Kaija Saariaho is visiting Toronto courtesy of the TSO. You can see her and hear her music played by the Toronto Symphony at RTH (with Karita Mattila and Anssi Karttunen) Saturday May 7th at 8 pm.
There\’s also a Music Gallery show of her music tonight! Details below.
Also tonight, Pestova/Meyer duo at Gallery 345, if your not a Finn-o-phile.
Later – in the month – NMC, Continuum, Esprit, Emergents feat. Alex Samaras\’ GREX and the Katelyn Clark/Patrick Dupuis duo, plus a cool show by CONTACT featuring composer/death metal hero Helmut Oehring.
May listings after the fold!
1/ MG – ON THE TRAIL OF KAIJA SAARIAHO – MAY 6
Post-Classical Series
A selection of sought-after solo works by the trailblazing Finnish composer by the trailblazing Finnish composer
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $20 regular, $15 member + senior, $10 student
From the Grammar of Dreams (1988) – texts by Sylvia Plath – for two female voices
NoaNoa (1992) for flute and electronics
Six Japanese Gardens (1994) – in memory of Toru Takemitsu – for percussion and electronics
Sept Papillions (2000) for solo cello
Dolce Tormento (2004) for solo piccolo
Performers:
Carla Huhtanen, soprano
Aiyun Huang, percussion
Rachel Mercer, cello
Marion Newman, mezzo-soprano
Camille Watts, flute/piccolo
Kaija Saariaho is one of Europe\’s most recognizable composers, but her success hasn\’t always translated to popular acquaintance on these shores. There are many who are trying to correct this oversight, including Carnegie Hall, where she will be Composer-in-Residence for the 2011-12 season, and the Canadian Opera Company, who will present her opera L\’amour de loin in 2012. For those who are interested in getting to know her music, and for those who already do, the Music Gallery presents a selection of her solo works as interpreted by some of Toronto\’s finest performers.
2/PESTOVA/MEYER @ 345 – MAY 6
The Art of the Duo Piano:
Xenia Pestova and Pascal Meyer
Friday May 6, 2011 at 8 PM
Tickets $20/$15 Seniors/$10 Students
Dugal McKinnon (B. 1972): Diktat, Ditty, Half-life
Steve Reich (b. 1936): Piano Phase (1967)
Henri Dutilleux (b. 1916): Figures de résonances (1970)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Rite of Spring (1913),
Xenia Pestova (New Zealand/Canada) and Pascal Meyer (Luxembourg) formed a piano duo in 2003. Since their studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, the two pianists went on to develop international solo performing careers. As a piano duo, they combine their shared aesthetics of sound with their commitment to programming new and non-standard works.
3/ TOY PIANOS+JUNQ @ 345 – MAY 7
The Toy Piano Composers present Mini-uet
May 7, 2011 at 8pm
$20; $15 Seniors; $10 students
New works by the Toy Piano Ensemble featuring the junctQÃn Keyboard Collective.
4/ NMC – MALAYSIAN VOICES @ MG – MAY 8
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $25 regular, $15 member, student + senior
New Music Concerts Ensemble
Robert Aitken, flute and direction
Aiyun Huang, solo percussion
Programme:
Kee Yong Chong – Bellstone (2011)*
Kee Yong Chong – Mourning the murder of an old banyan tree (2002)**
Kee Yong Chong – Flute Concerto (2011)*
Chow Jun Yi – A Night Without Voices (2009)**
Yii Kah Hoe – Wild Cursive (2010)**
Tazul Izan Tajuddin – Sebuah Tenunan IV (2003)**
Neo Nai Wen – The Forgotten Sound (2009)**
Continuum Contemporary Music: Mechanical Advantage
Turning a glitch to its advantage, Continuum reprogrammes its May 9 concert as an exploration of process in music
8:00pm
5/ CONTINUUM – MECHANICAL ADV @ MG – MAY 9
Monday May 9, Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $25 regular, $15 member, student + senior
Ann Southam – Four In Hand
Anthony Genge – Hockets II
Aldo Clementi – Madrigale
Louis Andriessen – Zilver
Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble
Jennifer Waring, Artistic Director
Anne Thompson, flute
Max Christie, clarinet
Carol Lynn Fujino, violin
Paul Widner, cello
Laurent Philippe, piano
Gregory Oh, piano
Ryan Scott, percussion
6/ EMERGENTS IV @ MG – MAY 12
Thursday, May 12, 2011,Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Katelyn Clark & Patrick Dupuis + GREX
A unique Montréal duo of harpsichord & electric bass, followed by an audacious Toronto vocal ensemble
Tickets $10 regular, $5 member, senior + student
Part One:
Katelyn Clark, harpsichord
Patrick Dupuis, electric bass
François Couperin — La reine des coeurs (1730/2011)* arr. by Clark/Dupuis for amplified harpsichord, electric bass and fixed media
Christian Wolff — Snowdrop (1970)
J. Chang — Transcription I (2006)**
* World Premiere
** Canadian Premiere
Part Two:
GREX
Braid 2 — Meredith Monk
Hocket — Meredith Monk
Memento — Arvo Pärt
Sing, My Soul — Ned Rorem
Georgian folk songs
Gamelan — R. Murray Schafer
For the two promising ensembles featured in this iteration of Emergents, boundaries are sometimes embraced, sometimes stretched and occasionally ignored altogether.
