2020 Winnipeg New Music Festival program guide (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Overture #4)

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL JANUARY 25–31, 2020

PREMIER PATRON

MICHAEL NESBITT DANIEL RAISKIN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

HARRY STAFYLAKIS

CO-CURATOR & COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE

MICHAEL DAUGHERTY

DISTINGUISHED GUEST COMPOSER

SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER

DISTINGUISHED GUEST COMPOSER

WNMF.CA | WSO.CA

Proudly supporting our arts community today as it inspires the artists of tomorrow.

Composer

MESSAGE FROM DANIEL RAISKIN Last year, my first WNMF was a thrill to work on and to lead! An unforgettable week filled to the brim with wonderful music, emotions, exciting encounters and utmost concentration, it was one of the most significant events in my professional career. This unique event has been one of the fundamental “constants” of Winnipeg’s cultural landscape for the past 29 years. I am delighted to welcome you to the new edition of the Winnipeg New Music Festival!

I invite you to discover a seemingly endless array of musical styles and remarkably talented composers and performers. I am delighted that GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty, whose Raise the Roof we performed during WNMF 2019, has accepted my invitation to be one of our distinguished guest composers this year. And I can assure you that this time around the “roof ” will actually go off the building – such is the high-octane energy and drive of his Fire and Blood violin concerto and his Metropolis Symphony! And how about having two distinguished guest composers? The hauntingly beautiful musical world of Sarah Kirkland Snider has, in the words of The New York Times, “an elegiac quality that deftly evokes sensations of abandonment, agitation, grief and reconciliation.”

Once again, WNMF showcases some of most intriguing and original music by Canadian composers. I am delighted to present works by WSO’s Composer-in-Residence Harry Stafylakis, as well as Dinuk Wijerante, Terri Hron and Jared Miller. The fourth edition of the WNMF Composers Institute will present the new generation of Canadian composers and their vision of the future in orchestral music.

Winnipeg’s own Camerata Nova has been at the forefront of the new music scene for years, and their fascinating program will prove once again that truly innovative art is timeless.

I am also particularly looking forward to a performance by Tigran Hamasyan and collaboration with his trio. When you can recognize an artist from listening to just a few notes – you know that something unique is in the air. Such is his “signature language,” whose musical world is a remarkable mixture of Armenian folk, progressive metal, jazz and classics!

The opportunity to perform music that I have previously commissioned and premiered is very personal to me. Works by Lera Auerbach and Benjamin Staern will receive their Canadian premieres here in Winnipeg.

I should not forget to mention an outstanding line-up of brilliant soloists: Alexandre Da Costa, Shara Nova, Kinan Azmeh, Sara Davis Buechner and WSO’s own Jan Kocman – all of them will contribute to a fascinating week of new soundscapes, adventures and sensations!

Daniel Raiskin WNMF Artistic Director WSO Music Director WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 3

MESSAGE FROM HARRY STAFYLAKIS Now in my fourth year co-curating WNMF, I continue to revel in the expansiveness of the artistic canvas the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra offers with this incredible festival. It is a stimulating challenge to develop a feel for what musical territories have already been explored – or have begun to be explored – and to build on those traditions, while finding new creative avenues to traverse.

Where last year’s festival focused in on the cold brutality of Manitoban winter, the vastness of space and the surgical precision of metal, the 2020 edition veers into altogether warmer territory. Works by Mosolov, Daugherty, Snider and myself evoke various aspects of light and fire – as a tool, a weapon, a symbol for clarity, a focal point for memory, a source of warmth and comfort.

New mythologies are explored, in Snider’s case appropriating one of humanity’s most venerated ancient sources of storytelling as a means of finding a new perspective on life, while in Daugherty’s work lending an aural dimension to a powerful mythos that has emerged entirely within the past century. The inherent warmth of the human voice is itself embroiled in these pervasive themes, with singer-songwriter Shara Nova and our longtime collaborators Camerata Nova richly featured in their respective programs.

Echoing the inclusion of contemporary metal into the realm of “new music” in last year’s festival, pianist-composer Tigran Hamasyan and his trio inject a fresh energy to the festival with a bewildering fusion of jazz, classical, Armenian folk and modern metal. The very idea of virtuosity is highlighted, with a slew of guest soloists joining Maestro Raiskin and the WSO to deliver blistering instrumental works that circle around the genre of the concerto.

As always, it is a pleasure and an honour to be a steward for contemporary musical arts as part of WNMF, and I hope you enjoy the adventure with us!

Harry Stafylakis WNMF Co-Curator WSO Composer-in-Residence

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Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra 2019/20 Season MUSIC DIRECTOR

VIOLAS

HORNS

Daniel Raiskin

Daniel Scholz, Principal Anne Elise Lavallée, Assistant Principal Marie-Elyse Badeau Laszlo Baroczi Richard Bauch Greg Hay Michaela Kleer* Michael Scholz Heather Wilson†

Patricia Evans, Principal Ken MacDonald, Associate Principal

ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR

Julian Pellicano RBC ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Naomi Woo COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE & WNMF CO-CURATOR

Harry Stafylakis FIRST VIOLINS

Gwen Hoebig, Concertmaster THE SOPHIE-CARMEN ECKHARDT-GRAMATTÉ MEMORIAL CHAIR, ENDOWED BY THE ECKHARDT-GRAMATTÉ FOUNDATION

Karl Stobbe, Associate Concertmaster Mary Lawton, Assistant Concertmaster Chris Anstey Mona Coarda Jeff Dyrda Tara Fensom Jessie Ramsay* Hong Tian Jia Sonia Shklarov Julie Savard Jun Shao SECOND VIOLINS

Jeremy Buzash, Principal Elation Pauls, Assistant Principal Karen Bauch Kristina Bauch Elizabeth Dyer Bokyung Hwang Rodica Jeffrey Momoko Matsumura* Susan McCallum† Takayo Noguchi Jane Pulford Claudine St-Arnauld Christine Yoo*

CELLOS

THE HILDA SCHELBERGER MEMORIAL CHAIR

Aiden Kleer Caroline Oberheu Michiko Singh TRUMPETS

Chris Fensom, Principal Paul Jeffrey Isaac Pulford THE PATTY KIRK MEMORIAL CHAIR

Yuri Hooker, Principal Alex Adaman Grace An* Arlene Dahl Emma Quackenbush Alyssa Ramsay Sean Taubner

Steven Dyer, Principal Keith Dyrda

BASSES

TUBA

Meredith Johnson, Principal Andrew Goodlett, Assistant Principal Bruce Okrainec Daniel Perry Anna Scheider* Eric Timperman

TROMBONES

BASS TROMBONE

Tamas Markovics, Principal Jarrett McCourt* TIMPANI

Mike Kemp, Principal PERCUSSION

Andrew Johnson, Principal HARP

Richard Turner, Principal

FLUTES

Jan Kocman, Principal SUPPORTED BY GORDON & AUDREY FOGG

Alex Conway

ENDOWED BY W.H. & S.E. LOEWEN ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER

Greg Hay

OBOES

Beverly Wang, Principal Robin MacMillan

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN

ENGLISH HORN

ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN

Greg Hamilton

Robin MacMillan, Principal

Aiden Kleer

CLARINETS

In loving memory: Meredith McCallum, violin

Micah Heilbrunn, Principal Taylor Eiffert THE JAMES THOMSON MEMORIAL CHAIR BASSOONS

Kathryn Brooks, Principal Kristy Tucker

Please note: Non-titled (tutti) string players are listed alphabetically and are seated according to a rotational system. * Temporary Position † On Leave Fred Redekop is the official Piano Tuner and Technician of the WSO

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 5

WNMF Sponsors & Supporters PREMIER PATRON

Michael Nesbitt

ENSEMBLE

SOLOIST

Daniel Raiskin

Grant & Eleanor MacDougall Kevin & Betty McGarry Sandi & Ron Mielitz Dr. Ken Thorlakson Jens Wrogemann

FRIENDS OF THE WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

Dr. Linda Asper Beth Grubert/Baked Expectations Alison Baldwin Jackie Brignall Kevin Burns Timothy & Barbara Burt T. Patrick & Mary Jo Carrabre Peter Czaplinski Kathleen & David Estey Dr. LeeAnn Fishback Guillermo Rocha Medical Corporation Don & Jerri Hall Marilyn & Helios Hernandez Elmer & Hilda Hildebrand Koren & Leonard Kaminski Patricia Kellendonk Kozub/Halldorson Family Ron Lambert Bernard Léveillé & Moira Swinton Frank & Terry Martin Listing as of January 17, 2020 6

Brent Mazur & Nancy Quiring Sheila Miller Brenda Morlock Bob & Cindy Newfield Mikaela Oldenkamp Dr. Bill Pope & Dr. Elizabeth Tippett-Pope Beth M. Proven Pat & Bill Reid Michael Rennie Olga & Bill Runnalls Barbara Scheuneman Pietra Shirley Muriel Smith Marlene Stern & Peter Rae Art Turner & Lyn Stienstra Arni Thorsteinson & Susan Glass Stephanie M. van Nest Karin Woods Anne Yankiwski 1 Anonymous

WSO Sponsors, Funders & Acknowledgments THE WSO PROUDLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE ONGOING SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS, MEDIA AND FUNDERS KIDS CONCERTS SERIES

POPS SERIES

(A)BSOLUTE CLASSICS SERIES

BMO NIGHT AT THE MOVIES SERIES

WSO IN BRANDON

OPENING NIGHT GALA RAY & LYNNE-ANNE MCFEETORS

PERFORMANCE SPONSORS

RBC EMERGING CONDUCTORS PROGRAM RBC ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

DANIEL FRIEDMAN & ROB DALGLIESH

NETHERLANDS TOUR PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

MANITOBA HYDRO HOLIDAY TOUR

RBC CANADIAN CONDUCTORS SHOWCASE

SHARE THE MUSIC

SISTEMA WINNIPEG

ADVENTURES IN MUSIC (FRENCH)

SIOBHAN RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

THE BERTRAM AUSTIN GOODMAN, MARY EASTON MCLAREN GOODMAN & DOROTHY JEAN GOODMAN FOUNDATION

SPRING GALA

THE S.M. BLAIR FAMILY FOUNDATION

PIANO RAFFLE

CAR RAFFLE

SOUNDCHECK PROGRAM

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

Women’s Committee of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

PRESENTING MEDIA SPONSORS WSO CLASSICS

POPS

KIDS CONCERTS

FUNDERS

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 7

Calendar WNMF1

FIRE AND BLOOD Saturday, January 25 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WNMF2

PENELOPE Sunday, January 26 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WNMF3

ORCHESTRAL VOICES OF THE FUTURE Monday, January 27 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WNMF4

DE TOUTES FLOURS / OF ALL THE FLOWERS Tuesday, January 28 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WNMF5

THE ART OF DIALOGUE Wednesday, January 29 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WNMF6

TIGRAN HAMASYAN Thursday, January 30 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WNMF7

METROPOLIS SYMPHONY Friday, January 31 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

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Contents Art & Happenings

10

WNMF in the Community

12

Concert Programs

15

Fire and Blood

15

Penelope 23 Orchestral Voices of the Future

25

De toutes flours / Of All the Flowers

29

The Art of Dialogue

33

Tigran Hamasyan

37

Metropolis Symphony

39

WNMF Composers Institute

44

Interviews 45 Michael Daugherty

45

Sarah Kirkland Snider

46

Artist Biographies

48

Conductors & Composers

48

Guest Composers

51

Ensembles & Performers

63

Additional Musicians

69

Board & Staff

70

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 9

WNMF2020

ART & HAPPENINGS

PORTAL X Sound and Time There are few sounds so resonant, so haunting as the high voices chanting over the steady and persistent pow wow drum.

This music pulses with the steady heartbeat, the quest, lamentation or celebration, and connects people to the ancestors, to each other, to the land, and to the Great Spirit. It has been this way for millennia. In the more recent European tradition, the Latin Mass has numinous power, a cathedral of ethereal sound, which penetrates inward and reaches out. The text is ancient and the plaintive melodies transcendent. Music commissioned for Portal X, from two local composers, Jesse Krause and Darren Day, is inspired by this evocative tradition. This root language, Latin, is a strangely familiar sound that most of us feel rather than understand.

The themes of temporal and infinite are represented though discrete streams of rhythm and melody. The sinuous melodies and intertwined harmonies, which soar above the synthesized soundscape of throb and drone, the urgent rhythm of the heart, of the clock, the diurnal. The visceral geology of molten bass, now fluid, now solid, affords a deep, dark foundation; a contrast and a context for the chorale voices; like earth and sky, dark and light, hell and heaven, etc., etc.

These sonic lines are discrete yet symbiotic, they intersect where the two chambers meet and reverberate throughout the lobby of the Concert Hall.

Live vocal performance will occur on some nights to the synchronized version. On other nights, the two sonic streams will be de-synchronized in various combinations so each night’s experience will be unique.

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WNMF2020

ART & HAPPENINGS

Augmented WNMF: Digital Sound Sculptures Immerse yourself in a WNMF augmented reality experience all week.

Created by composer and guitarist Amy Brandon and inspired by each concert, different indoor and outdoor murals will come to life as you guide your phone inside the lobby and outside the Concert Hall in Steinkopf Gardens at each concert.

Visit wnmfxar.com to learn more and to download the app for free.

WNMF x AR

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 11

WNMF in the Community WNMF is stepping out into the daylight once again for a series of bite-sized daytime performances in the community throughout the festival.

