VANCOUVER NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL 2008
22 - 25 October 2008
Show starts 8pm each night
Free Artist Chats at 7pm each night
Scotiabank Dance Centre
677 Davie Street
Tickets $15/$10 each night, available at Sikora's Classical Records,Tickets Tonight (604.684.2787 or www.ticketstonight.ca; surcharges apply) and the door
An international festival of virtuoso performances and extended techniques. Performances by: Jaap Blonk (voice), Tzenka Dianova (piano), Lori Freedman (bass clarinet), Pascal Gallois (bassoon), Kuniko Kato (marimba), Garth Knox (viola), Mark Takeshi McGregor (flute), Stefano Scodanibbio (double bass), Josh Stevenson (synthesizer) and Frances-Marie Uitti (cello).
[Flash schedule]
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Stefano Scodanibbio (Italy)
Double Bass
Plucking, bowing, scraping and tapping with amazing technique and precision, Stefano Scodanibbio has the ability to coax a seemingly impossible range of sounds and colours from his double bass. Both composer and performer, he has written over 30 compositions and has had works written especially for him by such composers as Bussotti, Donatoni, Estrada, Ferneyhough, Frith, Globokar, Sciarrino, Xenakis.
"Stefano Scodanibbio...lifted the instrument into new realms. For him the bass is an instrument of fantasy...an astonishing variety of sounds..." - Los Angeles Times
Programme:
Luciano Berio (2004) Sequenza XIVb, Versione per contrabbasso di Stefano Scodanibbio 14'
Stefano Scodanibbio (1979-1997) Voyage That Never Ends 45'
Josh Stevenson (Vancouver)
Synthesizers
Under the guise Magneticring, Stevenson uses vintage synthesizers and analog equipment incorporating influences ranging from Javanese Gamelan, obscure psychedelic music, early new age, and 60's electronic music. A longstanding figure in Vancouver's underground music scene, Stevenson has performed, collaborated and toured with numerous artists from Vancouver, to Montreal, Portland and NYC.
Programme:
45 minute solo improvisation with a EMS Synthi 'A' & 'AKS' synthesizer. EMS
or "Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd." was England's first electronic synthesizer company formed in 1969 by Dr. Peter Zinovieff.
Garth Knox (UK)
Viola
A highly sought after performer, Garth Knox has recently become a pioneer of the viola d'amore , exploring its possibilities in new music, with and without electronics, and developing a new repertoire for the instrument. A former member of the Ensemble InterContemporarain in Paris, and the Arditti String Quartet, Knox will perform his own composition Viola Spaces as well as works for solo viola by Ligeti, Dillon, Sciarrino, Scelsi and Berio.
Programme:
György Ligeti (1994) Sonata (movements I, II, V and VI) 12’
James Dillon (1992) Siorram 8’
Salvatore Sciarrino (1975) 3 Notturni Brillanti 9’
Garth Knox (2007) Viola Spaces 9’
Luciano Berio (1968) Sequenza VI 13’
Thursday 23 October 2008
Lori Freedman (Montreal)
Bass Clarinet
Conspicuously described as "a musical revolutionary," Lori Freedman's approach to the clarinet is uniquely her own. She is known internationally for her provocative and creative performances of contemporary, improvised and electroacoustic musics.
"Clarinet never sounded so human - wildly curious, deeply soulful, swooping, swooning naked intimacy." -- The Montreal Gazette
Programme:
Giacinto Scelsi (1954) #1 from Tre Studi, 3.15’
Bruno Mantovani (1998) Bug, 5.5’
Improvisation #1 (bass clarinet)
Claudio Ambrosini (1983) Capriccio, detto: l'Ermafrodita, 10.75’
Pascal Dusapin (1985) Itou, 7’
Improvisation #2 (clarinet)
Georges Aperghis (1979) 280 Mesures, 13’
Improvisation #3 (bass clarinet)
Frances-Marie Uitti (Netherlands)
Cello
Playing for audiences from New York City to Mongolia, Frances-Marie Uitti delivers a solo cello performance unlike anyone else in the world. Using two bows in one hand, Uitti pioneered a new dimension to the cello by transforming it into a polyphonic instrument capable of sustained chordal (two, three, and four-part chords) and intricate multi-voiced, polyphonic writing. Uitti will be performing the Canadian premiere of The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, a work for solo cello by Rodney Sharman.
