At a Vancouver Chamber Choir dinner, Jane Coop congratulated student Jocelyn Lai on her solo-piano acceptance by the Juilliard School

May18, 2013
Vancovuer Sun
by Malcolm Parry
link to article.

Above text from photo caption of Jane Coop and Jocelyn Lai in Malcolm Parry's "Town Talk" column. Text within the column included ". . .Jocelyn Lai, 22. A UBC Music grad and student of city virtuoso Jane Coop, Lai will join 12 others selected globally for two-year solo-piano studies at New York's Juilliard School. She'll play Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin at UBC's Baccalaureate Concert in the Chan Centre Wednesday.

Maestro helps bring music into schools
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's Bramwell Tovey to visit Hawthorne Elementary as part of Connects program

May 9, 2013
Delta Optimist
By Airika Owen
Link to article.

Hawthorne Elementary students will be treated to a visit from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's maestro next week as part of the VSO's Connects program...

The program is a two-year commitment with nine learning modules and the visit from Bramwell Tovey is one of the learning modules. Tovey will be at Hawthorne on May 14 to discuss his role in the symphony, answer questions and perform on the piano.

In a second-year module students visit the Orpheum Theatre to watch a symphony rehearsal. MacLellan said musicians and UBC music students visit the schools five times per year.

Congratulations to Madeline Hildebrand. She placed 2nd in the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition.

May 5, 2013
Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition

Madeline Hildebrand (MMus’12) of Winnipeg placed second in the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition on May 5, 2013. This came with a cash prize of $5,000. Madeline also won the City of Brandon prize of $1000 is awarded for the best performance of the commissioned work "Hallucinations" by Winnipeg composer Randolph Peters. 

Congratulations to UBC Alum Fraser Walters and The Tenors for their Juno for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for Lead with your Heart.

April 21, 2013
The Junos

UBC Alum Fraser Walters and The Tenors win Juno for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for their album Lead with your Heart. Fraser Walters received his Bachelor’s Degree in Voice Performance at the UBC School of Music in 2003.

Links

Juno Awards
The Tenors

Two strong choral works address issues of racism and hate speech

April 17, 2013
Campbell River Mirror
By Contributed
Link to article here.

Two musical works will be performed in Campbell River to highlight important social issues.

Hands Across the Divide will tackle themes of racism and cultural conflict on Sunday, April 21 at the Campbell River United Church and later in Courtenay.

What happens when a renowned Canadian poet is drawn to confront the Canadian tragedy of first contact between European and Aboriginal cultures?[...]

The music and text depict the early journeys of the Salish people, the weaving of baskets by the women, the joys and excitement of a successful hunt, the chief’s first potlatch (a ceremonial feast among first nations of the northwest Pacific coast) and, finally, the sadness of watching his longhouses burn and the tragic demise of his nation.

Bjerring’s music takes the cadences from the rhythms and textures of the old man’s life. As a youth, the chief watches with awe as the newcomers makes “slaves of waterfall, and magic from the souls of rocks,” but he also lives to witness the white man enslaved, in turn, by his own technologies. The chief’s reverie turns to the serenity of his childhood and his people’s traditions.[...]

This concert is part of the ongoing process of trying to build bridges across that divide in our understanding.

The work will be presented by the combined voices of Island Voices Chamber Choir and Cantiamo Chamber Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Graeme Langager, professor of conducting and director of choral activities at the UBC Faculty of Music.

Kudos and congratulations!

April 17, 2013

 

Student Roydon Tse  is one of only 20 UBC students campus-wide honoured with the designation of Wesbrook Scholar 2013!  Roydon also just received news that he won the inaugural Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra's Young Composers Competition.  www.novascotiayouthorchestra.com

Student Christopher Ward received a 2012/13 Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award

Student Grace Ma was joint first prize winner in the MURC 2013 (Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference) poster competition on March 23, 2013. Selected among  undergrads from across faculties, her submission was a musicology research project titled "Human Potential, Human Progress, and Human Objectivity: The Philosophical Constitution of Classical Music Criticism in d'Alembert's Discours preliminaire". With the win she has the opportunity to publish her research in the MURC conference proceedings, and potentially to represent UBC at the U21 Conference in Amsterdam in July.

UBC Music faculty members Michael Tenzer (as principal investigator) and John Roeder (as co-investigator) have been awarded a large 5-year SSHRC Insight Grant for their research project "Approaches to the Analysis of Musical Time." 

 

Lanois, Peterson among winners of lifetime achievement awards

Apr 10, 2013
montrealgazette.com
By Victor Swoboda
Link to full article here.

MONTREAL - It was a “virtual” ceremony from sea to sea on Wednesday morning for the announcement of Canada’s highest arts awards. A live video feed across four time zones brought five of the six recipients of the 2013 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Achievement to the ceremony in Montreal. Governor General David Johnston, in a live video from his car, said that the arts are important because they “show how others view us and how we view ourselves.”...

Another recipient, violinist Andrew Dawes, 73, appeared from Vancouver. In 1965, Dawes was a founding member of the Orford Quartet, in which he played for 30 years. His recordings include Mozart and Beethoven cycles. He is professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia music faculty.

 

Andrew Dawes wins GG award for lifetime achievement

Apr 10, 2013
The Westender
By Martha Perkins
Link to full article here.

Is it a coincidence that the press release announcing that Andrew Dawes is the recipient of a Governor General Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award quotes Beethoven?

The emotionally tortured composer wrote his 9th Symphony after he had lost his hearing. Dawes, a violinist known for his ability to convey the full magnificence of Beethoven’s vision, especially during his years with the Orford String Quartet, can no longer play violin because his fingers have, quite literally, seized up.

But in talking to Dawes, who is now 73, there’s no sense of regret or anguish. His equanimity clearly transmits itself over the telephone line.

“I had 66 years of my hands doing a great job so they don’t owe me a thing,” he says from his Vancouver home a few days before his most recent accolade was announced. It’s not that he didn’t try everything and anything after he was diagnosed with focal dystonia, more commonly known as writer’s cramp. It’s just that after all of those attempts to fix the problem failed, he accepted that his years of playing were over. And oh, what wonderful years they were, traveling the world and being able to play the most beautiful music in the most beautiful places.

Vancouver musician Andrew Dawes receives Governor General performing arts award

Apr 10, 2013
Georgia Straight
By Stephen Thomson
Link to full article here.

Acclaimed Vancouver violinist Andrew Dawes is being honoured for his musical accomplishments with a Governor General’s award.

Dawes is among six Canadians who are receiving the 2013 prizes for lifetime artistic achievement in the performing arts, organizers announced today (April 10).

Born in Alberta, Dawes has toured internationally and received numerous awards and honours during a career spanning several decades.

For 26 years he held the position of first violinist with the critically acclaimed Orford String Quartet.

At present, he is director of the Chamber Music Institute at the Vancouver Academy of Music and a sessional lecturer at the UBC School of Music.

 

Jocelyn Morlock's night music

Mar 23, 2013
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.

Rising Vancouver composer presents an evening of her innovative work at The Cellar.

Composer Jocelyn Morlock has enjoyed a banner couple of years during which her highly individualistic music has graced the programs of local and national groups. Next Tuesday an all-Morlock One Night Stand program of her work at The Cellar is the climax of her current term as composer-in-residence for David Pay’s Music on Main organization.

So we were long overdue for a talk about her work, her life and her ever-growing recognition as one of this country’s most interesting composers. I began a leisurely Sunday morning chat by asking about this particular all-Morlock show and how it might differ from other programs devoted to her compositions.

“In other times people have picked all the repertoire, they were done deals. This time I’ve chosen the music, together with David Pay, and also written a fast, loud new piece that is particularly and deliberately different from my other stuff. And the setting is unusual: The Cellar. I think this is the only time I’ve had an audience that is allowed to eat and drink. In other circumstances I did no talking until the very end; here I’ll be talking all through the program, though I hope not too much.”

Performance of Wagner-Verdi works comes across uneven

Mar 23, 2013
Vancouver Sun
David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here

Sometimes event planners get seduced by calendars.

Those two very different giants of the opera world, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, were both born in 1813. So on Saturday evening the Vancouver Bach Choir stepped away from its regular repertoire to present a special Verdi/Wagner Bicentennial at the Orpheum: a program of excerpts from nine opera scores.

The idea seemed attractive: part 200th birthday bash, part pops concert for choir and orchestra, part showcase for the ubiquitous UBC Opera Ensemble.

Though Verdi gets regular attention from Vancouver Opera, and his bombastic Requiem has been a Bach Choir staple, Vancouver is no Wagner town: his operas and music dramas are rarely mounted here.

Bittersweet anniversary for Chor Leoni

Mar 21, 2013
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here

It turned out to be a tempestuous season for Vancouver's prize-winning men's choir Chor Leoni. The year 2013 was intended to be a marker for the organization: After a summer 2012 trip to Europe (which included some performances in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia), a special event would combine a celebration of 20 years of singing with the formal retirement of founder-director Diane Loomer. All had been planned with typical leonine efficiency.

But sad realities intervened. The death of Loomer last December changed everything, and this weekend's 20th anniversary concert at the Chan Centre, introducing the lions' new artistic director Erick Lichte, became something substantially different.

 

A Man of many booms

Mar 18, 2013
NewWestminsterLeader.com
By New Westminster News Leader
Link to full article here.

As a weekend hockey warrior Brian Garbet is renowned for his booming slapshot that sends opposing goaltenders cowering for safety.

Now he’s making his name in a boom of a different sort, as one of the featured composers at Vancouver’s Sonic Boom Festival which runs through March 24 at various venues.

Garbet, whose searing shot and unique grooming earned him the nickname Unabomber amongst his hockey buddies, will be presenting Benazir, an original seven-minute work that is a tribute to Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan who was assassinated Dec. 27, 2007.

For Garbet, composition is a way to explore themes that didn’t always mesh with his previous musical incarnation with local alternative hard rock band Crop Circle.

“I’m really interested in politics and socio-political issues,” says Garbet, who’s nearing completion of his Masters of Music at UBC.

Expressing some of his ideas in composition for an orchestra or ensemble often starts with a small musical idea. Then, ensconced in the small studio that occupies a spare room in his New Westminster home, he uses his guitar to build on that idea.

“Composition is one of those esoteric things,” says Garbet. “It’s a craft. Sometimes we don’t understand it, we channel it. It’s magical.”

 

Fast Winds blowing in something different

Mar 13, 2013
Winnipeg Free Press
By Gwenda Nemerofsky
Link to full article here.

