News & Highlights
Spring 2013
Alumnus Mark Reid named Teacher of the Year
School of Music alumnus Mark Reid has been named teacher of the year by MusiCounts, the music-education charity associated with the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). The award, one of the highest honors in Canadian Music, was presented to Reid by country super-star Shania Twain at a private ceremony in Las Vegas. Reid also received $10,000, which he will put toward his post-graduate studies. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree from Chicago’s Vandercook College to add to his bachelor’s degree in music education from UVic. Reid has been teaching at Vancouver Technical Secondary School for the past seven years, and the students will receive an additional $10,000 in instrument inventory as part of the CARAS award.
Photograph by: AEG Live
CUMS awards Composer prize to UVic grad
The Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) announced that recent UVic graduate, Robert Hansler, is one of the recipients of their 2013 Student Composer Competition. The jury selected two outstanding works to share First Prize: Robert Hansler’s “Broken Branch” as well as André Mestre’s “Zikr.” Both pieces will be performed by faculty members of the UVic School of Music, as part of a concert of contemporary music to be presented on Friday June 7, 2013 at the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Read the media release for more details about the two winning composers.
Fine Arts Benefit CD Nominated for Juno
School of Music Professor Emeritus Ian McDougall‘s 2012 album The Very Thought of You, has been nominated for a Juno Award! A gorgeous collection of 13 jazz standards featuring McDougall’s signature trombone backed by a lush string section, The Very Thought of You—produced by Ian’s wife, Barb McDougall—has been nominated in the “Instrumental Album of the Year” category.
Conceived of as a benefit album for Fine Arts students in financial need, $10 from every $20 copy of The Very Thought of You goes directly to McDougall’s student benefit fund—officially titled the Ten Mile Fine Arts Student Assistance Fund. Back in December 2012, McDougall presented Fine Arts with a cheque for $16,000, the first payback from the CD to the fund.
You can pick up a copy of the CD in the Fine Arts office, UVic’s Bookstore, Arts Place cafe, the School of Music Office, and Phoenix Theatre, as well as Lyle’s Place, Larsen Music and Munro’s Books. Online, you can find it at CD Baby or through McDougall’s own website.
Winners of the 2013 Juno Awards will be announced on April 21 at a gala ceremony in Regina.
Read more about this story on the Fine Arts blog, Artsy Type.
John Celona
School of Music composition professor, screenwriter and filmmaker John Celona recently returned from having a “terrific experience” at the 2012 California Film Awards, where his screenplay for an unproduced sci-fi black-comedy thriller called Lady Smoke earned a Diamond Award in the screenwriting category.
The awards were held on January 26 at the swish Bahia Hotel in Mission Beach, San Diego. “They really do it up right,” says Celona. “First-class, ballroom, formal dress, podium speeches, representation, studio execs like Harvey Weinstein.”
This isn’t Celona’s first time to attend this awards ceremony. Celona picked up honorable mention at the same awards two years ago for his neo-noir thriller Nightfreight.
For more about Lady Smoke, visit Artsy Type.
Bruce More publishes book about UVic Chamber Singers
Former conductor of the UVic Chamber Singers, Bruce More, recently published The Conductor is the One in Front - 37 years with the UVic Chamber Singers. The 135-page book about More’s long history of what is possibly the most widely travelled university choir in Canadian history (having performed 200 cities in 142 countries) also speaks to the milieu in which Canadian university choirs and choral conductors have existed from 1974 to 2010. The book contains over 70 colour photographs as well as a CD of selections from Chamber Singers tour performances.
Pick up a copy from the UVic Bookstore for $25 (www.uvicbookstore.ca). Former members of the Chamber Singers can contact Bruce More at bmore@uvic.ca for a complimentary copy.
