know what I think of it.’ But as I
learned it, and became more familiar with the notes, it became beautiful to me. There
were certain harmonies that I really liked, and I really enjoyed playing it. And all I
wanted was to convey those things to the audience. But when they heard it, it was still the
first time (for them).
“I think that familiarity with things increases peoples’ appreciation, at least somewhat.
I’ll take any song, and when I hear it the first time there may be something I like about it,
but if I hear it a few more times, I either grow more fond of it or I start hating it, because
it’s too simple or something.”
Apparently performing world premieres, a doctorate in music and a career teaching piano
and accompanying other performers has left her reactions to music pretty much like the
rest of us. However . . .
“. . . there’s not that many people who come to these things, and to come they maybe
need to learn to love this stuff, but in order to love it they need to hear it (which means
they have to come . . .).”
“Today, I’m eager to come up with some idea that will save music, yet at the same time
make me happy. I keep having all of these ideas, because I feel classical music in its
current state is just dying. I feel that nobody goes to performances anymore. (Other
performers are) too busy practicing so we don’t even go to concerts to support our
colleagues, because we have our own thing coming up, which no-one attends, because
they’re all practicing. Compare Calgary to Montreal in terms of concert attendance, and
it’s a joke.
“I find that music (like the 24 Preludes) is one of those ways (to regain audiences),
because it’s beautiful. I just think if you took half of Calgary and put them in that concert
hall, more than half of them would have left inspired, whether it was Bill (Jordan)’s or
Hildegard (Westerkamp)’s. So I feel the world’s my oyster, yet it’s a very daunting task.”
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Perfect for a teacher, one might say, or Supergirl. For example:

“It is important to know that when I first got (the ’24 Preludes’ score) I was very excited.
These pieces . . . just felt like me, and when I was playing them I would close my eyes
and love (them). So to be up on stage two nights ago, playing them? I felt so comfortable,
and happy, and eager to share what I had grown to absolutely love in the past six months..
. . I was confident that (the audience) would really understand and feel a connection to his
ideas through the harmony and colours and dissonance, and the variation in character and
texture.”
Save the music.
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Lana!
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Orchestra supporter, Lola Rozsa, was a great,
graceful lady
By Bob Clark, Calgary Herald April 17, 2012
Lola herself answered the door and made me feel instantly at home with her charming,
down-to-earth manner.
She and Ted, who predeceased Lola in 2006, seemed genuinely pleased to sit down over tea and talk about
their life in Calgary together since moving to the city from Oklahoma in 1949.
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What was to be an interview quickly became a conversation (a format I adopted professionally from that
time on, as much as possible) and I came away feeling rather fond of Lola — as I subsequently discovered
was the case for many who met her.
For the next 12 years or so, I would occasionally bump into her at concerts or functions, and she would
always take my hand and inquire after me — asking me what I was covering next about her beloved CPO,
graciously saying she always kept up with what I wrote in the paper.
Lola had that gift of speaking to people in a way that showed real interest in what they had to say.
She listened, and she cared.
And she cared about the Calgary Flames almost as much as she loved the Calgary Philharmonic (whose
musicians, incidentally, she often affectionately referred to as her “kids”).
Admitting to being a dyed-in-the-wool hockey fan back in the good ol’ days of the NHL, I was invited once
to the Rozsa private box at the Saddledome and was amused to find how astute an observer of the game
Lola really was — and how she relished calling out and ringing her bell with the best of them whenever a
Flames goal was scored.
She also had a passion for children and the potential they represented for the continued growth of cultural
life.
According to Calgary Philharmonic CEO Ann Lewis-Luppino, Lola was instrumental (no pun intended,
although she probably would have liked it) late in her life in helping the orchestra set up its first children’s
concerts.
“She would actually come out and greet the children and their teachers,” Lewis-Luppino says. “It was very
dear to her heart.”
Older kids, too, benefitted from her belief in the young.
Which is where the University of Calgary’s Rozsa Centre comes in, says Luke Dahlgren who has been
stage manager of the acoustically superior, world-class concert hall facility since it opened 15 years ago.
“She (Lola) had a strong concern for making sure the students had proper access to the Rozsa Centre,”
Dahlgren says.
“That was one of the priorities when they built it — she wanted to make sure it was there for the students,
first and foremost.”
Like I said, Lola Rozsa was a great lady.
We were lucky to have her with us for so long. She will be sorely missed by the arts community, but
always remembered.
A memorial service takes place on April 24 at 3 p.m. at Grace Presbyterian Church (1009 15Ave. SW).
bclark@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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Showcasing musical diversity
May 28, 2012
The Department of Music in the Faculty of Arts is proud to present Contrasts—the 8 th Annual University of
Calgary Chamber Music Festival running May 25, 27, June 1 & 3, at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Concert Hall
in the Rozsa Centre. All concerts start at 8 p.m.
