FACULTY OF ARTS
UBC School of Music
Music Building
6361 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Tel: 604.822.3113
Fax: 604.822.4884
30 December 2010
Vancouver Sun
David Gordon Duke
Link to article
Chatman turns 60 and celebrates with some big awards and a number of premieres
Vancouver-based composer Stephen Chatman had a good year in 2010, which for him was something of a milestone: Chatman turned 60 last February and, while most of his boomer generation practise the mantra "60 is the new 40," it's still a significant number on the odometer.
Chatman has been celebrating in style: he's won some big awards, including SOCAN's New Classical Music laurels for 2010 and a Western Canadian Music Award for the Centrediscs recording of his Earth Songs.
8 December 2010
Globe and Mail
Marsha Lederman
Link to article
When Lance Ryan was about the age of Siegfried in Siegfried, the role for which he has become famous, he had virtually no exposure to opera. He came of age near White Rock, B.C., listening to the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Supertramp, Led Zeppelin...
7 December 2010
Link to website
Works by UBC students Livia Gho, John Kastelic, Paul Lee, and Roydon Tse were chosen for Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Jean Coulthard Readings at the Orpheum March 21, 2010.
Every year the VSO presents the Jean Coulthard Readings for emerging BC Composers. This season, approximately six orchestral works will be selected, depending on duration and level of difficulty. Participating composers will receive a part preparation seminar and follow-up masterclass with the Vancouver Symphony’s composer-in-residence, Scott Good.
6 December 2010
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article
A musical tour de force took place at the Orpheum Friday evening: the premiere of a new setting of the Magnificat by Stephen Chatman, sung by the Vancouver Chamber Choir.
Chatman's Magnificat is a work of shining expressive power. Each movement uses a major world language, which in turn hint at musical idioms: highly rhythmic writing in the Spanish segment, erhu-like glissandi accompanying the Mandarin text, and so forth...
2 December 2010
Winnipeg Free Press
By Nick Patch, The Canadian Press
Link to website
There was a point at which [UBC Dean of Arts] Gage Averill pondered giving up on his passion project, which would eventually become the comprehensive box set, "Alan Lomax In Haiti."...
...On Wednesday his devotion was rewarded with a Grammy nomination for best album notes, while the project also received a nod for best historical album.
26 November 2010
Link to website
Michael MacKinnon bass-baritone
Michael Nyby baritone
Sylvia Szadovszki mezzo-soprano
Alicia Woynarski mezzo-soprano
Xiao Dong Zhang tenor
These students will go on to compete in the Metropolitan Opera National Council North West Regionals on Jan 16, 2011.
24 November 2010
Link to website
Stephen Chatman was presented the SOCAN Jan V. Matejcek New Classical Music Award for 2009 at the Annual Socan Awards gala event on Nov 22, 2010 in Toronto.
The Jan. V. Matejcek New Classical Music Award is presented to a SOCAN composer in recognition of overall success in the New Classical Music category during 2009.
2 December 2010
Link for more information
Sal Ferreras (MMus 2001, PhD 2005, ethnomusicology) is the recipient of the 2010 Mayor's Arts Award for Music in the Performing Arts Catetory, presented November 24, 2010.The Mayor’s Arts Awards, established by City Council in 2006 to recognize established and emerging artists in a variety of disciplines, including literary, culinary, performing and visual arts, is co-produced by the Alliance for Arts and Culture.
24 October 2010
Vancouver Province
Link to article
Stephen Chatman and musica intima take home WCMA awards this weekend!
UBC Professor (Composition) Stephen Chatman wins Classical Composition of the Year for Earth Songs. UBC alumni, musica intima win Classical recording of the Year for into light.
The 2010 Western Canadian Music Awards were held on October 21 - 24 in Kelowna, BC.
Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra conductor touts a hands-on approach to training
8 September 2010
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
On a parked car, a bumper sticker featuring a short musical quote says: "If you can read this, thank a music teacher" -- not at all a bad slogan, and one which set the tone for a reception at a west-side home last Sunday for patrons and special friends of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra...
Hsieh sees the orchestra as a community asset, not his personal ensemble. "My five-year goal is to make myself obsolete. There are so many exciting young potential conductors here. For example, Kemuel Wong is exceptional, quite brilliant and dedicated, as you will be able to tell by his pre-concert talk."
...Anchoring the program is Beethoven's Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano, with orchestra, which will feature Japanese violinist Ran Matsumoto, cellist Luke Kim, and pianist Amy Lee in a festive work to launch what Hsieh intends to be the best VMO season ever.
14 August 2010
www.canada.com
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
The concurrent runs of MusicFest Vancouver and the Vancouver Early Music Festival make summer concert life intense and offer many intriguing opportunities, even if they demand some hasty transportation between widely separated venues. Take, for instance, Wednesday and Thursday this week, which brought a premiere by Vancouver composer Steven Chatman and a 400th-anniversary performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, with an intimate recital of favourite lieder and arias in between. I had to pinch myself to make sure I really wasn’t in New York or London.
12 August 2010
Western Canadian Music Awards
breakoutwest.ca
and the nominees are:
Fringe Percussion (Alum) Fringe Percussion
Mark Takeshi McGregor (Alum) Different Stones: Canadian Music for Multiple Flutes
Musica Intima (Alum) Into Light
University of British Columbia Singers A Chatman Christmas
Jocelyn Morlock (Alum) Exaudi
Stephen Chatman Earth Songs
The 2010 Western Canadian Music Awards will be held on October 21 - 24 in Kelowna.
21 July 2010
Vancouver Courier
By Cheryl Rossi
Link to article
She's smart, funny and wildly talented and she used to be a man.
That's not what classical music pianist Sara Davis Buechner usually wants audiences to focus on when they see her perform. She'd rather her recitals be about her critically acclaimed renderings of classical and contemporary pieces. But on July 30, she'll sketch her life story with words, Bach, Mozart and Chopin in an event called Crossing the Concourse as part of the 2010 Queer Arts Festival, July 27 to Aug. 14.
Buechner will start with Bach and discuss her relationship with religion and spirituality then move on to Mozart, her most beloved composer as a child.
"I loved Mozart so much I wanted to look like Mozart with his big wig and frilly blouse, and my grandmother made me a beautiful lacy blouse," said Buechner, who spent her childhood in Baltimore in the 1960s. "I wore it to school, I got beaten up. I was about eight years old with a crew cut and geeky glasses."
21 July 2010
Link for more information: www.rjhf.com
Jocelyn Lai (BMus 2nd Year) was selected in July to receive the 2010 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant for Classical Music, Piano. Jocelyn is entering 2nd year, studies with Jane Coop. The Hnatyshyn Foundation, a private charity established by the late Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Canada’s twenty-fourth Governor General, began awarding grants in 2005.
Each year the Developing Artists Grants program provides eight $10,000 scholarships to exceptional young Canadians in post-secondary performing arts training programs. Devon Joiner, who graduated this past May, received this same honour in 2007.
7 July 2010
Burnabynewsleader.com
By Sean Kolenko
Link to article.
From the windows of the Julliard School's residences in Lincoln Centre—high above the seemingly endless rat race of New York City—you can watch some of the world's best student musicians and composers race to class.
Premier scholars in their field, all looking like tiny ants lugging their cellos, violins and guitars to the lecture halls and practice rooms of, arguably, the world's most famous music school.