Composition Student Finds Inspiration in Apeldoorn
Fourth-year School of Music student, Lynne Penhale, had the opportunity to attend the 19th Young Composers Meeting in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands this past February. The meeting, which is chaired by iconic Dutch composer, Louis Andriessen, offers a select group of young composers (14 this year from around the globe) the opportunity to exchange ideas about contemporary music. “It was the most enriching experience of my life!” describes Panhale. “I learned more about society, myself and music in an experience which seemed to have lasted three weeks but was really only one.” Each composer came prepared with a three-minute piece composed for the 23-instrument ensemble-in-residence, Orkest de Ereprijs. Participants engaged in rehearsals, lectures, and lessons with composers Martijn Padding, Richard Ayers, Dmitri Kourliandski, Carola Bauckholt, and Ted Hearne. The meeting culminated in a performance of the young composers’ works. “As intense a learning experience this was...my most favourite learning experience was getting to engage with the other young composers, and being completely inspired and challenged by everyone's individual strengths they had brought with them,” says Penhale, who thanks the UVic School of Music for supporting her in this opportunity.
Fall 2012
School of Music Welcomes New Director
The School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Susan Lewis Hammond as Director of the School of Music. Dr. Lewis Hammond joined the School of Music in 2001 in the musicology area and received promotion to Associate Professor in 2007. Bringing a wealth of experience to this position, Dr. Lewis Hammond has served two terms as Acting Director of the School of Music, presently serves her third term on University Senate, and participates in the Early Modern Research Collective at the University of Victoria. She teaches courses in Renaissance and Baroque music and has authored two books, The Madrigal: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge, 2011) and Editing Music in Early Modern Germany (Ashgate, 2007). We congratulate Dr. Lewis Hammond on her appointment.
Suzanne Snizek
Suzanne Snizek’s essay, ‘It’s Growing like an Asparagus’: British internment and Gál’s Huyton Suite trio’, describing the composition of his exceptional chamber piece written under repressive conditions for one flute and two violins, was published in November 2012 in the Armand Colin publication Captivité de guerre au XXème siècle: des archives, des histoires, des mémoires. The essay was presented at a conference of the same title, in Paris, France at École Militaire in November 2011. The conference (and book) were organized into four themes: artistic and intellectual life in captivity; the laws and regulations that governed the lives of prisoners; the relationships between prisoners and society at large; and prisoners’ and captors’ perceptions of each other. The publication is available for purchase on the Armand Colin website.
Ian McDougall donates $16,000
School of Music Professor Emeritus and Juno Award-winning musician Ian McDougall presented the Faculty of Fine Arts with a cheque for $16,000 in early December—the first significant payment in the "one potato fund" (more formally titled the Ten Mile Student Assistance Fund) created by the sales of his Fine Arts benefit CD, The Very Thought of You. Read more about the Ten Mile Student Assistance Fund and where you can buy a copy of the CD here.
Andrew Schloss presents Jaron Lanier
He's often described as the “father of computer science,” so to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, Andrew Schloss and the Music and Computer Science program hosted acclaimed futurist Jaron Lanier for a special appreciation of Turing’s Spiritual Legacy in November. Lanier—a computer scientist, composer, visual artist and influential author who was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2010—is also famed for coining or popularizing the term “virtual reality.”
LSQ Health Series returns
The Lafayette String Quartet's seventh annual Lafyette Health Series was presented in the David Lam Auditorium September. This year's topic was “Weighing in on Fat: What makes us obese and what we can do about it,” and featured guest speakers Priya Manjoo, Mary Kay Nixon, Hanh Huynh, Allen Hayashi and Darlene Hammell.
Christopher Butterfield
Christopher Butterfield yielded a great deal of coverage for the recent Cage 100 Festival he curated in November. “I think Cage’s whole point is that he wants people to be acutely aware of the kind of aural world or acoustic world around them and to be able to actually, I don’t know, rejoice in the sheer idea of consciousness or of being sensitive to the world, and you don’t need the kind of conventional constructs of music,” Butterfield told Globe and Mail arts writer Marsha Lederman. “It’s much more about a much larger world of sound possibilities than simply the ones put together for people to learn on the piano or the violin or an orchestra or whatever.” He also appeared in articles in the Times Colonist, on CFUV’s U in the Ring show with Phoenix Bain (hear the podcast here), and an interesting review of the Cage 100 fest appeared in the Coastal Spectator blog. School of Music Adjunct Faculty member, Gordon Mumma, who worked closely with John Cage in the mid-60's and 70's, presented a lecture during the festival. Mumma also supplied the Art Gallery of Victoria with numerous pieces from his personal collection for the John Cage installation entitled Devoted Play, curated by Butterfield.
