Notations Summer 2013

NOTATIONS Summer 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3

Letter from the Editors

4

Ontario Council Update

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Ontario Project Update

10 Generations Conversations: Nimmons, Gellman, Cabena 22 CD Reviews 24 Good Housekeeping for Composers 28 In Focus: Administration 31 Noteworthy 36 Memorial Morris Kates 37 Upcoming Events

SUMMER 2013, VOL. 20, NO. 2 The Canadian Music Centre, Ontario Region, produces Notations and distributes it to supporters of Canadian Music.

The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily the opinions of the Canadian Music Centre.

EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE Matthew Fava, Donald Pounsett, Jeremy Strachan, Alexa Woloshyn DESIGN Jennifer Chan CONTRIBUTORS Jason Caron, Paul Frehner, Paolo Griffin, Elissar Hanna, Monica Pearce CANADIAN MUSIC CENTRE ONTARIO REGION 20 St. Joseph Street, Toronto ON, M4Y 1J9 Tel: 416.961.6601 x 207 Email: ontario@musiccentre.ca Web: www.musiccentre.ca

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

The rhythm of the concert season slows in the warmer months, and allows us more time in the summer. For a composer, these gaps between writing and meeting other professional deadlines allow for more personal reflection, study, and relaxation.

It might also be a time that composers address the plethora of other tasks waiting for them to finish: updating a bio or website, sorting and filing concert programs and press clippings, and perhaps depositing a back-log of pieces at the CMC. Given the primary importance of writing music, it is no surprise that administrative items are neglected.

This past year, the CMC collaborated with the Canadian League of Composers (CLC) to present the Emerging Composer Mentorship Project in Ontario for the first time.

Apart from stimulating creativity among the participants, the project also delved into various aspects of a career in music and composition: income and taxation, grant writing, mental health, website skills, performance rights, and other topics. Although crucial to any artist’s career, rarely, if ever, are these topics the focus during formal studies in music and composition.

With that in mind, the Summer 2013 issue of Notations features an article from CMC Associate Composer Monica Pearce, who also serves as the general manger of the CLC. She reflects on the importance and shifting nature of administration for composers. We also feature an In Focus article from Associate Composer Paul Frehner, who draws upon Pearce’s discussion to explore the topic from his perspective as a mid-career composer, a composition professor, and also someone who is active outside of the Greater Toronto Area.

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In this issue of Notations, you can also read about the trajectory of various CMC projects including the recent conclusion to our New Music in New Places series, and the culmination of our multi-year New Music For Young Musicians project. There is also a wealth of activity to share from Associate Composers in our region, and you can read all about it in our Noteworthy section.

The newest installment in our Generations/Conversations series, which pairs young composers and musicians with our more established Associate Composers, also makes its way into these pages. In this issue we hear from Steven Gellman, who retired from the University of Ottawa last year. One of our contributors speaks with Barrie Cabena, noted composer and organist who celebrates his 80th birthday this summer.

We’re also treated to excerpts from a discussion with Phil Nimmons who celebrated his 90th birthday in June.

We’re pleased to welcome Alexa Woloshyn and Donald Pounsett into the fold of the Notations editorial collective as we move ahead in our new digital life. Although we have pared it back a little for the summer issue—it is that time of year to relax a little, isn’t it?—stay tuned for a more robust edition in the fall, with lots of new features, added content, and of course, all the updates you need about CMC Ontario region and its composers.

Notations Editorial Collective Matthew Fava Donald Pounsett Jeremy Strachan Alexa Woloshyn

ONTARIO REGIONAL COUNCIL UPDATE

Contemporary Music. This kind of professional development is very important, and we plan to continue it in whatever ways we can. We also explore the topic in more detail in this issue of Notations.

JIM HARLEY Chair, Canadian Music Centre Ontario Regional Council Canadian Music Centre Ontario Region has been busy over the past year. We are especially pleased that our outreach has extended across the province, although there has certainly been a lot going on in Toronto at Chalmers House, too!