That's what 21-year-old Burnaby-raised Jared Miller saw last year when he was in the Big Apple visiting a friend currently enrolled in the school. And starting this September, that's what he’ll see every morning when he begins graduate classes at the prestigious institution.
"I've wanted to be at Julliard since I was eight or nine years old. It's an unbelievably inspiring place to be," he said.
6 July 2010
Comox Valley Echo
By Canwest News Service
Link to article.
CYMC's Classical Program this summer is headed by John van Deursen. In addition to his role as Director of the CYMC Classical Program, John is Music Director of Orchestra Armonia in Vancouver and conductor of the Concert Winds at the University of British Columbia.
Recent conducting highlights include his premiere with the National Symphony of Taiwan at the National Concert Hall in Taipei in December, the upcoming performance of Orchestra Armonia as Ensemble in Residence in the annual Sonic Boom Festival, and a return to Taiwan that took place in June 2010 when John lead the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra...
21 May 2010
Surrey Now
By Cynthia Ashton Styles
Link to article.
South Surrey resident Marisa Gaetanne has been appointed music director of the Vancouver Bach Children's Chorus, the junior wing of the Vancouver Bach Choir. ...
Gaetanne takes over from maestro Bruce Pullan, the VBC's popular music director, who is retiring after 27 years. He conducted his final concert with the VBC, "The Last Night of the Proms," last Friday, May 14.
03 May 2010
Brandon, Manitoba
For more information: www.brandonu.ca/egre or www.egre.mb.ca
First Prize: Claudia Chan, Glenn Gould School, Toronto (hometown: Ottawa, Ontario)
Claudia will perform in our Wednesday Noon Hour Series on Nov. 24, 2010.
Second Prize: Andrea Lodge, UBC Alumnus,
Stony Brook University, NY (hometown: Bonavista, Newfoundland)
Third Prize: Christopher Morano, UBC DMA (studying with Corey Hamm)
(hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)
City of Brandon Prize for best performance of commissioned work (Curlicue by Karen Sunaback): Andrea Lodge, UBC Alumnus, Stony Brook University, NY (hometown: Bonavista, Newfoundland)
Audience Choice Prize for best performance: Everett Hopfner Brandon University (hometown: Ste. Rose du Lac, Manitoba)
Entering UBC MMus student (to study with Corey Hamm) and Third Prize winner of our 2010 Knigge Music Competition.
Da young An, UBC MMus student (studying with Corey Hamm), and Katherine Dowling, UBC Alumnus, were among the nine Semi-Finalists.
23 April 2010
Vancouver Province
By Stuart Derdeyn
Link to article.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte were on a serious bender when they came up with the storyline of The Marriage of Figaro.
In fact, the complicated, multi-character court farce about love, betrayal and redemption is based on French playwright Beaumarchais' 1784 sequel to his enormously popular play The Barber of Seville. That the sequel came to opera first -- Mozart's debuted in 1784 and Rossini's masterful adaptation of The Barber of Seville came in 1816 -- has caused confusion through the centuries, too...
Vancouver Opera's production of the masterpiece boasts an all-too-rare opportunity to see an all-Canadian cast of stars performing. Bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch plays the title role, alongside Winnipeg-born-and-bred soprano Nikki Einfeld as Susanna. Aldergrove's Rhoslyn Jones (UBC Alum 2009), most recently seen here in the role of Tatyana in the VO's Eugene Onegin, is the Countess Almaviva.
20 April 2010
UBC School of Music
Nancy Hermiston Head of the Voice and Opera division and Director of the UBC Opera Ensemble, is among this year's Killam Teaching Prize winners! The Killam Teaching award refl ects the appreciation and enthusiasm expressed by students, alumni, and faculty colleagues, for their contribution to the learning environment, and their impact on students' musical development and overall education. The prizes are awarded annually from the Killam Endowment Fund. Winners are recognized during graduation ceremonies.
Brava Nancy!
15 April 2010
UBC School of Music
Clarinetist Connor Learmonth has just been awarded a 2010 Fraser MacPherson Scholarship. Connor will receive one of four $1,000 awards given in the University Division. The Fraser MacPherson Music Scholarship Fund was initiated to foster the music education of BC’s most promising young jazz instrumentalists.
Johann Strauss Foundation: Julia Kot, voice; Devon Joiner, piano; Heather Beaty, flute
Joseph and Melitta Kandler Scholarship: Iman Habibi, composer
Congratulations to all who performed at the Johann Strauss Foundation and Joseph and Melitta Kandler Scholarship auditions. You all performed beautifully!
19 February 2010
Prince George Citizen
By Valerie Giles
Link to article.
Conductor Les Dala brought the audience to its feet at the beginning of the concert Saturday evening. The first few bars emanating from the orchestra were O Canada. At the conclusion of our national anthem, he explained that this concert was planned as a celebration of Canadian talent. The three featured composers also represented three generations of Canadians...
The second performance featured the evening’s guest artist, Iman Habibi. He performed “Piano Concerto No. 1” which had been commissioned especially for the PGSO. Currently completing a Master’s program at the UBC School of Music, he began music training as a teenager in Iran just before his family emigrated to Canada seven years ago.
Wed 10 March 2010
http://junoawards.ca
Stephen Chatman has received a Juno nomination for Earth Songs in the category of “Classical Composition of the Year.” Earth Songs is on the CD of the same name, on the Centredisques label. Earth Songs is performed by the University Singers and the recently defunct CBC Radio Orchestra.
Winners will be declared at the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards on Saturday, April 17 held at the St. John’s Convention Centre. The 2010 JUNO AWARDS is broadcast on CTV on Sunday, April 18 from the Mile One Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Mon 8 February 2010
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
The winners of the 2010 Knigge Music Competition were announced Saturday night, after a full day of competition at the UBC School of Music.
Toronto pianist Mila Teovanovic garnered first prize; Alexander Malikov from Calgary came second, with Brandon’s Everett Hopfner and Calgary’s Kun Yao in third and fourth place respectively.
This is the third year of the competition, which attracts pianists ages 17 to 25 from throughout Canada. Saturday eight performers played 45-minute programs for a team of judges including Jon Kimura Parker from Houston’s Rice University; James Anagnoson, Dean of Toronto’s Glenn Gould School of Music; and Jamie Syer, from the University of Victoria and the Victoria Conservatory.
Thu 25 February 2010
The Victoria Times Colonist
Author not noted.
Link to article.
Distinguished musicians and teachers Gwen Thompson and Nikolai Maloff will perform Wednesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. at the historic St. Paul's Anglican Church, 1379 Esquimalt Rd., in a benefit concert to raise funds to restore the church's 119-year-old heritage organ.
Ethnomusicology Professor Dr. Michael Tenzer is interviewed on On Point radio program
Mon Feb 22
On Point Radio
by Tom Ashbrook
Link to interview
In Boston UBC Musicology Professor Dr. Michael Tenzer and Simha Arom were interviewed on the National Public Radio show "On Point." The host, Tom Ashbrook, did a superb job.
Thu 11 February 2010
David Lamb Park
The University Singers, showed their Olympic spirit as they performed at the celebration for the Olympic Torch Relay’s arrival in Vancouver at David Lam Park on February 11.
The University Singers performed Gregory Charles' (CBC Radio host, Canadian composer, and pianist) composition, There’s a Light/Cette flamme and Dr. Graeme Langager's (Director of Choirs, UBC School of Music) arrangement of O Canada, which he wrote for this occasion.