FORM AND FLOW January 26, 2020 | 2–4 pm | The Common at The Forks Market One of the best things about the Winnipeg New Music Festival is not knowing what you’re going to hear or see next. Join the University of Manitoba Percussion Ensemble and the eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE) at The Forks for a series of short pop-up concerts between 2 and 4 pm. We will be premiering new works by Desautels Faculty of Music composition students as well as creating site-specific improvisations in the venue. Come and hear innovative and cutting-edge creations written and performed by up-and-coming musicians in one of the best public venues Winnipeg has to offer.

SKYWALK CONCERT SERIES: INDIGENOUS NEW MUSIC PERFORMED BY THE BRANDON UNIVERSITY NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE January 30, 2020 | 12:10 – 12:50 pm | Millennium Library Carol Shields Auditorium The Brandon University New Music Ensemble (BUNME), directed by Megumi Masaki, performs Indigenous compositions by Cris Derksen that “braid the traditional with the contemporary” and Ian Cusson that “explore the Canadian Aboriginal experience, including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures.” BUNME musicians: HwanGyu Cho, Kayla Hay, Alanna Hunter, David Yu Juncheng, Kendra Maxon, Jake Moral, Angela Myshkowsky, Wilhelm Neufeld, Azaria Neuschwander, Mishelle Renz, Jaimie Rose, Josias Sanchez, Megumi Masaki.

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WNMF2020

IN THE COMMUNITY

SONIC TRAILS Örjan Sandred, composer January 31, 2020 | 10 am – 9 pm Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Garden of Contemplation In Sonic Trails: the Prairies, composer Örjan Sandred uses the sound of environments from locations around Winnipeg as the base for immersive soundscapes. Sophisticated computer algorithms using artificial intelligence take decisions for how the sound-paintings evolve during the performance. The computer makes every moment unique – sometimes recognizable elements stick out and occasionally the soundscape opens up and puts us in a new context. The installation transfers us from our exterior impression of the surrounding to an internal experience of abstract beauty. The end result is the fascination for objects we do not control.

UBIQUITOUS VIBRATIONS River East Collegiate Percussion Ensemble – Jeff Kula, director January 31, 2020 | 12 – 12:45 pm | Kildonan Place Shopping Centre Vibrations are one of the most prolific dynamic phenomena in the universe that result in many complex and fascinating capabilities, such as music and chaos. Simply stated, music is orderly vibrations, while chaos is seemingly unpredictable. The River East Collegiate Percussion Ensemble will celebrate the music of composers Steve Reich, Jaco Pastorius, Leonard Cohen, Philip Glass and Owen Clark on a journey of Ubiquitous Virations.

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 13

ALEXANDRE DA COSTA

ALEXANDER MOSOLOV HARRY STAFYLAKIS MICHAEL DAUGHERTY SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER

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WNMF1

FIRE AND BLOOD

Saturday, January 25 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

Alexander Mosolov The Iron Foundry (1927) Harry Stafylakis (Can) Sun Exhaling Light (2017) Michael Daugherty Fire and Blood (2017) for violin and orchestra I. Volcano II. River Rouge III. Assembly Line INTERMISSION

Sarah Kirkland Snider Hiraeth (2015) for orchestra & film CANADIAN PREMIERE Film by Mark DeChiazza ARTISTS

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Daniel Raiskin, conductor Alexandre Da Costa, violin Mark DeChiazza, filmmaker PRE-CONCERT PANEL

POST-CONCERT Q+A

The Forge and the Hearth | 6:45 pm

Michael Daugherty, composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, composer Harry Stafylakis, composer Alexandre Da Costa, violinist Mark DeChiazza, filmmaker Daniel Raiskin, host

Michael Daugherty, composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, composer Mark DeChiazza, filmmaker Richard Derksen, architect Harry Stafylakis, composer Daniel Raiskin, host

POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

DJ Tony Neu

PRESENTING PATRON ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 15

WNMF1

FIRE AND BLOOD

Saturday, January 25 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Alexander Mosolov The Iron Foundry From the ballet Steel, Op. 19

By Laurel E. Fay Written for the concert Russian Futurists, performed on Jan 25, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, Alexander Mosolov (1900–73) was one of the driving forces on Moscow’s new music scene in the 1920s, a leader of the modernist direction. His reputation as a musical “constructivist” was earned with scores that plumbed the expressive potential of motoric rhythms, jagged melodic lines, percussive attacks, and pungent dissonance.

For its high-profile symphonic concert commemorating the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1927, Moscow’s Association of Contemporary Music programmed a fourmovement suite from a ballet, Steel, that the Bolshoi Theater had commissioned from Mosolov. (Shostakovich’s “symphonic dedication” to October was also performed at this concert).

Mosolov’s ballet never reached the stage. And, while critics and listeners responded positively to the performance of the Suite, only its introductory episode, The Iron Foundry (drawn from Act I), survives. Along with many of Mosolov’s scores from this period, the other three movements – titled respectively, “In Prison,” “At the Ball” and “On the Square” – were lost.

The Iron Foundry, however, was an instant hit. It remains Mosolov’s signature piece. Subtitled “Music of Machines,” the brief composition is a clamorous musical evocation of its subject matter. It was taken up quickly by conductors throughout Europe as a representative example of new Soviet art, published three times between 1929 and 1934 and, in 1936, released on disc in the West.

The artistic romance with the machine and with the industrial milieu was not uniquely Soviet.

Arthur Honegger’s Pacific 231 (1923), George Antheil’s Ballet mécanique (1924), and Sergei Prokofiev’s Le Pas d’Acier (The Steel Step, conceived in Paris in 1925 on a commission from Diaghilev) had all tapped into the same fascination. But among Soviet composers in the 1920s, Mosolov’s was the name most often associated with visions of the future. Under the title “The Spirit of the Factory,” The Iron Foundry scored a sensational success at its American premiere, in July 1931 at the Hollywood Bowl, as the music for a ballet choreographed

by Adolph Bolm. Performed by two principal dancers (male and female dynamos) against interlocking lines of human switches, gears, pistons, spring valves, flywheels and more, the mechanical precision of Bolm’s choreography produced “a tremendous spectacle of concerted rhythm.”

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Harry Stafylakis Sun Exhaling Light (2017) “[…] But let’s not start with tears, or the flashing lights, the sirens, nor the faint voice over the cell phone when you heard ‘I love you …’ for the very last time. No, let’s ease our way into this, let our first lines praise the plenitude of morning, the sun exhaling light into the clouds. […]”

– Richard Blanco, from “One Pulse – One Poem” On June 12, 2016, a man shot and killed 49 people and wounded 58 others in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Richard Blanco’s “One Pulse – One Poem,” a stirring reaction to this atrocity, depicts the poet-observer trying to come to terms with the reality of the event. Inviting the reader to join him in calm commiseration, he counsels us to first take stock in our surroundings – in the quiet beauty of our natural and built environment – before joining him in attempting to find the words to express the horror that such an act of violence elicits.

Sun Exhaling Light takes this premise as its starting point. Solar wind is a stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun. It buffets our planet constantly, Earth’s magnetosphere our only protection against the intense radiation that would inflict severe damage on all life. One can imagine these competing forces as a metaphor for the conflict between the drive to aggression and the protective shield that is human civilization. The piece envisions scenarios in which our culturally constructed defences are eroded, bursts of violence tearing through, leaving us stunned and deeply mournful.

– Harry Stafylakis The title Sun Exhaling Light is taken from the poem “One Pulse – One Poem” by Richard Blanco, used with permission of the author. Excerpt from the poem reprinted with permission; © 2016, Richard Blanco.

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 17

WNMF1

FIRE AND BLOOD

Saturday, January 25 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Michael Daugherty Fire and Blood (2017) for violin and orchestra Fire and Blood (2003), a concerto for violin and orchestra, was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The world premiere was given by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Neeme Jarvi, with Ida Kavafian, solo violin, at Symphony Hall, Detroit, Michigan on May 3, 2003.

In 1932, Edsel Ford commissioned the Mexican modernist artist Diego Rivera (1886–1957) to paint a mural representing the automobile industry of Detroit. Rivera came to Detroit and worked over the next two years to paint four large walls of the inner courtyard at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Considered among his best work, Rivera’s extraordinary “Detroit Industry” murals have inspired me to create my own musical fresco for violin and orchestra. It was Rivera himself who predicted the possibility of turning his murals into music, after returning from a tour of the Ford factories: “In my ears, I heard the wonderful symphony which came from his factories where metals were shaped into tools for men’s service. It was a new music, waiting for the composer … to give it communicable form.”

I. Volcano Before coming to Detroit, Rivera lived in Mexico City, surrounded by volcanoes. Fire is an important element in his murals, which depict the blaze of factory furnaces like erupting volcanoes. Volcanic fire was also associated with revolution by Rivera, an ardent member of the Mexican Communist party. He saw the creation of the Detroit murals as a way to further his revolutionary ideas. The music of the first movement responds to the fiery furnaces of Rivera’s imagination. The violinist plays virtuosic triple stops, while the orchestra explodes with pulsating energy. The composition alternates between repeated patterns in 7/4 time and polytonal passages that occur simultaneously in different tempos. It concludes with an extended violin cadenza accompanied by marimba and maracas.

II. River Rouge At the Ford River Rouge Automobile Complex, located next to the Detroit River, Rivera spent many months creating sketches of workers and machinery in action. He was accompanied by his young wife, the remarkable Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1906-1954). She lived in constant pain as a result of polio in childhood and a serious bus accident at age 18 in Mexico City. Many of her self-portraits depict the suffering of her body. During her time with Rivera in Detroit, Kahlo nearly died from a miscarriage, as depicted in paintings such as Henry Ford Hospital and My Birth. The color of blood is everywhere in these works. She also had a passionate and playful side: she loved wearing colorful traditional Mexican dresses and jewelry, drinking tequila and singing at parties. Kahlo’s labors, grief, and zeal for life added another perspective to Rivera’s industry. This movement is dedicated to Frida Kahlo’s spirit.

The solo violin introduces two main themes. The first theme is dissonant and chromatic, flowing like a red river of blood. The second is a haunting melody that Kahlo herself might have sung, longing to return to her native Mexico. The orchestra resonates with floating marimbas and string tremolo, echoing like a mariachi band in the distance. The orchestration is colorful, like the bright tapestries of her dress. While death and suffering haunt the music, there is an echo of hope.

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III. Assembly Line Rivera described his murals as a depiction of “towering blast furnaces, serpentine conveyor belts, impressive scientific laboratories, busy assembly rooms; and all the men who worked them all.” Rather than pitting man against machine, Rivera thought the collaboration of man and machine would bring liberation for the worker. The violin soloist in this final movement is like the worker, surrounded by a mechanical orchestra. The music is a roller coaster ride on a conveyor belt, moving rapidly in 7/8 time. This perpetual motion is punctuated by pizzicato strings, percussive whips, and brassy cluster chords. The percussion section plays factory noises on metal instruments like break drums and triangles, and a ratchet turns like the wheels of the machinery. In addition to this acceleration of multiple mechanical rhythms, the musical phrasing recalls the undulating wave pattern that moves from panel to panel in Rivera’s mural.

– Michael Daugherty

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 19

WNMF1

FIRE AND BLOOD

Saturday, January 25 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Sarah Kirkland Snider Hiraeth (2015) for orchestra & film Film by Mark DeChiazza CANADIAN PREMIERE

Hiraeth is a Welsh word with no direct English equivalent. The University of Wales defines it as “homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed; a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness.” Oxford and Merriam Webster define it as “a homesickness for a home you cannot return to, or that never was.”

In 2013 the North Carolina Symphony commissioned me to write a large-scale piece about my family ties to the state. My father grew up in the small town of Salisbury, and his ancestors had been in North Carolina for 13 generations. His mother was an avid historian who helped found the Salisbury Historic Foundation and fought to preserve much of the town and surrounding parts of Rowan County. She assiduously educated my brother and me on our great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles and cousins – their names, personalities and accomplishments – going back several generations. It was very important to her that we knew where we came from. We were very close with my dad’s side of the family, and spent a lot of time in Salisbury as I grew up. All of this fostered in me a deep feeling that while New Jersey was my circumstantial home, North Carolina was my spiritual one – a safe harbour, a place that, if all else failed, would take care of me somehow.

My plan was to write a personal meditation on notions of home, family, and what it means to belong, as seen through the lens of my childhood memories of North Carolina. Because music is abstract and the theme for this commission was so specific, I thought it might be interesting to create a visual component of the piece to explore some of the memories that inspired the music. Sunlight was a salient feature of my North Carolina memories – the play of light and shadow on Wax Myrtle trees on my grandparents’ patio, the late-day sun filtering through their porch windows, or the pale, consoling daylight of winter. The fragrant air, the dense humidity, the rhythms of Southern speech cadence and gesticulations: I had very specific sense memories of North Carolina. I knew of a filmmaker, Mark DeChiazza, who made beautiful films for concert music, and I thought he might be able to capture some of this. With the support of several historic foundations in Salisbury, we were able to make it happen.

Then, life interfered: shortly after receiving the commission and creating the plans for the film, my father was diagnosed with a rare, untreatable cancer. Three months later he was gone. I felt I could no longer write the piece I’d planned to write. Reeling from the shock and pain of his loss, my initial conception of a nostalgic exploration of childhood and memory was now suffused with melancholy and angst. In thinking about my father’s life – all its joys and tragedies, triumphs and injustices – the material grew darker and more personal. My reflections on small-town North Carolina also became more complex – it was a place that signified warmth, home and belonging for me, but it had also borne witness to terrible events in our nation’s history and was culturally steeped in many narrow ways of 20

thinking, narrowness that was not without tragic impact on my family. My feelings about North Carolina were complicated, particularly vis-à-vis my father’s life, and that emotional complexity kept tugging at my musical impulses.

