Volume 25 Issue 4 - December 2019 / January 2020

administrative experience is an amazing litmus test for the strength
of a collaborator. Cheryl’s passion, tenacity, creative vision and willingness
to take artistic risks was apparent from the outset and has
carried us through nine seasons and counting. Together, we have
tackled scores which have required us to decipher highly complex/
individualistic notation, interpret light sculptures, operate on musical
instruments wearing hospital scrubs and explore virtual sonic worlds
through interactive video game technology ... Perhaps even more
importantly, as a collaborator, she makes it a conscious priority to
ensure that her fellow artists have a safe and welcoming space within
which they can create and rehearse. ”
Anna Höstman echoes Waniuk’s observations about Duvall’s
strengths as a collaborator. “On the one hand, Cheryl has an amazing
ability to crystallize fragments of tumbling when they occur in my
music, allowing direction and impulse to shift with swift fluidity,” she
says. “On the other hand, one sinks into the warm timbre and depth
of feeling she achieves in more shadowed, tender passages. Cheryl is
a remarkably inclusive performer, programmer and thinker – with
energy like a rushing river. She has transformed our Canadian artistic
landscape with her devotion to new music creation.”
Innermost Songs
The concluding track on Harbour is Höstman’s 2019 composition,
Adagio, originally commissioned by Duvall for another of her initiatives,
an upcoming solo piano performance she calls Innermost Songs.
“A year and a half ago,” Duvall explains, “I approached seven Canadian
composers to write new works for me, while I created a documentary
exploring the composer/performer relationship. I chose composers
with completely different aesthetics, processes, sound worlds and
approaches, in order to give my research diversity and scope. Composers
Daniel Brandes, Patrick Giguère, Anna Höstman, Emilie LeBel, James
O’Callaghan, Monica Pearce and Kotoka Suzuki are featured in this
event. There are two pieces with electronics, one with a harmonica,
and another with video, as well as purely acoustic pieces that explore
different aspects of pianism, making an eclectic mix of piano music.”
As wide-ranging as these commissions are, they all refer back
specifically to Duvall, the artist for whom they’re being written. One
example – Monica Pearce describes her work, Silks, as follows: “This
work was written for and dedicated to Cheryl Duvall, a pianist who
has an avid interest in aerial silks. Duvall choreographed, performed
and filmed an aerial silks routine, and for the process of composing,
I mapped each movement of the routine to music. The held poses are
mapped to a series of chords, which were handpicked from my absolute
favourite chords from Romantic/20th-century piano literature
(Brahms, Messiaen, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin). Pearce has
worked with Duvall on many projects over the years. “I’ve written for
Ilana Waniuk
her ensemble, Thin Edge; she has
played in my operas; and so on –
but this was the first time to write
something for her as a soloist.
Knowing her as a good friend as
well as a musical collaborator, I
wanted to write something that
felt very ‘her.’ She is someone
who is always searching and
striving towards musical beauty
and transcendence.”
Innermost Songs will take
place at the Canadian Music
Anna Höstman
Centre, 20 St. Joseph St. in
Toronto on January 16, 2020 at 8pm.
Waniuk gets the last word: “Cheryl is incredibly inventive and has
the ability to examine all facets of an idea, often coming up with
surprising and innovative solutions to complex problems. Whether
insisting we climb Mount Fuji eight hours after arriving in Japan for
a concert tour, or taking aerial silks classes to gain a better understanding
of our ongoing circus/contemporary music project Balancing
on the Edge, she has an adventurous spirit and great sense of humour
– two qualities which I consider essential ingredients in our musical/
artistic partnership. It has been so exciting to watch her branch out
in new directions through her various solo projects. I can’t wait to see
what adventures, artistic and otherwise, await!”
David Jaeger is a composer, producer and broadcaster
based in Toronto.
SHAYNE GRAY
JASMINE VATULOKA
The
Mouths
That
Roar
an evening with Gabriel Dharmoo and Janice Jackson
FRIDAY JANUARY 10, 2020 | The Music Gallery, 918 Bathurst Street | Introduction @ 7:15 | Concert @ 8:00
Works by Jackson, Dharmoo, Derek Charke, Marie Pelletier, Alice Ping Yee Ho and James Rolfe
Reservations 416.961.9594 | www.NewMusicConcerts.com
thewholenote.com December 2019 / January 2020 | 17