The University Singers will also perform for the Cultural Olympiad at the Chan Center on the evening of March 15th.
Thu 11 February 2010
The Georgia Straight
By Lloyd Dykk
Link to article.
In Rhapsody in Blue, you’re literally hearing, all but tasting, the 1920s. George Gershwin virtually defined the era with an unforgettable 15-minute piano concerto that starts with a clarinet glissando and was inspired by a train ride through an America that it totally expresses.
But one piece was not slight at all—Scott Good’s wordless setting of the short poem, “I Died for Beauty but was Scarce” by a reclusive Emily Dickinson, which describes two beings, one of whom died for beauty and the other for truth. We two are one, says the latter, and they converse between the rooms until moss covers their lips.
This trenchant lyric, titled Between the Rooms, is voiced by a trumpet, one of the most vocal of instruments, and featured soloist Larry Knopp in a superb performance.
...it was the main event. It is a beautiful work, the trumpet writing fresh and elegiac, with an orchestral surround that in the slow movement is muted with a sense of breathless, listening attention. Good has really caught the feeling of this exquisite poem...
Congratulations to Opera studies students and alumni!
Teresa Sedlmair, while still in her 4th year at UBC, will join the Zürich Yojng Artists Studio on February 13, 2010. She will sing the role of Queen of the Night from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Zürich February 28th.
Jeremy Bowes (BMus 2008) will join the Dresden Young Artists Ensemble in August 2010
Simone Osborne (DMPS 2009) will be singing the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte next year on the Canadian Opera Company’s mainstage series. Simone will sing in 5 performances and is double cast with Isabel Bayrakdarian. Simone will also be singing the role of Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos with Sir Andrew Davis conducting.
22nd annual showcase of improvised music features talented local musicians
Thu 4 February 2010
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
Vancouver is a veritable hotbed of improvised music. So it's no surprise that improv features on the Cultural Olympiad's playlist, with performances by the likes of Paul Plimley, Andy Milne, Benoit Delbecq and the great trailblazer Anthony Braxton.
The extraordinary events of the Olympiad notwithstanding, it's also time for the 22nd annual showcase for improvised music, the Time Flies Festival, held this year today through Saturday at the Ironworks in Gastown...
An interesting addition to the company this year is Mei Han [UBC DMA Ethnomusicology], who plays the Chinese zheng. "Cross-pollination has really exploded in the last few years," says Muller, "especially with the huge numbers of Asian students now studying in Europe and, without question, in a multi-ethnic environment like Vancouver."
Wed 3 February 2010
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
VANCOUVER -- It was 1967, the Centennial of Confederation, Montreal’s Expo and a landmark year in Canadian music. Toronto composer Harry Somers’ opera Louis Riel was given a spectacular premiere by the Canadian Opera Company in twin Toronto/Montreal launches. Forty-three years later, the UBC Opera Ensemble revives the work in a four-performance run at UBC’s Chan Centre, starting tonight.
Wed 3 February 2010
Link for more information
Chris and Da young, students of Corey Hamm, were chosen as semi-finalists to compete at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Contemporary Piano Competition on April 30 - May 2 in Brandon, Manitoba. They will perform works by Canadian composers including: Bashaw, Frehner, Eckhardt-Gramatté, Arcuri, Hamelin, and international composers including: Ligeti, Rzewski, Yedidia, Fabregas, Dutilleux, Babadjanian, and Rakowski.
Wed 3 February 2010
Link for more information: www.nwauditions.com
Three of our students are off to Northwest Region round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Meany Hall, U of Washington in Seattle. They are Catherine Affleck, soprano; Erin Armstrong, soprano; Michael MacKinnon, baritone.
There are a total of 11 finalists, winners will go to the final round in New York this Spring. Students who have made it to the Met finals in New York in the past include Simone Osborne and Rhoslyn Jones.
The best of luck to them all!
Sat 30 January 2010
Vancouver Sun
By Francois Marchand
Link to article.
Few independent acts can say they've landed a Grammy nomination, but Vancouver band Splitting Adam is one of them.
The band's latest self-titled effort received a nod in the Best Recording Package category thanks to its stunning conceptual design, making Splitting Adam the only independent act on this year's Grammy nominations list.
"We were in a bit of a state of shock when we heard," Splitting Adam drummer Jordo said. (The band's members go by first names only.)
"It was a bit of a relief as well because we really worked hard for it."
Splitting Adam's design draws from the album's storyline: the study of Adam, a fictional character whose bipolar persona is illustrated via a "split" box that slides open to reveal a 3-D image morphing from passive lamb to aggressive ape depending on the angle you're looking from.
[Band member Thompson Tran is a graduate of the UBC guitar performance program]
Sat 23 January 2010
UBC Recital Hall
Congratulations to Luke Kim cello for winning the 2010 UBC Concerto Competition! Finals were held on Saturday, January 23 in the UBC Recital Hall. Esteemed judges Joseph Elworthy (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra) and Sasha Starcevich (Solo Pianist) had a difficult job this year as all finalists played beautifully!
Luke Kim performed Dvorak Cello Concerto in b minor, Op. 104 (1894-95) and runners up for this year, Rachel Fenlon voice performed Strauss “Vier Letzte Lieder” (1848), and Paul Hung flute performed Nielsen Flute Concerto (1926).
The UBC Concerto Competition takes place every year at the UBC Recital Hall and is organized by Assistant Professor, Piano and Chamber Music, Corey Hamm.
Luke Kim will perform the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the UBC Orchestra on Friday March 19 at The Chan Centre. Tickets for this events are free and available in-person at The Chan Centre at 12:00 noon on performance day.
Wed 6 January 2010
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
A new year, a new decade, a new business plan, and a new name. But for many observers of the Vancouver music scene, our new National Broadcast Orchestra will forever be connected with the late CBC Radio Orchestra...
According to flutist Brenda Fedoruk, the orchestra's musician's contractor, "There were never any contracts signed saying we were members of the CBC Radio Orchestra; it was viewed, by the musicians, as a gentleman's agreement."
Tue 5 January 2010
New York Times
By Steve Smith
Link to article.
Despite the advent of modernism, Minimalism and all the other isms that arose during the 20th century, writing symphonies never went out of style. Repeat performances of recent symphonies, on the other hand, seem to have gone the way of the dodo. You probably stand a better chance of hearing all nine of Mahler’s — and maybe Shostakovich’s 15 — than encountering Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 3 live...
The performers — Maria Bachmann and Tim Fain, violinists; David Harding (UBC Professor) and Misha Amory, violists; and Wendy Sutter and Alexis Pia Gerlach, cellists — were ideal advocates, playing with abundant insight and energy.
Thur 31 December 2009
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
Any decade that begins with the third millennium clicking over on the chronometer and ends with the Winter Olympics must be considered exceptional, even by the usual boom-bust rhythm of music in Vancouver. Excluding flashy one-offs from the equation, what was the general tenor of the past 10 years? I'm going to say one step forward, three-quarters step back...
Change and renewal have been the byword out at the University of British Columbia's School of Music, always a key indicator of the health of Metro Vancouver's music scene, with Richard Kurth taking firm control and several important new hirings. The establishment of UBC's Knigge Music Competition is a good thing, too: a fine showcase for young, would-be professionals.