Virtuosi Concerts is bringing something truly different to its stage Saturday night. Not that there's anything to beef about with their usual quality fare of primarily string players and pianists (with an occasional singer thrown in for good measure), but a departure is often refreshing. In the case of their March 16 show, Ports of Call, they've commandeered the Canadian trio from Vancouver, Volante Vento. And yes, there is still a pianist, Cary Chow, but there will also be bassoonist Jesse Read and one-time Winnipegger, Milan Milosevic on clarinet. Volante Vento means "Fast Winds," entirely suitable for the whirlwind tour of the world on the itinerary for the evening.

We don't get the opportunity to hear much music devoted to woodwinds in our city, so this is a rare treat. Just as appealing is the selection of works being played, some of which may come as a surprise.

Read is something of a pioneer when it comes to presenting the bassoon to the public. Sure, he's played all the standard repertoire in his gigs as principal bassoon of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera National Company and San Francisco Opera, to name a few. He's recorded and toured with Tafelmusik and played with the CBC Chamber Ensemble, but he's truly taken the bassoon to new heights.

Magical, mysterious Mozart

Mar 9, 2013
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.

The facts are simple: the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has never been held in higher esteem than it is today; nor has his strange and wonderful "opera" The Magic Flute ever been more universally popular. Thus it makes sense for Vancouver Opera to have made performing Mozart a top priority; and it makes perfect sense to revive its lavish, high-concept Magic Flute with a new cast for a six-performance run, beginning tonight.

There remain, however, some important things to consider, starting with the strange and wonderful nature of the work itself.

In this revival, the romantic lead Tamino will be sung by tenor John Tessier, his comic sidekick Papageno by baritone Joshua Hopkins. Two of our brightest rising-star sopranos share the principal female role: Simone Osborne and Rachel Fenlon each get a crack at Pamina. Teiya Kasahara gets to sing all those extraordinary high notes as the Queen of the Night. Leslie Dala conducts.

Finally, a personal word about the production. I wouldn't want to count all of the Magic Flutes I've seen over the decades, but if wonder and delight count for anything, this re-thinking of a masterwork delivers.

 

Soprano's irresistible opportunity

Mar 6, 2013
Vancouver Province
By Dana Gee
Link to full article here.

The plan was for internationally acclaimed soprano Simone Osborne to take some time off this spring.
But that all went kaput when she was asked to play Pamina in the Vancouver Opera's (VO) production of The Magic Flute (music by Mozart and libretto by Emanuel Schhi-kaneder).

"It's impossible to say no to this piece with this company in my hometown," said the Vancouver native, who has performed in 10 countries over the last nine months.

Since winning the 2008 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York City at the age of 21, Osborne has been a sought-after singer.

"I've turned into the soprano cliché, I have a little dog that goes with me everywhere," laughed Osborne about her half-Maltese, half-Yorkshire terrier.

"He is about five pounds of fluff. His name is Gatsby. I am totally headed towards the dark side. I have a fur baby, but you know it's really nice to come back to a hotel room that isn't completely empty."

Well, recently she hasn't had to rely solely on Gatsby for company, as she has been happily enjoying her hometown while preparing for her VO gig.

"I think my grandmother is knocking on doors making everyone come to the show," laughed Osborne. "You know, the last couple of seasons I have been doing so much out of Canada, it is nice to come home and share what you have learned over the years."

This production marks the second time Osborne has taken on the role of Pamina; she did so two years ago in a Canadian Opera Company production.

 

Musical March coming in like a lion

Feb 28, 2013
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.

UBC's Knigge Piano Competition is tailor-made for those who like their music spiced with a bit of rivalry. The competition, which began in 2008, is for emerging professionals at the beginning of their careers. Eight preselected candidates make their way to Vancouver this week to play individual recitals in hopes of winning a $7,000 prize. Half of this year's finalists come from Montreal, as students at either McGill or the Université de Montréal. The remaining four hail from the University of Calgary, Toronto's Glenn Gould School, Indiana University and the Juilliard School in New York.

There's a further Juilliard connection: UBC graduate Jared Miller, currently working on his doctorate there, is the composer of this year's "imposed" work. Each performer will play Miller's Souvenirs d'Europe - note those Lisztian resonances in the title, a clue that this is designed as a virtuoso showpiece. The competition runs all day Saturday, followed by a Winners Showcase Concert on Sunday afternoon.

 

A number of Juno nominations include UBC School of Music faculty, alumni and a current student. . . congratulations to everyone!

Feb 18, 2013
Juno Awards
Link: Juno Awards

Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble
Triple Forte (Jasper Wood, Yegor Dyachkov, David Jalbert)
Ravel, Shostakovich, Ives: Piano Trio
Jasper Wood, violinist, is a professor at the UBC School of Music

Classical Composition of the Year
UBC Music alumna Alexina Louie (BMus'70)  for Echoes of Time

Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance
Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison, director, Naxos recording I Saw Eternity
The recording includes music by present or former UBC students of Stephen Chatman, Timothy Corlis (current DMA candidate), Glenn Buhr (MMus'81), Craig Galbraith (BMus'97) as well as a work by UBC faculty member, and Chair of the Composition Division, Stephen Chatman titled REMEMBER

Adult Contemporary Album of the Year
The Tenors for their album Lead With Your Heart  UBC Music alumnus Fraser Walters (BMus'03) is one of the 4 members of the group

Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble or soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment
Bramwell Tovey/Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Fugitive Colours
Bramwell Tovey has an honorary degree and there are many UBC Music faculty who perform in the VSO

Winners will be announced April 21st

 

Duo Rendezvous a superlative concert

Feb 15, 2013
Oliver Community Arts Council
By Bob Park
Link to article

Review of Duo Rendezvous, brought to Oliver on February 6, by the South Okanagan Concert Society

Some concerts are difficult to review because the performance was disappointing. However, others, such as the concert by Duo Rendezvous–brought to Oliver as the third in its series by the South Okanagan Concert Society–are difficult to review because I just don’t have enough superlatives!

Kudos around the UBC Music Community!

Feb 14, 2013
Links:
Boston Metro Opera’s Boston Contempo Festival International Composers Competition
Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition

UBC Music DMA candidate Michael Park wins Gold Medal for his opera Diagnosis: Diabetes in Opera Category at the Boston Metro Opera’s Boston Contempo Festival International Composers Competition 2013. Michael Park also won the Opera - Festival Award. UBC DMA candidate Glenn James received an Honourable Mention in the Opera Category; Daniel Marshall, a current UBC MMus student, won an Art Song - Festival Award; and UBC Alumnus Lloyd Burritt received several Art Song - Special Awards. Works by winners will be performed by the Boston Metro Opera in May or later. Find out more

Nicole Linaksita, a UBC Music student (pursuing a double major in music and computer science) is one of six pianists announced as semi-finalists in the 2013 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition. The competition will happen in May with first prize including $10,000 and a nation wide tour. Other finalists include UBC Music alumna Madeline Hildebrand (MMus'12), a 2010 Knigge Piano Competition prize-winner Everett Hopfner and Pierre-André Doucet, a finalist in the 2013 Knigge Piano Competition being held at UBC next week (March 2 & 3). More info at e-gre.ca

The UBC Symphony Orchestra was voted #2 in the Classical Music Ensemble category (East Side and Downtown areas) in the Vancouver Courier's Stars of Vancouver. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra was #1.

February’s focus on orchestral youth
Performances a treat for listeners as well as providing valuable playing experience

February 13, 2013
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article

Thanks to post-secondary programs, music schools, and private studios, the Lower Mainland continues to be a hotbed of music education.

The remaining days of February offer some quite exceptional orchestral showcases demonstrating the variety and intensity of playing experiences available for qualified young performers. The Vancouver Academy of Music Orchestra, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra all have big public performances in the works, each highlighting different aspects of the orchestral training experience.

 

Our Campus: Hussein Janmohamed on life as a conductor

February 12, 2013
The Ubyssey
By Johannah Cramer
Link to article

Hussein Janmohamed, a grad student in conducting at UBC’s School of Music, walks around campus waving his arms and turning conversation into melody. He’s made his life revolve around what he loves most: choir music.

“In junior high, the jazz choir came to sing at our school, and I just fell in love. So I sang in four choirs all through high school,” said Janmohamed.

Janmohamed was raised with an eclectic ear for music. At age six he moved from Nairobi, Kenya to Red Deer, Alberta, where he grew up and discovered his love for choral music. He now holds a bachelor degree in general music studies and a master’s in opera production from UBC.

An Evolving Country Begins to Accept Sara, Once David

From the series Booming: Living Through the Middle Ages offers news and commentary about baby boomers, anchored by Michael Winerip.

 

February 3, 2013
New York Times
By Sara Davis Buechner
Link to article

Ten summers ago, on an early evening stroll in Bangkok, I met a baby elephant. The animal’s owner was walking him past the open-air food stalls of one of the city night markets where, for the price of five Thai baht, one could purchase a handful of bamboo stalks and feed it to the little fellow. Concentrating on the broken sidewalk under my feet, and wishing not to trip, I hadn’t noticed the elephant until I nearly walked smack into him, eyeball to eyeball. Needless to say, it was a startling encounter. In my beloved Bronx, I had bumped into plenty of interesting creatures but no elephants. Being in Bangkok for extraordinary reasons, and in need of good luck, I fished into my purse and found a coin. I patted the head of the elephant for good measure as he crunched up his vegetarian treat.

Dr. John Roeder is selected to receive a UBC Killam Faculty Research Prize (in the Business, Education, Arts & Humanities Senior Category)

February 1, 2013
Links: UBC Faculty Research Awards

Dr. Roeder is a leading figure in music theory who has earned the universal admiration of his peers for his analytical insights and theoretical contributions to our understanding of music of the 20th and 21st centuries (including music by Arnold Schoenberg, Bela Bartók, Elliott Carter, Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, Thomas Adès, and others). He is the author of over 30 articles and book chapters, the co-author of numerous additional articles, and the co-editor (with Professor Michael Tenzer) of Analytical and Cross-Cultural Studies in World Music (Oxford University Press, 2011). The excellence of his work has frequently been recognized.  His article "Interacting Pulse Streams in Schoenberg's Atonal Polyphony" received the 1995 Outstanding Publication Award of the Society for Music Theory.  In 2003, he was selected to lead a workshop for his professional peers on "Transformational Approaches to Contemporary Music" at the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory.  His contributions to the discipline have been tireless, including as a member of the editorial boards of Perspectives of New Music, Music Theory Spectrum, and the Journal of Music Theory, and as chair of the Publications Committee of the Society for Music Theory.