Mark’s and my thinking about the film changed, too: we had initially envisioned an abstract poem of town and landscape, but Mark now suggested we bring humanity into it. I let Mark have free rein and what evolved was a dreamlike recasting of my father’s and my memories of childhood in small-town North Carolina, featuring my own children, my uncle (my father’s identical twin) and close family friends.

Ultimately, Hiraeth is both elegy and personal reflection – an exploration of the hazy, dreamlike textures and sensations that attend nostalgia and recollection, and a meditation on the nature of memory itself. At times I consciously strove to emulate the logic and architecture of memory – motifs overlap in evolving ways, thoughts wander and interrupt one another. Frequently, one memory, with a specific set of emotional evocations, is layered with the colour and perfume of another – harmonically, motivically or texturally. Mostly I just tried to immerse myself in my own hiraeth for this time and space I can’t return to, and give voice to what rose to the surface.

– Sarah Kirkland Snider My film that partners Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Hiraeth, composed in the wake of her father’s death, presents a dreamscape of her father’s hometown and youth. It gazes back into an imagined past, its imagery a collage of invented home movies – an idealized and ampedup version of dad’s old Super-8s. Taking Sarah’s family members as subjects (including her own children and her fathers’ twin brother), I shot in Salisbury, North Carolina, her father’s hometown. The children play within a narrative that is always kept slightly outside of the film’s frame – we sense it beside us, but our perspective is oblique to it. Next to a story rather than within it, we can drift within the poetry of tones, colours and textures it exudes.

In making the film, I noted how a memory from my own childhood would often centre on details tangential to whatever event caused the imprint, focusing instead perhaps on a scuffed kitchen floor, or the musk of wet bark, or sunlight trapped in a spider web hung with dew.

The vivid myopia of early memories reflects the immediate and tactile way that children explore and experience their world, often through play. The camera had to move and fixate similarly to open a window to a fictional nostalgic past, selectively foregrounding some elements while leaving others obscured in luminous haze – simplifying what is complicated and burnishing the beautiful.

– Mark DeChiazza

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 21

SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER AND SHARA NOVA 22

WNMF2

PENELOPE

Sunday, January 26 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

Amy Brandon (Can) flesh projektor (2019) for augmented guitar Sarah Kirkland Snider Penelope (2010/2019) for mezzo-soprano, 7 players and laptop/live electronics CANADIAN PREMIERE OF CHAMBER ENSEMBLE VERSION Text by Ellen McLaughlin 1. The Stranger with the Face of a Man I Loved 2. This Is What You’re Like 3. The Honeyed Fruit 4. The Lotus Eaters 5. Nausicaa 6. Circe and the Hanged Man 7. I Died of Waiting 8. Home 9. Dead Friend 10. Calypso 11. And Then You Shall Be Lost Indeed 12. Open Hands 13. Baby Teeth, Bones, and Bullets 14. As He Looks Out to Sea ARTISTS

Shara Nova, mezzo-soprano

Marie-Elyse Badeau, viola

Julian Pellicano, conductor

Sean Taubner, cello

Amy Brandon, guitar & electronics

Meredith Johnson, bass

Chris Anstey, violin

Ilia Rayskin, drum set & percussion

Jeff Dyrda, violin

Michael Hammond, laptop & live electronics

PRE-CONCERT PANEL

POST-CONCERT Q+A

Interpretive Filters | 6:45 pm

Sarah Kirkland Snider, composer Shara Nova, mezzo-soprano Julian Pellicano, conductor Amy Brandon, composer-guitarist Daniel Raiskin & Harry Stafylakis, hosts

Shara Nova, singer-songwriter Sarah Kirkland Snider, composer Amy Brandon, composer-guitarist Julian Pellicano, conductor Naomi Woo, conductor Harry Stafylakis, host

POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

DJ Tony Neu

ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 23

WNMF2

PENELOPE

Sunday, January 26 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Amy Brandon flesh projektor (2019) for augmented guitar flesh projektor lies at the intersection of graphic score, controller and improvisational movement. Via the META AR headset, the performer triggers electronic sounds via 3D augmented reality graphics embedded in the guitar, and manipulates them with hand movements, offering the chance to ‘play’ the instrument in both the real and virtual worlds simultaneously.

– Amy Brandon

Sarah Kirkland Snider Penelope (2010/2019) for mezzo-soprano, 7 players and laptop/live electronics Text by Ellen McLaughlin CANADIAN PREMIERE OF CHAMBER ENSEMBLE VERSION

Inspired by Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey, Penelope is a meditation on memory, identity and what it means to come home. The song cycle, written in 2009 for Shara Nova and Ensemble Signal, is based on a music-theatre monodrama written by Snider and playwright Ellen McLaughlin for the J. Paul Getty Center in 2008. In the work, a woman’s husband appears at her door after an absence of 20 years, suffering from brain damage. A veteran of an unnamed war, he doesn’t know who he is and she doesn’t know who he’s become. While they wait together for his return to himself, she reads to him from the Odyssey, and in the journey of that book, she finds a way into her former husband’s memory and the terror and trauma of war. Receiving its Canadian Premiere this evening, the small ensemble version of Penelope debuted at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 2019, in a new staging directed by Alison Moritz.

– Sarah Kirkland Snider

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WNMF3

ORCHESTRAL VOICES OF THE FUTURE

Monday, January 27 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

2020 CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composer Competition winner: Henry From (Can) Isle of Pic (2019) for orchestra WORLD PREMIERE WNMF Composers Institute participants: Matthew-John Knights (Can) Voici les larmes avec lesquelles je pleure pour toi (2016/2019) WORLD PREMIERE Liam Ross Gibson (Can) Monstera Deliciosa (2019) WORLD PREMIERE Mackenzie Carroll (Can) Blood Sky (2019) WORLD PREMIERE Matthew Emery (Can) Unanswered Letters (2019) WORLD PREMIERE Julia Mermelstein (Can) in turn (2017/2019) WORLD PREMIERE Simon Grégorcic (Can) Two Collages: on the waves of Lake Ballaton (2017/2019) WORLD PREMIERE

I. First Collage II. Cantus ARTISTS

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Sarah Kirkland Snider, mentor composer

Daniel Raiskin, conductor

Jared Miller, mentor composer

Julian Pellicano, conductor

Harry Stafylakis, mentor composer

Naomi Woo, conductor PRE-CONCERT PANEL

POST-CONCERT Q+A

Composer Lounge | 6:45 pm

Mackenzie Carroll, Matthew Emery, Henry From, Liam Ross Gibson, Simon Grégorcic, Matthew-John Knights & Julia Mermelstein; composers Julian Pellicano, conductor Naomi Woo, conductor Daniel Raiskin, conductor & host

Sarah Kirkland Snider, mentor composer Jared Miller, mentor composer Henry From, composer Amy Brandon, composer Harry Stafylakis, mentor composer & host

ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE

POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

DJ Tony Neu

PRESENTING PATRONS:

Kevin & Betty McGarry WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 25

WNMF3

ORCHESTRAL VOICES OF THE FUTURE

Monday, January 27 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Henry From Isle of Pic (2019) for orchestra 2020 CMC PRAIRIE REGION EMERGING COMPOSER COMPETITION WINNER • WORLD PREMIERE

This composition was inspired by Sombre Isle of Pic, a 1927 painting by Arthur Lismer of the Algoma region on the northern shore of Lake Superior. I saw this painting in the summer of 2017, and it immediately sparked my imagination for an orchestral piece. Throughout the composition, you will hear tumultuous waters, soaring mountain peaks, steep cliffs, windswept pines, and impressive vantage points. The description at the Winnipeg Art Gallery says, “Lismer marshals the region’s undulating topography and shifting colour into a perceptual maze, leading the viewer on a tour of the landscape’s broad natural rhythms.”

I evoked the idea of a “perceptual maze” with swirling sixteenth notes and overlapping harmonies. Although the piece starts with a representation of crashing waves and quickly builds to a dramatic climax, it eventually calms down to a peaceful sound-world where harmonies that were heard in the opening are restated in a very different context.

– Henry From

Matthew-John Knights Voici les larmes avec lesquelles je pleure pour toi (2016/2019) WORLD PREMIERE Voici les larmes avec lesquelles je pleure pour toi (Here are the tears that I cry for you) is written as a goodbye to a dear friend of mine. As he left, I was filled with many emotions beyond only sadness – I realized that his moving away was in every respect the right decision for him, and this piece is a reflection of the conflict that I felt within myself: for missing my friend, and for knowing how much happier he is now. Often, I found myself drawn to nostalgic themes and sentiments, which feature prominently in the work, trying to remember the good times shared, and as a reminder that more will eventually follow.

– Matthew-John Knights

Liam Ross Gibson Monstera Deliciosa (2019) WORLD PREMIERE Monstera Deliciosa is the Latin name of the common Swiss cheese houseplant. It serves as a convenient metaphor for the development of the piece: variety achieved through a simple form growing in different sizes, speeds, shades and positions. The rhythmic material of the piece is all derived from a beat cycle of 3-2-3 (Matya tala tisra jati in Carnatic classical music).

Mackenzie Carroll Blood Sky (2019) WORLD PREMIERE Blood Sky was written in 2019 for the Winnipeg New Music Festival Composer’s Institute and it is Mackenzie Carroll’s first foray into the world of orchestral writing. Blood Sky is a onemovement piece for orchestra inspired by Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream and by the 26

composer’s own experience with mental illness. The inspiration behind the title is from the unusual dark red and orange colour that Munch painted the sky, as if it was painted in blood.

In this piece there is an overwhelming darkness in the beginning that rises to chaos which is then banished by light at the end, and although there is still darkness and sadness in the end of the piece it is more a reminiscence than a return to darkness. This work was written while the composer was mentally ill and so the inspiration for the darkness and chaos also comes from this, but the light at the end of the piece is more so a hope for better mental health and a calm mind; the dark clouds being banished by the sun.

Matthew Emery Unanswered Letters (2019) WORLD PREMIERE Unanswered Letters is a lyrical piece which unfolds using variations in colour and textures.

The music is inspired by the ideas of the ordinary: dishes left undone, emails unanswered, mail that goes unopened. I am inspired by things that may be seen as unremarkable by others by searching out beauty in everyday life.

– Matthew Emery

Julia Mermelstein in turn (2017/2019) WORLD PREMIERE in turn explores a vast, open space that is in constant flux. These movements are subtle and are constantly prone to disruption, transforming and evolving into new paths. There are sequences in nature that continually return but in different ways each time. This sonic space gradually contracts into dense, wavering movements, eventually settling into a new form of what was there before.

Simon Grégorcic Two Collages: on the waves of Lake Ballaton (2017/2019) WORLD PREMIERE As a former pianist in a gypsy orchestra, I have often wondered how I could appropriate this repertoire and style in my work as a composer. In this composition, I tried to answer it by using the theme of some Hungarian music I particularly liked – The Waves of Lake Balaton – in two different ways: the first in the form of a collage, the sort of American composer Charles Ives, and the second in the form of a cantus firmus, where the very slowed-down melody serves as the basis for the whole proliferating orchestral texture.

– Simon Gregorcic

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 27

AIR CANADA SOUNDBYTES POPS

On behalf of

DARRELL G EBHARDT

Family, Partners, & Associates

Proud supporter of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, we celebrate and wish them a huge success on their 72nd season!

April – May 2018 I OVERTURE 17

WNMF4

DE TOUTES FLOURS / OF ALL THE FLOWERS Tuesday, January 28 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

Carlo Gesualdo Tristis est anima mea Terri Hron (Can) BitterSweet: Sacrifice – The World Trembles – And I Will (2013) for choir and electronics Mary Kouyoumdjian Become Who I Am (2015) for women’s chorus, string quartet and electronics CANADIAN PREMIERE Guillaume de Machaut De toutes flours Terri Hron (Can) Of All the Flowers (2019) for choir, recorder, historical keyboards and electronics WORLD PREMIERE Kristi Lane Sinclair (Can) Woman (2015) Cecilia Livingston (Can) Kiss Goodnight (2012/2016) Otar Taktakishvili Sach’idao (1984) Alexi Matchavariani Doluri (1986/2007) Ioseb Kechakmadze Lasharis gzaze ARTISTS

Camerata Nova: Choir: Merina Dobson-Perry, Sarah Sommer, Sydney Clarke, Donnalynn Grills, Angela Neufeld, Dan Rochegood, Justin Odwak, Michael Thompson, Scott Reimer, Matthew Knight, Alan Schroeder Mel Braun & Vic Pancratz, curator/conductors Terri Hron, recorder & electronics Katelyn Clark, historical keyboards Karl Stobbe, violin; Jeremy Buzash, violin; Daniel Scholz, viola; Yuri Hooker, cello

PRE-CONCERT PANEL

POST-CONCERT Q+A

POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

Contemporary Renaissance 6:45 pm

Terri Hron, composer Mel Braun, conductor Vic Pankratz, conductor Harry Stafylakis, host

DJ Tony Neu

Terri Hron, composer Mel Braun, conductor Vic Pankratz, conductor Dave Lake, radio host Harry Stafylakis, host

PRESENTING PATRONS:

Sandi & Ron Mielitz CAMERATA NOVA SUPPORTED BY:

ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE

Sandi & Ron Mielitz Bill Pope & Elizabeth Tippett-Pope WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 29

WNMF4

DE TOUTES FLOURS / OF ALL THE FLOWERS

Tuesday, January 28 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Terri Hron BitterSweet BitterSweet explores the passage from inner darkness, through the beginning of hope, towards light. At the heart of the work are three poems from the collection Pribehy/parafraze (Stories/paraphrases) by my late grandfather, the Czech poet and translator Jan Vladislav.