Thur 17 December 2009
Vancouver Sun
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
Is there an uglier, less glamorous rehearsal space in town than the hall behind Holy Rosary Cathedral -- an improbable site for opera magic to take place? Yet this is where Vancouver Opera regularly prepares its products for the public.
On a Thursday afternoon in early December, the feeling was tense and expectant: Lillian Alling, the new opera commissioned for next season from composer John Estacio [UBC School of Music Alumnus] and librettist John Murrell, was about to receive a quasi-public preview for opera friends and backers.
Choral music composed by UBC Faculty member Dr. Stephen Chatman, performed by the UBC University Singers, and conducted by UBC School of Music emeritus Bruce Pullan, receives reviews from Toronto to Phoenix, and was broadcast on CBC Radio 2 this Sunday.
Congratulations to Stephen Chatman, Bruce Pullan, and the University Singers!
The Northwestern
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20091215/OSH04/312150084
Minnesota Public Radio
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/12/16/new-classical-tracks/
CBC Radio 2
www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/choralconcert/2009/12/11/a_christmas_harvest_of_music_1.html
KBAQ 89.5 FM
www.kbaq.org/music/cdreviews/20091213
The Buffalo News
www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/music/story/892671.html
Home Theatre and High Fidelity
www.hometheaterhifi.com/media-music-movies-etc/44-music-reviews/736-december-cd-reviews-holiday-recordings-to-savor.html
All About Jazz
www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35014
The Oregonian
www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2009/12/christmas_cds_you_havent_heard.html
The Whole Note
http://thewholenote.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=52&Itemid=188
A Chatman Christmas: Choral Music of Stephen Chatman Centrediscs CMCCD 15509
Is available from the Canadian Music Centre www.musiccentre.ca/cds.cfm
Thur 10 December 2009
Vancouver Sun - Online
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
Tucked in at the recent VSO "Musically Speaking" program of Russian favourites was a new work, 2010 Traffic Jam, by Jared Miller— an impressive piece that shows the value of three very worthwhile initiatives by the VSO and UBC.
Jared is in his last year as an undergraduate at UBC: he's a good pianist and a good composer, and I'm pretty sure that we'll be hearing from him in the future. I got to know him last year under the aegis of the UBC School of Music's mentoring project, a scheme whereby selected local pros are shadowed by students interested in their particular area of endeavor. We don't teach the students -- that, after all, is what UBC's for -- but we do talk about career building, professional life, and everything else that seems appropriate.
Kevin Zakresky (Bmus '04, Mmus '06) is set to Rock the World of Choral Music
Fall 2009
Trek Magazine
By David Gordon Duke
Link to article.
On the UBC campus, at its leafy best in early August, Kevin Michael Zakresky fit in perfectly with the other twenty-something summer students. He was trying out a shaved-head look for the season and sporting a fresh tattoo, one of the first things on his to-do list when he returned to the coast earlier in the summer from his new base in southern Virginia.
Tue 08 December 2009
thestar.com
By John Terauds
Link to article.
Review of the University Singers performance of Stephen Chatman CD A Chatman Christmas (Centrediscs).
Applied Ethnomusicology gamelan workshop encourages community engagement
Mon 07 December 2009
The Ubyssey
By Krittana Khurana
Link to article.
Professor Klisala Harrison’s extensive research of the Eastside community has given her students the opportunity to apply their research and knowledge to communities beyond the academic university setting. The gamelan workshop was inspired by teaching assistant Rodrigo Caballero, who has done research of the strategic use of music, especially the use of gamelan in UK prisons, as a form of therapy or education.
“There is a social connection between the project and broader objectives of her class; except, instead of prisoners, we’re working with both the student community and the Downtown Eastside, and focusing on how to create social connections as a form of experiential education, keeping it with the community service learning program here at UBC,” said Caballero.
Fri 05 December 2009
Glass Notes
...The group includes classical players who know Glass' music very well including Wendy Sutter for whom Philip Glass' Songs & Poems for Solo Cello was composed and who is Artistic Director of the group, Maria Bachmann for whom Glass' Sonata for Violin and Piano was composed, and Tim Fain who was violin soloist for both Book of Longing and the recent concert performance of Einstein on the Beach at Carnegie Hall. Rounding out this version of the group are the outstanding award winning violists David Harding and Misha Amory, and the outstanding cellist Alexis Gerlach.
Sat 05 December 2009
Vancouver Sun
By Malcom Parry
Link to article.
MORE THAN MONEY: The 23rd annual Crystal Ball ran at the Four Seasons hotel Thursday, with chair Diane Norton expecting to raise $800,000 for the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. That seemed likely as Nancy Hermiston and the UBC Opera Ensemble sang affluent attendees to a banquet of executive chef Oliver Becker's roast beef tenderloin and braised-oxtail ravioli.
Thur 03 December 2009
UBC Reports
By Basil Waugh
Link to article.
After seven years of Olympic construction, it’s fair to say Vancouverites know a little something about jackhammering and piledriving.
So when the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra premieres 2010 Traffic Jam, a playful ode to the cacophony of Olympic construction by UBC student composer Jared Miller, expect everyone in the house to recognize the source material.
Miller, whose short composition will be performed by the VSO on Dec. 5 at the Orpheum, says his piece was inspired by the daily impact on people’s lives by major Games-related construction projects such as the Canada Line, Olympic Village, Convention Centre and Whistler Highway.
“I wanted to capture the bombastic sounds and emotions coming from the construction and traffic, says Miller, a fourth-year UBC School of Music student who had plenty of time to think about his masterpiece as his commute inched along Cambie St. during the Canada Line dig. Concert-goers can expect trumpets imitating car horns, real sirens and other literal effects, he says.
Jared Miller's Gridlock chosen from cross-Canada competition
Wed 02 December 2009
The Vancouver Sun
By Mary Frances Hill
Link to article.
Jared Miller heard the beauty in the banal, and it landed him an Olympic deal.
In 2007, Miller, 21, a fourth-year UBC music student, was walking along Cambie Street to his job at Oakridge Music Studios. Having missed his bus, he was forced to walk dozens of blocks to his destination while listening to the sounds of a paralysing traffic jam. And that's when it came to him.
"It wasn't fun to deal with the traffic, but then I heard all these great percussive sounds from the jackhammers."
Tue 01 December 2009
The Globe and Mail
By Marsha Lederman
Link to article.
When Jared Miller (4th Yr. Composition) missed the bus after work on a fine Vancouver spring day in 2007, he took it in stride and started walking, figuring he'd get the next bus when it came along. He kept walking - for 30 blocks, all the way to his destination, but no bus ever materialized. Miller was on Cambie Street: A notorious construction zone where traffic was consistently and impossibly jammed as a new SkyTrain line was being built in time for the 2010 Olympics. Even at a leisurely pace, he was able to walk faster than the flow of traffic.
Wed 25 November 2009
reviewvancouver.org
By Nila Gopaul
Link to article.
...The UBC University Singers performed Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine. With a mix of about 40 voices, the choir made airy textured sounds of flying, swishes that stirred in us personal flight and fantasy. Conductor Graeme Langager and the choral ensemble should be highly commended.
Tue 245 November 2009
Langley Times
Link to article.
Langley-born ukulele virtuoso James Hill won Traditional Album of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards, held in Ottawa on Saturday, Nov. 21, for his collaboration with Surrey-born cellist Anne Davison.
...James, a product of the Langley Community Music School and the UBC School of Music, began his love affair with the ukulele in Grade 4 at Belmont Elementary under the guidance of Jamie Thomas and later became a key member of the Langley Ukulele Ensemble under the direction of Peter Luongo.