Dr. Roeder is also an outstanding teacher and a graduate student mentor.  He received a UBC Killam Teaching Prize in 1992, and in November 2008 he was selected to lead graduate student seminar "Analyzing Contemporary Music" at the annual meeting of the Society for Music theory.  He has supervised dozens of M.A. and Ph.D. students at UBC, guiding them expertly in the pursuit of their distinct and flourishing scholarly identities.

Dr. Roeder is currently serving as Acting Director of the UBC School of Music for the 2013 calendar year while Dr. Richard Kurth is on leave.

UBC Killam Research Prizes

Established in 1986, the UBC Killam Research Prizes are awarded annually to top campus researchers. Up to ten prizes in the amount of $5,000 each will be awarded to full-time faculty members in recognition of outstanding research and scholarly contributions. All fields of research are included.

Congratulations to 4th Year Composition Student, Roydon Tse!

January 29, 2013
Links: roydontse.com

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony have chosen works by Roydon Tse, a 4th year composition student, to be read and performed this term!

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra selected Roydon's Three Musings for chamber orchestra for their 2013 Reading Session. The session, held as part of the 2013 New Creations Festival, will take place at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, on two dates: Tuesday February 26 (10:30am to 12pm) and Thursday February 28 (2:30pm to 4pm) at Roy Thompson Hall with Gary Kulesha conducting.

Roydon's work Down the Rabbit Hole for string orchestra was selected for the Victoria Symphony's Composers' Workshop program. In the program, selected new orchestral works will be rehearsed and performed by Tania Miller and the Victoria Symphony on March 16, 2013 in a public workshop at Alix Goolden Performance Hall. These works are written by BC residents studying composition or those in the early stages of their professional career. The works were chosen by a jury led by Victoria Symphony Composer-in-Residence Michael Oesterle.

Congrats to Conductor Jesse Read and UBC Symphony Orchestra for nomination of a Prix RIDEAU/SIRUSXM INITIATIVE 2013 for CD Vancouver Symphonique!

January 29, 2013
Link to press release

This morning at a press conference held at Chez l'Autre, in Québec, RIDEAU (Le réseau indépendant des diffuseurs d'événements artistiques unis) announced the list of finalists in the 2013 RIDEAU awards, and it is with great joy, and not without pride, that we share with you the nomination of the Vancouver Symphonique project for the "Prix RIDEAU/SIRUSXM INITIATIVE 2013".

The winner of the "Prix RIDEAU/SIRIUS INITIATIVE 2013" will be announced on February 21, 2013 at the 26th Bourse RIDEAU gala event that will take place in Quebec City.

Above all, Vancouver Symphonique was a show of unequalled scope in highlighting francophone artists in the Vancouver region. In total, twelve of the most established francophone artists (soloists and groups) in music and chanson shared the stage with 50 musicians of the University of British Columbia Symphony Orchestra. This unique performance was presented on Saturday December 10, 2011, before 1,200 spectators in the prestigious Chan Center in Vancouver.

2013 UBC Concerto Competition winners!

January 26, 2013
Barnett Hall, UBC

Congratulations to everyone who performed in the UBC Concerto Competition Finals! It was a wonderful afternoon of high-level music. The judges' task of choosing a winner was extremely difficult.

WINNER
Michael Morimoto, soprano saxophone (performed Fantasia for soprano saxophone, three horns and strings by Heitor Villa-Lobos)

RUNNER-UPS (IN ORDER CHOSEN)
Irene Margarete Setiawan piano (performed Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor by Camille Saint-Saëns)

Eden Tremayne soprano (performed the arias No word from Tom from The Rake's Progress by Stravinsky and E strano! …Ah! forse lui… Sempre libera from La Traviata by Verdi)

The School of Music would like to thank judges Denise Ball, George Zukerman and Keiko Alexander for their commitment and the wonderful job they did.

UBC piano student Nicole Linaksita selected to compete in the 2013 Eckhardt-Gramatte Contemporary Piano Music Competition!

January 25, 2013
Link: Eckhardt-Gramatte Piano Competition

Congratulations to UBC 2nd year BMus piano student Nicole Linaksita for being selected as one of eight pianists from across the country to compete in the 2013 Eckhardt-Gramatte Contemporary Piano Music Competition in May.

Nicole's Preliminary round consisted of works by Canadians Marc-Andre Hamelin, David Macintyre, Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte, and American David Rakowski.

Bravo Nicole!
 

UBC Music Alumni Dan Kocurek and pianist Christine Eggert perform at ArtSpring
Jazzy, talented duo at ArtSpring

January 23, 2013
Gulf Islands Driftwood.com
Full article here
By George Sipos

ArtSpring’s second Gallery Cabaret of the season on Thursday, Jan. 24 seeks to dispel this misconception. Vancouver trumpeter Dan Kocurek and pianist Christine Eggert present a wide variety of music showcasing the trumpet in its role as a chamber instrument.

Okanagan Symphony presents 'Espana'

January 18, 2013
Castanet.net
By Ragnar Haagen
Full article here

As part of a special ensemble cast, the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan will be taking the stage along with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra to perform some fiery Spanish music to the tune of 100 musicians performing together.

The five pieces of music will feature vigorous rhythms and expansive melodies – highlighted by “Espana”, written by Emmanuel Chabrier, “Saudades”, an emotional piece by composer John Estacio, “Concerio de Aranjuez”, “Guitar Concerto D”, and finally “Capricci Espagnol”.

Associate Professor, Piano Sara Davis Buechner's performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto in C minor KV 491 broadcast this weekend on WKSU-FM

January 18, 2013
Links: http://www.wksu.org/listen/

Sara Davis Buechner's recent performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto in C minor KV 491, with the Canton Symphony under the direction of Gerhardt Zimmermann, will be broadcast via the internet. The performance includes Buechner's own cadenza to the first movement.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20th, on Station WKSU-FM (NPR) links above:

at 12:30 p.m. PST (Vancouver / Seattle / San Francisco)
at 3:30 p.m. EST (Toronto / New York / Washington DC)

 

Diane Loomer had a gift for getting the best from her singers

January 9, 2013
Globe and Mail
By Suzanne Ahearne
Full article here

Diane Loomer did not believe music was just notes that enter through the ears. She believed that something powerful plants itself in the soul of the listener, the singer and the conductor.

When she realized in middle age that she had a magic touch for giving voice to that ineffable “something,” she spent the rest of her life joyfully and energetically nourishing it through choral music. She was the founder and artistic director of Chor Leoni Men’s Choir and co-founder of Elektra Women’s Choir, now widely considered among the best choirs in the world.

A celebration of life for Diane Loomer will take place Friday at a free public concert featuring 180 members and alumni of her three main choirs at the Chan Centre in Vancouver.

UBC Opera Alum, Charlotte Burrage chosen to be a part of the Canadian Opera Company’s prestigious Ensemble Studio.

January 9, 2013
The Star.com
By Trish Crawford
Link to article

Six young opera singers breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday.

They weathered two auditions — one of them before a crowd at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts — and weeks of nail-biting before the announcement that they made the grade.

This August they will join the Canadian Opera Company’s Studio Ensemble — its renowned training program that has produced many opera greats such as Isabel Bayrakdarian, Ben Heppner, Krisztina Szabo and Allyson McHardy.

The new members are bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, mezzo-soprano Charlotte Burrage, soprano Aviva Fortunata, tenor Andrew Haji, baritone Clarence Frazer and mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan.

Congratulations to UBC student Matthew Emery!

January 9, 2013
www.singingcity.org
https://soundcloud.com/matthew-emery

Matthew Emery’s choral work Voice of Song wins first prize in the Singing City Prize for Young Composers in his age category. In addition to a $1000 cash award, the Singing City Choir will perform Matthew’s composition on February 23, 2013 in Philadelphia.

Congratulations Matthew!

 

Review: Schubert masterwork takes audience on memorable, moving journey

Vancouver International Song Institute shines in rare regular season performance of Winterreise

January 3, 2013
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Full article here

On Wednesday evening a sellout crowd crammed into the University of British Columbia’s Roy Barnett Recital Hall to hear a rare regular-season presentation of Schubert’s Winterreise (Winter Journey) by the thriving Vancouver International Song Institute. Both performers were well known to local song fanciers: tenor Colin Balzer and collaborative pianist Erika Switzer are UBC alumni well advanced on international careers.

One of the missions of VISI is to re-popularize lieder — perhaps the ultimate words-and-music genre, but a tough sell to contemporary audiences. This performance featured projected texts in the original German with solid English translations, plus atmospheric imagery put together by Lindsay O’Rourke. Though not all these technological glosses worked perfectly, the resultant extreme sense of audience empathy and involvement more than demonstrates their worth.

 

Lieder, other works warm up winter
Vancouver's ensembles have a rousing season of performances that will surely light spirits

December 27, 2012
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Full article here

The last few days of December are a good time to contemplate the musical joys of the year to come: whatever the temptation, this is not the time to settle in to a long winter's nap...

Those particularly lethargic, hard-to commit days right after New Year's Day are brightened by the greatest winter music ever: Colin Balzer and Erika Switzer start 2013 with a performance of Franz Schubert's Winterreise for the Vancouver International Song Institute on Wednesday at University of British Columbia's Barnett Recital Hall, with surtitles (such a good idea for lieder) and a preliminary chat by School of Music head Richard Kurth.

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Lieder+other+works+warm+winter/7747607/story.html#ixzz2Gwm9qe9Z

Order of Canada
Little-known Canadians receive big honour

December 30, 2012
Globe and Mail
By Adrian Morrow
Full article here

Among the 91 people on the Order of Canada honours list released Sunday, a slate that swells twice a year, once at the new year and once around Canada Day, there are a few big names: Indigo CEO Heather Reisman, hockey player Paul Henderson, Montreal Canadiens legend and former MP Ken Dryden. But many more won’t be familiar to most Canadians; these otherwise everyday people who have had an important impact on their country in fields as diverse as the arts, athletics and academia. From a world-traveller who has developed programs to deliver nutrients to children in the Third World to a Nova Scotian sculptor tethered to traditional techniques, here are five of them.

Jane Coop, pianist
In her career as a pianist, Jane Coop has performed in 28 countries around the world, playing in such storied locales as St. Petersburg’s ornate concert hall. But ask about her favourite venues and one of the first she will name is a house in Snow Lake, Manitoba, where an arts enthusiast invited her to perform last October.