The sonic material comes from various sources, including the sound of my grandfather’s voice reciting the three poems, the motet Tristis est anima mea by Orlando di Lasso, James MacMillan’s Sun Dogs, and four folk songs. Other poetic materials include excerpts from Arthur Rimbaud and Antonin Artaud that my grandfather’s poems make reference to, as well as a text written for the piece by Robert Glick. I thought of BitterSweet as a passion, and chose to give it a rather contemplative character, since Lent – and indeed other rites of cleansing and renewal – is a time of inner reflection. The choir is often just one of the layers of sound within the electronics that create slowly shifting textures.

In early 2013, Spiritus Chamber Choir, conducted by Tim Shantz with two soloists, Nina Hornjatkevyc and Katy Warke, gave the first performance of BitterSweet: a Passion.

– Terri Hron

Mary Kouyoumdjian Become Who I Am (2015) for women’s chorus, string quartet and electronics CANADIAN PREMIERE

There are many factors that can contribute to gender inequality in the workplace, from historical views to culturally imposed biases. I’m particularly interested in the idea that an individual’s level of confidence in their identity and abilities – or lack of confidence – can affect how they deal with gender barriers. Become Who I Am comprises interviews I recorded with members of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, who ranged from 13 to 17 years of age. Volunteers were asked to share what they were passionate about, when they felt most confident and/or insecure, to respond to a series of gender inequality statistics, and to brainstorm solutions to the disparity in numbers. Out of their responses, I constructed the libretto and prerecorded backing track.

– Mary Kouyoumdjian

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Kristi Lane Sinclair Woman (2015) This piece is for the Murdered and Missing Women and Girls. It’s a call to action and it’s to spotlight the beauty and power that our Indigenous Women embody.

– Kristi Lane Sinclair

Cecilia Livingston Kiss Goodnight (2012/2016) This is a lullaby for anyone who cannot sleep. I’ve been interested in sleep and dreams, insomnia and nightmares, for a long time. My text is deliberately ambiguous – is this a parent singing to a child? A lover soothing a lover? It doesn’t matter, really; the point is the comforting. The middle section of the piece is stranger, more alien, subject to the odd logic of half-sleep and dreams. I’ve always loved the idea that at night you may sleep next to someone (you may even be holding hands or entwined) yet your minds take off in completely different directions. You’re together and yet – not.

The accompaniment in the choir draws on my secret love of doo-wop, and a cappella groups like Rajaton. – Cecilia Livingston when I was a child I was afraid of the dark, but now, Love, I see that night is a time for peace. here, side by side, we sleep, each with an arm around each other drifting (drifting, drifting) far but never untethered, always together. when I was a child I was afraid of the dark, but now, Love, I see that night is a time for peace.

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 31

TIGRAN HAMASYAN

GABRIELA LENA FRANK

KINAN AZMEH

JAN KOCMAN

JARED MILLER 32

SARA DAVIS BUECHNER

DINUK WIJERATNE

WNMF5

THE ART OF DIALOGUE Wednesday, January 29 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

Gabriela Lena Frank Illapa: Tone Poem for Flute & Orchestra (2004) CANADIAN PREMIERE I. Introducción: Soliloquio Serrano II. Harawi Dinuk Wijeratne (Can) Clarinet Concerto (2018) for solo clarinet, strings, & piano CO-COMMISSIONED BY WSO & SYMPHONY NOVA SCOTIA • MANITOBA PREMIERE

Part I – Prologue: Foretelling Part II – The Dance of Ancestral Ties Part III – Flux Part IV – Exile: The salt of bread and rhythm Part V – Cadenza: Solitary Traveller Part VI – Epilogue: Home in Motion INTERMISSION

Jared Miller (Can) Shattered Night (2019) for piano & orchestra WORLD PREMIERE CO-COMMISSIONED BY WSO & SARA DAVIS BUECHNER WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS

Tigran Hamasyan Road Song (2013) for jazz trio & orchestra ARTISTS

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Daniel Raiskin, conductor Tigran Hamasyan Trio Tigran Hamasyan, piano Evan Marien, bass Nate Wood, drums

Kinan Azmeh, clarinet Sara Davis Buechner, piano Jan Kocman, flute

PRE-CONCERT PANEL

POST-CONCERT Q+A

Musical Dialogues | 6:45 pm Sara Davis Buechner, pianist Jan Kocman, flutist Kinan Azmeh, clarinetist Jared Miller, composer Dinuk Wijeratne, composer Tigran Hamasyan, composer Daniel Raiskin, host

Dinuk Wijeratne, composer Kinan Azmeh, clarinetist Jared Miller, composer Sara Davis Buechner, pianist Jan Kocman, flutist Tigran Hamasyan, composer Daniel Raiskin, conductor & host

ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE PRESENTING PATRONS:

POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

Devon Gillingham, bass Evan Miles, piano Tetyana Haraschuck, drums Daniel Raiskin | Grant & Eleanor MacDougall WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 33

WNMF5

THE ART OF DIALOGUE

Wednesday, January 29 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Gabriela Lena Frank Illapa: Tone Poem for Flute and Orchestra (2004) CANADIAN PREMIERE Illapa: Tone Poem for Flute and Orchestra (2004) (dedicated in affection and appreciation to Leone Buyse and Larry Rachleff) depicts a moment in the life of Illapa, a powerful weather god from ancient South American Andean culture.

In the first movement, Introducción: Soliloquio Serrano (“Introduction: Mountain Soliloquy”), Illapa sits at the edge of a highland valley, playing his bamboo flute while accompanied only by his own parpadeos or “blinking” (initially performed by orchestra claves). While not an actual Andean tune, Illapa’s soliloquy evokes typical gestures and articulation effects of mountain flutes. At the end of the movement, momentum picks up as Illapa slowly leans over and then finally leaps to the floor of the valley, whirling his music on the flute and blinking his eyes ever more furiously.

At the entrance of the rest of the orchestra, Illapa is now standing squarely inside the valley as the second movement, Harawi, commences. The vastness and mystery of the Andes are conveyed by the low and high glissing strings, the oscillating marimbas and the interplay between the conga drum and rainstick.

When the flute re-enters, the harawi music begins with the typical melancholy and elegiac mood encountered in this traditional song form. The melody is also played by the violas and violoncellos albeit slightly out of synchronization to convey the wet reverberating effect of Andean echoes (marked in the score as Un grito y un mil de ecos, or “a cry and a thousand echoes”). Illapa’s flute music is increasingly overwhelmed by the valley’s own naturaleza, its own inner life, until the moment when Illapa takes out his spinning top (the zumballyu) and spins it, calling up a storm. Thunder and lightning crack around the havoc that the zumballyu creates as it uproots trees and boulders in a violent yet brief fury.

After the climactic highpoint, we hear the sounds of the valley in the aftermath of the storm, and Illapa is curiously quiet (… stunned? …) – quiet, that is, until a final flute call that holds and then slowly fades as Illapa climbs out of the valley, looks back at the destruction left in his wake, and blinks… just once.

Illapa: Tone Poem for Flute and Orchestra (2004) also exists in a purely symphonic version as the middle movement of Three Latin American Dances for Orchestra (2004).

– Gabriela Lena Frank

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Dinuk Wijeratne Clarinet Concerto (2018) for solo clarinet, strings, & piano CO-COMMISSIONED BY WSO & SYMPHONY NOVA SCOTIA • MANITOBA PREMIERE

This concerto for clarinet is part autobiographical immigrant story, part response to the Syrian conflict, and part exploration of the notion of “home.”

Kinan Azmeh and I have been close friends and musical travellers since our student days at both the Juilliard School and International House, New York City. Our Art of the Duo project – a recital of original music for clarinet and piano – continues to take us to concert venues around the world. For me personally, our 2009 Middle East tour left an indelible impression. Particularly memorable were the two concerts in Kinan’s native Syria, in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo.

It seemed natural to me that this piece would become my response to what has transpired in Syria since that time. At the time of writing, the Syrian conflict has claimed 400,000 lives.

Since the uprising began in 2011, over five million have fled their country as refugees, the Canadian government having resettled over 40,000 Syrians. At the heart of this music is the question of how one might define – or be forced to redefine – the meaning of “home.”

The solo clarinet represents “the traveller,” an individual in turns either in line or at odds with his/her environment(s). The concerto has an approximate duration of 27 minutes, comprising six episodes which are designed to run into each other without interruption: Part I – Prologue: Foretelling is a dark musical dream sequence. The clarinet, beginning offstage, is heard in an anguished premonition of things to come.

Part II – The Dance of Ancestral Ties celebrates a carefree childhood, with its essence deeply rooted “at home” both geographically and socially.

Part III – Flux destabilizes the traveller’s sense of security. There is a sense of dislocation.

Part IV – Exile: The salt of bread and rhythm is a desolate response to the essay Reflections on Exile by Edward Said, in which he quotes the poet Mahmoud Darwish. In Said’s words: “[Exile] is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.”

In Part V – Cadenza: Solitary Traveller, the clarinet is left alone to play a cadenza, or solo passage.

In Part VI – Epilogue: Home in Motion, the traveller learns to be “at home” everywhere. © Dinuk Wijeratne, 2018

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 35

WNMF5

THE ART OF DIALOGUE

Wednesday, January 29 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Jared Miller Shattered Night (2019) for piano & orchestra WORLD PREMIERE CO-COMMISSIONED BY WSO & SARA DAVIS BUECHNER WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS

The idea for this piece came to me in the months leading up to November 2018, which marked the 80th anniversary of one of the most tragic and formative events in Jewish history: Kristallnacht. During this “Night of Broken Glass,” Jewish property was ravaged and destroyed, Jewish literature was burned and the Jewish community across Europe was profoundly shaken. But these riots, horrific as they were, merely foreshadowed the terror that was to reign on the Jews during the Second World War. The silenced voices of the Holocaust include those of my own Polish and Russian-Jewish family. The physical and spiritual connections to my past, and to a collective anguish of untold proportion, are profound – beyond word, beyond worldly description.

My piano concerto is in fact a Nocturne, perhaps an ironic title as such solo piano works by composers like Chopin or Fauré imply the romance of quiet nights and tender serenades. But indeed the feeling of night is, in this new composition, tied to concepts of silence, closure and death.

Shattered Night is largely based upon a well-known melodic setting of the Hebrew Prayer “S’hma Yisrael.” The centerpiece of Jewish morning and evening prayer services, it is often sung by the entire congregation in synagogue and embodies the idea of “community” for me. It is also recited by children before sleep, and serves as “last words” for the dying. In the context of the Kristallnacht and my new composition, these three themes – of community, of the night and of death – are explored as fragments of the Sh’ma setting. The themes are quoted and interpolated with other musical material, distorted, and in the end they all fade away, gradually, and subsequently disappear into silence.

– JM

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WNMF6

TIGRAN HAMASYAN Thursday, January 30 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

Tigran Hamasyan selections ARTISTS

Tigran Hamasyan Trio Tigran Hamasyan, piano Evan Marien, bass Nate Wood, drums PRE-CONCERT PANEL

Genre Boundaries | 6:45 pm Tigran Hamasyan, composer Evan Marien, bassist Nate Wood, drummer Daniel Raiskin & Harry Stafylakis, hosts POST-CONCERT Q+A

Tigran Hamasyan, composer Evan Marien, bassist Nate Wood, drummer Daniel Raiskin & Harry Stafylakis, hosts POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

Devon Gillingham, bass Evan Miles, piano Tetyana Haraschuck, drums ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE

PRESENTING PATRON

WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 37

MICHAEL DAUGHERTY

LERA AUERBACH

DANIEL RAISKIN 38

DANÍEL BJARNASON

BENJAMIN STAERN

WNMF7

METROPOLIS SYMPHONY Friday, January 31 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall WORKS

Lera Auerbach Eterniday (Homage to W.A. Mozart) (2010) for orchestra CANADIAN PREMIERE

Daníel Bjarnason All Sounds to Silence Come (2007) for chamber orchestra NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Benjamin Staern Wave Movements (2011) for orchestra CANADIAN PREMIERE INTERMISSION

Michael Daugherty Metropolis Symphony (1988–93) for orchestra 1. Lex 2. Krypton METROPOLIS YOUR PERSONAL SYMPHONY FEATURES CONCERT COMPANION 3. Mxyzptlk 4. Oh, Lois!