Steinways on TV
Shaw TV ran a segment between November 19th and 25th about the School of Music’s Steinway pianos featuring piano professor Arthur Rowe and dedicated UVic piano tuner Jim Anderson speaking with Shaw host Nikki Ewanyshyn. The segment showed Anderson working on one the Steinways, as well as some students at the keyboards. If you missed the episode, you can now watch it online. For information on the School of Music's Steinway initiative, visit Adopt a Piano.
George Tzanetakis
Computer Science and Music prof George Tzanetakis talked about robotic musicianship and other electronic music notes in the Saanich News on October 19. “When you play sound, a musician hears what is happening. We are trying to add the ability to understand music to an artificial agent that performs,” he told reporter Edward Hill. “The idea is to make the system musically intelligent, to have robotic musicianship.”
Jonathan Goldman
Musicology professor Jonathan Goldman appeared on Vancouver’s Radio Canada—that’s the French CBC station—on September 24, discussing the Learning Without Borders program through which he won a course development grant to develop his Mus 391: Global Music class. The class hosted an end-of-semester Global Music Fair on Wednesday, November 28.
Robert Silverman plays for Steinway pianos
Distinguished pianist Robert Silverman performed at the School of Music in September as a fundraiser is to help cover the costs of the 63 new Steinway pianos that made UVic the first and only All-Steinway School in Canada. Silverman, himself a Steinway artist, performed Brahms’ Rhapsody in B Minor and Six Pieces for Piano, as well as Schumann’s Piano Quintet with the Lafayette String Quartet—with whom he has had a longstanding professional relationship.
Dániel Péter Biro
Congratulations to Dániel Péter Biró, whose composition for solo bass flute, Kivrot HaTa'avah (Graves of Craving), was selected as an independent submission for the ISCM (International Society of Contemporary Music) 2013 World New Music Days in Kosice, Bratislava, and Vienna. Founded in 1922, ISCM is an international network of members from around fifty countries, devoted to the promotion and presentation of contemporary music. Each year they present an international festival hosted annually by a selected country of one the of ISCM’s Section Members. The festival focuses on contemporary music across a broad range of contemporary practice. It provides an opportunity for composers, ISCM members and audience to converge and experience a showcase of activity from around the world.
Additional Canadian works to be performed at 2013 ISCM World New Music Days include Anna Pidgorna's solo accordion piece Light-play through curtain holes, and Patrick Saint-Denis' multimedia work Trombe.
Summer 2012
Harald Krebs
After meeting with the Society for Music Theory‘s program committee in Louisville, Kentucky, and taking a research visit to Berlin and the Stuttgart area, professor Harald Krebs participated in the Vancouver International Song Institute, as well as finished editing a collection of essays on Bartók’s string quartets for Oxford University Press (co-edited by fellow Music prof Dániel Biró).
Dániel Péter Biró
As well as teaching workshops on electronic music and on rhythm, extended techniques and notation with the Meitar Ensemble in Kiryat Ono, Israel, and lecturing on the history of Jewish Torah cantillation signs (the te’amim) at the Genootschap voor de Joodse Wetenschap—that’s the Dutch Society for Jewish Studies—Biró visited the Netherlands to conduct field recordings of Jewish and Islamic chants. That’s all on top of teaching at the Matrix Academy for Electronic Music in Amsterdam, as well as leading colloquia at the Harvard Summer Composition Institute. In addition, Biró’s composition Vayiru Et (And They Saw) Version II was performed by the Meitar Ensemble at the Center for New Music and Technology in Tel Aviv.
