Modern Masterpieces
The WSO set to perform a week of ‘new music’
Jared Story

So just what is ‘new music?’ Is it a literal phrase? Or just some vague catch-all term made up by music critics?

Well, its meaning is really all about context.

“New music for a symphony orchestra means music written in our time for instruments from the symphony orchestra,” says Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra composer-in-residence T. Patrick Carrabré, who is co-curator of the WSO New Music Festival.

“It’s been called everything over the years — concert music, serious music, new music, contemporary music, you name it.

“The important thing is that the composers are alive and, in our context, most of the instruments are actually played in the symphony.”

So who listens to new music? On TV and in the movies, aficionados of symphonic music are often portrayed as uptight, snobbish people who wear top hats and monocles.

Well, let’s break down the stereotypes. New music is for everyone and anyone looking for something innovative and different.

“We have a very broad-based audience,” Carrabré says. “We have as many 20-year-olds as we do 50-year-olds as we do teenagers as we do 60-years-olds. It’s not even all people who listen to the symphony all the time; it’s people who are interested in folk music, jazz and popular music.

“It’s really anybody who wants to come and have a very interesting and unusual experience of a live concert of music that’s going on right now.”

WSO music director Andrey Boreyko takes the definition a step further.

“People who listen to new music like to be different than other people,” Boreyko says. “They are creative, curious and could be controversial. They understand that there are lots of things in their lives they have never heard about before, and they are not scared to admit this fact and to learn. It has nothing to do with age or profession.”

This year’s New Music Festival is special for two reasons. First, it’s the event’s 15th anniversary. To celebrate, a couple of the more popular pieces from years past will be repeated. Second, the festival is bigger than ever.

“We usually only invite one composer to be our main guest. This time we decided to invite as many as we can digest,” Boreyko says.

This year the fest will have five guest composers including Chinese-American Chen Yi. One of the most interesting aspects of the festival is its lecture series featuring composers, Carrabré says — and Chen Yi’s story is one of great interest.

“It really helps to make a connection with the person who created the music,” Carrabré explains.

“You hear some pretty incredible stories. I mean, Chen Yi lived through the Cultural Revolution in China, and she had to practice in hiding to learn her instrument because they weren’t allowed to play classical music in that country. She had to work in the fields, and it was kind of forced labour. You hear these incredible stories of perseverance.”

There are a few underlying themes to this year’s festival.

One of those is the world’s essential elements: earth, wind, fire and water. Works such as David R. Scott’s Tranquility and Order, about the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in 2004, can be found dotted throughout the festival program. Although the themes aren’t set in stone and allow much room for interpretation, they are the basis for much of the planning that goes into the event.

“I spend a lot of time, myself and Boreyko, just listening to music, and usually you’re struck by one or two pieces by a certain composer or performer, of which you try to build themes around,” Carrabré says. “This year we started with the earth, wind, fire and water thing and started finding pieces that had something to do with that.”

Carrabré says that programming the New Music Festival is really a year-long process. From finding the music to negotiating the contracts to the actual presentation, a ton of work is necessary. You wouldn’t blame Carrabré if he took a long, much-deserved rest after the festival to look back in admiration, but the music never stops for this composer.

“The funny thing is, right now I’m more worried about the 2007 festival,” Carrabré says.

“We’re always thinking ahead. The first two concerts for 2007 are pretty much programmed already. You’ve got to book a year or two ahead to book good artists.”

That’s the thing about new music: it’s all about the present — and the future.

Carrabré Picks
Five to Watch

Jared Story

We asked New Music Festival co-curator T. Patrick Carrabré to select five people to watch for at this year’s event. Here’s who he picked:

Who: Sophia Gubaidulina is a well-known Russian composer who makes her home in Germany.
What: And: The Festivities at Their Height
When: Sat., Feb. 11
Carrabré says: “She makes a connection between Eastern tradition and Western tradition. She uses Oriental instruments and Oriental themes as well as Western themes. She will show the linkage between East and West.”

Who: R. Murray Schafer is one of the most renowned Canadian composers.
What: Thunder: Perfect Mind, String Quartet No. 9
When: Sat., Feb. 11; Sun., Feb. 12
Carrabré says: “He’s indisputably the best-known Canadian composer we have. His String Quartet No. 9 was commissioned for us, and it will be its world premiere. He’s very involved in the world soundscape project. He does environmental music and uses recordings of sounds in the world in his pieces. He has a unique approach to sculpting sound. It’s almost like a visual art.”

Who: Chen Yi is a Chinese composer and professor at the Conservatory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
What: Tu, Fiddle Suite, Chinese Fables
When: Mon., Feb. 13; Tue., Feb. 14; Wed., Feb. 15
Carrabré says: “Tu was written for the firefighters who died in the World Trade Centre bombing, so it promises to be a moving piece.”

Who: Guido Lopez Gavilan is one of Cuba’s most famous composers.
What: Camerata en Guaguanco, Cantos de Orishas
When: Tue., Feb. 14; Fri., Feb. 17
Carrabré says: “I came across his music while in Cuba two years ago. It was one of those lucky things. I bought a CD of his at the hotel I was staying at, and when I went home and listened to it, it was the most incredible sound. He mixes Cuban dance music with classical music. It’s got that incredible Cuban rhythm.”

Who: Andrew Waggoner is a young American composer who was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 2005.
What: Livre, Le Même Ciel
When: Wed., Feb. 15; Thu., Feb. 16
Carrabré says: “Le Même Ciel is a trumpet concerto. It’s a virtuoso piece. If you want to hear a trumpet really wail, that’ll be the night.”

All shows at Centennial Concert Hall.