5. Red Cape Tango ARTISTS

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Daniel Raiskin, conductor PRE-CONCERT PANEL

Mythologies Old & New | 6:45 pm Michael Daugherty, composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, composer Daniel Raiskin & Harry Stafylakis, hosts POST-CONCERT Q+A

Michael Daugherty, composer Daniel Raiskin, conductor & host POST-CONCERT LOUNGE

DJ Tony Neu ALL PRE- AND POST- CON CERT E VENTS O CCUR ON THE PIAN O N OBILE

PRESENTING PATRON:

Dr. Ken Thorlakson WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 39

WNMF7

METROPOLIS SYMPHONY

Friday, January 31 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

Lera Auerbach Eterniday (Homage to W.A. Mozart) (2010) for orchestra CANADIAN PREMIERE I sketched the full work in late August – early September 2009 and left the manuscript on top of my Steinway concert grand in my studio in New York before leaving for a tour. I planned to finish it when I returned from the tour in December. While I was away, there was a devastating electrical fire in my studio which burned down the entire apartment, including the Steinway and everything that was around it. The manuscript of the new work was gone. I tried to remember what I had written, but soon gave up any hopes to resurrect it; the creative impulse behind this work was gone, and without my manuscript to guide me back I lost the sense of what this work was to me. So I decided to start anew and to write a different piece altogether. Even the instrumentation of the work changed – instead of a full chamber orchestra as was in my original sketch – now it was down to bass drum, celesta and strings.

The principal string players have extensive solos in a concerto grosso style – sometimes they are part of the orchestra, at other times they have clearly personal statements. The resulting piece is very intimate, with extremely detailed writing, often with multiple simultaneous dynamic layers. Strings are divided most of the time into three different voices: three first violins, including solo, three second violins and so on.

Eterniday is an original word, combining Eternity and Day, something everlasting and fragile, yet blended together into one. Because of the child-Mozart’s connection to Koblenz, where Eterniday premiered, and because of my personal experience with Mozart’s early works (I have recorded all his keyboard pieces written between ages five and nine), the thought of a young Mozart was in my mind and somehow became a subtle presence in this work, perhaps a guardian angel of Eterniday.

The work is dedicated to Daniel Raiskin.

– Lera Auerbach

Benjamin Staern Wave Movements (2011) for orchestra CANADIAN PREMIERE Since childhood I’ve always loved water and wanted to compose a series of pieces referring to ocean, sea, lakes, ponds and so forth as a point of reference.

Wave motion is a physical phenomenon that involves a field or a disturbance of a medium propagating in space. It is music that is gradually transformed as the piece goes on. It is like watching a wave that washes over one, a stunning spectacle, and that reflects like a mirror.

You can also experience great rapids and streams along the course of the work.

From a musical perspective, I have tried to give the work shape based on a harmonic idea where things encounter one another, are reflected and create disturbances in various ways.

This leads to a more developmental kind of thinking in the compositional process. Out of this one can clearly distinguish three parts that overlap. The form has a freely ternary form structure of A-B-A. 40

1. Rhythmic, suggestive exhortation 2. Melodic, mystical middle section 3. Chorale, when the elements above are mixed together The instrumentations used are based from the classical period of Mozart and Beethoven which includes double winds, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion as glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, cymbals, gong and strings. The sounds may give you the impression of the above mentioned composers, but without quoting or imitating any piece in a postmodern way – sending postcards from the past.

Wave Movements was composed on commission from Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and is dedicated to the conductor Daniel Raiskin.

– Benjamin Staern

Michael Daugherty Metropolis Symphony (1988–93) for orchestra I began composing my Metropolis Symphony in 1988, inspired by the celebration in Cleveland of the 50th anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in the comics. When I completed the score in 1993, I dedicated it to the conductor David Zinman, who had encouraged me to compose the work, and to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The Metropolis Symphony evokes an American mythology that I discovered as an avid reader of comic books in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Each movement of the symphony – which may be performed separately – is a musical response to the myth of Superman. I have used Superman as a compositional metaphor in order to create an independent musical world that appeals to the imagination.

The symphony is a rigorously structured, non-programmatic work, expressing the energies, ambiguities, paradoxes and wit of American popular culture. Like Charles Ives, whose music recalls small-town America early in our century, I draw on my eclectic musical background to reflect on late 20th-century urban America. Through complex orchestration, timbral exploration and rhythmic polyphony, I combine the idioms of jazz, rock and funk with symphonic and avant-garde composition.

I. Lex “Lex” derives its title from one of Superman’s most vexing foes, the supervillain and business tycoon Lex Luthor. Marked “Diabolical” in the score, this movement features a virtuoso violin soloist (Lex) who plays a fiendishly difficult fast triplet motive in perpetual motion, pursued by the orchestration and a percussion section that includes four referee whistles placed quadraphonically on stage.

II. Krypton “Krypton” refers to the exploding planet from which the infant Superman escaped. A dark, microtonal soundworld is created by glissandi in the strings, trombone, and siren. Two percussionists play antiphonal fire bells throughout the movement, as it evolves from a recurring solo motive in the cellos into ominous calls from the brass section. Gradually the movement builds toward an apocalyptic conclusion.

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Friday, January 31 | 7:30 pm Centennial Concert Hall

III. Mxyzptlk “Mxyzptlk” is named after a mischievous imp from the fifth dimension who regularly wreaks havoc on Metropolis. This brightly orchestrated movement is the scherzo of the symphony, emphasizing the upper register of the orchestra. It features two duelling flute soloists who are positioned stereophonically on either side of the conductor. Rapidly descending and ascending flute runs are echoed throughout the orchestra, while open-stringed pizzicato patterns, moving strobe-like throughout the orchestra, are precisely choreographed to create a spatial effect.

IV. Oh, Lois!

“Oh, Lois!” invokes Lois Lane, news reporter at the Daily Planet alongside Clark Kent (alias Superman). Marked with the tempo “faster than a speeding bullet,” this five-minute concerto for the orchestra uses flexatone and whip to provide a lively polyrhythmic counterpoint that suggests a cartoon history of mishaps, screams, dialogue, crashes and disasters, all in rapid motion.

V. Red Cape Tango “Red Cape Tango” was composed after Superman’s fight to the death with Doomsday, and is my final musical work based on the Superman mythology. The principal melody, first heard in the bassoon, is derived from the medieval Latin death chant “Dies irae.” This dance of death is conceived as a tango, presented at times like a concertino comprising string quintet, brass trio, bassoon, chimes and castanets. The tango rhythm, introduced by the castanets and heard later in the finger cymbals, undergoes a gradual timbral transformation, concluding dramatically with crash cymbals, brake drum and timpani. The orchestra alternates between legato and staccato sections to suggest a musical bullfight.

– Michael Daugherty

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WNMF Composers Institute

Writing for orchestra is one of the great accomplishments of a composer’s creative life. There are, however, few opportunities for Canadians in the early stages of their careers to engage with the medium in a practical, hands-on environment. The symphony orchestra presents many challenges, including effectively balancing the orchestra’s many instruments and communicating clearly with the conductor, musicians, and audience.

The WNMF Composers Institute provides a unique professional training opportunity for young composers, who will be immersed in the orchestral world through mentorship by some of Canada’s leading orchestral composers and through close integration with the renowned Winnipeg New Music Festival.

In this fourth year of the Composers Institute, emerging composers from across Canada have been selected by juried competition to participate in the 2020 WNMF Composers Institute. These composers, plus the winner of the CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composer Competition for Orchestra, will have their orchestral works premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at WNMF3: Orchestral Voice of the Future, led by WSO’s Associate Conductor Julian Pellicano and RBC Assistant Conductor Naomi Woo, and with the guidance of this year’s mentor composers, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Jared Miller and Harry Stafylakis.

With the generous support of the Williamson Foundation for Music, all participants will experience the week-long Winnipeg New Music Festival from behind the scenes, attending rehearsals and concerts. A comprehensive series of professional development workshops will be held throughout the festival led by WSO’s Composer-in-Residence Harry Stafylakis and the Composers Institute mentor composers Sarah Kirkland Snider and Jared Miller.

Panels, workshops, lessons and masterclasses will also feature several of WNMF 2020’s guest composers visiting from throughout Canada and from abroad, including Michael Daugherty, Dinuk Wijeratne and Neil Weisensel.

FUNDED BY

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INTERVIEW

MICHAEL DAUGHERTY

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE CONCEPT FOR METROPOLIS SYMPHONY? I began composing my Metropolis Symphony in 1988, inspired by the celebration in Cleveland of the 50th anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in the comics. It was a radical thing to do because most concert music composers at that time would never have attempted such a crazy idea!

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO A COMPOSER JUST STARTING OUT? Take time to listen to as much music as you can. Study full scores of the classics. Learn how instruments work. Learn how the classic movies, such as Casablanca (1941) were created, filmed and edited. Be curious. Ask questions. Read the newspaper. Learn how to improvise.

Take dance lessons. Draw cartoons. Take road trips.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A COMPOSER? I heard sounds that did not exist yet.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR WNMF? To meet and greet new composers from all walks and life. The weather!

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SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BRING HOMER’S ODYSSEY INTO THE 21ST CENTURY WITH PENELOPE? The idea was conceived by Ellen McLaughlin, the playwright who invited me to collaborate with her on this project. She was initially asked by the Getty Museum to create a song cycle based on the female characters of The Odyssey, but instead she got inspired to write this wonderful play about a modern woman who turns to The Odyssey to help her reconnect with her traumatized veteran ex-husband, using the wisdom of all its many female characters. She asked me to create music that might be sung by a sort of average “everywoman” – she knew that I had a deep love for folk, rock and pop music and asked me to involve those influences in the creation of the piece, a directive that neither of us realized I’d been secretly craving for a while.

IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS SYSTEMATIC, OR DO YOU AWAIT INSPIRATION AND “GO WITH THE FLOW?” I wish I had time to await inspiration, but I don’t, so I’ve sort of systemized my cajoling of it – when I’m starting a piece I take a walk and try to think about an idea or emotion or subject, then improvise at the piano (if I have no idea what to write about, I just go straight to the piano.) Then I take lots of long walks in which I sing into my phone whatever little musical ideas or fragments come to mind either based on the results of messing around at the piano or otherwise. I find that walking really helps me to be creative. And then I take those tiny little bits of ideas and mess around with them in Sibelius (a notation program.) I usually have an intense period of singing things into my phone at odd hours of the day for the first few weeks I’m working on something.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO A COMPOSER JUST STARTING OUT? You can only get better at writing music by writing music, so in the beginning it’s really important not to be too self-critical. Write as much as you can with as little judgment as you can – the aim is not to be great (whatever that means), but to learn how to get better at getting your ideas out. Also, a young composer has no idea what they are capable of, so it’s a terrible idea to choose the career path based on one’s perceived degree of talent/skill. Choose the career path if you love the act of composing – because as long as you love it, you will improve. Though, of course, loving the act of composing is not the same thing as enjoying it. Composing is often really hard, agonizingly so – a lot of times it’s not fun at all. You know you love it if you derive a deeper sense of fulfillment from it, or feel drawn to do it in a way that you can’t even necessarily explain.

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SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER

WHAT DO YOU GET MOST INSPIRATION FROM WHEN COMPOSING? I get the most inspiration from thinking about abstract emotions, ideas, experiences – if there’s text, it usually comes from that, but if not, and I’m stuck for ideas, I’ll often turn to other art – poetry or literature or film. I get a lot of inspiration from other music, of course, too. But it’s usually an emotional impulse that unlocks something for me – when I get really stuck, I try to ask myself: what is this musical moment about, narratively? What am I trying to say?

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR WNMF? All of it! I’m looking forward to working with the musicians on performances of my own music but I’m also really excited to hear the other performances and to work with the young composers of the Composers Institute. It’s a week of busy immersion in high-level musicmaking on lots of levels and I love those kind of experiences.

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Conductors & Composers Daniel Raiskin WNMF Artistic Director WSO Music Director A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg.

He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton by an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich.

Daniel Raiskin began as Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra with the 2018/19 season and has been recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, starting 2020/21. Since 2016/17, he has also been Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. The engagements in the 2019/20 season include appearances with Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, RTV Slovenia Symphony, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, State Academic Symphony of Russia “Svetlanov” and Stuttgarter Philharmoniker orchestras.

Moreover, he will give his debut with Edmonton Symphony and Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras. With the Winnipeg Symphony he will undertake a European tour with appearances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam and De Singel in Antwerp, among others.

the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016) and of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015).

Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 for the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. danielraiskin.com

Julian Pellicano WSO Associate Conductor A musician with wideranging musical interests, conductor Julian Pellicano has made his mark with a multifaceted approach to programming and performing, engaging audiences in a diverse mélange of concerts and genres. Dedicated to invigorating performances of the traditional and contemporary symphonic repertoire, Pellicano’s range has extended to films live with orchestra, classical and modern ballet, collaborations with composers, opera, pops, musical theatre, multimedia productions, workshops, as well as carefully programmed concerts for young listeners. The Winnipeg Free Press says of Pellicano, “His versatility is truly astonishing…”

The 2018/19 season included exciting debut performances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as well as a return to conduct two productions with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. This year Daniel Raiskin was Principal Guest Conductor also marks Pellicano’s seventh season as of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (between Resident Conductor of the Winnipeg 2016 and 2018), Chief Conductor of both

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Symphony Orchestra with concerts on the WSO’s Masterworks Series in addition to leading a multitude of performances throughout the season on the WSO’s Pops, Movie, Kids, Specials and Education series.

He studied conducting on fellowship at the Yale School of Music where he was also a member of the critically acclaimed Yale Percussion Group.

philosophy and music at Yale University and the University of Montreal.

Harry Stafylakis WNMF Co-Curator WSO Composer-in-Residence

New York City-based composer Harry Stafylakis (b. 1982) hails from Montreal, Canada. “Dreamy Naomi Woo yet rhythmic” (NY Times), WSO RBC Assistant Conductor with a “terrible luminosity” Canadian Naomi Woo is a and “ferociously expressive” versatile conductor, pianist, (Times Colonist), his and researcher. She is the concert music is “an amalgamation of the RBC Assistant Conductor classical music tradition and the soul and of the Winnipeg Symphony grime of heavy metal” (I Care If You Listen), Orchestra, Music Director “favoring doomsday chords and jackhammer of the University of rhythms” (The New Yorker).