Despite Snow Lake’s location (deep in the forest, eight hours northwest of Winnipeg), population (about 700) and demographic make-up (miners), she found an enthusiastic reception.

“I played a very serious, challenging program – not easy listening – and the audience was absolutely still,” she said. “Afterwards, they asked interesting questions, I had discussions with some of them about counterpoint, technical things in the music.”

That concert was emblematic, in a way, of her life’s work, spreading music far and wide. She has been playing since childhood, winning CBC Radio’s national competition at the age of 19.

Since then, she’s performed countless live shows and on radio, recorded her work and taught at both the University of British Columbia and a camp in Whistler, B.C.

Some of the other articles mentioning Jane Coop receiving the Order of Canada:
December 31, 2012
Vancouver Sun: Hockey Greats add accolade | New appointments include politicians, jounalists, artists
January 2, 2013
Vancouver Sun: Former premiere among a dozen from B.C. honoured by Governor General 
January 2, 2013
UBC Public Affiars: Four UBC professors appointed to Order of Canada

 

Rising star Simone Osborne strives for balance

B.C. soprano makes her Carnegie Hall Debut

December 29, 2012
Vancouver Sun
by David Gordon Duke
Full article here

Vancouver connoisseurs of vocal music are well aware of soprano Simone Osborne, a local now well on her way to a high-powered singing career. Last season she sang the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette for Vancouver Opera; she starts the new year with a performance at Carnegie Hall. Just before Christmas, Simone spoke with me from Texas about her developing career, and the complicated life that it entails, having completed a gig in Switzerland.

UBC Faculty, Emeriti, and Alumni receive Queen Jubilee Awards

December 21, 2012
Links: Joyce Murray Blog
Orchestra Canada

Jane Coop (recently retired School of Music Professor)
for outstanding service to the Vancouver Quadra community.

A number of UBC Music alumni as well as former sessional and current sessional faculty involved with the National Youth Orchestra

The National Youth Orchestra of Canada has announced the names of the twenty-eight individuals nominated under its auspices for the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, through an innovative nomination process overseen by the Governor General of Canada. The twenty-eight come from all sectors of the NYOC, including board members, faculty, and healthcare professionals with NYOC’s innovative injury prevention program. The list below are those who are UBC Music alumni, and current/former UBC Music sessional instructors.

Camille Churchfield (former sessional instructor)
Brian G'froerer (alumnus)
Sharman King (alumnus and current sessional)
George Laverock (alumnus)
Christopher Millard (former sessional & alumnus)
John Rudolph (former sessional)

 

Tenor always had a thing for the pitch

But irregular heartbeat meant UBC soccer star Fraser Walters had to turn to his other love – music

December 15, 2012
Vancouver Sun
By Iain MacIntyre
Full article here

Before he was a great tenor, Fraser Walters was a great athlete.

But before either, he was a great soprano, singing as a boy in operas and musical theatre productions like Brigadoon at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.

He was so adept at both sports and music that Walters wrote in his high school yearbook - St. George's, class of 1998 - that his goal was the Olympics or the Grammys. Maybe he could do both.

Christmas carol with your wine purchase?

December 13, 2012
The Tri-City News
By Sarah Payne
Full article here

The provincial liquor store on Nicola Avenue is a pretty festive place — there's a decorated tree on top of a pyramid of beer cases, decorations at the cash registers and Christmas carols playing softly in the background.

But if you're lucky enough to drop by for your dinner party wine or a Scotch stocking stuffer when Adam Turpin is working, you're in for a true festivus treat.

That's because Turpin, a classically trained bass baritone singer, likes to burst into song when the mood strikes, much to the delight of weary shoppers waiting in the checkout line.

Note: A follow-up story was printed after Adam Turpin went to The Tri-City News office to pick up a few copies of the paper with the article above:

Serenaded at Christmas

December 14, 2012, updated December 17, 2012
Tri-City News
By J. Warren
Full article here

Staff at The Tri-City News on Friday got an early Christmas present when Port Coquitlam liquor store employee Adam Turpin dropped by.

The Nicola Avenue worker visited the newspaper to pick up a few copies of Friday's edition, in which he was featured on page 3, and belted out White Christmas as his way of saying thanks.

Reporter Sarah Payne wrote about Turpin, a classically trained bass baritone singer who likes to sing while he works at the provincial liquor store.

Turpin will graduate from the UBC School of Music with his bachelor's degree this spring.

UBC Music Alumna Dr. Diane Loomer dies at 72.

December 10, 2012

With deep sadness we are mourning the death of Diane Loomer, an alumna and former faculty member of the UBC School of Music. A leading and inspiring choral conductor, Diane was founder and director of the Chor Leoni Men's Choir and the EnChor choir, and co-founder of the Elektra Women's Choir...read full story.

Links

Dr. Diane Loomer's Speech to the UBC Spring Congregation 2011
Chor Leoni website (Text of speech)
You Tube video (Dr. Loomer starts speaking at 6:11)

Tributes and articles
CBC News spot (aired Dec. 11 6:00pm)
CBC Web Article
CBC Blog Article
CBC Radio 1 broadcast Dec 11, 7:20 am
Vancouver Sun

 

UBC Student Roydon Tse is winner in the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra's (TSYO) call for Canadian Scores competition! 

November 30, 2012
Links
Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra
Roydon Tse

His orchestral piece Remembrances will be given its East Coast premiere by the TSYO on Feb 3rd, 2013 at George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, in a program featuring Beethoven's Fidelio Overture, and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Roydon also wins $500 prize!

Congratulations Roydon!

UBC alum Clara Shandler (cellist) talks about her trip to Cambodia to teach music on Go! Vancouver (starts at 10:10)

Links
Go!Vancouver
Sidewalk Cellist

UBC students make up 4 of 9 composers selected for the 2013 Jean Coulthard Readings!

November 30, 2012
Link to VSO Coulthard Reading

UBC composers Roydon Tse, Joseph Glaser, Konstantin Klimov, and Trevor Hoffman have been selected for this year's VSO Jean Coulthard Readings, which will be presented by composer in residence Edward Top, Bramwell Tovey will conduct the Vancouver Symphony for this session which will be held March 20, 2013 from 10am - 1pm at the Orpheum Theatre.

Congratulations everyone!

 

Congratulations Matthew Emery! His composition Sanctus will be broadcast on
CBC this Sunday, Dec 2.

November 29, 2012
Link to performance of Sanctus
Link to CBC Choral Concert

Sanctus by UBC composition student Matthew Emery will be broadcast this Sunday on CBC's national program Choral Concert (9:00 am - 11:00 am). Recording is from a live concert November 4th in Halifax performed by the Canadian Chamber Choir with Canta Mara conducted by Juila Davids.

Our Campus: Robert Taylor, UBC's main music man

November 28, 2012
The Ubyssey
By CJ Pentland
Full article here

Robert Taylor had always known that he liked music. But it wasn’t until his third year of university that he decided to make it his career.

“It was actually kind of a fluke; I started out as a physics major,” said Taylor, director of bands and assistant professor of conducting and ensembles at UBC. “[But] I was spending more and more time in the practice room playing my trumpet, playing the piano [and] composing, and I found a lot of joy in it.… I recognized that I was more passionate about music at that stage and maybe I had been afraid to count on it as my career.”

After opting to pursue an education in music — culminating in his master’s of music and doctor of music degrees from Northwestern University — Taylor found his passion in teaching, which has motivated him throughout his entire life.

News from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions!

November 22, 2012
Link to MONC NW

Winners of the Vancouver district auditions on November 18 include; Bahareh Poureslami who was awarded the People’s Choice award and and Encouragement Award and Evanna Chiew who was awarded an Encouragement Award!

Sunny Sham has advanced to the regional auditions in Seattle!

Congratulations everyone!

Stephen Chatman wins SOCAN 2012 Jan V. Matejcek New Classical Music Award! 

November 22, 2012
Link to Socan Awards

Chair of the Composition Division, Stephen Chatman was awarded the 2012 Jan V. Mategjcek New Classical Music Award. This award is given to a SOCAN composer for outstanding success, predominantly in the Canadian music industry, in the calendar year being honoured.  The winner is chosen by a special committee. Awards were given out on November 19 at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto.

Congratulations Dr. Chatman!

 

Congratulations to Margret Andan!

November 19, 2012
Link to Global Spin

Margret Andan known as Dj Miss M, has won International DJ of the Year (Canada) at the Global Spin Awards!

Awards were given out on November 19 in New York! DJ Miss M beat artists such as Deadmau5, Vekked and Hedspin! More info at djmissm.com & globalspinawards.com

Congratulations Miss M!

 

Congratulations to Margret Andan!

Margret Andan known as Dj Miss M, has been nominated for International DJ of the Year (Canada) at the Global Spin Awards!

Awards will be given out on November 19 in New York! She is going up against Deadmau5, Vekked and Hedspin! More info at djmissm.com & globalspinawards.com

Congratulations Miss M!

Dorothy Chang was awarded one of the 2012 Fromm Foundation commission from Harvard University!  The new piece will be a saxophone sonata for Joseph Lulloff (Michigan State University)

November 2, 2012
Full article here

The Board of Directors of the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University is pleased to announce the names of twelve composers selected to receive 2012 Fromm commissions. These commissions represent one of the principal ways that the Fromm Music Foundation seeks to strengthen composition and to bring contemporary concert music closer to the public. In addition to the commissioning fee, a subsidy is available for the ensemble performing the premiere of the commissioned work.

 

Vancouver Opera's La Bohème breathes believable life into Giacomo Puccini's characters

October 25, 2012
The Georgia Straight
By Janet Smith
Full article here

It’s all about the eye contact in Vancouver Opera’s engaging new production of La Bohème. Rodolfo and Mimi’s gazes are glued rapturously the entire way through their extended Act 1 introduction. And even when Marcello is trying to ignore his unfaithful Musetta, you can see him stealing burning glances with her.

The performers, and director Nancy Hermiston (of UBC Voice and Opera), have found the life that Giacomo Puccini breathed into the characters. It’s often noted those characters are so vivid because they were based as much on the opera giant’s own bohemian circle of friends as on the stories of Henri Murger’s Scènes de la vie de Bohème. In this swiftly paced production, the chemistry between the poet Rodolfo, the painter Marcello, the musician Schaunard, and the philosopher Colline makes you believe these guys are man-cave buddies. And you can instantly read the fiery history between the flirtatious Musetta and Marcello when they first share the stage together.