Tue 24 November 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Laura Fedoruk
Link to full article here.
Devon Joiner, a fourth–year Music student at UBC, has been playing the piano since the age of four, and hasn’t gone more than a week since then without putting his hands on a keyboard.
“For me, music is sort of like language,” he says. “We at one point didn’t know how to speak English, but we can’t really remember any time before that, so it seems like we’ve always been able to speak. For me it seems like I’ve always been able to play music, so it wasn’t ever a decision for me to go into music, it just seemed natural.”
Fri 20 November 2009
The Record.com
By: Marcia Adair
Link to full article here.
KITCHENER — Saturday evening was the the DaCapo Chamber Choir’s opening concert and it was, in a word, brilliant. Their concerts are always beautifully sung and thoughtfully programmed, but at Saturday’s concert at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Kitchener, the stars aligned to create something truly special....Iranian composer Iman Habibi (UBC Music composition student) explores the futility of war and questions its glorification in his piece None But Death. Habibi shuns the contemporay choir cliche and scores the ensemble the way one would for an instrumental concerto. The soloist in this case was DaCapo soprano Cher Farrell. Pitch perfect throughout her entire range with tone that is both warm and clear, Ferrell is a rare find in the world of amateur singing.
Miller’s new piece is a VSO Olympic celebration.
Fri 20 November 2009
Jewish Independent
By: Elizabeth Nider
Link to full article here.
The achievements of Jared Miller (UBC School of Music/4th yr. Composition Student) are astonishing, but what is even more remarkable is the amount of time and effort he puts into educating members of the community about classical music.
Miller is a Jewish-Canadian composer and pianist currently based in Vancouver. His compositions have been played by numerous artists and ensembles, including the Vancouver and Victoria symphony orchestras, the University of British Columbia Symphony Orchestra and pianists Sukyung Park, Devon Joiner, Chihiro Honma, Sunny Qu, Phillip Lockwood and Margaret Lu. Miller has received commissions from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the UBC Contemporary Players Ensemble and the Howe Sound Performing Arts Association. He was recently commissioned by Tom Lee Music to write a piece for the unveiling of a Steinway Artcase piano decorated with Haida artwork.
Thu 19 November 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Liselle Law
Link to full article here.
Shouts of “Hail UBC!” may soon be common at many Thunderbird games. The new pep song, recently written for UBC, was introduced at the homecoming football game on September 26 of this year.
A “pep song” (also known as a “fight song”), is a team tune commonly used in college sporting events. UBC’s original pep song was written in 1931 by Harold King, an Arts student at the time. It was called “Hail UBC,” a name retained in the new melody.
Thu 15 November 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Siri Williams
Link to full article here.
Audiences can expect to be taken on an emotional roller coaster at the UBC Opera Ensemble’s double bill production of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicci by Giacomo Puccini.
Suor Angelica is a tragedy about a disgraced noblewoman who is living in a nunnery. It contrasts well with Gianni Schicci, a comedic retelling of a story referred to in Dante’s Divine Comedy. The two one-act operas, together with a third which will not be performed, Il Tabarro, make up a trilogy of operas called Il Trittico.
Fri 13 November 2009
New York Times
By: Michael Winerip
Link to full article here.
IN September 1998, David Buechner, then 39, a prominent classical pianist, came out as a transgender woman, explaining that from then on, she would live and perform as Sara Davis Buechner. The pianist had been accustomed to rave reviews (at 24, David, in his New York City concert debut, was called “an extraordinary young artist” by a New York Times critic). But the debut as Sara, reported in a Times magazine article, was not so well received, even by loved ones.
Thu 05 November 2009
UBC Reports
By: Basil Waugh
Link to full article here.
A UBC music researcher is teaching the world’s first university course on musical expressions in a Canadian inner city.
The class will help more than 30 UBC music students to learn about music in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and to showcase the musical talents of neighbourhood residents.
Heart of the City: Introduction to Applied Ethnomusicology is taught by Klisala Harrison, a postdoctoral teaching and research fellow in UBC’s School of Music who has researched inner city music in the area and around Canada for the past nine years.
“Music plays an important role in regenerating socioeconomically depressed urban areas,” says Harrison, 34. “It can build trust, self-esteem and a positive sense of community. For some, it is a tool for emotional, psychological and physical survival.
Thu 05 November 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Sean Sullivan
Link to full article here.
The best part of UBC’s new pep song may very well be the shouting.
“It’s pretty easy to sing along,” says composer Steve Chatman, a professor in the UBC School of Music. “You just have to remember to shout ‘hail.’ ”
That UBC even has a pep song – let alone a newly recorded one – may prompt some surprise. University fight songs are rare in Canada, where the tradition isn’t held as dear as in the United States. At UBC, an older version of Hail UBC that’s been kicking around since the 1930s wasn’t even suitable to be played over the loudspeakers at games.
This proved troubling to UBC associate athletic director Steve Tuckwood and former athletic director Bob Hindmarch, who last year began asking around for a new version of “Hail UBC.”
Wed 4 November 2009
La Scena Musicale (blog post)
By: Venita Lok
Link to full article here.
At yesterday's noon hour concert, Osborne gave a preview of the recital she will sing in New York, as a result of her win in the Marilyn Horne Foundation....The penultimate piece, 'Lily and Monarch' was a work the singer had commissioned from composer Iman Habbibi, based on poetry Osborne's grandfather wrote to her grandmother. The poem of unrequited love was exquisitely sung and with genuine depth of feeling by Osborne. There are two short verses in the song sung in, I believe, Farsi. (Osborne is part Iranian by heritage)
Fri 30 October 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Kathy Yan Li
Link to full article here.
Jared Miller is more than just a fourth–year Music student at UBC. Still in the process of completing his major in music composition, Miller is one of the five composers selected by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) to compose an Olympics–inspired piece. At the age of 20, he is the youngest recipient this year.
Wed 14 October 2009
Link to website: www.sylvagelber.ca
The Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award was established in 1981 and has been, until recently, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. The Council has presented this award annually to talented Canadian artists under the age of 30 who have taken part in the Council’s competition for performers in classical music. The Sylva Gelber Award supports young musicians who are pursuing a professional career in the performance of classical music.
Tue 13 October 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Katherine Mackin
Link to full article here.
Dr John van Deursen is sessional faculty member at the UBC School of Music. He is a professional trombonist and music instructor, and right now he is the director of the UBC Concert Winds, a symphonic wind ensemble that welcomes students from all faculties who are interested in auditioning.
Raised in small-town BC, van Deursen completed his BMus at UBC and went on to complete advanced degrees in music and conducting. Van Deursen has taught and performed all over the world and is now giving his expertise to students interested in music at UBC.
Mon 12 October 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Jennifer Gibson
Link to full article here.
UBC’s 70-piece Symphony Orchestra broke in their new director, Dwight Bennett, at the Chan Centre last Friday night. The evening was made up of a selection from some of Russia’s most well-known composers from the 19th and 20th century: Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Mon 28 September 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Sarah Chung
Link to full article here.
“Music is a common thread through many forms of public expression, and in Aboriginal Canadian culture, music is central to artistic and ceremonial rituals,” said Dr. Klisala Harrison, a professor at UBC’s School of Music.