Christopher Butterfield
School of Music associate professor and head of composition Christopher Butterfield earned some strong media attention—as well as audience appreciation—with his recent Toronto concert Contes pour enfants pas sages: 8 cautionary entertainments. Based on poet Jacques Prévert‘s 1947 collection of fairy tales (which loosely translates to Fables for Naughty Children), Butterfield’s composition for Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music got a lengthy write-up in the Globe and Mail, as well as playing to full houses both nights at the 918 Bathurst Centre.
While Butterfield’s world premiere of Contes may be noteworthy in itself, it also warrants attention here due to the collaboration with the other Fine Arts faculty involved in its performance—Christopher’s equally talented tenor brother, Benjamin Butterfield (head of voice); Benjamin’s wife, soprano Anne Grimm (music performance instructor); and Visual Arts painting professor Sandra Meigs, who provided projected images to accompany the music. (Also involved in the production were acclaimed choreographer Laurence Lemieux and Choir 21, led by David Fallis.)
Continue reading on Artsy Type
Youth Orchestra tours with three of UVic's outstanding players
Every January, young orchestral musicians across the country audition for a spot in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada’s summer program and tour. This year, three talented UVic School of Music students landed a seat in the coveted Orchestra. Jiten Beairsto and Lindsey Herle (both violinists) as well as Tazmyn Eddy (trumpet) will take part in the NYOC tour, which stops in six Southern Ontario cities, Montreal, and two cities in the US, all under the baton of Alain Trudel, one of the most sought after conductors on the Canadian Scene.
Faces of UVic Research series launched
As one of Canada’s leading research universities, the University of Victoria is home to a wealth of world-class expertise across a broad range of disciplines. More than 800 faculty researchers are at the forefront of discovery—on everything from aging to music to zoology and sculpture—and are working with community, government and business partners to turn that new knowledge into action.
Who are these researchers? What do they study? And how is their work relevant to our lives? Find out in the newly launched “Faces of UVic Research” video series, in which individual researchers give a short and succinct “elevator pitch” on their work—in everyday language—that quickly gets to the heart of what they do and why it matters.
Sixty short one-minute videos have now been released on UVic’s YouTube channel, and Fine Arts is well-represented in this first batch by the likes of Andrew Schloss (Music), Lorna Crozier, Maureen Bradleyand David Leach (Writing), Warwick Dobson and Conrad Alexandrowicz (Theatre), Daniel Laskarin (Visual Arts), and Marcus Milwright (History in Art).
Read more about this initiative on the Fine Arts blog, Artsy Type.
April 2012
Concerto Competition Winners
Congratulations go out to this year’s winners of the School of Music’s annual Concerto Competition: Jiten Beairsto (violin), Daniel Jordan (piano), Erin Ronningen (mezzo soprano) and Sabrina Sun (flute).
The competition took place in April in front of a panel of judges that included one member from each section of the Performance Faculty along with the UVic Orchestra conductor, Ajtony Csaba. The winners, selected by ballot, will have the opportunity to perform in the Concerto Concert this coming spring alongside the students & faculty of the Concerto Orchestra. The program for the January 25 concert will include Chausson’s Poeme, Op. 25 with Beairsto as soloist, Jordan in the spotlight performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 1, Ravel’s Scherezade sung by Ronningen, and Martin’s Ballade with Sun on flute.
Suzanne Snizek
Suzanne Snizek’s chapter titled "'Spiritual Vitamins:' Music in Huyton and Central internment camps May 1940 to January 1941" was recently published in the Routledge publication Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity behind Barbed Wire. Inspired by a conference held at Cambridge in April 2010, the book focuses on the numerous examples of creativity produced by POWs and civilian internees during their captivity. At the conference, Snizek presented a paper as well as a concert of works for flute and piano with works composed by Hans Gál and Franz Reizenstein during their British internment (during WWII). The nature of the book is interdisciplinary and international in scope. Contributors include archaeologists, musicologists, cultural studies scholars, visual art curators, military historians, dance and theatre specialists and scholars in Eastern European studies. The publication is available for purchase on the Routledge website.
