Volume 10 Issue 4 - December 2004

ENSEMBLE NOIR
www.ensemblenoir.org
Sonic Revival
Jan - May 2005
Tickets $25 (adults) - $1 7
1::.;.
(seniors/ students)
Subscribe to all 4 events for $80
· or $58 for seniors I students.
·
To book call 416 923-9400
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:- 1. CONTACT
·
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•. Jan 22, 2005 - 7:30 PM
· Winchester Theatre, 80 Winchester St.
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A sonic explosion of music by African
composer Kevin Volans, set against the
avant-garde music of his teacher
Karlheinz Stockhausen. Africa meets
European avant-garde meets Asia.
2. AFRICAN ALCHEMIES
Mar 20, 2005 - 7:30 PM
Winchester Theatre, 80 Winchester St.
Ensemble Noir presents African
composer Martin Scherzinger with his
Rochester-based ensemble for an
exciting evening of music from Africa
including transcriptions of mbira music
{Zimbabwean thumb piano). World
premieres of new piano trios and string
*' music by Kevin Volans, Martin
Scherzinger and Bongani Ndodana.
3. EASTERN REVIVAL
May 8, 2005 - 7:30 PM
Winchester Theatre
Music by Patricia Morehead, Ruth
Lomon, Keiko Abe, Yi Liding.
Evocative music with inspiration from
China anq. Japan, spiced up with Native
American influences.
4. THE ORPHAN BOY
Co-produced with dancelmmersion
Choreography: Vivine Scarlet &
Germaul Barnes
Ndodana
Music: Bongani
May 26 - 28; 8PM Artword Theatre,
75 Portland St.
An African Masai tale of transformation
told through music and dance.
!Programs rnay change)
SOME THING New
Jason van Eyk
A COMMENT MADE by a Canadian
composer during a panel event at
Ergo ProjeclS' recent Canadian -
Lithuanian composer exchange is
still resonating with me. Her comment
was, and I paraphrase here
from my own memory, that the great
advantage of being a composer living
in the Western world, and in such 1
a multicultural coumry as Canada.
is the freedom to compose how she
chooses.
By this, she meant that she is free
Lo use whaLever techniques, tools,
and materials she likes and craft
them, guided by her artistic vision,
into music. This remark stood in
contrast lO the range of compositionaJ
practices in the predominantly
mono-cultural Lithuania, and the
impact lhat a history of occupation
and Socialist rule has had on the artistic
development lhere.
Perhaps, in part, her statement
also explains why it is has become
increasingly difficult to classify anything
such as a comemporary Canadian
school of composition. While
the development of a Canadian
sound" in new music can increasingly
be identified by location (for
example, a Victoria sound), the
overarching description would be
one of a plurality of "sounds", expressed
both within compositional
works and between compositions
themselves. The one constant principle
is that of diversity and plurality,
achieved through freedom. To
r.onto's December concert line-up offers
clear examples of this principle.
ff compositional freedom is an aspirational
goal in new music, then
my guess is chat improvised composition
is one summit of that aspiration.
Two Toronto concerts
give us the chance to discover for
our own ears if this is true.
On December 3rd at the Music
Gallery and December 5th at the
Montreal Bistro, Earshot Concerts
presents a full evening of
Michael Hynes' Believe Everything
You Hear. This suite of eighteen
structured improvisations draws on
a diversity of influences ranging
from James Joyce to Frank Zappa.
and melds the worlds of rock,
jazz and avant-garde music. Hynes
himself will join the Earshot Ensemble,
the Motion Ensemble from
New Brunswick, and several other
guest musicians to perform what is
Michael Hynes
Jn between, on December 4th, Arraymusic
and the Music Gallery
will co-present shorter works under
the title of The Composer/Improviser.
This world-premiere heavy concert
showcases some of the compositional
talent hiding within the Arraymusic
Ensemble, with two new
works by Robert Stevenson and
Stephen Clarke. Arraymusic will be
joined by one of Canada· s most spectacular
improvisers, composers, and
perforn1ers, Montreal-based clarinetist
Lori Freedman, in a world premiere
of her own creation. Also on
the programme are works by young
Guelph-based composer Cam
McKittrick and John Abram. More
details: www .arraymusic.com.
On December 7th, again at the
Music Gallery, Continuum explores
the question of musical diversity at
the concert level, performing new
and existing works by young and
established composers from both at
home and abroad. The concert, appropriately
titled Conversely, explores
various musical ideas and
their flip-sides. Dynamic work is
contrasted against static, energetic
against calm, and similar musical
ideas are explored in pairs of pieces
that present different solutions. Established
Canadian composer Allison
Cameron (who has just announced
her departure as the Artistic
Director of Arraymusic) offers a
new work alongside two young composers:
Edmonton-based Siaw Kin
Lee and Argentine-born, Torontobased
Diego Soifer. Pairs of pieces
by Irish composer Gerald Barry.
who has been called "one of the most
inventive and relentlessly inquiring
composers of our current generation",
and British composer Laurence
Crane, contrast against each
other while demonstrating the subtle
inner diversity of exploring the
described as "darkly beautiful music".
same musical ideas in their pair of
separate works. For more detail,
More details are available at
contact Continuum at416-924-4945.
www. earshotconcerts. ea
WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM DECEMBER 1 2004 -fEBRUARY 72005