Harrison is an ethnomusicologist, which is the study of applied music. Her areas of academic expertise span urban music studies, music and poverty, music and well-being, Native Canadian theatre and Northwest Coast First Nations music. “I was interested in how music can be a survival tool: for social rehabilitation and revitalization,” she said.
Growing up on traditional First Nations territory of the Seashell clan located on the Sunshine Coast, Harrison picked up her first violin at the age of nine. 25 years later, she educates UBC students about the function of popular and indigenous music to sustain communities in Vancouver’s economically depressed Downtown East Side (DTES). Her birth name, “Klisala” or “T’lisala,” means “sun” in Kwak’wala.
Mon 28 September 2009
The Ubyssey
By: Kate Barbaria
Link to full article here.
Gina Loes, a fourth-year music student at UBC, is the definition of twee, in all the best ways. A woman of many talents, she plays the guitar, ukelele, organ and zhong ruan*.
For the past year, she has been the lead singer for local band the Ruffled Feathers. Loes calls their music—a darling combination of piano, guitar and trumpet with the regulation hipster mandolin on occasion—chamber pop. Over the summer they added bass and drums. “Before we were very high-end—a lot of mandolin, a lot of ukelele,” she said. “It was really good to add the lower sounds and it gave us a much fuller sound.”
Thurs 24 September 2009
The Georgia Straight
By: Janet Smith
Link to full article here.
The Canadian Tenors’ West Coast ambassador, Fraser Walters, knows what it’s like to perform in glitzy halls around the globe. After serving as a boy soprano with Vancouver Opera, he took classical training at UBC. Nowadays, he sings with the polished pop-opera quartet, sharing the stage with everyone from Sting to Andrea Bocelli, playing for the likes of former president Bill Clinton and prime minister Tony Blair, and hitting such venues as the Tel Aviv Opera House and the Air Canada Centre.
But Walters found himself in an entirely different world on a trip to Bulembu, Swaziland, last August. Located in a country with the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world (38 percent), the impoverished town is the subject of the group’s Voices for Bulembu Benefit Concert this Saturday (September 26) at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.
Thurs 3 September 2009
Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.
Whatever mixed emotions the Labour Day weekend brings (for some of us, it's decidedly not the most wonderful time of the year), at least opera fans have something to savour. Not only a chance to scout out our current crop of young local singers, it's also a rare opportunity to experience opera al fresco at the Bard on the Beach site at Vanier Park: Something special for the last weekend of our always too-short summer.
Beyond all that Shakespeare, the Bard organization hosts annual "Operas and Arias" events, an end-of-summer showcase for the UBC Opera Ensemble. The group has been singing up a storm in the Czech Republic; now, as the developing singers contemplate another year of studies, it's time to bring their well-honed work to local audiences.
Some years have featured operatic melanges of favourite arias and ensembles culled from a number of different works. This year it's anopera-in-concert version of a single piece, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte -one of the great Mozart/Da Ponte masterworks and, for my money, one of the greatest operas ever.
Wed 16 September 2009
Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.
VANCOUVER - It was the big scandal in the classical music scene: the head office decision to close down the CBC Radio Orchestra. The demise of the last surviving broadcast orchestra in North America, and the flagship national musical institution based on the West Coast, created a storm of protest and left a legacy of bitterness.
Another chapter in the saga began Tuesday with the official launch of the newly established National Broadcast Orchestra. At the Chan Centre’s Telus Studio Theatre, plans were revealed for the new ensemble’s first performances and projects...The formal debut — in the orchestra’s new home, the Chan Centre — isslated for Jan. 8, 2010, a concert to be broadcast by the CBC. Designedas a fundraiser for the “fledgling” ensemble, it will feature thepremiere of a CBC-commissioned work from Oesterle plus veteran pianistAnton Kuerti in a performance of Beethoven’s so-called Piano ConcertoNo. 0, in fact a Kuerti-assembled compilation and orchestration fromBeethoven sketches.
Sat 5 September 2009
Vancouver Sun
By: Malcolm Parry
Link to full article here.
COUNTERPOINT: For once, billionaire Jim Pattison didn't tootle onhis cornet while opening his Overwaitea firm's newest Save-On-Foods store on the University of B.C. Endowment Lands Wednesday. But others filled in, notably UBC third-year music students Jin Kim, violin, and Clara Shandler, cello. Catching the groceteria theme, the duo zipped through Mozart's Table Music For Two. They'll be there again today. If placed near the fresh-fish counter, Shandler said, they'll play Under The Sea from Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Outside, the Knocked For Six jazz ensemble -- saxist Seth von Handorf, bassist Geordie Hart,drummer Travis Nelson -- serenaded first-day shoppers. They'll soon teach when Billie Holiday-style singer Olga Lockwood opens her Mozart School of Music steps away on Wesbrook Mall.
Mon 2 September 2009
Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.
VANCOUVER - Whatever mixed emotions the Labour Day weekend brings(for some of us, it’s decidedly not the most wonderful time of the year), at least opera fans have something to savour. Not only a chance to scout out our current crop of young local singers, it’s also a rare opportunity to experience opera al fresco at the Bard on the Beach site at Vanier Park: something special for the last weekend of our always too short summer.
Beyond all that Shakespeare, the Bard organization hosts annual “Operas and Arias” events, an end-of-summer showcase for the UBC Opera Ensemble. The group has been singing up a storm in the Czech Republic; now, as the developing singers contemplate another year of studies, it’s time to bring their well-honed work to local audiences.
For more information on the Federation of Canadian Music Festival, visit their website: http://www.fcmf.org/
Mon 24 August 2009
Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.
For five years now, the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival has brought high-quality classical performances to locals and visitors to the Sunshine Coast.
On Saturday evening this significant accomplishment was celebrated with the premiere of a newly commissioned work for piano trio by Vancouver composer Stephen Chatman, in tandem with Francis Poulenc's extraordinary Sextet for piano and winds.
Tue 18 August 2009
Langley Times
Link to full article here.
So what does it take to get into the National Youth Orchestra of Canada? Marc De Geus (4th Year UBC Music Student), a young musician from Walnut Grove, can give you that answer. He has just returned from Toronto this week after his second tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. This year NYOC made history by becoming the first Canadian youth orchestra to stream a concert live over the web.
Fri 14 August 2009
UBC Arts Web article
By: Loren Plottel
Link to full article here.
That’s what happened to Jesse Read, a professor of Music at the University of British Columbia. An expert in the bassoon, Dr. Read had given a free public lecture at Robson Square, an Arts Wednesdays series put on by the UBC Faculty of Arts. His topic was “The Life of the Bassoon.” Little did he know that that small public service would be the catalyst that uncovered a hidden treasure of long, lost music.
Classical musicians can also study salsa, jazz or even hip hop in young artist program
Thurs 13 August 2009
Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to full article here.
Beyond music festivals, summer is high season for music camps run for students of all ages and all interests. During July and August schools, colleges, universities, and countless other venues, large and small, are filled with the sounds of music-making.
With the benefit of city transportation, a first-rate facility, and an unparalleled setting, the University of B.C. campus regularly hosts a number of different programs. Particularly notable is the Young Artist Experience (YAE) -- summer music for talented young people with a difference, now underway at and around the School of Music building.
UBC Professor of Violin and Chamber Music, Jasper Wood performs with his trio Triple Forte at the Palace Grand during the Dawson City Music Festival.
Fri 24 July 2009
Yukon News
By: Tristin Hopper
Link to full article here.