Young cast finds inner truth

October 22, 2012
The Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Full article here

Nothing could be more secure than La Bohème's status as one of the most popular of all operas. This fall's opening Vancouver Opera production (VO's umpteenth mounting of the work) amply demonstrates its surefire appeal for connoisseurs, neophytes, and most everyone in between.

Bohème isn't an ensemble piece in the accepted sense, yet there are no extraneous characters and virtually no insignificant roles. Commendably, all the VO cast members make their contributions; in particular, Stephen Hegedus and Arron Durand sing their character roles with panache. The four principal roles are equally effective, despite occasional details that don't quite add up.

 

Musician uses guitar to connect with people
Daniel Bolshoy's gift with instrument led to teaching post with UBC, VSO

October 11, 2012
Times Columnist
By asmart@timescolonist.com
Full article here

It wasn't always about the classical guitar for Daniel Bolshoy.

"I started with piano, like every good Jewish kid, at the age of five or six," said Bolshoy, who was born in Russia and raised in Israel. "Then, when I went to high school, I noticed that girls liked boys who play guitar."

When he picked up his electric guitar, it was with shredding in mind - Iron Maiden, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen were his icons. But a guitar teacher with a gift for working with young people taught him that, with classical guitar, he could play the tune, the accompaniment and all other parts of a song on one instrument. He dropped electric.

 

Plan to relocate UBC’s music library opposed

 

September 26, 2012
Straight
By Stephen Thomson
Full article here

A plan to relocate UBC’s music library to a different part of the university’s Vancouver campus has outraged students and faculty.

The university hopes to cut costs by moving the entire collection of materials stored in the UBC School of Music building to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Music-library staff positions are also to be reduced to three from six.

 

‘Three-minute march’ protests music library’s impending move

September 25, 2012
The Ubyssey
By Will McDonald
Full article here

Music students, faculty and staff marched from the Music Building to Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKB) Tuesday in protest of UBC’s plans to move the music library.

Second-year music student Eileen Padgett organized the march in response to UBC’s plan to move the music library from the Music Building to IKB. UBC also plans to cut the music library staff by half, from six members to three.

“We’re all here for the same reason: we are formally opposed to this move for more reasons than we can articulate in three minutes. We know this is going to be very, very bad for our faculty, for us, for everything,” said Padgett.

 

Mayor Awards honour Vancouver's talented

September 21, 2012
Vancouver Sun
Full article here

VANCOUVER - Some of Vancouver's biggest creative talents and arts supporters were honoured Thursday night at a gala event in Yaletown.

The City of Vancouver Book Award and the Mayor's Arts Awards were handed out to those who have made significant contributions to the creative life of Vancouver...

Composer and trumpet player John Korsrud won for music, while Donna Spencer, founding director of the Fire-hall Theatre Society received the theatre award. Michael Audain was recognized for philanthropy and Erik Graff won for his lifelong commitment to volunteerism. Sharman King and the Book Warehouse won for business support and Catherine Van Alstine received arts board member of the year.

Edmonton Symphony's outdoor concert serenades beautiful summer sky

September 1, 2012
From Edmonton Journal
Full article here

There’s this beautiful tension between seasons at Symphony Under the Sky that seems to intensify the musical experience...

After intermission, the audience of about 2,400 broke into spontaneous applause when pianist Sara Davis Buechner played the famed opening chords of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Buechner was a juxtaposition, too, understated in dark attire yet intrepid and bold on the keys, guiding the orchestra and Bernhardt through the three-movement piece.

Dr. Graeme Langager appointed as Conductor and Artistic Director of the Phoenix Chamber Choir

August 8, 2012
From: Phoenix Chamber Choir website
Full announcement here

With a career spanning four degrees (including a Doctorate in Conducting from the prestigious Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and a degree in Jazz Studies from our very own Capilano College), and 18 years of experience directing community choirs and collegiate choral ensembles, Graeme Langager brings a wealth of experience, vibrant leadership style, and an enthusiasm for performing the finest choral repertoire with nuance, brilliance, sensitivity, and heart.

Langager also serves as UBC’s Director of Choirs. He returned to Canada in 2009 to lead the UBC choral program after having taught and studied in the United States for fifteen years. He has conducted in some of the finest venues in North America and across Europe, including St. Peter’s in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, and Stefansdom in Vienna.

"I am thrilled to be appointed as Phoenix’s new Artistic Director," said Graeme, "and am eager to begin my work with this amazing group of talented individuals. Phoenix has a long tradition of excellence, and I am honoured to be joining them as conductor."

The power of singing a secular Halleluja

Choral concerts have become increasingly popular for bringing people together

 

July 23, 2012

For full text: Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Sun article looks at building community with music. The voices of local choral folk appear including UBC Alumnus Kevin Zakresky.

"Vancouver folksinger Jenny Ritter might be in love with 40 people at once. You could call it a rebound because she's fallen for the Kingsgate Chorus, an amateur choir she brought together last year after her band of a decade broke up. . . "

Current Issue of Opera Canada has several articles featuring UBC Music programs and alumni

July 11, 2012

See the Spring 2012 issue for articles about:
Alumnus John Burge on writing his new opera The Auction
Alumnus Steven Philcox performance in launch of the Canadian Arts song Project
Alumnus Simone Osborne on her season with 3 big role debuts
Vancouver International Song Institute
Alumnus Ben Heppner performing in Moby Dick with Calgary Opera
UBC Opera Ensemble staging of The Crucible
Review of Vancouver Opera's Romeo et Juliette with Simone Osborne as Juliette

Matthew Emery wins Nova Scotia Choral Federation Composition Competition

July 10, 2012

As part of the prize, the Nova Scotia Youth Choir will sing his piece Longing September 29, 2012 in Tatamagouche and September 30th in Halifax, Nova Scotia under the direction of Elroy Friesen. Matthew will enter 3rd year composition at UBC September 2012.
www.nscf.ns.ca

Royden Tse won the Emerging Composer Category of the Vanguard Premiers Choral Composition Contest 2012

July 5, 2012

Roydon Tse (entering 4th year composition Sept 2012) won the Emerging Composer Category of the Vanguard Premiers Choral Composition Contest 2012.
Roydon's winning work was "Glorify!" The Vanguard Voices Artistic Director describes it as " a glorious piece for chorus, piano and brass quintet, based on Psalm 34, which displays accessible thematic composition, yet rewarding vocal parts which are exciting to sing, along with excellent interplay of the voice parts and brass parts both individually and tutti."
Presented by Vanguard Voices the competition received 106 entries from composers of fifteen nationalities from eleven different countries.
Winning compositions will be premiered by Vanguard Voices on Sunday, June 9, 2013 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, Dearborn, Michigan, USA. Vanguard Voices is a 65-voice, adult mixed choir based in Dearborn, Michigan, USA. www.vanguardvoices.org
Winners announced June 27, 2012

 

Vancouver composer receives Order of Canada

June 30, 2012

For full text: Vancouver Sun

Vancouver-based Stephen Chatman has become the latest composer from British Columbia to be named a member of the Order of Canada.

Known for composing in every important genre of classical music, Chapman is also one of Canada's most respected advanced teachers of composition. His students include such prominent, and diverse, figures as John Estacio, Jocelyn Morlock, Melissa Hui and John Oliver.

Born in Faribault, Minn. in 1950, he studied at Oberlin and the University of Michigan, where his teachers included Ross Lee Finney and William Bolcom. A Fulbright grant took him to Europe, where he worked with Karl-heinz Stockhausen. In 1976 he moved to Canada and began his long association with UBC's School of Music, where he is currently professor and head of the composition division.

 

A Cross-Border serenade

June 28, 2012

For full text: Vancouver Sun

Cross-border shopping is a fact of West Coast life; the notion of cross-border listening, maybe not so much.

The next few weeks are the in-between period of the classical concert calendar: The main sea-sons of all our major presenters are over, and the rich assortment of festivals and summer one-offs are still gearing up. Not so south of the border, down Washing-ton way. Over the next few days, interesting programs are poised to begin in Seattle and Belling-ham, offering quality, variety and, perhaps surprisingly, more than a modicum of Canadian content.

The festival starts up July 2 with what the nationalistically inclined might consider a belated Canada Day program, given the presence of UBC violist David Harding, pianist Marc-André Hamelin (in dual roles as pianist and composer), and Ehness and Jon Kimura Parker in Bartok's demanding Sonata #1 for violin and piano.

 

From a mining town to the world's top stages

June 7, 2012

For full text: The Georgia Straight

Globetrotting Brit star Thomas Allen and his baritone will take listeners on a trip at Songfire Festival of Song.

Beloved British baritone Thomas Allen was part of the inspiration for the movie Billy Elliot, and much has been made of his growing up in a coal-mining town in England's North. Just like the underdog dancer who has to fight for his dreams in the film, the affable icon admits an artistic career was not something anyone considered a possibility when he was a lad in Seaham Harbour, County Durham.  But Allen had one strong thing going in his favour that would help him find his famous voice.

 

'It's not all nice, tea party music'

June 7, 2012

For full text: Surrey/North Delta Leader

Clara Shandler, otherwise known as The Sidewalk Cellist, rips classical music out of the concert halls and takes it to the streets.

". . . Now Shandler, a  Fraser Heights Secondary grad who this spring finished her bachelor of Music degree at UBC, hopes to bring her music to the masses. But it's not just in stuffy concert halls and auditoriums. . .  [she] is setting up each Saturday beside a park in Vancouver and performing for anyone who wants to listen."

West provides warmer reception for new operas than Canadian Opera Company

June 7, 2012

For full text:
Vancouver Sun

The UBC Opera Ensemble's 2008 production of The Dream Healer is mentioned as an example. A photo was included.

Inventing The Inventor took inspiration, perspiration

June 7, 2012

For the article:
Vancouver Sun

Bramwell Tovey's opera The Inventor is given concert performances at the Orpheum with the Vancouver Symphony and guest soloists including Judith Forst. June 9 & 11, 2012. The UBC Opera Ensemble will also be involved. In this preview article by the Vancouver Sun newspaper the UBC Opera Ensemble is praised by Bramwell Tovey.

 

Five Vancouverites head to national showcase

June 2, 2012

Link to full text of Vancouver Sun article

Stepping Stones event in Ottawa prepares young musicians for nation, international careers. 

"This year Metro Vancouver sends five competitors to Ottawa: violinist Hee-Soo Yoon from Surrey and cellist Brian Yoon from Coquitlam, and pianists Natalie Lo from Richmond, Christopher Kusuhara from Burnaby and Nicole Linaksita from North Vancouver. Applicants submit recorded performances; the field is winnowed down to 30 competitors, who then assemble for extensive live semifinal round pro-grams before a five-member jury.