The final season of New Music in New Places has come to a close, with an interesting set of events in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ottawa, and Toronto. In addition, the Ontario Regional Council has made it a priority to connect with our Associate Composers, Voting Members, and other supporters through provincewide information sessions. Future activities are being planned, so keep your ears open for announcements.

The Emerging Composer Mentorship project, a collaboration with the Canadian League of Composers, has also wrapped up. This has been a valuable initiative, pairing emerging composers with established ones, which culminated with a concert in June featuring members of Contact

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One example is our ongoing Generations/Conversations project, where younger composers interview senior ones: three discussions are featured in this issue. The insights shared in this forum are treasures, speaking to personal experiences as well as to professional advice. There are few other sources of such stories and advice—composition programs at universities generally focus on the craft and not so much on the profession or the community context.

CMC Ontario is also growing as the result of our dedicated volunteers. Among other things, volunteers have been digitizing a whole range of materials, such as concert programmes, newspaper articles, and photographs relating to Associate Composers. This ongoing project enriches the ever-expanding musiccentre.ca website and preserves information, in some cases rare or unique, for research on Canadian composers. If you have any such materials, or if you, or someone you know, would like to get involved as a volunteer, please contact Matthew Fava at the Ontario Region office.

Another initiative that volunteers and staff have started and intend to

continue, inspired by our confrères at the B.C. Region, is the Score Reading Club (SRC). This is an opportunity for anyone who is interested to gather at Chalmers House to discuss and listen to selected works. The SRC is a great way to get to know interesting music in a collegial atmosphere, and to discuss issues arising from the scores.

All are welcome, so keep an eye out for SRC alerts.

On the National Board front, Strategic Planning is underway, to set plans in place to ensure that the CMC is healthy and will thrive for the next five years, and beyond. The other major project is to complete a government-mandated revision of the CMC by-laws. This will also help to ensure the organization thrives and can continue to function efficiently.

Returning to the topic of professional development, I think it is worth reminding all of you Associate Composers to make sure your musiccentre.ca profiles are up to date and that you are keeping up with submitting your scores for cataloguing.

Traffic to our website is busy, and your music can only be discovered, purchased and performed if it is listed in the database. And for composers and all our community members, please do list your upcoming events in our Calendar, so music lovers across the country, and beyond, will know what is going on!

ONTARIO PROJECT UPDATES

Photo: Members of the Music in the Barns chamber ensemble perform at the Academy of Lions in Toronto.

NMINP PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATE KILLET

ONTARIO PROJECT UPDATES NEW MUSIC IN NEW PLACES

Contemporary composition and classical music practitioners in general have an ongoing mission to reach new audiences.

For several years New Music in New Places (NMINP) was a resource for CMC Associate Composers and performers across Canada to take vibrant music programming into unlikely locations.

Each event had a distinct local quality, and allowed for 1 Music in the Barns brings Canadian Composers to the thousands of people to enjoy a casual encounter with Academy of Lions new music. We are pleased to have had so many artists Violist Carol Gimbel, artistic director of Music In the Barns, participate and gain skills in event coordination over the took her dynamic musical programming to the Academy Of years. With the NMINP program now concluded, we are also Lions, a bar at the south end of trendy Ossington Avenue in pleased that each event inspired curiosity and new interest Toronto. The Music In the Barns chamber ensemble plugged in contemporary composition; perhaps these effects will in to perform music by CMC Associate Composers Rose resonate for years to come!

Bolton (The Coming of Sobs for string quartet) and Scott Godin (all that is solid melts into the air for string quintet), NMINP was made possible by the SOCAN Foundation and a piece by the Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry (Quartet through their Creator’s Assistance Program. Here is some for Heart and Breath). The concert also included a set by information from the last two events in the series which took Toronto-based indie folk band Tasseomancy. place in Toronto.

2 Give me a growler and a concert program—

Violist Carol Gimbel speaking to the audience at the Academy of Lions

Click here to see the performance of Who Knows by Emilie LeBel from the concert!