CONTRASTS showcases diverse musical styles with a repertoire ranging from jazz and classical music to
improvisation, gypsy music and Canadian compositions. Instruments as varied as the bouzouki, marimba,
piano, flute, guitar, saxophone, and string quartet, will inspire and enchant listeners with a wide palette of
instrumental colours. The repertoire will include the Calgary premiere of a violin duo by Canadian
composer Gerhard Wuensch, as well as a work by former University of Calgary faculty composer Richard
Johnston, who passed away in 1997. The festival will feature the UCalgary String Quartet, members of the
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Calgary and Beijing Conservatory music faculty, alumni
and other guests. The Legend Piano Trio will be traveling from Beijing, China for the June 1 concert.
All performances take place at 8 p.m. in the Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, Rozsa Centre.
Single tickets are $12, festival passes are $25 and can be purchased at the door.
For information call: 403-210-7576
music.ucalgary.ca
Music without borders
June 5, 2012
By Caitlyn Spencer
MMus student Han Lu is studying the ehru with instructors across the globe thanks to the Syneme
telemedia arts lab. Photo courtesy of Han LuThe Syneme telemedia arts lab has fostered a unique
collaboration between the University of Calgary and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Syneme’s unparalleled network music facilities have allowed MMus student Han Lu to study the erhu,
sometimes called the Chinese violin, with her Calgary supervisor Edmond Agopian and her Beijing
professor Yu Hongmei, who is currently chair of the Chinese music department at the Central
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Conservatory.
“The sound system is high quality, the image on the screen is life size, and the connection with the Central
Conservatory makes me feel that Professor Yu is really next to me,” says Lu.
Syneme features a real-time IPV6 network connection, non-compressed CD-quality audio, and a lifesize
HD video conference system.
“The music department is going to try more and more experiments in distance music education,” says
Syneme creator Ken Fields. “It will be one of our unique strengths.”
Fields formerly worked at the Central Conservatory, paving the path for this remarkable collaboration.
The Syneme lab has high-speed collaborations with Indiana Purdue, Waikato in New Zealand, Singapore,
Sydney Conservatorium, Montreal, and Edmonton, among others.
Music professor Edmond Agopian, Lu’s supervisor, gushes about her successes thus far. This past year,
Agopian conducted the RBC Concerto Competition finals, in which Lu performed as a soloist with the
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
“It was a special performance for everyone, including the Philharmonic, which had only performed
alongside an erhu musician once before,” he says. “Han Lu is a tremendously accomplished erhu player.”
Lu is equally complimentary when it comes to her professor.
“Having classes with professor Agopian has been amazing,” says Lu. “For me, our classes are like
dialogues between the Western and Eastern instruments.”
Although many audiences see the erhu as an exotic instrument, it is an ancestor of the modern violin.
“The bow technique is similar to Western bowing, and the fingerings are similar to violin fingerings,” says
Agopian.
“Compared to the violin, the erhu sounds more similar to the human voice,” adds Lu. “It can imitate many
natural sounds, such as birds and horses.”
Currently home in China for the summer, Lu will return this fall along with another erhu student, and will
perform the world premiere of William Jordan’s Quintet for erhu and string quartet December 7, with the
UCalgary String Quartet.
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Music student wins
prestigious position
UToday HomeJune 28, 2012
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By Caitlyn Spencer
Theresa Lane is one of the CPO’s newest second
violins.Theresa Lane is one of the CPO’s
newest second violins. Photo by Caitlyn SpencerWhile
the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
was holding auditions for second violins,
Theresa Lane was finishing her third year as
an undergraduate music major. The idea of preparing for a rigorous audition process on top of finishing the semester’s
work was daunting, to say the least.
“I went to one audition in March and didn’t advance,” says Lane, who has been playing the violin since the age of 4.
“There was another on May 1, but I was in the middle of exams and didn’t know if I’d have time to prepare the pieces.” In
the end, she went for it.
Prior to the auditions, Lane took lessons with several teachers across the city, including Cenek Vrba, recently retired
CPO concertmaster, and John Lowry, the current Associate Concertmaster.
Lane had previously studied under Vrba, but sought out Lowry to broaden her perspectives and gain an edge over the
other hopefuls, many of whom came from other countries for the opportunity to win a permanent position with the
CPO. “They were both very generous with their time,” says Lane.
Her hard work paid off, and Lane advanced through the auditions, winning one of the CPO’s prized positions. “I was
kind of in shock when I found out, and really excited,” she says. “I didn’t think I’d actually get in.”
Now, Lane is planning out how to balance her full-time position at the CPO with her final year of study, with a little help
from another CPO musician and a Department of Music alumna, Adriana Lebedovich. “I’ll have to do my last year over
two years,” Lane says, “but it’s been done before.”
Though this isn’t the first time Lane has found herself playing alongside distinguished senior musicians — in the
2011/2012 school year, she was one-fourth of the UCalgary String Quartet, alongside her teacher, Edmond Agopian —
she says that the most exciting part of the new job is being able to be on the stage several of her teachers have performed
on for years, including Katarina Grigoriu and Alla Magid, the second of whom is retiring this year.
“They’ve always been above me, and now to be able to play with them… it's such an honour,” Lane says.
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