March 2012
A Taste of SALT
Tsilumos Ensemble, Victoria’s new music ensemble co-directed by School of Music faculty Dániel Péter Biró, Ajtony Csaba, and Joanna Hood as well as Kris Covlin was recently awarded grants from the Ernst von Siemens Foundation for their 2013 SALT Festival. With the objective of presenting first-rate performances of new and challenging works by Canadian and international composers, the grant will fund the commissioning of new works by Wolf Edwards (M.Mus ’03), Bernhard Gander (Austria), Steven Kazuo Takasugi (USA), and Gianluca Ulivelli (Italy).
Biró received an additional grant from the Ernst von Siemens Foundation for the commissioning of a new work for ensemble and electronics to be performed this year by Tel Aviv’s Ensemble Meitar.
- Read about this year's SALT Festival, which included the UVic Orchestra's North-American premiere of Chaya Czernowin's Zohar Iver and the world premiere of Lovely Monster Reloaded by Bernhard Gander on Artsy Type.
February 2012
Jonathan Goldman
Jonathan Goldman, Associate Professor of music history, musicology and theory for the School of Music has been awarded an Opus Prize in the category “Book of the Year” for his latest publication, The Musical Language of Pierre Boulez by Cambridge University Press.
Awarded annually by the Quebec Music Council, Goldman describes the Opus Prize as “kind of like the Quebec classical music Grammys.” This latest prize comes on the heels of Goldman’s previous “Article of the Year” Opus win for “Charting Mémoriale: Paradigmatic Analysis and Harmonic Schemata in Boulez’s … explosante-fixe …”
January 2012
Michelle Fillion
The Faculty Advisory Committee has selected Dr. Michelle Fillion as the winner of this year’s Award for Teaching Excellence in Fine Arts, a prize awarded to one Fine Arts Faculty member each academic year. Dr. Fillion teaches musicology and music history while also serving as Graduate Advisor at the School of Music.
Michelle Fillion joined the School of Music faculty in 2002, after almost two decades at Mills College (Oakland California) where she served as Professor and Head of the Music Department. While at Mills, Fillion was acknowledged on more than one occasion for her teaching excellence, having received the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Teaching Award and the Mary S. Metz honorary Chair for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching. Dr. Fillion will be honoured at the UVic Faculty Excellence Awards reception this spring.
Harald Krebs
There is much to be lauded of long-time UVic faculty member Dr. Harald Krebs, professor and Head of Theory at the School of Music. While 2011 marked his 25th year at the University, Krebs was also named a University of Victoria Distinguished Professor in 2010 - the highest academic honour that the university can bestow on a faculty member. “I am very grateful to the University for this award. It's wonderful when your own university recognizes you for your research as well as your teaching,” says Krebs, who is using the award to fund research and conference travel, and to invite guest speakers and performers to the School of Music.
As the eleventh recipient of the prestigious award, Krebs has been invited to give a public presentation for UVic’s Distinguished Professor Lecture Series. “I am happy to have the opportunity to give a talk on campus. It is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the University,” says Krebs. The talk, intended for a broad audience, grows out of his recent research on how song composers manipulate the rhythm of poetry for expressive purposes. “It was during this research that I became enthralled with Robert Schumann's late songs, which are not sufficiently appreciated by scholars and performers. I look forward to acquainting the audience with this wonderful music, both by talking about and performing it,” says Krebs, who will be joined by his wife, soprano Sharon Krebs, for the performance portions of the presentation.
In addition to his work at UVic, this past October Harald Krebs became President of the Society for Music Theory, the primary scholarly society in the field. Although the position is one of many demands, Krebs finds the work rewarding. “I'm enjoying it all very much—especially because I like and admire all the people with whom I am working,” expresses Krebs, who previously served on several committees of the Society, and as its vice president.
