Windsor Canadian Music Festival hits UWindsor campus
By Chris Avery
Lance Writer
February 25, 2009
The Windsor Canadian Music Festival (WCMF) is a celebration of Canadian brilliance in the world of music. The idea of this year’s festival is to acknowledge the hidden talent of up and coming composers from the Windsor-Detroit region.
The festival features a wide array of Canadian talent including UWindsor student musicians, performances from the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and a final performance by distinguished UWindsor members of faculty.
Also featured is a composer’s roundtable, enabling residents and students in the Windsor community to ask questions from the talented line-up.
Featured composers who brief the composer’s roundtable will also have one of their individual pieces performed by the WSO.
The first piece, composed by Michael LaCroix, is titled “A Presence Close as Breath.” LaCroix wrote this piece shortly after the birth of his second daughter, and has dedicated it to his wife Elizabeth.
LaCroix has won awards from the SOCAN Foundation’s Young Composers Competition in Canada, and in the Fourth International Prof. Ivan Spassov Composition Competition in Bulgaria. These personal achievements alone endow international acclaim for Canadian musical talent and establish his works as an asset to the WCMF.
The second piece, composed by Shelley Marwood, is titled “Merge.” Her moving piece draws the listener’s ear to the far reaching stretches of the Canadian Prairies and pierces the air with a rugged and conducive vibrancy detailing the terrain of the Canadian Rockies. Marwood received notable National acclaim with her compositions when she obtained first prize in the 2008 Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region Emerging Composers Competition for her piece “Illumination.”
The third piece was composed by Erik Santos and is titled “Star Rising.” This piece broadcasts the infinity located within every human soul. It is the metaphor for the season of spiritual awakening. Santos is currently a Professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Music and teaches composition. His play with multi genres in music brings season and multiplicity to this piece and these elements alone identify this piece as a work of mastery.
The fourth piece was composed by Brent Lee, a professor at the UWindsor School of Music, and is a trio for harp, viola, and cello. Lee draws his inspirations in music both from the electronic beats of digitalized music and the mellowing sounds of acoustics.
The fifth and final featured composer of the festival is Kristen Kuster with her composition “Ando: light against shade.” Kuster’s decadent compositions are born within the ebb and flow of mythology and mature in the refined roughness of detailed architecture. The audience will succumb to the delight of mysticism during the performance of this particular piece.
The overall goal of the festival is to bring light to the hidden talents of Canadian composers and to the inspire students and the Windsor community to actively pursue musical interests. It is meant as a means of empowerment for students to pursue their dreams of composition and performance and is aimed to enable an appreciation for modern and talented composers and musicians alike.
WCMF runs from Feb. 23 to March 1 at various locations. For a full schedule of events visit http://www.uwindsor.ca/concerts.
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