The Dupuis/Clark Duo combines two seemingly disparate instruments and finds itself melding four centuries in its singular identity. The this technological divide may be the tie that binds, if one considers the rhythm section (drums+bass+chording) as the modern descendant of the continuo group (harpsichord+viol+lute/theorbo). Many listeners will remember Katelyn from her appearance with the Contemporary Keyboard Society at the Music Gallery in 2008.
GREX is a vocal octet that defies comfortable description. Many of its members are firmly rooted in the vocal jazz tradition, but all boast a surprising breadth of range and craft. Founder and artistic director Alex Samaras is a case in point; a graduate of the University of Toronto Jazz Performance program, he also spent time in the U of T Chainsaw Ensemble and went on to work in NYC with contemporary arts icon Meredith Monk and her ensemble. Their program features some of Monk\’s compositions, the hypnotic murmurings of Part, the contemporary Americana of Rorem, Schafer\’s alliterative Gamelan and some steel-core Georgian singing.
7/ ESPRIT WAVES FESTIVAL – MAY 12-MAY 15
May 12 -Drake Hotel – 8 pm CHERCHER NOISE Esprit Wild & Wired at the Drake (Lounge & Underground) featuring works of Jimmie LeBlanc, Eric Ross, Akira Nishimura, Elisha Denburg, Ashkan Behzadi, John Cage and Claude Vivier with Wallace Halladay/Saxes, Stephen Clarke/piano/ Esprit Percussion Ensemble, Alex Pauk Conductor, and the Cybernetic Orchestra from McMaster University, David Ogborn, Director.
May 13 – Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre- 8 pm – Rising Star Composers Concert in association with the Canadian League of Composers featuring works of Matthew Ricketts, Zoshi Di Castri, Anthony Tan and the winning compositions of the CLC Emerging Composers Competition and the Members Composition Competition.
May 14 – Hart House Music Room, U of T – Young Composers Round Table and Open Forum hosted by Dr. Glenn Buhr, Professor, Composition; Director, Improvisation Concerts Ensemble.
May 15 – Koerner Hall – MUSICAL OFFERINGS, Esprit\’s 4th Subscription Series Concert featuring works by Gubaidulina, Pauk and Gougeon and the world premiere of Chris Paul Harman\’s Coyote Soul. Presentation of The Canadian Music Centre\’s Toronto Emerging Composer Award will take place during the concert.
May 30 -Glenn Gould Studio 12:00 pm -Creative Sparks Student Compositions Concert (free)
8/ CONTACT – HELMUT OEHRING – MAY 14
Contact presents the music of Helmut Oehring, featuring the world premier of The Lake
Saturday May 14
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $20 regular, $10 member, student + senior
Contact Contemporary Music Ensemble
Jerry Pergolesi, Artistic Director and percussion
Rob MacDonald, guitar
Mary Katherine Finch, cello
Wallace Halladay, saxophones
Allison Wiebe, piano
Sarah Fraser Raff, violin
Peter Pavlovsky, double bass/bass
9/ ADAM SCIME – FUZE @ 345 – MAY 22
Adam Scime presents \”FUZE\”
Sunday May 22, 2011 at 8pm
$20; $15 Seniors; $10 students
Fuze – An evening of new Canadian works featuring Electronics
People Are Not Cars, Suite for Tape – Alex Eddington
Lilies, for Flute and Electronics – Riho Esko Maimets
Devotion, for Tape and Video – Emilie Lebel
River, for Flute and Electronics – Caleb Chan
Fuze, for amplified violin and audiofile playback – Paul Frehner
Corona, for Flute, Cello and Elextronics – Adam Scime
Event Details
10/ EVE EGOYAN + 4ETTO GRAPHICA @ MG – MAY 28
FROM EYE TO EAR
featuring EVE EGOYAN + QUARTETTO GRAPHICA
Shining the spotlight on graphic scores: music as sound and image
Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets $25 regular, $15 member + senior, $10 student
Gyorgy Ligeti — Artikulation (1958)
Quartetto Graphica
Mike Hansen, record player + electronics
Arnd Jorgenson, guitar
Guy LeBlanc, no-input mixing board + toys
Pau Torres, laptop
Malcolm Goldstein — Beginning Articulations (1973)
Gordon Monahan — Voices Emerging Along High Tension Wires (1984)
James Tenney — Three Pages in the Shape of a Pear (1995)
John Oswald — ∆88 (2011, World Premiere)
Chiyoko Szlavnics — New work (2011, World Premiere)
Eve Egoyan, piano
Graphic notation refers to a musical score that employs non-traditional symbols and text to convey information about the performance of a piece of music — a practice which first emerged in the mid-20th century, and has been used by many of the world’s most innovative composers, from Cage to Braxton, Stockhausen to Kagel, Penderecki to Cardew. From Eye to Ear shines the spotlight on this re-emerging movement in contemporary music. Since many of these scores are works of art unto themselves, a live video feed will allow the audience to view each score as it is performed. Meanwhile, scores by Canadian composer Chyoko Szlavnics, on loan from the Canadian Music Centre, will be on display in the Fellowship Room.
PLUS!
Free preview lecture / demo of “From Eye to Earâ€
Monday May 16
Beeton Auditorium, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St.
With host, John Terauds (Toronto Star)
7pm • FREE
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