Krebs’ lecture, Robert Redeemed: The Beauty of Schumann’s Late Songs, will be held on Tuesday, January 24th at 7:30 p.m. in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Admission is free.
Reinventing the Piano: Trimpin Visits UVic
Trimpin, the famed sound sculptor, composer and inventor, brings his latest innovations to Victoria in Spring 2012 with a project titled (CanonX+4:33=100). In collaboration with Open Space and Dr. Andrew Schloss (co-creator of UVic’s Music and Computer Science program), a team of emerging sound engineers, musicians, and visual artists from UVic will have the opportunity to work directly under Trimpin’s mentorship while assisting with the creation and installation of the work, scheduled to open on March 16.
With 2012 marking the centennial celebration of some of the most influential composers of the last century, namely John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow, (CanonX+4:33=100) celebrates a continuum and extension of the important work of both composers. Combining ancient concepts and methods with the latest in digital technology, Trimpin will give new life to an array of transformed abandoned pianos, by constructing visually dynamic and aurally stunning acoustic and electroacoustic sculptures and automatons out of their carcasses. “The pianos will be ‘prepared’ with mechanical actuators, small robotic devices to play the piano strings in a way which both composers, more than a half century ago, started to experiment with, compose, and perform,” describes Trimpin. “With the tools of today’s technologies, this experimentation can be extended to the next level of investigation.” Believing in our capacity to experience sound visually, Trimpin will accentuate this concept with the use of video cameras and sensors to translate movement and colour into gestures that activate the instruments.
Trimpin will visit UVic from January 17 to 20 to conduct workshops with participants and will introduce the project in a public lecture on Tuesday, January 17th at 2:30 pm in Rm. A162 of the Visual Arts Building. A screening of Peter Esmonde’s documentary, TRIMPIN: the sound of invention will be presented on Wednesday, January 18th at 8:00 pm in Rm. A146. Trimpin will return in March to install (CanonX+4:33=100) at Open Space, present an artist talk, and perform with the UVic collective, MISTIC. Until the close of the installation on April 28th, the UVic team will lead demonstrations and workshops at Open Space as well as have the opportunity to develop unique methodologies for activating and “performing” the installation as an enormous musical instrument.
One of the most stimulating and inventive forces in music today, Trimpin’s installation will skew your everyday assumptions about sound and technology and engage your senses of perception, surprise, and joy, in an extraordinary and intricate audio-visual experience unlike any other.
November, 2011
Honourary Doctor of Laws awarded to internationally renowned music education advocate
Internationally renowned music education advocate, Dennis Tupman, was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws at the UVic Fall convocation on November 9th, 2011.
In his convocation address, Dr. Tupman used the children’s song “Row, row, row your boat” as a metaphor for the well-lived life and had the convocation audience singing in 3-part harmony! He stressed putting children first in educational matters and paid tribute to the large community of colleagues, family, and friends who were present to honour him. As one colleague remarked at the luncheon following the ceremony, “There hasn’t been a convocation address like that for some time!” Moving, authentic, and passionate, Dr. Tupman highlighted the importance of music and the arts as key to children’s and society’s health.
Tupman, born on May 19, 1936 in Victoria, BC, received a Bachelor of Education from UBC in 1964 and a Master of Education from the same institution in 1969. He taught music, English and math in Kitimat from 1957-1971 when he became District Principal for the Performing Arts at the Vancouver School Board, a position he held until 1992. In 1992, he became a Faculty Advisor at UBC. Mr. Tupman has been president of the British Columbia Music Educators Association, the Canadian Music Educators Association, and the British Columbia Choral Federation and has been involved with many other music organizations, notably the International Society for Music Education. He has adjudicated numerous music festivals throughout BC and beyond and has won prestigious awards, including the Governor General Award for Lifetime Arts Leadership (1995) and the Coalition for Music Education in Canada Award (2010). Mr. Tupman has a regular column in the Canadian Music Educator and has been a lifelong advocate for arts education, in particular, music education. He has touched and influenced the lives of many as the support letters demonstrate.