Manitoba Symphony Stafylakis is the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of Sistema Winnipeg. Outside of conducting, she has an Orchestra’s Composer-in-Residence and CoCurator of the WSO’s Winnipeg New Music active career as a pianist, spanning opera Festival. His works have been performed coaching, collaborative piano and solo performance. She has performed as a soloist by the Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Victoria, PEI, Spokane, with orchestras in Canada, the US and the Stamford, FSU, and Greek Youth Symphony UK, and been reviewed as an “elegant” Orchestras, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, performer in the New York Times.

American Composers Orchestra, McGill Naomi regularly collaborates with artists, Chamber Orchestra, Roomful of Teeth, choreographers, poets and composers in the JACK Quartet, ICE, Contemporaneous, creation of interdisciplinary performance Mivos Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, Aspen work, which has shown at venues including Contemporary Ensemble, Standing Wave, Somerset House, Kunsthalle Darmstadt and Paramirabo, Nouveau Classical Project, Kettles Yard. Alongside Sasha Amaya, she mise-en, Lorelei Ensemble and American runs tick tock, which focuses on sonic and Modern Ensemble. He has been featured choreographic performance. at the NY Philharmonic Biennial, Aspen Music Festival, Winnipeg New Music Festival Prior to completing a PhD at the University and the Montreal International Classical of Cambridge, Naomi studied math, Guitar Festival. In 2019 he collaborated WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 49

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with progressive metal pioneers Animals As Leaders on the orchestral adaptation of their music for metal band and orchestra.

and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, NYSCA, SSHRC and New Music USA. He serves on the board of directors of GroundSwell (Winnipeg), is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, and a founding member of the NYC composer collective ICEBERG New Music.

Recent and upcoming recordings featuring his music include albums by Jenny Lin (Sono Luminus), the Cicchillitti-Cowan Duo (Analekta), Patrick Kearney (Contrastes), the Stafylakis holds degrees from McGill Hard Rubber Orchestra and the Norwegian University and The Graduate Center, CUNY, Radio Orchestra. and lectures at the City College of New York.

Awards include the Charles Ives Fellowship His research examines the conception of from the American Academy of Arts rhythm and meter in progressive metal. and Letters, the ASCAP Foundation’s hstafylakis.com Leonard Bernstein Award, four SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers

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Guest Composers Michael Daugherty Distinguished Guest Composer Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty has achieved international recognition as one of the 10 most-performed American composers of concert music, according to the League of American Orchestras. His orchestral music, recorded by Naxos over the last two decades, has received six GRAMMY Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and in 2017 for Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra. Current commissions for 2020 include new orchestral works for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony and a concerto for violinist Anne Akiko Meyers who will give the world premiere with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in 2021.

Composition, where he is a mentor to many of today’s most talented young composers.

He is also a frequent guest of professional orchestras, festivals, universities and conservatories around the world.

Daugherty’s music is published by Peermusic Classical/Faber Music, Boosey & Hawkes and Michael Daugherty Music.

Sarah Kirkland Snider Distinguished Guest Composer

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider writes music of direct expression and vivid narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times) and “poignant, deeply personal” (The New Yorker). Her current projects include Forward Into Light, an orchestral commission for the New York Philharmonic premiering on their season finale concert in June 2020, and Tongue of Fire, an opera about the visionary 12th Michael Daugherty was born in Cedar century abbess and composer Hildegard von Rapids, Iowa in 1954 and is the son of a Bingen, commissioned by Beth Morrison dance-band drummer and the oldest of five Projects and premiering at the Prototype brothers, all professional musicians. As a Festival in January 2022. In 2020, Nonesuch young man, Daugherty studied composition and New Amsterdam Records will release with many of the preeminent composers of Snider’s third LP: Mass for the Endangered, a the 20th century, including Pierre Boulez at 2018 work for chorus and ensemble that IRCAM in Paris (1979), Jacob Druckman, appeals for parity, compassion, and Earle Brown, Bernard Rands and Roger environmental stewardship through the Reynolds at Yale (1980–82) and György Ligeti prism of species extinction and in Hamburg (1982–84). Daugherty was also endangerment. an assistant to jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York from 1980 to 1982. In 1991, Daugherty Snider’s compositions have been commissioned and performed by the New joined the University of Michigan School of York Philharmonic; San Francisco, National, Music, Theatre and Dance as Professor of WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 51

WNMF2020 Detroit, Indianapolis and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras; the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, American Composers Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; percussionist Colin Currie, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and vocalist Shara Nova; and eighth blackbird, The Knights, Ensemble Signal, yMusic and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. Her music has been heard at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and London’s Wigmore Hall, and at the Big Ears, BAM Next Wave, Cross-linx, Aspen, Ecstatic, and Sundance festivals. Penelope and Unremembered, her first two LPs, earned critical acclaim from NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation and Pitchfork.

She is a founding co-artistic director of New Amsterdam Records, a non-profit record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Her music is published by G. Schirmer, Inc.

Lera Auerbach Composer Lera Auerbach is a poet, composer, concert pianist and visual artist. She has published more than 100 works for opera, ballet, orchestral and chamber music, and performs as concert pianist throughout the world. Her work is championed by leading artists, conductors, stage directors and choreographers, with recent works staged by the San Francisco Ballet, Stanislavsky Theater, Hamburg Opera, Theatre an der Wein, National Ballet of China, Finnish National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Netherlands Dance Theater,

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GUEST COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES Semperoper and Staatskapelle Dresden, and New York’s Lincoln Center.

Lera is a regular contributor to the Best American Poetry blog, has published three books of poetry and prose in Russian, and is the author of several librettos. Prizes for her works include two Golden Masks, Echo Klassik and the Hindemith Prize. She holds degrees from the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media and The Juilliard School, where she received the P. and D. Soros Fellowship. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, selected Lera in 2007 as a Young Global Leader and in 2014 as a Cultural Leader, where she lectured on borderless creativity, a fascinating topic that she also presented at the University of Michigan, Harvard University, the Open Society Institute and other venues.

Daníel Bjarnason Composer Icelandic conductor and composer Daníel Bjarnason is currently artist in residence with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. From season 16/17, Daniel will be composer in residence at the Muziekgebouw Frits Philips Eindhoven. A co-curator of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Reykjavik Festival, Daniel will be featured as both a conductor and composer in Los Angeles in April 2017.

Recent and upcoming commissions include works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Rambert Dance Company, Britten Sinfonia, Jennifer Koh, So Percussion, Calefax and the Calder Quartet. Daníel is writing his first opera for the Danish National Opera in Aarhus and

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will be premiered in August 2017 as part Amy Brandon Composer & Musician of the Aarhus – Culture Capital of Europe celebrations. Based on the Susanne Bier film Canadian composer Amy Brothers, the opera will be directed by Kasper Brandon’s pieces have been Holten, and Steffen Aarfing will create the described as “… mesmerizing” stage design. The librettist is Kerstin Perski.

(Musicworks Magazine) Daníel Bjarnason’s music has been described and “Otherworldly and as “coming eerily close to defining classical meditative … [a] clashing music’s undefinable brave new world” (Time of bleakness with beauty …”

Out New York), under conductors such as (Minor Seventh).

Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, John Upcoming 2019/20 events include premieres Adams James Conlon, André de Ridder, Louis

by Upstream Ensemble (Halifax), KIRKOS Langree and Ilan Volkov in venues such as Ensemble (Ireland) and Exponential Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, Ensemble (NYC) as well as guitar Harpa and the Barbican. Daníel’s versatility performances at the Winnipeg New Music has also led to collaborations with a broad Festival, the Canadian Music Centre and the array of musicians outside the classical field centre d’experimentation musicale in Quebec. including Sigur Rós, Brian Eno and Ben Frost.

She has received Canadian and international composition awards from the Leo Brouwer Bjarnason’s work has been recognised on Guitar Composition Competition (Grand numerous occasions at the the Icelandic Prize), Central European String Quartet Music Awards. This year with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Opera, he (“Most Innovative”), Groundswell. She has performed in Canada, the USA, Australia, received the award for Best Performer for their performance of Peter Grimes. Previously Brazil, New Zealand, the UK and is currently completing an interdisciplinary PhD in music he won Best Composer/Best Composition cognition at Dalhousie University in Halifax, in 2010 for Processions and Composer of the Year, 2013 for his works The Isle Is Full of Nova Scotia.

Noises and Over Light Earth. Also in 2013, he and Ben Frost won the Edda Award for best Mackenzie Carroll soundtrack for their score to film The Deep, Composer directed by Baltasar Kormákur.

Daníel Bjarnason is published by Peters Edition.

Mackenzie Carroll is a Canadian contemporary composer and classical/ contemporary double bassist currently based in Ottawa. She is presently studying towards a Master’s in Music Composition at the University of Ottawa with John Armstrong. Mackenzie previously completed her Bachelor of Music on the double bass at WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 53

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the University of Victoria in 2017, studying Gabriela Lena Frank Composer with Alex Olson, and spent numerous summers in Karr Kamp with worldIncluded in the Washington renowned double bassist Gary Karr. Due to Post’s list of the 35 most injury, Mackenzie had to find another path in significant women music, and her love for composition became composers in history a perfect fit.

(August, 2017), identity has Mackenzie’s projects include solo always been at the center of instrumental music, small and large chamber composer/pianist Gabriela music, and, as of recently, orchestral music.

Lena Frank’s music. Born in Mackenzie has had premieres and workshops Berkeley, California (September, 1972), to a in both Victoria and Ottawa and has worked mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry with composers such as John Armstrong, and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Harry Stafylakis, Ian Cusson, Bramwell Tovey, Frank explores her multicultural heritage David Clenman and Christopher Butterfield. most ardently through her compositions.

Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Matthew Emery Alberto Ginastera, Frank is something of a Composer musical anthropologist. She has traveled extensively throughout South America and Matthew Emery is a her pieces often reflect and refract her studies Canadian composer who of Latin American folklore, incorporating “writes with an honesty poetry, mythology, and native musical styles which enchants” into a western classical framework that is (Vancouver Sun). His music uniquely her own. has been performed in 24 countries and has been Henry From heard on national television Composer and radio both in Canada and the USA. Recent performance venues include the Great Henry From is a 15-year-old Wall of China, the White House (President composer, pianist and Obama) and the Musikverein. His music has violinist who has studied been commissioned and performed by the composition with Edward National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Top at the Vancouver National Youth Choir of Canada, Vancouver Academy of Music for the Chamber Choir, Elmer Iseler Singers, last four years. His Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra compositions include works London, Summerville Orchestra, the Art of for full orchestra, string quartet, SATB choir, Time Ensemble, Rolston String Quartet and violin and piano, soprano and piano, brass the Bach Music Festival of Canada Orchestra. ensemble, woodwind quintet, and other small His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, chamber ensembles. He was a prize winner in G. Schirmer, and others. Matthew studied at the 2015, 2017 and 2019 Vancouver Chamber the University of British Columbia and the Choir’s Young Composer’s competitions, and University of Toronto.

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his works were selected for inclusion in the Simon Grégorcic Composer 2017 and 2019 Sonic Boom Festivals in Vancouver as well as the Vancouver Symphony Born in France, Simon Orchestra’s Jean Coulthard Readings. As a Grégorcic studied piano pianist, Henry received a first prize at the with François Chaplin at Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife the Conservatoire de Competition in 2018 and he is a member of Versailles. He won first the chamber music ensemble Trio Savyon. The prizes in piano, ear training trio has performed in Boston, Israel, Poland and improvisation. Based in and Calgary. Henry is on the roster of CBC’s Montreal, he studied 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under instrumental composition at the 30 for 2019.

Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Michel Gonneville, Jimmie Leblanc and Liam Ross Gibson Nicolas Gilbert, where he graduated in 2019 Composer with a Master’s degree.

Liam Ross Gibson is a composer, keyboardist and teacher based on Vancouver Island. His work is concerned with the refraction of basic material through the lens of different time scales, an approach inspired as much by contemporary electronic music as it is by western classical tradition. In addition to composing notated music, he also writes and performs electronic music, rock, and neo-soul. Gibson holds a master’s degree in composition from the University of Manitoba, a bachelor of composition and theory from the University of Victoria and a diploma in jazz piano from Vancouver Island University.

His works have been performed by the Hochelaga Trio, Musiqu’Avenir Ensemble (conducted by Véronique Lacroix), the Société de Concert de Montréal Choir, the Orchestre de la Francophonie (conducted

by Simon Rivard) and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (conducted by Kent Nagano).