From the outset, Triple Forte felt like outcasts at the Dawson City Music festival. They were three classical music professors in a sea of folkies and indie rockers.
“We were the most, how you say? ... ‘different’ group,” said cellist Yegor Dyachkov.
Counting the concert hall as their natural habitat, Dawson was the trio’s first rock festival. For Dawson, the feeling was mutual: Triple Forte was the festival’s first classical act in 31 years of existence.
“We didn’t really know what we were getting into,” said violinist Jasper Wood.
Nationally renowned Canadian soloists, Triple Forte nevertheless felt intimidated by the festival’s schedule of jam workshops. After all, the world of improvisation was brand new to the members of Triple Forte.
Jeffrey Ryan (Faculty, Composition, UBC) and Dr. Stephen Chatman (Head, Composition Division, UBC) are nominated for Classical Composition of the Year and Classical Recording of the Year, Respectively, at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
For more information: http://www.westerncanadianmusicawards.ca
Fri 24 July 2009
24 Hours
By: Kamila Golonka
Link to full article here.
You don't have to be a classical musician to be charmed by a Steinway masterpiece. A grand piano named "Kuniisii" was unveiled Thursday at the Vancouver Convention Centre...Jared Miller (UBC Music student, 4th yr. composition) a Canadian composer debuted his original composition on the piano.
The instrument will be available for select concerts and artist performances throughout B.C.
The National Youth Orchestra (NYOC) will be one of the first Canadian orchestras to broadcast a concert via the Internet. Marc De Geus will be performing as part of the NYOC and may have a close-up! To watch, go to www.nyoc.org. For more information, the NYOC press release is below.
UBC School of Music Professor, Corey Hamm performs Frederic Rzewski's The People United will never be defeated! for the Summer Keyboard Explorations, a camp for high school students.
Wed 01 July 2009
The Daily Evergreen
By: Briana Alzola
Link to full article here.
With fingers so fast they seemed a blur, world-renowned pianist Corey Hamm took the stage Tuesday in Kimbrough Hall Tuesday.
The musician, a native of Canada, has played music across the globe in cities like Singapore, London, Minneapolis and Montreal. He said he wasn’t inspired to start playing piano by the work of Beethoven or Bach.
It was the ‘70s rock band Supertramp.
“I am sort of an anomaly in that I started playing when I was twelve,” Hamm said. “Pianists usually start when they are three or five. I started because my sisters bought me sheet music from Supertramp. I asked for lessons to learn to play it. I liked the lessons and I liked to listen to classical and jazz music and I started to progress. But I got there through Supertramp.” Hamm’s performance Tuesday night was part of Summer Keyboard Explorations, a camp for highschool students presented by the WSU School of Music.
Hamm performed Frederic Rzewski’s one-hour piece titled “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!”.
A collaboration between Music, Computer Science, Linguistics and more gives performers a new way to 'speak and sing'
Thur 25 June 2009
www.arts.ubc.ca
By: Jackie Hoffmann
Link to full article here.
Imagine being able to have a duet with yourself or being able to watch a two-person quartet. Impossible? Not anymore – Bob Pritchard from UBC Music and Sid Fels from Electrical & Computer engineering are making these vocal feats a reality.
Together with their librettist Meryn Cadell from UBC Creative writing, they have premiered the world's first stage performance of DIVA, Digital Ventriloquized Actor.
Mon 22 June 2009
Link for more information: Tom Lee Music
School of Music student Jared Miller (4th year COMP) served as team captain of the (VAM) team at the Lion's Society 24-Hour relay for children with disabilities.
Other teams ran four-kilometre laps for 24 hours, and thanks to generous sponsorship from Tom Lee Music, Miller’s team was set up with a large tent and a Yamaha Grand Piano so they could participate in a 24-hour piano relay! Eight pianists, including Miller and other UBC Students and Alumni (Sunny Qu, Emily Henry, Matthew Li, Melody Lee, Eric North, Cameron Golinsky), fundraised and donated money to send children with disabilities to Easter Seals Camps free of charge!
These camps have multiple resources that can facilitate the camping needs of children with a wide range of mental and developmental disabilities.
There was a fair bit of press coverage including an article in the Global Chinese Press and TV spots including an interview with Miller on Global TV news.
Mon 15 June 2009
Cranbrook Daily Townsman
By: Yme Woensdregt
Sunday afternoon at the Key City Theatre was indeed an afternoon of Orchestral Splendour. The Symphony of the Kootenays, led by guest conductor John van Deursen, were joined by virtuoso violinist Jasper Wood for a program of masterpieces masterfully played. The program opened with the delightful overture to Rossini’s opera, The Barber of Seville. The opera itself is one of the 10 most often performed operas, and the overture shines with energy and wit. The orchestra sparkled in this music, matching the spirit of the music, enchanting the audience with the tuneful melodies and Rossini’s own way of building the texture of the music until it reaches a terrific crescendo.
The overture has taken on a life of its own. It’s been used in commercials, cartoons and television shows ... notably by Bugs Bunny and Homer Simpson (hence the title — and Gioacchino is Rossini’s first name). The fact that it has been parodied so often shows just how accessible and popular this music is. That was followed by the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max (see the title) Bruch. Violin virtuoso Jasper Wood played passionately and intensely, attacking the music and making it come alive. Wood is one of Canada’s foremost violinists. He has been praised for this “thrilling virtuosity” (The Strad) and his “open luminous tones, seamless lines and impeccable technique” (Toronto Star), and both of those were on display.
Wood’s playing was clear, passionate, intense throughout. His passion inspired the orchestra to reach deep inside for a magnificent performance of this wonderful concerto. The orchestra produced a lush, full sound, at times sounding larger than it actually was. The final movement’s heroic theme rounded out a magnificent first half of music.
Guest conductor John van Deursen played the orchestra as if it were his personal instrument. He drew a lively and brilliant performance from all the musicians. As van Deursen mentioned, this orchestra plays with a very high level of professionalism and passion. Cranbrook is indeed blessed.
Song institute presents a collage of performances, lectures and workshops
Thu 04 June 2009
The Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to article here.
It's three years since the Vancouver International Song Institute sprang up. A last-gasp-of-spring addition to the musical year, it's a vocal collage of public performances, lectures, and collaborative workshops that makes Vancouver a temporary nexus of all things related to classical songs and their successful performance.
The care and feeding of art song is something of a fraught enterprise in contemporary musical life. Plenty of gloomy observers say Lieder recitals -- and the singers and pianists who specialize in them --haven't kept pace with the evolution of other forms of classical music endeavour.
That's all the more reason for VISI and its potential to effect change. According to University of B.C. professor, pianist,and all-around musical visionary Rena Sharon, "Optimism (based in pragmatism, of course) is an essential organ of any non-profit entity."
After a one-year hiatus, the West Coast’s premiere classical music camp is returning to the North Island, and there’s still space available for aspiring virtuosos.
Leading the classical program this summer will be CYMC alumnus Dr. John van Deursen, associate conductor of the UBC Symphony Orchestra and director of Vancouver-based Orchestra Armonia. Van Deursen’s impressive resume also includes a 10-year stint as principal guest conductor for the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra.
Fri 08 May 2009
Dumfries & Galloway Standard
By: Sara Bain
Link to article here.
One of Dumfries' most talented young performers comes home for a night to start in a special Homecoming concert. Organised and presented by New Abbey musical director Derek Rangecroft, Michael MacKinnon returns to his native homeland for a one-off concert as part of the Dumfries Music Festival.