This year marks a significant milestone in the careers of four School of Music faculty members. At a reception on October 4 at the University Club, long service employees from all areas of campus were honoured. Among those celebrated were our very own Alexandra Pohran Dawkins (Head of Woodwinds) and Harald Krebs (Head of Theory) for 25 years, Eva Solar-Kinderman (piano performance) for 30 years and Eugene Dowling (tuba, euphonium, and trombone performance), for 35 years with the School of Music.
Dr. Gerald King, the School of Music’s Director, is grateful for their commitment to the School of Music. “We are so honored to have such talented and dedicated faculty who have given so much to the School of Music and the University. Four faculty members who have served the University for 25, 30 and 35 years—this is a remarkable milestone. Such longtime service is an indicator of the quality of our School. We thank Alexandra Pohran-Dawkins, Harald Krebs, Eva Solar-Kinderman, and Eugene Dowling for their outstanding contribution to the UVic School of Music.”
Student voices fly on Dutchman stage
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This October, eight School of Music students took to the Royal Theatre stage for Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. As members of the massive 50 plus-person chorus, Andrew Buckley, Josh Lovell, Mary-Ellen Raynor, Jeremy Roszmann, Anna Shill, Cedric Spry, Claire Stewart, and Marlee Wetter brought their dynamic voices to the stage with verve.
Having the opportunity to work with the Opera Company has given these students a valuable glimpse into the world as a professional musician. "POV has shown me what the real world is like. The ability to study professionals in their element without feeling like an intruder is invaluable experience and education," says fourth year student, Jeremy Roszmann. First year Master’s student, Anna Shill, felt honoured to be a part of the production: “What can't you learn from your peers and those ahead of you? Sharing space with people that spend their lives living the career you hope for puts everything that we learn at school into perspective.”
POV will stage the world premiere of the new opera, Mary’s Wedding, this November, and we can look forward to hearing Andrew Buckley, Anna Shill and Cedric Spry, in this chorus as well. In addition, the lead female role will be performed by School of Music alumna, Betty Wayne Allison (B.Ed & B.Mus ’05).
Bruce Vogt has had a productive year in the recording studio. In addition to his latest CD release of the piano music of Franz Liszt (Volume 1), Vogt has further released two CDs this year, both recorded in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall with soprano, Susan Young (chorus director and voice instructor at UVic).
Paul Hindemith’s Das Marienleben (The Life of the Virgin Mary) is a rarely heard masterpiece. Although a more practical, revised version exists of this song cycle for soprano and piano, Vogt and Young recorded Hindemith’s original, more powerful and demanding 1922-23 version. “The later version is more singable,” says Vogt, “but not nearly as fresh or beautiful. Susan is that rare singer who can handle the difficulties.”
The 10th Anniversary Celebration CD, a live recording commemorating the period of Young and Vogt’s collaboration, includes works by Strauss, Schubert, Brahms, Liszt, and Debussy. The recording “beautifully captures Susan's voice in four languages and many musical styles,” describes Vogt.
Credits to the production of the CDs include School of Music faculty Alexandra Pohran Dawkins (producer), Kirk McNally (mastering), and alumni Andrea Young (B.Mus ‘01) (sound editor, graphic design and producer).
These CDs and others are available for purchase on Vogt’s website.
September, 2011
With 25 years under their belt, the Lafayette String Quartet uniquely holds the title as the only all-female ensemble in the world to still feature its original members. If that wasn’t enough of an accomplishment, since forming in 1986, the Quartet has performed across Canada, the US, and internationally, won major prizes, received awards for their recordings, and have been the subject of a book. As artists-in-residence at the School of Music for the past two decades, they still manage to maintain a rigorous touring schedule in addition to their teaching duties.
“UVic has shown a strong commitment to us,” says LSQ violinist Sharon Stanis. “I feel very fortunate to be here. Not all universities have a resident string quartet, and there's a real mentoring by having all of the string teachers in one ensemble."