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Junction the Dry wraps up the NMINP Season A baby grand and a music stand were set up on the loading dock of the Junction Craft Brewery in Toronto’s west end for two nights in late March for a concert event featuring pianist Stephanie Chua and violinist Véronique Mathieu.

The brewery had a dozen of their craft beers on tap, and concert goers got a distinctly local musical experience to complement their beverages. Chua and Mathieu programmed pieces by CMC Associate Composers Emilie LeBel, James Rolfe, and Healey Willan, and they also had pieces written by Caitlin Smith and Derek Johnson.

Rolfe and LeBel are both based in the Junction, and they participated in a pre-concert discussion on both nights.

ONTARIO PROJECT UPDATES NEW MUSIC FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS

The New Music For Young Musicians (NMFYM) project headed to Thunder Bay, as the CMC collaborated with the Department of Music at Lakehead University to present Ping! North. The Norman Burgess Fund has commissioned three pieces by CMC Associate Composers based in Thunder Bay as part of NMFYM, and this was an opportunity to have a world premiere of the most recent works in that city. The concert included premieres of The Cello Scores! for solo cello by Darlene Chepil Reid, and Three Little Pieces for viola and piano by Patrick Horn. Aris Carastathis, who organized the concert, also had a piece performed—Encounters for viola and piano, which was commissioned by the Norman Burgess Fund in 2008. The event also featured works by student composers Graeme Cockell, Matt Sellick, and Molly Parris, and concluded with Oskar Morawetz’s Three Songs to Poems by William Blake for voice and piano.

With the support of a multi-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the CMC has been able to sponsor NMFYM programming across Ontario, and Ping! North was a celebration of the exceptional educational music that has been generated for string students and teachers.

CMC congratulates the five composers who have been commissioned through the Norman Burgess Fund in 2013: Richard Mascall, Alan Torok, and Allison Cameron will each write a piece for string orchestra, Monica Pearce will write a piece for double bass, and Nick Storring will write a piece for harp. This year, our NMFYM commissions will be developed with teachers and students from Georgian Bay, Owen Sound, London, Port Credit, and Toronto!

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PHOTO: MATTHEW FAVA

Ping! North and New commissions

Anthony Bacon performing The Cello Scores! as part of Ping! North.

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Fall premieres. Mark your calendar.

The annual Ping! showcase will take place on Tuesday, October 29 at University of Toronto Schools, 371 Bloor Street West. This showcase will include the premieres of three string orchestra pieces written by John Burke, Alice Ping Yee Ho, and Henry Kucharzyk. Visit the CMC website for updated information closer to the date.

ONTARIO PROJECT UPDATES THE MENTORSHIP PROJECT WRAPS UP

Left: Cellist Mary-Katherine Finch (L) with Fiona Ryan (R) during workshops with Contact musicians Right: Guitarist Rob MacDonald (L) reviewing his part with Jason Doell (R) PHOTOS: MATTHEW FAVA

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fter a busy six months the Emerging Composer Mentorship Project, coordinated by the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre, has wrapped up. This exciting project was designed to support composers who are making the transition from formal education to careers as composers.

The three participating composers, Jason Doell, Saman Shahi, and Fiona Ryan, were each paired with a mentor composer to gain career advice. Their mentors were Juliet Palmer, Brian Current, and Linda Catlin Smith, respectively.

The young composers participated in two workshops: in April they wrote new pieces for string orchestra while working with the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop.

CCMW is coordinated by CMC Associate Composers Abigail Richardson-Schulte and Gary Kulesha, with Kulesha acting as conductor. During May and early June, Doell, Shahi, and Ryan each created new pieces for a subset of the Contact Contemporary Music Ensemble, and they benefitted from a consultation and rehearsal schedule spread out over a month.

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As part of the mentorship project the CLC and CMC were also able to coordinate a professional development speaker series that was open to the public. Many artists were able to attend sessions that dealt with performance rights, taxation, recording, marketing, and other topics.