Terri Hron Composer Terri Hron performs and creates music and multimedia works for a wide range of settings. Bird on a Wire is a solo performance project exploring live electronics in absorb the current (2008), immersive environments in flocking patterns (2011) and embodied practices in NESTING (2017). She regularly works with other composers, performers and artists from other disciplines and composes music/multimedia for soloists, ensembles and dancers. Terri studied musicology and art history at the WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 55

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University of Alberta, recorder performance Concertmeister, while he studied at Ten Year Music School. During his study period and contemporary music at the at Tbilisi V. Sarajishvili Conservatoire he Conservatorium van Amsterdam and electroacoustic composition at the Université worked with Odysseas Dimitriadis at the Faculty of Choral Conducting. de Montréal. She investigates collective practices and expanded perception in electroacoustic music. Her work is supported Matthew-John Knights by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Composer Fonds de Recherche Société et Culture du Québec and the Conseil des Arts et des Matthew-John is an OttawaLettres du Québec, among others. She is the based composer, finishing Executive Director of the Canadian New his Masters in Composition Music Network and lives in Montreal. under supervision of Dr. birdonawire.ca Kelly-Marie Murphy. While Matthew-John specializes in vocal writing, he is also Ioseb Kechakmadze enthusiastic about chamber Composer music and, of course, large-scale orchestral works. Despite still being at the very early Ioseb Kechakmadze stage of his career, he has already won several (1939–2013) was born in awards, including the “13 Strings Orchestra Ozurgeti and studied at Batumi Z. Paliashvili Music Call for Scores,” a commission by the Canada Council for the Arts, and wrote a piece for School from 1955 and Standing Wave Ensemble in Vancouver. They continued his study at will be featuring his piece Chromatic Tbilisi Central Ten Year Aberrations again this winter at a new music Music School specializing festival in British Columbia. in choral conducting.

In 1960–1965, Kechakmadze studied at the Faculty of Composition of Tbilisi V.Sarajishvili Conservatoire, where he was supervised by Professor Iona Tuskia, Rector of the Conservatoire, and after his death, by composer David Toradze.

Kechakmadze worked for Tbilisi Teachers’ Republic House as a Chorusmeister and

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For Matthew-John, the future of music is about more than just music – he seeks to bring more dimensions to music by infusing elements of other art forms, such as theatre into non-operatic works, and experimenting with sound colour. Music must be more than pitches and rhythms in order to bring something new and fresh to our ears, and uses a colouristic approach to all his music.

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Mary Kouyoumdjian Composer Mary Kouyoumdjian is a composer with projects ranging from concert works to multimedia collaborations and film scores. As a first generation Armenian-American and having come from a family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic palette that draws on her heritage, interest in music as documentary, and background in experimental composition to progressively blend the old with the new.

Kouyoumdjian has received commissions for such organizations as the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alarm Will Sound, International Contemporary Ensemble [ICE], Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the American Composers Forum/JFund, Roomful of Teeth, WQXR, REDSHIFT, Experiments in Opera, Helen Simoneau Danse, the Nouveau Classical Project, Music of Remembrance, Friction Quartet, Ensemble Oktoplus, and the Los Angeles New Music Ensemble. Her documentary work was recently presented by the New York Philharmonic Biennial and has also been performed internationally at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, the Barbican Centre, Cabrillo Festival, Millennium Park, Benaroya Hall, Big Ears Festival, 21C Music Festival, and Cal Performances. In her work as a composer, orchestrator, and music editor for film, she has collaborated on a diverse array of motion pictures including orchestrating on the soundtracks to The Place Beyond the Pines

GUEST COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES (Focus Features) and Demonic (Dimension Films).

She holds an M.A. in Composition from Columbia University, an M.A. in Scoring for Film & Multimedia from New York University, and a B.A. in Music Composition from the University of California, San Diego, where she studied contemporary composition with Chaya Czernowin, Steven Kazuo Takasugi, and Chinary Ung; new music performance with Steven Schick; and modern jazz with Anthony Davis. Dedicated to new music advocacy, Kouyoumdjian served as the founding Executive Director of contemporary music ensemble Hotel Elefant, is a CoFounder of the annual new music conference New Music Gathering, and is a Co-Artistic Director of Alaska’s new music festival Wild Shore New Music. Kouyoumdjian is proud to be published by Schott's PSNY.

Cecilia Livingston Composer With music described as “haunting” and “eerily beautiful” (Tapestry Opera), Canadian composer Cecilia Livingston specializes in music for voice. She is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow in Music at King’s College London and she is composer-in-residence at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where her work is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and builds on her 2015-17 Fellowship at The American Opera Project in New York.

Winner of the Canadian Music Centre’s 2018 Toronto Emerging Composer Award, the 2018 Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes for WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 57

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female opera creators in Canada, and a Alexi Matchavariani Composer winner in the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers, her music has been Born in Gori, Alexi heard at Nuit Blanche, the 21C Music Festival, Matchavariani (1913–1995) World Choir Games, with the Toronto was a pioneer of modern Symphony Orchestra and the Kingston music in Georgia and one Symphony, and with Toronto’s Thin Edge of the most important New Music Collective. Her current projects composers of his homeland. include Terror & Erebus, an opera for TorQ Winner of the USSR State Percussion Quartet and Toronto’s Opera 5, Prize and Shota Rustaveli new work for Glyndebourne, and a song Prize of Georgia, Golden Medal winner of cycle with poet Anne Michaels.

“Centro Cultural Braidense – Milano” for An associate composer of the Canadian ballet “Othello”, Professor, and winner of Music Centre and a National Councillor of many Soviet and International Prizes, the Canadian League of Composers, her Georgian folk music was always of the creative and research work is supported by greatest importance for this composer. the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario In his first works, composed during the Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, 1930s, he treated the rhythmical and the SOCAN Foundation, and SSHRC (the melodic elements of Georgian folksongs.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada). Her articles and reviews But the progressive tendencies of the Soviet contemporary music of that time also have appeared in Tempo (Cambridge), the influenced his work. Matchavariani’s style is Cambridge Opera Journal, and The Opera Quarterly (Oxford); she has given papers on thus shown to be a polystylistic dialogue, a mixture of traditional Georgian music and contemporary opera at the Royal Musical contemporary compositional techniques.

Association and American Musicological Society annual conferences. Her master’s Matchavariani’s music can be understood and doctoral research was fully funded by to be a reflection of his lifelong search SSHRC Graduate Scholarships (CGS-M for a synthesis between national musical and CGS-D). She studied with Steve influences and new compositional techniques.

Reich at Bang on a Can’s summer festival and Soundstreams’ Emerging Composer Workshop, and she holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Toronto, supervised by Christos Hatzis, where she was awarded the Theodoros Mirkopoulos Fellowship in Composition.

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Julia Mermelstein

Jared Miller

Composer

Composer

Julia Mermelstein is a Toronto-based composer, originally from Halifax. Her music focuses on detailed tone colour, textures, and gestural movement that reveal evocative, immersive, and subtly changing soundscapes. She extensively works with electronics, blending acoustic and electronic sound worlds in seamless interactions. Her music takes influence from Buddhist philosophy, psychology and ritualistic tendencies that shape her relationship to form, stillness and sense of space. Her work has been involved in a variety of mediums that include electronic, chamber music, orchestral, music for dance, and collaborative and multi-disciplinary works.

Described as a “rising star”

by MusicWorks magazine, Canadian-American composer Jared Miller’s eclectic music is “playful” (New York Times), “hypnotic” (Sequenza 21), “phantasmagorical” (Lucid Culture) and “highly personal” (CBC Radio.)

He has worked in collaboration with many ensembles including the American Composers Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, and the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Toronto, and Edmonton, to name a few. His music has been featured and recognized in the New York Philharmonic’s Biennial (2014), the ISCM World Music Days (2017 & 2019), Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival (2010, 2015 & 2019) and the Vancouver and Victoria Symphony’s New Music Festivals (2015–2019.)

Julia’s music has been commissioned and performed by leading musicians and ensembles, including North/South Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Ilana Waniuk, Barbara Pritchard, Blue Rider Ensemble, Ensemble Arkea, Quatuor Bozzini, Toy Piano Composers Ensemble, Windermere String Quartet, among others.

Her compositions have been presented at CEMIcircles Intermedia Festival, OUA Electronic Music Festival in Osaka Japan, NAISA’s Deep Wireless Compilation, The Music Gallery, Festival of Original Theatre and Open Ears Festival.

Born in Los Angeles in 1988, Miller holds Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Juilliard School where he studied with Samuel Adler and John Corigliano. He has also studied composition with Stephen Chatman and Dorothy Chang and piano with Sara Buechner and Corey Hamm at the University of British Columbia. In 2014, Miller was named the Victoria Symphony’s composer-in-residence – a position that he held until June of 2017 – and in the summer of 2019, he was the SOCAN Emerging Composer-in-Residence for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He is currently based in New York City.

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Kristi Lane Sinclair

Benjamin Staern

Composer

Composer

As modern rock continues to expand and evolve, it is artists like Kristi Lane Sinclair who are at the vanguard. The Torontobased singer/songwriter draws equally from her Haida/Cree heritage and her love of both grunge and classical music to create a sound that challenges long-held preconceptions, while telling her own unique story.

Benjamin Staern (b. 1978) has established himself as one of the leading younger composers in native Sweden and internationally. Early musical experiences with studies in cello, piano and percussion in his youth.

Studied musicology at Lund University and subsequently composition at the Malmö Academy of Music during 1998-2005 with professors Rolf Martinsson, Hans Gefors and Luca Francesconi. Made an early On her new five-song EP, The Ability To breakthrough, while still a student with the Judge Distance, Sinclair gets even closer to symphonic work The Threat of War. An the bone in exploring themes of love and interesting aspect of his work as a composer anger. Recorded with a four-piece band, with is his unusual ability to associate tones and violin featured as prominently as electric timbres with different colours and tints. This guitars, the tracks were essentially captured is a variant of a phenomenon called live in Jukasa Studios, located on Six Nations synaesthesia which is fundamental in his Territory in Oshweken, Ontario. Sinclair perception and the creation that reflectes his produced the sessions herself, the intention sound world as well as in many of his work being to capture all of the raw energy of her titles (Yellow Skies, Colour Wandering etc.) live performances.

Following the success as “composer in profile” Raised in the wilds of British Columbia, of Båstad Chamber Music Festival 2016 Sinclair released her first self-produced the family opera Snow Queen based on a independent album, I Love You, in 2010, fairytale by H.C Andersen and commissioned followed in 2013 by The Sea Alone. In 2015,

by Malmö Opera were premiered to sold-out she released her third collection Dark Matter, performances. He was composer-in-residence which earned Best Rock Album honours with New European Ensemble 2010-14 and at the 2017 Indigenous Music Awards. The composed works such as Tranströmersånger making of the album was also documented in (selected poems from the Sad Gondola a six-part series called Face The Music, which collection by Nobel-prize author and poet aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Tomas Tranströmer) and Bells and Waves Network (APTN).

(Chamber Symphony), winner of the SMFF Award 2011 in the category ”most important work in chamber music/smaller ensemble” and a multimedia work SAIYAH for large ensemble, electronics and scenografic light sculpture at Norrlandsoperan for the MADE60

WNMF2020 festival in Umeå during Cultural Capital of the Year 2014. Worried Souls (Clarinet Concerto) was awarded the Large Christ Johnson Prize (Stora Christ Johnson-priset) from the Royal Swedish Music Academy (Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien) by the hands of His Majesty King Carl Gustaf XVI at the annual ceremony on November 26th 2012 at Musikaliska, Stockholm.

Staern’s music is published by Gehrmans Musikförlag AB, Stockholm.

Otar Taktakishvili Composer Otar Taktakishvili (1924– 1989) was a prominent Georgian composer, teacher, conductor, and musicologist of the Soviet period.

Although in the West Taktakishvili is perhaps best known for his 1968 Sonata for Flute and Piano, his works include two symphonies, four piano concertos, two violin concertos, two cello concertos, and operas (Mindia, First Love, The Abduction of the Moon, Mususi, Three Tales). He also wrote several symphonic poems and oratorios, as well as adaptations of Georgian folk songs and a multitude of compositions for instruments and voice.

While still a student at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, Taktakishvili composed the Anthem of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. By 1949 he became a Professor of the Conservatory, as well as the conductor and artistic director of the Georgian State Chorus. In 1951, he received his first Stalin Prize (USSR State Prize) for his First Symphony. In 1962, Taktakishvili became Chairman of the Georgian Composers’

GUEST COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES Union; and in 1965, the Minister for Culture of the Georgian Republic, until 1983. He was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the USSR in 1974, the Lenin Prize in 1982, and the USSR State Prize in 1951, 1952 and 1967. Throughout his career, he also served as a member of the international musical committee of UNESCO, and twice headed the electoral committee for the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Dinuk Wijeratne Composer The JUNO and SOCAN award-winning Sri Lankan-born composer, pianist, and conductor Dinuk Wijeratne has been described by the New York Times as “exuberantly creative” and by the Toronto Star as “an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future.” At age 26, Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Dinuk’s boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Season highlights include Dinuk’s appointment as Composer-in-Residence of Symphony Nova Scotia, and his role in What Would Beethoven Do? – the recent documentary about classic music also featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin and Ben Zander. Dinuk studied composition at the Juilliard School with Oscar-winner John Corigliano.

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Belgian-style beer and shareable dishes right around the corner.

1 2 5 PAC I F I C AV E N U E

Our taproom + kitchen are a one minute walk from the Centennial Concert Hall, anchored at the corner of Lily and Pacific.

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Ensembles & Performers and electronics. He serves as artistic director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Players, a pan-Arab ensemble dedicated to Hailed as “intensely soulful” contemporary music form the Arab world. and a “virtuoso” by The He is also a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad New York Times and Ensemble, whose 2017 GRAMMY Award“spellbinding” by The New winning album Sing Me Home features Kinan Yorker, Winner of as a clarinetist and composer.