Thu 07 May 2009
The Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to article here.
The Vancouver Bach Choir's Last Night at the Proms shows at the Orpheum on Friday.
Soloists in the Beethoven include soprano Simone Osborne, a fast-rising soprano from that superb operatic training ground, the UBC Opera Ensemble. Osborne won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions last year and is slated to make her New York debut in the fall.
Piano student Amy Lee and her piano trio, cellist Evan Lamberton and violinist Henry Liao, will compete in the BC Provincial Music Festival in Prince Rupert, May 24 - 28.
Regional festivals throughout the province send promising artists between the ages of 10 and 28 to participate in this annual Provincial Festival. The five-day event features special master classes, lectures, coaching, workshops, technique classes and adjudications.
Amy has just completed her second year studying with Dr. Terence Dawson, and has received a scholarship to study at the Orford Summer Music Academy to study with André Laplante in June.
Mon 4 May 2009
Penticton Western News
By: Alanna Matthew
Link to article here.
The May 1 Penticton concert at the Bethel Church presented Kelsey Zachary, a young violinist who has already build up an impressive musical resume. She accompanied by Iman Habibi, a young pianist who, though diminutive in stature, is a giant in talent.
Tue 14 Apr 2009
Link for more information here.
The Killam Teaching award re flects the appreciation and enthusiasm expressed by students, alumni, and faculty colleagues, for their contribution to the learning environment, and their impact on students' musical development and overall education. The prizes are awarded annually from the Killam Endowment Fund. Winners are recognized during the graduation ceremonies.
Sun 29 Mar 2009
Link to Juno website: http://www.ctv.ca/mini/junos2009/Nominee25.html
Alumn Dr. John Burge (Music Arts '89) wins a Juno for Best Classical Composition for his work Flanders Fields Reflections.
Congratulations to nominees, DMA Composition student Timothy Corlis nominated for Best Classical Composition for his work Notes Toward APoem That Can Never Be Written, and Alumn Cris Derksen (Bmus 2007) as part of a trio with exceptional throat-singing sensation Tanya Tagaq, who was nominated for both the instrumental album of the year and aboriginal album of the year.
The choir takes on multicultural realities with its presentation of two new pieces
Thurs 12 Mar 2009
The Vancouver Sun
By: David Gordon Duke
Link to article here.
One of this province's most illustrious musical organizations, the Vancouver Bach Choir has been performing masterworks of the choral repertoire since 1930. But as an ensemble that also believes in keeping up with the times, it will present two new works at the Orpheum Saturday evening: Requiem for Peace by Larry Nickel and Echo by Amir Koushkani. Each is a vivid demonstration of how choral music has adapted to the reality of 21st-century multicultural life.
Artistic director Bruce Pullan has actually been involved with Nickel's Requiem from before its inception, through his teaching at the University of B.C.'s School of Music.
"Larry was a schoolteacher leading school choirs, and writing good church music; once his children left home, he decided to go to UBC to do a DMA -- this piece is in fact his thesis," Pullan said.
Assistant Professor, Violin, Dr. Eugenia Choi travels to the Arctic to witness the impact of global warming.
Mon 9 Mar 2009
UBC Reports
By: Basil Waugh
Link to article here.
What do polar bears and violins have in common? If you ask renowned concert violinist Eugenia Choi, she'll tell you they are both endangered species.
Sun 8 Mar 2009
Link for more info here.
UBC Music students Joanna Tse, Emily Hopkins, Connor Learmonth, Neil Jongbloed and Selina Kuo win of the Senior Division of the 55th Friends of Chamber Music Competition.
Pianists, string and wind players from Metro Vancouver and as faras Bellingham, WA played together in groups to compete for cash prizes. This year’sfinals featured an interesting variety of ensembles playing music by composers ranging from Beethoven and Schubert to Villa-Lobos and Etler. These ensembles were selected to compete from the earlier elimination play-downs.
Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship Winners ($5000 each)
Teresa Sedlmair, voice
Da young An, piano
Sunny Qu, piano
Joseph and Melitta Kandler Scholarship winner ($2500)
Suzanne Rigden, voice
Many thanks to the wonderful judges for the event, Dr. Sasha Starcevich and UBC Prof. Emeritus Andrew Dawes.
NOTE: The three Strauss winners (Teresa, Da young, Sunny) will perform again at the Scholarship Winners' concert on Sun. Mar. 22 to compete for two additional top-up awards of $1000 and $500.
Mon 2 Mar 2009
Link for East Coast Music Awards here.
For the third time, the East Coast Music Association has awarded New Brunswick-born, UBC Faculty member, violinist Jasper Wood an East Coast Music Award for 'Classical Recording of the Year' for his recent CD, A Child's Cry from Izieu -- the Complete Works for violin and piano by Oskar Morawetz on the CentreDiscs label.
A Child's Cry from Izieu also received a 2008 Juno nomination for 'best composition', the 2008 Indie award for "Favourite Classical Artist" and the 2008 Western Canadian Music Award for "Outstanding Classical Recording.
Jasper Wood is represented in North America by Richard Paul Concert Artists.
Juno nominee Cris Derksen, cellist, (Bmus 2007)gets her kicks by raising her art to a new high level
Thurs 19 Feb 2009
Vancouver Province
By: Stuart Derdeyn
Link to article here.
Get one Juno nomination. Cool. Get two. Awesome. Get 'em while you're really just beginning to stretch out as a creative artist and all sorts of things start to open up.
Not that Cris Derksen is waiting around for calls.
To sample the Cris Derksen's music visit her website.
Link to UBC Arts article about Cris Derksen's Juno nominations here.
Wed 18 Feb 2009
www.suite101.com
By: Anya Laurence
Link to article here.
After hearing this latest CD by Sara Buechner one is left with the impression that she is indeed one of the greatest pianists of the present day, and perhaps of all time.
Thurs 5 Feb 2009
Link to Juno website: www.junoawards.ca
DMA Composition student Timothy Corlis is nominated for Best Classical Composition for his work Notes Toward APoem That Can Never Be Written.
Alumn Dr. John Burge (Music Arts '89) is also nominated for Best Classical Composition for his work Flanders Fields Reflections.
Alumn Cris Derksen (Bmus 2007) as part of a trio with exceptional throat-singing sensation Tanya Tagaq, is nominated for both the instrumental album of the year and aboriginal album of theyear categories for the awesome Jericho Beach Music release Auk/Blood.
The Juno Awards will be televised on CTV on March 29.
Tue 22 Jan 2009
Link to website.
The Comox Valley Youth Music Centre announced today, that it has appointed John van Deursen as its new head of their Classical program. van Deursen, is currently the Associate Conductor of the UBC Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of Orchestra Armonia in Vancouver.
Tue 13 Jan 2009
Link to more info here
January 13, 2009 - The Honens Competition Application Screening Jury has chosen 93 pianists to advance to the first public stage of the Sixth Honens International Piano Competition.Sergei and Irene will perform a Stage One recital of approximately 40 minutes. Sergei is scheduled to perform in Calgary on March 21 and Irene will perform during the New York recitals held on March 26 to 28, 30 & 31.Good luck Sergei and Irene!For more information: www.honens.com
FACULTY OF ARTS
UBC School of Music
Music Building
6361 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Tel: 604.822.3113
Fax: 604.822.4884