For their silver anniversary concert season, the Quartet has invited some exceptional friends to join them on stage. On Saturday, September 17th, pianist Flavio Varani will join the Quartet in performing Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A major Op. 81. And on Saturday, February 4th, violinist James Dunham and cellist Paul Katz will help form the sextet in Brahms' Sextet in G major, Op. 36. Both concerts will take place in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Tickets are $25 and are available from the University Centre Box Office.
Lafayette Health Awareness Forum
On Thursday, September 22 at 7 pm, the Lafayette String Quartet will host its annual Health Awareness Forum, Shades of Grey: Understanding the Mental Health Continuum, at UVic. The forum will approach subjects about mental health that aren’t often publicly discussed, covering a wide spectrum of topics by a top-notch panel of five physicians. The evening will address some of the main concerns common in various stages of our lives and how we might better discern what would be considered a health issue and what is expected as part of our life experience. Aptly subtitled, Everything you wanted to know about mental health, but were afraid to ask, the forum will include presentations by each panelist as well as a moderated Q & A. As has become the tradition, the Quartet will begin the evening with a short musical presentation.
Leading British composer visits UVic
Composer Michael Finnissy, a major voice in British music, will visit the University of Victoria School of Music as an Orion Lecturer this fall. Renowned for his broad aesthetic range, he is equally at home with complex and simple musics. Well-known as a pianist, he will give a recital of his work on Monday September 12th at 8 p.m. in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. On Wednesday September 14th at 4:30 p.m. he will present a lecture entitled 'Writing anything and everything'. This event will take place in room B016 in the MacLaurin Building. Both events are free and open to the public.
In addition, Finnissy will be joining Victoria’s Aventa ensemble for their annual Composer Workshop. Participants in this year’s workshop include UVic Alumni Anna Höstman (MMus ‘05), Mason Koenig (BMus ‘10), and Christopher Reiche (MMus ‘08), whose works can be heard in a reading session on Saturday September 10th at 2 pm. As well, alumnus Chedo Barone (MMus ’04) and current student Alex Jang will have works performed by Aventa in a concert that includes music by Finnissy on Sunday, September 11th at 8 pm. Both events will take place in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Please visit Aventa’s website for further details.
Andrew Schloss is the latest UVic faculty member presented on the BC government’s Year of Science website as a featured scientist. Renowned for his innovative work with sound technology, Schloss is one of the pioneers of the Radiodrum, an instrument developed in the 1980s at Bell Labs. The Radiodrum is played in three-dimensional space using two drumsticks to control MIDI signals. Schloss’ work with electronic musical instruments is described on the Year of Science website in words, photos and a video.
John Celona received the award for Best in Category in the 2010 California Film Awards for his thriller screenplay, Nightfreight, as well as an invitation to the awards ceremony in San Diego. This is the second win for the yet-to-be-made film, which follows his 22-minute 2009 HD film, The Strange Case of DJ Cosmic; the first was an award for his self-made minute-and-a-half trailer, which picked up Best Art Direction in the 2010 International Movie Trailers Festival in August 2010. As for the future prospects of Nightfreight, Celona says, “I am in the long process of raising a budget for the feature-length. You know how that goes.”
Dániel Péter Biró won the 2010 Giga-Hertz-Award for electronic music—one of the most prestigious composition awards in Europe. Bestowed by the Centre for Arts and Music in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Experimental Studio in Freiburg, the award honours composers working in the areas of electronic and acousmatic music for a particular composition. "Ancient Jewish and Christian chant traditions were an inspiration for this piece, as was the Qur'an recitation of Indonesian reciter Hajjah Maria Ulfah," says Biró.
Harald Krebs received the University of Victoria Distinguished Professor award in 2010 - the highest academic honour that the university can bestow on a faculty member. The title is awarded to individuals who have achieved great distinction in teaching and research, and who have made a substantial contribution to the university and the wider community. Krebs is the university's 11th Distinguished Professor and the first from the School of Music. Read the feature article about Krebs in UVic’s publication, The Ring.
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