OpusKlassik Award in 2019, clarinetist and composer Sara Davis Buechner Kinan Azmeh has gained Musician international recognition for what the CBC has called his “incredibly rich sound” and his Sara Davis Buechner is one distinctive compositional voice across diverse of the leading concert musical genres. pianists of our time, a

Kinan Azmeh

Musician

Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include the Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN General Assembly, New York; the Royal Albert hall, London; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; Der Philharmonie, Berlin; the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie; and in his native Syria at the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House. He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic and the Syrian Symphony Orchestra among others, and has shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Marcel Khalife, Aynur, Daniel Barenboim, and Jivan Gasparian.

Kinan’s compositions include several works for solo, chamber, and orchestral music, as well as music for film, live illustration,

musician of “intelligence, integrity and allencompassing technical prowess” (New York Times).

In her 20s, Ms. Buechner won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and a Bronze Medal at the 1986 Tschaikowsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

Since that time she has pursued an active international career with a phenomenal repertoire of more than 100 concertos, appearing in frequent recitals and with many of the world’s prominent orchestras.

In 2016 Sara Davis Buechner joined the piano faculty of the Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is a dedicated Yamaha Artist and also, most proudly, an honorary member of the Hanshin Tigers baseball club of Osaka, Japan.

Sara can be seen and heard on numerous live video and audio recordings on her personal website, YouTube and SoundCloud Channels, and Facebook page.

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Alexandre Da Costa

“1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius”. In 2010, he received the prestigious Virginia-Parker Prize, one of Canada’s highest cultural distinctions.

Musician Sony Classical artist, Juno Award winner and Longueuil Symphony’s Music Director and Chief Conductor, Alexandre Da Costa was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

He showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very early age. By the age of nine, he had the astonishing ability to perform his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. His chosen professional career as a violinist began very early and, after encouragement from Charles Dutoit, he was soon performing regularly as soloist with orchestra as well as in recital.

At age 18, he obtained a Master’s Degree in violin and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec.

Concurrently, he also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Interpretation from the University of Montreal. Subsequently, told he had to choose one instrument, he studied in Madrid at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia with a legendary violin teacher who became his mentor, Zakhar Bron (whose previous students famously include the likes of Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin). He later pursued post-graduate studies at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Vienna, Austria, with G. Schulz, C. Altenburger and R. Honeck, and is currently completing a research PhD. Among the many other prizes that followed were the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award from the Canada Council for the Arts, and in 2003 the Council’s Musical Instrument Bank decided to go further and award him the 64

Jan Kocman Musician WSO Principal Flutist Jan Kocman is well known to Canadian audiences for his solo, orchestral, and recital performances. He has been a featured soloist numerous times performing concerto repertoire by Nielsen, Mozart, J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Telemann, Szervansky, Quantz, Glenn Buhr, John Corigliano, R. Murray Schafer, Bright Sheng, Brian Current, Leonard Bernstein and Christopher Rouse.

A native of Hammond, Indiana, Jan began his flute studies at the age of eight with his father.

He attended Indiana University, where he studied with renowned flutist James Pellerite, graduating with distinction with his Master’s Degree in Flute Performance. During his graduate studies he served as Associate Instructor to Mr. Pellerite and completed course work in musicology with Walter Kaufmann, the founding conductor of the WSO. He has performed as principal flutist with WSO Music Directors Piero Gamba, Kazuhiro Koizumi, Bramwell Tovey, Andrey Boreyko, Alexander Mickelthwate and now Daniel Raiskin.

WNMF2020

Shara Nova

ENSEMBLE & PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES

Camerata Nova

Musician Born in the “Diamond State” of Arkansas to a family of musical travelling evangelists, Shara Nova (formerly Worden) moved across America throughout her youth, then studied classical voice at the University of North Texas. After moving to New York City, she assembled her chamber pop band, My Brightest Diamond, and released five albums. The most recent, A Million And One, is a dance pop tribute to Detroit where she currently lives. Nova has composed works for yMusic, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Nadia Sirota and Roomful of Teeth among others. Her orchestrations have been performed by the Aarhus Symfoniorkester, North Carolina Symphony, American Composers Orchestra and the BBC Concert orchestra. Nova’s most expansive work to date, Look Around, was premiered in August 2019 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, 20 different ensembles and over 600 artists and musicians. Many composers, songwriters and filmmakers have sought out Nova’s voice, including David Lang, David Byrne, The Decemberists, Bryce Dessner, Steve Mackey, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Sufjan Stevens and Matthew Barney. Nova is a Kresge fellow, a Carolina Performing Arts Creative Futures fellow, a Knights Grant recipient and a United States Artists fellow.

Camerata Nova is a vocal group without fear, performing Renaissance, Indigenous-infused and contemporary music. Often singing a cappella, the group also enjoys accompaniment from didgeridoos, crystal bowls, all kinds of percussion, and/or early instruments. Since 1996, they continue to push the envelope, offering authentic early music performances, premieres of Manitoba compositions and an eclectic array in between. Camerata Nova has issued four CDs: Camerata Nova, Mystica, Nova Noël and Camerata Nova Live: Christmas in Early America, as well as a DVD Wa Wa Tey Wak (Northern Lights). Camerata Nova is led by a quartet of extraordinary individuals: Artistic Director and Resident Composer Andrew Balfour, and Curators/Conductors Mel Braun, Vic Pankratz and John Wiens.

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Luys i Luso project focused on Armenian sacred music stretching stylistically from the 5th century to the 20th century. In 2015, Tigran garnered the prestigious Paul Acket With pianist/composer Award at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Tigran Hamasyan, potent following year earned the Echo Award (the jazz improvisation fuses German Grammy) for best international with the rich folkloric piano album of the year for his superb music of his native Armenia. recording Mockroot. Tigran has toured Tigran is one of the most internationally for a fanbase that ranges from remarkable and distinctive adventurous jazz aficionados to progressive jazz-meets-rock pianists of hardcore metal listeners. Of his new his generation. A piano virtuoso with groove recording, which he will be touring this power, Tigran’s latest adventurous project is spring in Europe and the U.S., Tigran says, 2017’s An Ancient Observer, his second solo “An Ancient Observer is presenting the album, his eighth overall as a sole leader, and observation of the world we live in now and his sophomore recording for Nonesuch. the weight of our history we carry on our (Overall, this is his eighth recording as a sole shoulders that is influencing us even if we leader.) Conceptually, An Ancient Observer is don’t realize it. This album is the observation a poignant album focusing on the art of of influences and experiences I had.” observing. Tigran’s career has included an impressive number of accolades, including Mark DeChiazza top piano award at the 2013 Montreux Jazz Filmmaker Festival and the grand prize at the prestigious 2006 Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Mark DeChiazza is a Competition. One of his earliest albums, director, whose 2008’s New Era, was championed by one interdisciplinary projects scribe who wrote that “with more seasoning variously integrate his and a calming maturity not driven by merely connected practices of showing off, Hamasyan is certain to elevate filmmaking, design and his art to a top tier of jazz and world music choreography. expressionism.” Several years later he His work has been certainly made that statement prophetic as he was applauded by NPR Music: “With startling presented in national and international combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, venues including Brooklyn Academy of folk and songwriterly elements … Hamasyan Music, Lincoln Center, John F. Kennedy and his collaborators travel musical expanses Center of the Arts, Guthrie Theater, Singapore International Festival of Arts, marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. Les Subsistances, Chicago’s Museum of You’ll hear nothing else like this in 2015.” He Contemporary Art and many more. has recorded on various labels – France’s Red Most recently, with composer Shara Nova, Loins, Nonesuch and ECM – with his he co-created the massive outdoor musicelectro-acoustic powerhouse trio as well as performance work Look Around, celebrating the Yerevan State Chamber Choir for his 2015

Tigran Hamasyan

Performing at WNMF with bassist Evan Marien & drummer Nate Wood

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music-theatre epic with composer Amy Beth Kirsten; Orpheus Unsung, a musicdance collaboration with Steven Mackey; My Lai, an opera monodrama by Jonathan Past projects include: Dan Trueman’s Olagón, Berger featuring Kronos Quartet and Rinde featuring Irish singer Iarla Ó Lionáird and Eckert; and John Luther Adams’ Sila, a siteEighth Blackbird ensemble; Quixote, a determined piece for five instrumental choirs.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 125th anniversary season, featuring over 600 performers from over 30 local groups.

Portal X England, as well as volunteered on design projects in Haiti, Jordan, Malawi and Rwanda.

Storefront Manitoba is dedicated to advancing the awareness and appreciation of architecture, good design and the built environment. Storefront promotes critical discussion, exploration and celebration of urbanism and design culture through collaboration and public engagement. This project represents a rewarding collaboration between architects, a builder, musicians and a graphic designer.

The design was conceived

by Richard Derksen (left) for Storefront Manitoba in collaboration with Tom Monteyne, Chris Knight and Miguel Ortiz of Tom Monteyne Architecture Works, with an assist from David Penner, Ted Geddert and Andrei Aroutiounov.

Richard is a local architect who has also worked in BC, Malaysia, Singapore and

Tom Monteyne and Monteyne Architecture Works have been producing one-of-a-kind projects for unique client groups for 25 years.

Storefront was founded by David Penner, an award-winning architect, who passed away unexpectedly at the start of this year. Portal X is dedicated to his memory.

Jesse Krause (chorale piece) Hailing from British Columbia but living in Winnipeg for many years after college, he is a musician, maker of instruments, leader of choirs, and a composition student. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife, the painter Megan Krause and their young daughter.

Darren Day (synthesizer piece) A veritable walking encyclopedia containing all periods and genres of music, he has become increasingly interested in exploring and creating new music in an electronic form, drawing from his deep knowledge and creativity.

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Great entertainment lives here.

At BMO, we take pride in our local communities and the artists that contribute to advancing the cultural diversity and artistic richness of our cities.

We’re proud to present the BMO Night at the Movies concert series.

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ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Additional Musicians WNMF1

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Laurel Ridd, flute Caitlin Broms-Jacobs, oboe Sharon Atkinson, clarinet Tim Borton, percussion Victoria Sparks, percussion Donna Laube, piano

Tim Borton, percussion

Laura MacDougall, flute Caitlin Broms-Jacobs, oboe Sharon Atkinson, clarinet Allen Harrington, bassoon Miles Thomsen, trumpet Jay Uschold, tuba Tim Borton, percussion Victoria Sparks, percussion Brendan Thompson, percussion Donna Laube, piano / synthesizer

WNMF5

Laura MacDougall, flute Jay Uschold, tuba Tim Borton, percussion Victoria Sparks, percussion Brendan Thompson, percussion

THE BEST MEMORIES START WITH A GREAT MEAL

114 Market Avenue • 204-615-1898 WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL / Jan 25–31 / 69

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Board & Staff BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Curt Vossen, President Daniel Friedman, Vice President Rob Kowalchuk, CPA, CA, Treasurer Michael D. Kay, Corporate Secretary Terry Sargeant, Past President Lucienne Blouw Emily Burt, MBA, CFA James Cohen Arlene Dahl Marten Duhoux Steven Dyer Dr. Selena Friesen

OUR DISTINGUISHED PATRONS

Margaret Harvie Micah Heilbrunn Robin Hildebrand Edward Jurkowski Margaret Kellermann McCulloch Sotirios Kotoulas Uri Kraut Gail Loewen Robin MacMillan Julia Ryckman Marlene Stern Daniel Raiskin, Ex Officio Trudy Schroeder, Ex Officio

Trudy Schroeder, Executive Director Lori Marks, Confidential Executive Assistant ARTISTIC

Daniel Raiskin, Music Director Julian Pellicano, Associate Conductor Naomi Woo, RBC Assistant Conductor Harry Stafylakis, Composer-in-Residence & Co-Curator, Winnipeg New Music Festival HONORARY STAFF

Alexander Mickelthwate, Director Emeritus Bramwell Tovey, Conductor Laureate ARTISTIC OPERATIONS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Jean-Francois Phaneuf, VP Artistic Operations & Community Engagement James Manishen, Artistic Operations Associate Laura Lindeblom, Production Manager Tatiana Carnevale, Operations Coordinator Sheena Sanderson, Stage Manager Stuart Bremner, Stage Supervisor Greg Hay, Orchestra Personnel Manager Greg Hamilton, Principal Librarian Aiden Kleer, Assistant Librarian Brent Johnson, Education & Community Engagement Manager

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Her Honour the Honourable Janice C. Filmon, CM, OM, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba The Honourable Brian Pallister, Premier of Manitoba His Worship Brian Bowman, Mayor of the City of Winnipeg Mr. W.H. Loewen & Mrs. S.E. Loewen, WSO Directors Emeritus WOMEN’S COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE

Margaret Harvie, President Nancy Weedon, Vice President Carolynne Presser, Secretary Winnifred Warkentin, Co-Treasurer Isobel Harvie, Co-Treasurer Sherratt Moffatt, Past President

FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Lyn Stienstra, CPA, CMA, VP Finance & Administration Sandi Mitchell, Payroll & Accounting Administrator Oscar Pantaleon Jr, Finance & Administration Assistant MARKETING

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Beth Proven, VP Development Carol Cassels, Development Manager Theresa Huscroft, Development Coordinator Chelsey Hiebert, Sistema & Special Events Manager Sarah Krahn, Development Intern SALES & AUDIENCE SERVICES

Ryan Diduck, VP Sales & Audience Services Jen Skelly, Sales & Audience Services Manager Rachel Himelblau, Box Office Coordinator Jeffrey Acosta, Group & Education Events Coordinator Patron Services Representatives (P/T): Allison Challes Paul Longtin Meg Dolovich Chenoa McKelvey Shoshana Goldberg Stephanie Van Nest Laura Gow Lindsay Woolgar

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Maestro Daniel Raiskin, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

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