New Music Festival - Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

PERFORMER/ARTIST BIOS
Jurriaan Andriessen, composer
(Netherlands, 1925-1996)
Jurriaan Andriessen studied
composition with his father at
the Utrecht Conservatory before
moving to Paris where he
studied with Olivier Messiaen.
The bulk of Mr. Andriessen's
output is for the stage; his study in Paris was
primarily in writing film music. He had a
variety of musical influences which he drew
upon, including American film music, Aaron
Copland's ballets, folk music of various
cultures, neoclassicism, and serialism; this
eclecticism, combined with his compositional
skill, made his writing well-suited to scoring
dramatic works. In addition to the theatre
works he is most noted for, Mr. Andriessen was
also a prolific composer of chamber and vocal
works, many of which were meant to be
performed by amateurs. He has also been a
director for television.
Birna Bjarnadóttir, author
Birna Bjarnadóttir studied
literature and aesthetics at the
University of Iceland, the Freie
University in Berlin and the
University of Warwick, England.
She holds the position of
Chair and Acting Head of Icelandic Studies at
the University of Manitoba. She is the author
of several books, essays and articles, lectures
widely on the subjects of literature, culture and
aesthetics, and works frequently with artists on
creative projects. Her most recent publications
include a book of fragments (Kind Publishing,
2010), illustrated by Cliff Eyland, Haraldur
Jónsson and Guy Maddin, with a forward by
George Toles; and Recesses of the Mind.
Aesthetics in Gudbergur Bergsson’s Work
(McGill–Queen’s University Press, 2012).
Daníel Bjarnason, composer (Iceland)
Daníel Bjarnason studied piano,
composition and conducting in
Reykjavík before studying
orchestral conducting at
Freiburg University of Music,
Germany. Mr. Bjarnason works
equally as conductor and composer and has
worked with many different ensembles
including the London Sinfonietta, Ulster
Orchestra and Sinfonietta Cracovia. He regularly
conducts at both the Icelandic Opera and Iceland
Symphony Orchestra. His music has been
performed worldwide and he is currently writing
new music for the LA Philharmonic, LA Children's
Chorus and the American Youth Symphony. Mr.
Bjarnason has won numerous awards and grants
and in 2008 and 2011 was awarded a special
recommendation for his work at the International
Rostrum for Composers. In 2010, he was
nominated for the prestigious Nordic Council's
Music Prize, and won the Kraumur Music Award.
Brandon University’s New Music Ensemble
(BUNME)
The Brandon
University New
Music Ensemble
(BUNME), under
the direction of
Professor Megumi
Masaki, is a
collaboration of undergraduate students,
comprising all programs, years, and instruments.
The group explores a diverse array of
contemporary repertoire from around the world,
for large and small ensembles, and presents an
annual New Music Festival at Brandon University.
The 2010 festival, “Sights and Sounds,” featured
composer-in-residence Nicole Lizée. Past festivals
have featured collaborations with composers T.
Patrick Carrabré of Brandon and Jorge Córdoba
Valencia of Mexico City.
Gavin Bryars, composer (UK)
Gavin Bryars, prominent and prolific
English composer, was born in
Yorkshire in 1943. He initially
established his musical reputation as
a jazz bassist working in the early
sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey
and Tony Oxley. He abandoned improvisation in
1966 and worked for a time in the United States
with John Cage. From 1969 to 1978, he taught in
departments of Fine Art in Portsmouth and
Leicester, and was instrumental in founding the
legendary Portsmouth Sinfonia. He founded the
music department at Leicester Polytechnic (later De
Montfort University) and was professor of music
there from 1986 to 1994. His first major works as a
composer were The Sinking of the Titanic (1969),
originally released on Brian Eno's Obscure label in
1975, and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971).
January – February 2012 I OVERTURE 29