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February 4, 2009


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2009-02-04

The true North, loud and proud

The WSO's New Music Festival features sights, sounds - and science - from Canada's Arctic

Robin Dudgeon

Art and science have been at odds for centuries. But this year, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival, which runs Feb. 6 through 12, will try to bring them together in the world premiere of Vincent Ho's Arctic Symphony.

Ho, WSO's composer-in-residence, spent two weeks up North last year, travelling as a guest aboard the Amundsen, an Arctic icebreaker and research vessel that sailed to the Gulf of Amundsen in the North West Territories. Armed with a notebook, camera, and tape recorder, Ho did some serious research.

"I took as many photographs as I could. I also brought a little recorder to record some sounds, record some of the songs that I was listening to in the Aboriginal community and also record some interviews that I was having with some of the scientists onboard," he explains.

Ho was first approached by the the University of Manitoba's Circumpolar Flaw Lead Systems Study (CFL) in 2008 and asked to compose a symphonic work inspired by the Arctic. The final product is a 30-minute, five-movement symphony, which will premiere at the New Music Festival, performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and recorded by the CBC.

"We decided to include sound files of the Arctic within my piece, in the beginning and the ending," Ho says, "sort of as bookends to introduce our audience to the world of the Arctic and to lead the audience from that world as well."

The five movements will represent the tranquility of the Arctic, life aboard the Amundsen, night descending over the landscape, and the melding of Inuit throat-singing and Western chorale traditions. Arctic Symphony will be accompanied by a video created by Doug Barber, the study's lead photographer. Four hundred of the world's top climate change scientists, as well as various government officials, are expected to attend the Arctic Symphony gala concert.

The New Music Festival is attracting a lot of attention nationally and internationally for its fusion of art and science.

"This is the first time that the WSO has joined forces with a scientific organization to present a certain theme through cultural means," Ho says.

Ho was not the only one to be inspired by the Great White North. Acoustic ecologist Derek Charke's piece, Falling From Cloudless Skies, inspired by years of living above the Arctic Circle, will have its world premiere at the festival, and Michael Colgrass' tone poem, Arctic Dreams, inspired by his time living with an Inuit family, will also be played.

Inuit traditions will be represented in person, too. Canadian throat singer Tanya Tagaq (the pride of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut) is one of the festival's distinguished artists. Tagaq will be bringing her unique vocal stylings to the festival, and will be performing some of her own improvisations as well as works by Derek Charke.

The rest of the festival has taken on a truly global feel. Many of the musicians taking part this year are from different countries and work within different genres. Each night will also feature a different kind of music.

"Every evening (will) be an event of its own that can stand on its own, not just another concert that's connected to the whole week," Ho says.

Acts will run the gamut from classical to jazz to avant-garde, from countries as far away as New Zealand, England, and Taiwan, and as close to home as the United States, and the rest of Canada. Stand-alone events include a choral night, a wind ensemble night, a chamber music night, a rock 'n' roll night and a experimental music night.

"For this year, we have something for everybody. We have science, we have art, we have music, we have jazz, we have electric guitars, we have videos, we have politicians, we have a bit of everything," Ho says with a laugh.

The New Music Festival will close with a bang (or should that be a twang?). Canadian composer Tim Brady will be performing his tribute to Les Paul, creator of the famed electric guitar, Amplify, Multiply, Remix, and Redefine - a piece written for 24 electric guitars: four soloists and an ensemble of 20.

For more info about the New Music Festival, visit www.newmusicfestival.ca.

NMF Schedule

PRE-FESTIVAL HAPPENING . Winnipeg Art Gallery . Feb. 5 , 8 p.m. - feat. works by Jim Hiscott, Diana McIntosh, Paul William Pura and the Nunavut Sivuniksavut Performers. Plus, a demo by XIE (Experimental Improv Ensemble) on WALLBALLS, a newly invented electronic instrument.

ARCTIC POSTCARDS . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m. - In celebration of the 2010 International Polar Year. New works by Vincent Ho and Derek Charke inspired by their journeys to the Arctic. Also featuring Dr. David Barber, Steven Stucky and John Tavener featuring Yuri Hooker.

SONGS OF THE EARTH . Westminster United Church . Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. - An evening of songs inspired by world music and indigenous cultures. Feat. Tanya Tagaq, Prairie Voices Choir, the U of M Women's Choir and the Winnipeg Singers. Piano performances by Vincent Ho and Megumi Masaki.

JENNY LIN + MY 20th CENTURY . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m. - Jenny Lin performs works by Randy Hostetler, Valentin Silvestrov, Arthur Kampela, Steven Stucky and Vincent Ho. Also feat. Tim Brady's multi-media show My 20th Century, showcasing history and art of the past century.

ARCTIC DREAMS . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. - The WSO's wind, brass, and percussion sections, joined by the U of M Wind Ensemble and the Winnipeg Winds, play works by Steven Stucky and John Psathas. Also feat. Michael Colgrass' tone poem Arctic Dreams.

METAMUSIK . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m. - Music to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death: Bending Hendrix composed by Mike Janzen. Also, Tim Brady's The Guess Who Symphony, performed by Ndidi Onukwulu, and Valentin Silvestrov's Metamusik feat. Jenny Lin on piano.

TANYA TAGAQ + WSO STRINGS . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. - Tanya Tagaq and the WSO String Orchestra perform works by Derek Charke. Also, John Psathas' Abhisheka and Michael Matthews' The Language of Water.

EIGHTH BLACKBIRD . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 11, 9 p.m. - Grammy Award-winning contemporary sextet Eighth Blackbird performs Thomas Adès' Catch, Gordon Fitzell's Evanescence, Stephen Hartke's Meanwhile and Steve Reich's Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet.

AMPLIFY, MULTIPLY, REMIX, AND REDEFINE ... OH MY! . Centennial Concert Hall . Feb. 12, 8 p.m. - Tim Brady's Amplify, Multiply, Remix, and Redefine, performed by 24 guitars, with the WSO. Also feat. works by Steven Stucky, Brett Dean and John Psathas feat. Jenny Lin and Aiyun Huang.

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