Pianist Lo has just finished her fresh-man year at the School of Music at the University of British Columbia. This is her first time at the national level, though decidedly not her first competition: she started playing piano at age four, and has been taken part in competitions since she was six.

"Two years ago, when I became old enough to compete, I missed the CMC deadline," Lo said. "This time I didn't expect to get in at all, but everything went well." She's looking forward to playing: "This will be a different experience for me, my first big national competition, and with contestants up to age 28."
 

SongFire to ignite venues

May 31

Link to full text of Vancouver Sun article

Art-song festival showcases new works by contemporary composers and established repertoire

"Everything has taken shape, all from [founding artistic director] Rena Sharon. It's unfolded magically this year; VISI is growing by leaps and bounds."

 

Gong! The Gamelan Festival builds the Bali connection

May 17, 2012

For more information:
Georgia Straight

At home in Indonesia, gamelan is more than just a kind of music—it’s a way of life. So much so, in fact, that Gamelan Gita Asmara’s I Wayan Sudirana is mildly taken aback when asked how he came to be a professional musician.

“I’m Balinese, and the music in Bali is not for entertainment,” the UBC doctoral candidate explains by phone, in the gentle lilt typical of English-speaking Indonesians. “The music is played as part of the ritual, so since I was very young my father always brought me to a temple that had ceremonies where the music was everywhere. Also, the way the music is made is in the community, so everyone who is a member of the community is obligated to participate. Every time there was a gamelan rehearsal in the community, my father had to be there, and so he brought me and put me in his lap. That is how I was introduced to the gamelan—and then when I was four years old, maybe, or five, I started to play on instruments that were in our house.

“I still don’t feel like I am professional at this,” Sudirana continues. “If I’m teaching my music here, it’s not for money. It’s part of my ritual, and something that I give back to my culture.”

 

School's out for pianist Jane Coop

May 17, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Pianist Jane Coop has been a star of the University of British Columbia's School of Music for three decades.

However, she moves this year to a new stage of her career, ending formal work as a university teacher, but continuing her journey as a musician.

Coop, who hails from Calgary, first established herself in Toronto.

"I came to Vancouver at the age of 30 from Toronto, where I had been living and teaching a bit at the university. I wasn't really looking for a university job. Somehow I knew, when I was offered the job, that things would change in many different ways."

Vancouver was certainly no artistic exile?

"I remember Franz Kraemer, who ran a big recital series in Toronto, said, 'You're moving to Vancouver? Do they have concerts there?' I said yes, they even have indoor plumbing. Many of my friends said 'You'll be out of com-mission, out of the loop.' I sup-pose to many Torontonians that's the way it seemed."

They were wrong

"I put myself into a whole new environment where I was the new kid, and that's always a good thing because people are curious, so I had a chance to play in a number of different ways: at UBC, CBC, with the VSO, the first year I was here. Somehow things just started to take off a bit more than they had."

 

Terry Fox, selflessness inspire Meridians music

May 11, 2012
For more information:
Georgia Straight

Two epic journeys will be transformed into music at the Redshift Music Society’s upcoming Meridians concert, but only one can be traced on a map.

That would be Mark Haney’s composition 3339, based on cancer-stricken athlete Terry Fox’s iconic yet unsuccessful attempt to run across Canada, from coast to coast.

“He was definitely a childhood hero,” the bassist and composer explains, in a telephone conversation from his Vancouver home. “You know, in 1980 I was five years old, living in this remote Ontario town. And although he didn’t come to my town, he ran by the Texaco where you turned right to go to Sudbury. Nothing that big had ever been near to where I grew up, so his story was a very big part of my childhood.”

Haney says that he looked to mythologist Joseph Campbell for inspiration when penning 3339’s libretto, and he views Fox’s passage from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Thunder Bay, Ontario, as an archetypical hero’s journey.

“I’m not trying to tug at any heartstrings with this,” he stresses. “It’s a story of an epic accomplishment, and kind of a celebration of that. At the end of the day, of course, it’s a sad story—but I’m not telling a sad story here, if that makes sense.”

Haney adds that he’s used a kind of statistical analysis to inform his music for 3339, written for flute, viola, bass, percussion, and narrator. “Each province has its own time signature, repeating rhythmic figure, and chord pattern, based on the kilometres he ran in that province,” he explains. “And each one is repeated a number of times, to correspond with the number of days it took to run through the province.”

Meridians’ other commissioned composer, incoming Redshift artistic director Benton Roark, has opted to tackle a different kind of landscape in his Songs From the Rainshadow’s Edge. It’s a dark and interior vision, and although he says that his piece is not entirely autobiographical, it does stem from his own experience of “depersonalization”.

 

Pianist Jane Coop leaving UBC faculty after 32 years

May 11, 2012
For more information:
The Georgia Straight

After 32 years as a full-time faculty member of the UBC School of Music, celebrated pianist Jane Coop is leaving the university to devote herself to performing full-time.

“All the way along, I’ve been keeping up two lives: a full-time academic teaching position and a full-time performing career,” Coop explained in a phone conversation from her Vancouver home. “It’s been full to say the least. And I just decided that the time has come for me to resume my life as a full-time concert pianist. I wanted to do it while I’m still energetic and able to do that.”

 

The New Face of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

May 10, 2012
For more information:
The Georgia Straight

When he joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, principal oboist Roger Cole was a fresh-faced 22-year-old graduate of the Juilliard School, embarking on his career as a professional orchestra player. That was in 1976, and for the ensuing 35 years, Cole was one of many baby boomers in the VSO who weathered the ups and downs of the music biz, gaining a few grey hairs along the way.

Audiences attending a VSO concert 10 or even five years ago would hear music performed largely by—to put it politely—a “mature” crop of musicians. Then came the retirements: flutist Camille Churchfield, in 2005 after 29 years; timpanist Don Adams, in 2007 after 50 years; principal horn player Brian G’froerer, who left in 2008 after 34 years; and principal double bassist Kenneth Friedman, in 2009 after 36 years—to cite just a handful.

“There were a whole slew of us that came in between ’74 and ’77,” observes Cole in a phone conversation with the Straight. “A lot of players moved on, and I was one of the few that’s remained here [in the wind section].”

Enter Generation Y: violinists like 32-year-old Jennie Press, who joined in 2004, and 31-year-old concertmaster Dale Barltrop, who joined three years ago. More recent hires include 26-year-old piccoloist and assistant principal flutist Nadia Kyne, and 26-year-old second clarinetist Todd Cope, both fresh out of school.

 

Bravo!

May 7, 20112
For more information:
Vancouver Womens Musical Society

Three UBC Music Students were Bursary Winners at the 2012 Vancouver Women's Musical Society competition held recently.
   1st place: Chia-Hui Clare Yuan, pianist
   2nd place: Evanna Chiew, mezzo soprano
   3rd place: Madeline Hildebrand, pianist

The winners receive cash awards, certificates and a solo concert in the 2012 - 2013 concert season. The concerts will be held at the Unitarian Church, 949 West 49th Avenue at Oak.
Adjudicators for the competition were Philippe Etter and Michael Conway Baker.

From opera to the Supreme Court

May 2, 2012
For more information:
UBC Reports

After graduating this May with her law degree, SOM Alum Emily MacKinnon (MA'08 Ethnomusicology) will begin a prestigious clerkship with Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

“One of my most memorable moments at UBC Law was the visits by various Supreme Court of Canada Justices,” said MacKinnon, who is also an accomplished opera singer. “It was from them that I learned about this clerkship opportunity.”

“They were unbelievably inspiring, and I was absolutely captivated by the behind-the-scenes process of coming to a decision on a case and then writing a judgment,” MacKinnon said. “From the moment I discovered it was possible, I wanted nothing more than to clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada.”

From performing arias to preparing court memorandums, MacKinnon’s path from opera to law might not be the most traditional, but for her it was a natural fit.

“I was craving a connection with the community and opera is a small part of the world” explained MacKinnon who obtained her masters in Ethnomusicology at UBC after completing her Bachelor’s in music at the University of Ottawa. “Ethnomusicology was a way for me to reach out and be involved with something that is making a difference. But even that has its restrictions. With law, you are actually out there in the community making change happen.”

MacKinnon’s thesis for her Ethnomusicology MA looks at the way music is used around the world to educate people about HIV and AIDS. She carried those interests into law school, receiving a fellowship from the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais to research the criminalization of HIV nondisclosure.

Bravo! Kevin Zakresky

May 1, 2012

The Prince George Symphony Orchestra has just announced that UBC Music alumnus Kevin Zakresky (BMus 2004, MMus 2006) will be their new Music Director.
Earlier this year Kevin Zakresky completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at prestigious Yale University, graduating at the top of his class and winning the Aidan Cavanagh Award.

 

A Brazen symphony debut

April 26, 2012
For more information:
Times Colonist

On Monday, Schubert's "Unfinished" will open the final concert of the Victoria Symphony's Legacy Series, under the baton of guest conductor Bernhard Gueller, music director of Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax.

The concert will also include Dvorák's Seventh Symphony, and Brazen, a new concerto for alto saxophone by Jeffrey Ryan, with Julia Nolan making her Victoria Symphony debut as the featured soloist.

Ryan and Nolan both live in Vancouver and the concerto was conceived while they chatted over coffee in 2009. Nolan had just heard orchestral music by Ryan played by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (which recently recorded some of it for the Naxos label's Canadian Classics series).

Impressed, she suggested that Ryan compose something for saxophone, which, it turned out, he had played in high school but had never written for. An official commission, supported by the B.C. Arts Council, followed. (Brazen is one of many works - including other concertos - Nolan has commissioned from Canadian composers.)

Running about 18 minutes and accompanied by strings and percussion, the concerto was prompted, Ryan says, by the double sense of the word "brazen," which means "made of brass" as well as "bold and shameless."

In exploring the latter sense of the word musically, he was inspired by the ambitious title character of the film All About Eve, personifying the many facets of her personality - "brash and defiant, sexy and seductive, calculating and manipulative" - through the solo saxophone.

"I love this piece!" says Nolan, who finds the music "cheeky and flirtatious, silky and melancholy," full of "humour and pathos" and what she calls "a wow factor."

