School of Music celebrates Windsor's musical talents
By Cristina Naccarato
Lance Writer
January 30, 2008
The twelfth annual Windsor Canadian Music Festival is an exciting time for our city. The festival, celebrating contemporary Canadian composers, brings a sense of pride and positivity to our city and surrounding areas. The University of Windsor’s School of Music along with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra have been collaborating together to showcase Windsor’s local talents, and also to bring a bit of music to all of our lives. The interesting aspect of this festival, as marketing and publishing coordinator of the School of Music, Susan McKee points out, is how dynamic and cutting edge the pieces featured this year will be. “Not only is it interesting, but it’s also very challenging because the composers need works for more of an orchestra size performance that has an arrangement of instruments, and then also for the faculty concert which is more chamber with less instruments.”
The festival kicks off on Monday, January 28 at 4 p.m. in the School of Music with Dr. Brent Lee providing a discussion regarding the context, background, and programming for this year’s festival, and then follows with another discussion on Wednesday, January 30 at 4 p.m. in the School of Music, featuring various composers such as Lee, Geoff Holbrook, Christian Ledroit, Andrew Staniland, and François Rose discussing their craft.
The first performance will be held on Thursday, January 31 at 7 p.m. in Lambton Tower, Studio A. The Electric Improv Lab (EIL) is proud to present “in/fuse,” a chamber ensemble that will incorporate electronic instruments, sound processing, and acoustic instruments along with video art. They will be performing a piece called “Rose City Variations,” incorporating sounds from the streets with video. “It’s very new and very cutting edge,” adds McKee, “It’s not your grandfather’s music. It’s very exciting because of its newness. When you go to a club, you know what to expect. A lot this music has no reference points, you don’t know to expect. You almost need to listen to it more than once to absorb the whole thing.”
Following this performance, on Friday, February 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Assumption University Chapel, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra will be performing. Tickets for adults and seniors are $18, $9 for students, and will be available to purchase at the Chrysler Theatre Box Office or at the door.
On Saturday, February 2, there will be a Young Composers Workshop at Assumption University Chapel beginning at 10 a.m., and then later that night at 7 p.m., there will be a special faculty performance. They will be performing a piece called, “Hildegaard Remix.” This piece will include a Hildegaard Women’s Chorus and live sound processing. McKee describes it as, “more of a traditional piece for chamber choir, but Dr. Brent Lee and Chris McNamara have done a bit of a remix on it. You’ll have the chamber choir singing, with electronics that will be happening at the same time. This isn’t you traditional choral choir that you’ll find in a church. It really illustrates how nothing is really static, that you can alter anything. It really has a lot to do with collaboration and the human influence, to reinterpret the music, which really also emphasizes the importance of live performance, since every time they perform, it’s different.” Tickets for this event are $10 for adults and seniors, and $5 for students, available at the Art Gallery of Windsor in the Uncommon Market, or at the door. For students who are interested in these events, but are lacking the funds, they can sign up for free admission in the School of Music.
Sunday, February 3 is the New Music Workshop Student Compositional Recital at the Art Gallery of Windsor. It will feature University of Windsor students, playing student written work.
CBC Radio 2 will also be recording parts of the festival for their show The Signal. McKee believes this will “add another dimension to Windsor. It’s some of the best advertisement for this area. You’re showcasing creative, local talent. It’s not plant closures, it’s not anything negative, just a positive response for Windsor.”
For more information about the WCMF, check out http://uwindsor.ca/music.
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