"...the end result- as with all great music-is metaphysical, hinting at a private world that no words or rationale can suffice in describing. The crowd filed out of the performance in a daze, having glimpsed something beyond music." - Los Angeles Times
Programme:
Salvatore Sciarrino (1976) Due Stud
Gyorgy Kurtag Ligatura (1989) Message to Frances-Marie
Richard Barrett (1989) Ne Songe Plus a Fuir
Giacinto Scelsi Ygghur
Rodney Sharman (2005) The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
FM Uitti (2007) Rap't
Friday 24 October 2008
Mark Takeshi McGregor (Vancouver)
Flute
A stand-out performer and musician of "huge physical energy" - an uncommon descriptor for a flautist, to say the least - Vancouver's Mark McGregor will perform works for flute by the British complexity composer Brian Ferneyhough, including his masterpiece Unity Capsule . Widely regarded as the "enfant terrible" of the avant-garde, Ferneyhough's flute music is infamously difficult, incorporating a stunning array of vocal and percussive effects.
"A mind-blowing flautist.... McGregor played the piece with confidence and a huge physical energy, eliciting elements of free jazz, hip-hop beat boxing and skat singing.... totally engaging." - Victoria Times Colonist
Programme:
Brian Ferneyhough (1984) Carceri d'Invenzione Iib 13’
Salvatore Sciarrino (1977) All'aure in una lontananza 13’
Brian Ferneyhough (1975-1976) Unity Capsule 15’
*Western Canadian premiere
Kuniko Kato (Japan)
Marimba
An exciting and energetic performer, Kuniko Kato is without a doubt one of the most promising young percussionists in the world today. Kato's performance for solo marimba will include work by Donatoni, Xenakis and Bach.
Saturday 25 October 2008
Tzenka Dianova (Victoria)
Piano
Tzenka Dianova is recognized internationally for her masterful and insightful interpretations of 21 st Century piano compositions by some of the world's most recognized composers. Dianova will perform works for solo piano by Stockhausen, Ligeti, Ustvol'skaya and Harvey.
"Tzenka Dianova's performance revealed true depth of thought and feeling and exquisite sense of sound and nuance." Culture Magazine
Programme:
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1961) Klavierstück IX. 11’
György Ligeti (1953) Musica Ricercata. 30’
Jonathan Harvey (1994) Tombeau de Messiaen. 10’
Galina Ustvol'skaya (1988) Piano Sonata VI 10’
Jaap Blonk (Netherlands)
Voice
Self-taught composer and vocal performer Jaap Blonk performs his interpretation of Kurt Schwitter's Dadaist composition for solo voice, Ursonate .
"His unfinished studies in physics, mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems. In reciting poetry, he discovered the directness and flexibility of vocal utterance, whether using meaningful words or not. He developed into a specialist in the performance of sound poetry, supported by a powerful stage presence and an almost childlike freedom in improvisation. "
Programme:
Kurt Schwitters (1922-1932) Sonate in Urlauten 40’
Pascal Gallois (France)
Bassoon
An unparalleled bassoonist, brilliant soloist and member of the Ensemble InterContemporain, Pascal Gallois is celebrated the world over. Gallois is a master of advanced extended techniques, showcased in works such as Berio's Sequenza XII , a piece that incorporates 15 minutes of circular breathing.
"The bassoon is such a strange and complex instrument that it has always seemed to me like the perfect choice to travel across cultures and periods, and tie them together." - Pascal Gallois
Programme:
György Kurtag (2003) Pilinsky Janos: Gérard de Nerval 3’
Toshio Hosokawa (1997) Sen VII 7’
György Kurtag (2003) In memoriam György Kroo 4’
*Canadian Premiere
Philippe Hersant (1995) Hopi 8’
Yoshihisa Taïra (1987) Monodrame II 7’
Luciano Berio (1995) Sequenza XII per Fagotto 18’
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