 

 

 

New World closes chamber series with wide-randing American program

 

April 23, 2012

For full text: South Florida Classical Review

Pianist Marnie Hauschildt has been a stellar presence at this season’s New World chamber programs. Whether elegantly spinning Mozart’s  classicism or Schoenberg’s bracing, high modernist keyboard writing, Hauschildt combines acute technique with a deep understanding of the music’s stylistic idiom. She was no less impressive in Kirchner’s exclamatory piano writing, displaying strength and power with a sense of singing line. Cellist Meredith McCook’s vibrant sonority and violinist Amos Fayette’s  leaner tone perfectly complemented Hauschildt’s artistry.

 

Brava Madeline Hildebrand!

April 23, 2012

Madeline Hildebrand won First Place in the Women's Musical Club of Winnipeg McLellan Competition for Solo Performance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

In a surprise ending to the competition, the adjudicators declared two first place winners: Pianist Madeline Hildebrand (pianist in the UBC School of Music MMus program) and soprano Jessica Strong. Each receives $8,000 in prize money. Madeline and Jessica performed as soloists with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the final competition concert on Friday April 20th. The competition is open to advanced young Manitoba musicians, vocal and instrumental, who are pursuing performance careers. www.womensmusicalclubofwpg.ca

 

Ben Heppner sings at benefit event for VISI

April 21, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

 

EASY AIDA: Operatic sopranos receive bouquets after performing. Not so Dawson Creek-raised tenor Ben Heppner, who sang Tchaikovsky, Sibelius

and Grieg works at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel on Thursday. The $1,000-a-ticket do benefited the Vancouver International Song Institute, whose artistic director, Rena Sharon, accompanied Heppner on a Fazioli concert grand piano. But host Peter Wall had a special benefit for the singer. It was a 2012 Harley-Davidson Switchback motorcycle that rumbled up as he ended his second encore. Astonishing attendees as he had at La Scala Milan recently, Heppner accompanied himself singing I Don't Want To Rock 'n' Roll No More. That supported UBC School of Music professor Richard Kurth's contention that "song is the concentrated essence of our human character."

 

Brava Leah Field!

April 19, 2012

On April 2, 2012, The Faculty Arts announced the Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards for the 2011/2012 academic year.

The recipients are:
Leah Field, School of Music
Samuel T. Reed, Department of Political Science
Gillian Sandstrom, Department of Psychology

The prize includes a certificate and $1,000.

 

Congratulations to the recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal!

April 19, 2012
For more information:
The Governor General of Canada

Members of the Order of Canada living in Vancouver were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in a presentation ceremony held in Vancouver on April 11, 2012. Among the recipients were serveral UBC Music affiliated musicians:  Professors Emeriti Andrew Dawes and Bruce Pullan, UBC Music alumna Judith Forst, and UBC Honorary Degree recipients Diane Loomer, Dal Richards and Irving Guttman. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal was created to mark the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the Throne. In addition to honouring the Queen for her service to the country, the medal also recognizes contributions and achievements made by Canadians. In total, 60,000 Canadians are being honoured with this medal in ceremonies across the country. Therefore there are many other UBC Music affiliated honourees. Congratulations to all!

 

19th-century poetry inspires Love in Public

April 18, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Cast member Robyn Driedger-Klassen explains: "David wanted opera singers to sing it, but not in an operatic style - it requires well-trained voices to get some of the sounds he wants." Text is all EBB, but text is by no means everything. "The words say something but we mean some-thing different, sometimes something completely opposite. There is no scenario, just the EBB texts. No action is written down in the score, but David is totally involved in the dramatic action that we have developed."

The music is eminently approachable. "It's very melodic; it's very easy to listen to, not your typical modern music concert, more like music theatre, with touches of gospel and blues." Yet themes of new love, age disparity, and relationships breaking down are all as contemporary as last week. Modern dress heightens the effects and, according to Driedger-Klassen, even though the lyrics date from 1850, "The text is amazingly true to modern life. It's as if she wrote the first blog."

 

UBC grad turned Granville busker launches solo project

April 05, 2012
For More Information:
The Ubyssey

Thomas Beckman is out of breath when I spot him on the corner of Georgia and Granville in a full black suit. It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon and he’s just darted across town from a gig with Sons of Granville.

The band, which he formed in 2010, has become a Vancouver must-see. In the last 2 years alone they’ve managed to sell over 2000 CDs simply by busking around the city. But now, Beckman is ready to step out on his own with a solo viola album titled Conception Bay.

 

Congratulations to 3rd year composition student Roydon Tse

April 2, 2012

Roydon's work Force Studies for violin and cello was selected as the winner of the Land's End Chamber Ensemble's 12th Annual Emerging Composers Competition. The competition is for emerging composers. The final round of the competition was a workshop of  works by the three finalists. The the prize includes $500 plus a premiere of Force Studies by the Land's End Ensemble at the University of Calgary's Rozsa Centre on the 28th of April, 2012.  The work will be programmed as part of a Murray Schaffer series concert.

 

Jean Coulthard Readings 2012

April 1, 2012
For full text:
Vancouver Sun

In terms of cost and fanfare, the Jean Coulthard Readings, which give tyro orchestral composers a chance to hear their works in public rehearsal, is one of the Vancouver Symphony’s smaller initiatives; but the impact is significant.

Vancouver is a hotbed of new orchestral activity by younger composers; the annual readings, conducted this year by VSO Conductor-in-Residence Pierre Simard, are one of the reasons why.

This year’s crop of six composers included two undergraduates and four graduate students, from SFU and UBC.

 

Student String Quartet from the UBC School of Music won 1st Prize in the Senior Category of the 2012 Young Musicians Chamber Music Competition

March 22, 2012

A student string quartet from the UBC School of Music won First Prize in the Senior Category of the 2012 Young Musicians Chamber Music Competition presented by the Friends of Chamber Music on March 4, 2012.  Congratulations to: Anita Lee, violin; Katie Ho, violin;Catherine Chen, viola and Judy Lou who performed a movement from Ravel's String Quartet in F major.

The UBC quartet shares first prize with a string sextet as selected by adjudicators George Zukerman and Bryan King. The sexted performed a movement from Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence. A total of $5,000 in prizes were awarded to winning groups in junior and senior categories of the competition.

 

Book Warehouse to close after 32 years

March 16, 2012
For More Information:
Vancouver Sun

Sharman King (BMus’70) has been in the news regarding the closing of Book Warehouse after 32 years.

Book Warehouse, one of Metro Vancouver's largest independent discount book retailers, is closing its four stores.

The decision is being called another blow to B.C.'s independent book store industry, which is facing sharp competition from larger book retailers, Amazon, and digital ebook sales.

 

Week in Ideas: Christopher Shea

March 16, 2012
For More Information:
The Wall Street Journal

The deaf and people who have lost their voices may someday have a new way to speak, thanks to the Digital Ventriloquist Actor, or DiVA.

Developed at the University of British Columbia, the speech-production system makes use of high-tech gloves equipped with sensors and tracked in three-dimensional space. The person operating it creates vowel sounds by opening the right hand (different gestures determine the pitch and tonality) and "soft" consonants like r's and z's by closing that hand. Hard consonants are partly created by tapping the left-hand fingers.

It takes about 100 hours of training to learn to speak intelligibly using DiVA, say its creators, who showed it off at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The technology has intrigued avant-garde musicians, who are drawn to its not-quite-human sound.

 

Jared Miller Takes Manhattan

March 16, 2012
For more information:
Trek Magazine Online

This spring Miller completes his Master of Music degree at Juilliard. His composition Souvenirs d’Europe was premiered by Canadian pianist Ang Li a few months ago at Carnegie Hall, and his piece for solo piano, Instincts, won him a 2011 SOCAN Young Composers Award. His new orchestral work, Cartoon Music: Three Movements for Orchestra, was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra at their concert home in Lincoln Centre this February. “Conductor Jeffrey Milarsky was really enthusiastic, and the orchestra sounded wonderful,” says Miller.

Miller hails from Burnaby. Trained as a pianist, he began at UBC as a composition major studying with Dorothy Chang and Stephen Chatman. He also studied piano with Sarah Davis Buchner and Corey Hamm. By the time he graduated, Miller was on the radar of a number of important Vancouver music organizations. In 2008 he had a piece aired at the Vancouver Symphony’s Coulthard Readings, an important program named for long-time UBC luminary Jean Coulthard that provides a first chance for selected young composers to hear their orchestral thoughts performed live at the Orpheum. Miller’s piece led to a small VSO commission, 2010 Traffic Jam, which managed the neat trick of being a fine orchestral scherzo and becoming a popular favourite.

Bogdan Dulu selected for the Quarterfinal of the Seventh Honens International Piano Competition.

March 13, 2012
For more information:
Honens website

UBC DMA student Bogdan Dulu is one of  fifty concert pianists from six continents chosen to perform in the Quarterfinals: International Audition Round of the Seventh Honens International Piano Competition. Quarterfinalists will perform a solo recital in Berlin, London, Los Angeles or New York in hopes of advancing to the next round and a chance of winning the largest prize in the world of music competitions - $100,000 CAD and a career development program valued at a half million dollars.  On July 17, 2012 the Honens International Piano Competition will announce the 10 pianists who will advance to the semifinal round.

 

Sonic Boom shatters stereotypes

March 8, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Recent Booms have featured a composer-in-residence. This year it's Simon Fraser's Owen Under-hill, long connected with Vancouver New Music and now co-artistic director of the Turning Point Ensemble. There's also an ensemble-in-residence, the Vancouver Brass Project, and a student com-position master class with trombonist Jeremy Berkman and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa.

Every Boom includes the new and often unexpected: this year that is a pair of concerts at St. Philip's Anglican Church, which is a lovely space for music - big enough for a good sound, yet intimate enough to encourage experimentation and risk-taking. It has a good mid-century Casavant Freres organ, updated and tweaked in 2007, and is the home turf of guest artist Michael Murray.

 

UBC Opera Program Recognized with 2011-2012 Alfred Scow Award

March 6, 2012

This annual award is given to an undergraduate program or department that has had a significant positive impact on student life and student development at UBC. The Alfred Scow Award is one of several Student Development Awards presented by the Office of the Vice President Students each spring, and, in addition to student development, the award focuses on vision, integrity, and dedication to social justice. Thanks to contributions made by Iain Taylor (Project Director, UBC Botanical Gardens), Alan Macdonald (M.Mus Candidate), Julia Kot (B.MUS'11 & M.Mus Candidate), and Evanna Chiew (3rd year B.Mus), UBC Opera's application was met with success. All wrote detailed statements outlining their various experiences with the UBC Opera Program which was accompanied by an in-depth description of the program's advancement over the years written by Nancy Hermiston (Head of the Voice & Opera Divisions).

 

Canucks anthem singer credits drastic diet

February 24, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Canucks anthem singer Mark Donnelly (BMus'82) had tried almost every weight-loss plan in the book - Atkins, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and even the grapefruit diet - before he hit upon the one that enabled him to drop 172 pounds over the last year and a half.

It sounds unorthodo cut your calories to 500 a day - about a fifth of the recommended daily intake for men - and inject yourself with the pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin or HCG) to suppress your appetite.

Donnelly's doctor was skeptical about the plan, but the results were dramatic. Donnelly lost 45 pounds over the first month and his test results came back better than ever.

He did four more rounds of treatments, which last from three to six weeks.

During that time he injected himself with HCG and ate 100 grams of protein, usually lean chicken or seafood, two servings of fruit and one serving of vegetables twice a day. Treatments must be spaced out at increasing intervals: six weeks, then eight weeks, then 12.

Donnelly is now within 12 pounds of his target weight, and while he says he will work to lose the rest through exercise and responsible eating, he said it is unlikely he will take any more hormones.

 

New Technology Turns hand gestures into Music

February 20, 2012
For more information:
Live Science

Some people are said to talk with their hands. A professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia decided to make it a literal statement.

Sidney Fels and his team equipped a set of gloves with position sensors that track were they are in three dimensions. Different gestures produce different kinds of sounds. For instance, a closed right hand creates consonants, and opening it creates vowels. Meanwhile the left hand controls the sounds that have "stops" in them -- a B or P (in American English).

 

CTV News - Top Picks: DIVA Device

February 21, 2012
For more information:
CTV News

CTV News reports on the DIVA device (DIVA short for digital ventriloquist actor) and interviews UBC researcher Johnty Wang.

 

Your Hands will Sing with Aural Gloves

February 21, 2012
For more information:
gizmodo

American Sign Language may soon be obsolete if these motion-sensing gloves come to market. For now, a UBC team are the only ones to enjoy harmonizing with their own themselves.

The gloves, designed by a team at the University of British Columbia led by Professor Sidney Fels, recognize their position in three-dimensional space and modulate an associated audible frequency. The right hand controls the basic sounds—an open hand creates vowels, closing it creates consonants while the pitch of the hand commands the pitch of the sound. The left hand controls "stops" for letters like B and P.

The team currently uses the device as a high-tech synthesizer allowing soloists to sing duet with themselves and have already put on multiple public performances with the help of electrical/computer engineering masters student and classical pianist, Johnty Wang. They also hope to adapt the system to control heavy machinery remotely. The worn device could also find use among the deaf, who could use it to communicate directly with the non-deaf using a series of hand gestures but without having to find an interpreter.

Video interview available here via YouTube

 

CBC Radio One - As it Happens (Tuesday Feb. 21 part III)

February 21, 2012
For more information:
CBC Radio One

CBC Radio One - on the program As It Happens  - broadcast  on Tuesday February 21 an Interview with Johnny Wang, grad student with Sid Fels and Bob Pritchard, talking about the DIVA projects with an excerpt from Pritchard's "What Does A Body Know?" performed by Marguerite Witvoet (starts at the 21 minute mark)

 

 

Congratulations to Matthew Emery

February 21, 2012

Second year composition student Matthew Emery's SATB choral work Come to Me is one of three winners in The Choral Project's 4th Annual Choral Composition Contest 2011-2012.

The Choir Project is a choir from San Jose.  The choir will soon vote to decide 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and will perform each of the works in June 2012 as well as make a professional recording of the works.  http://www.sjcp.org/

 

VSO's Tovey, singer Buffy Sainte-Marie to receive honorary degrees from UBC

February 15, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Bramwell Tovey, music director of the Vancouver Sym-phony Orchestra, and singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie are among the 10 people who will receive honorary degrees this year from the University of B.C.

Others include former prime ministers Joe Clark and Paul Martin, forestry researcher Michael Wingfield, and Sophie Pierre, the longtime chief of St. Mary's Indian Band in Cranbrook.

In a release Tuesday, the university said the honorary degrees recognize substantial contributions to society at provincial, national or inter-national levels. Most of the degrees will be awarded during spring convocation (May 23-30) on the Vancouver cam-pus, but three - to Martin, Tovey and Wingfield - will be awarded in the fall.

UBC's Okanagan campus will award honorary degrees to retired senator Ross Fitzpatrick and filmmaker Deepa Mehta during a June 7 ceremony.

UBC's list of the 10 Vancouver recipients also includes:

. Dominic Barton, the global managing director at management consultancy McKinsey & Company;

. Philanthropist Robert Hung Ngai Ho;

. Ethnobotanists Memory Elvin-Lewis and Walter Lewis.

 

CMU board selects president

February 13, 2012
To read the full article:
www.mennoweekly.org

Cheryl Pauls has been appointed Canadian Mennonite University’s second president by the university’s board of governors.

Pauls, a faculty member, will assume her new duties Nov. 1. She follows President Gerald Gerbrandt, who will retire June 30.

She is a graduate of one of CMU’s predecessor colleges, Mennonite Brethren Bible College, and holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of British Columbia.

 

Concert Salutes Life of Wallace Leung (BMus 1992)

February 9, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

The last few have been heady months of change at the Vancouver Academy of Music.

The Vanier Park music centre has a new director, cellist Joseph Elworthy, and a relatively new conductor of the Academy Orchestra, Leslie Dala.

Dala is one of those Vancouver treasures who wears a number of hats: former music director of the Prince George Symphony, now music director of the Bach Choir and associate conductor and chorus director at Vancouver Opera.

At the VAM, Dala is in charge of an ensemble of advanced students, a group that performs on a regular basis throughout the year. Their concert Feb. 19 at the Orpheum is an emotion-ally charged proposition, with music by Beethoven, Brahms, and Edmonton-based John Estacio. It's a commemorative concert celebrating the far, far too short life of Wallace Leung [BMus 1992], the Vancouver conductor who died in New York from viral encephalitis 10 years ago, and who was Dala's predecessor at the Prince George Symphony.

Canada has contributed more than its fair share to the world of contemporary conducting. Those who knew Leung felt it was only a matter of time and a few good breaks before he went from the national to the international stage. He was one of the shining stars of his generation; how timely and how appropriate that the VAM is mounting this musical memorial.

 

Harpist send instruments to Africa

February 6, 2012
To read the full article:
Vancouver Sun

As you read this, there’s a ship bound for Africa with 126 musical instruments on board.

They’re all from Greater Vancouver save for one, a double bass, that was trucked here from Toronto.

There are violins, guitars, drums, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, cellos, a euphonium, recorders, tubas, that double bass and three pianos, including an old, elegant, and lovingly restored upright that once adorned the hallway of a 100-plus-year-old house on Kits Point.

The ship left Vancouver on Boxing Day for Italy, Oman and ultimately Tanzania, where the instruments will be unloaded and trucked to their final destination, the Ngomo Dolce Music Academy in Lusaka, Zambia and the 100 or so students who study there.

At least if everything goes according to plan, they will. It is Africa, after all, and as Heidi Krutzen, the Vancouver harpist who organized the expedition knows, things don’t always run smoothly.

Nevertheless, she hopes they’ll arrive in March. And she intends to be there when they do — she left Vancouver Sunday, headed for Zambia by way of Scotland. “I get a lot out of this. I love seeing the smiles on the children’s faces and knowing I’ve made a difference to them. And I learn a lot whenever I’m there.”

 

Remembering Rudolf Firkusny

February 2012
To read the full article:
Julliard website

UBC faculty member, Sara Davis Buechner writes an article for Juilliard.  View the article here.

 

Clarinet Corner Show 5

Clarinetist and UBC School of Music faculty member, Gene Ramsbottom is featured and interviewed for the radio program Clarinet Corner on National Public Radio out of Troy, Alabama. Broadcast was January 29, 2012
Of the three recorded tracks the show featured, the host Dr. Tim Phillips,  used Stephen Chatman's "Prairie Dawn Concerto" from the Proud Music of the Storm c.d.

Click here to listen

 

Chor Leoni rediscovers a master

February 1, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Who was Luigi Cherubini, and why does Chor Leoni Men’s Choir assistant conductor Kevin Zakresky think Vancouver should know about him?
Read the article (link above) for more information!

 

Matthew Emery - Untitled (Usessions)

February 1, 2012
For more information:
Ubyssey

2nd year music student, Matthew Emery, sits down and talks to Ubyssey for an interview and does a video.  Click the link above for more details.

 

Congratulations to 2012 UBC Concerto Competition Winners

Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2012 UBC Concerto Competition.

1st place Jeremy Lawi, percussion.  Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto
2nd place Natalie Lo, piano. Frédéric Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1
3rd place Hillary Young, alto.  Samuel Barber Knoxville Summer of 1915, Op. 24

A special thank you to the three members of the adjudicating panel:
  Keiko Alexander, pianist and teacher
  Joseph Elworthy, cellist and Executive Director, Vancouver Academy of Music
  Matthew Baird, bassoonist and CBC producer of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera   and Sunday’s In Concert program.

The Competition was held Saturday January 28, 2012 in the Roy Barnett Recital Hall in the Music Building.

 

Bridging the musical gap

January 26, 2012
For more information:
Vancouver Sun

Brenda Fedoruk is not only one of Vancouver's most in-demand flute players and teachers, she is also a com-mitted member of the Turning Point Ensemble. In this week-end's Colourful World, she and her fellow musicians form a living bridge between the new music of today and classic repertoire of the last century.

 

Aloha International Piano Competition

January 25, 2012
For more information:
Hawaiian skies

The ukulele isn’t the only instrument that’s big in Hawai‘i. Each year, top pianists from around the world make their way to the Islands for a week of music in paradise. The occasion? The Aloha International Piano Festival. Acclaimed pianists teach master classes, a spirited piano competition enthralls the music-loving crowd and a concert series showcases incredible talent.

Sara Buechner featured in the video promotion which can be seen here.

 

The Soundtrack of Life

January 2012
For more information:
Trek Online

Interview with Tyler Kinnear, a PhD student in Musicology at UBC asking are we turning a deaf ear to the information embedded in our acoustic environment?

 

The Power of the Opera

January 2012
For more information click here
Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otWY3VdaJmo&feature=player_embedded

FACULTY OF ARTS

UBC School of Music
Music Building
6361 Memorial Road

Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Tel: 604.822.3113
Fax: 604.822.4884