The Emerging Composer Mentorship Project was funded by the Canadian League of Composers through a grant from the SOCAN Foundation Creator’s Assistance Program.

Pianist Stephanie Chua in rehearsal.

Saman Shahi looking over some music during the Contact workshops.

ONTARIO PROJECT UPDATES SCORE READING CLUB

The Canadian Music Centre Ontario Score Reading Club hosted another exciting session on April 29 at Chalmers House.

Pianist Roland Starr performed Book of Saints by Colin Eatock, and Eatock was on hand to introduce the piece and answer questions from the audience. Accordionist Joseph Macerollo discussed R. Murray Schafer’s Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra, which was written for him. The session concluded with Adam Sherkin presenting his piece Whirlwave and sharing insights into the various inspirations that informed the music.

The Score Reading Club is coordinated by volunteers of the CMC, and each session serves to stimulate interest in music from CMC Associate Composers. We are always looking for participants who want to perform and present their favourite works. Do you have a piece you would like to share at a future score reading club session? Contact us!

THE MASTERCLASS YOUTH SERIES IS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

The Master Class Youth Series, organized

by Conservatory Canada and the CMC, is now in its second year. Each workshop will focus on performance and composition for voice.

CMC Associate Composer Aris Carastathis conducted the first workshops in Thunder Bay in May, and four workshops in other communities are scheduled for the fall. An Associate Composer of the CMC is involved with each of the sessions: Martha Hill Duncan in Kingston, Elise Letourneau in Kanata, Dean Burry in Aurora, and Alex Eddington in Midland.

Voice teachers and students who are interested in the project can click here for more details!

Left: Joe Macerollo introduces Schafer’s Accordion Concerto Right: Colin Eatock (L) chats with Pianist Roland Starr PHOTOS: JOHN S. GRAY

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Mark your calendar.

The next session of the score reading club will take place on Wednesday, September 18 at 7pm at Chalmers House. We hope you can attend!

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Generations Conversations An inter-generational interview series that connects young composers and performers with senior and established CMC Associate Composers in Ontario. Participants are paired up to share their histories, and contrast their experiences in the field of music and the arts. In this issue we learn more about three composers: Steven Gellman, Barrie Cabena, and Phil Nimmons.

A CONVERSATION WITH

Phil Nimmons

BY PAOLO GRIFFIN

GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | PHIL NIMMONS

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n Monday, June 3rd, friends, family and colleagues gathered at the Canadian Music Centre to celebrate the 90th birthday of CMC Associate Composer Phil Nimmons. Originally from Kamloops, British Columbia, Nimmons’s family moved to Vancouver at the onset of the Depression in 1930 when he was seven years old. His diverse musical experiences in that city would lead him to study in New York and Toronto.

His impressive musical career has taken him into many different settings as a performer, composer, and teacher. Here is a short excerpt from an immersive discussion we had in the spring.

PG: You studied pre-med in B.C. and went to Juilliard to study composition instead of continuing on to become a doctor. What prompted this change in direction? Was it a decision you came to quickly or something that took a long time to come to terms with?

musician kinda’ chose me too. The creative process in me relating to composition started at a very young age when I was maybe ten years old. I wrote piano music, reams and reams of it, all in the same key; it was the epitome of selfindulgence.

PN: My thought at the time when I was pursuing a medical degree was to actually go into psychiatry and research focusing on endocrinology. It was the end of my third year at the University of British Columbia when I made the decision to change from medicine to music. I was working at the CBC during my studies at UBC and because I was spending so much time at CBC I only managed a 51% (or so) average over my first two years, but you had to have at least a 75% average for any consideration to study medicine in Toronto, Montreal or elsewhere – there was no medical school in Vancouver at the time. So in my third year at UBC I took my studies rather seriously and managed to get my average up to 75% in my fall term December exams. However, due to health reasons, I missed writing my final exams in April and received aegrotats, no standing or the need to attend summer school.

Needless to say, my average returned to 51% (or so) and this disenchantment was enough for me to change my mind and studies to a career in music; however, due to my father’s firm and “no alternative” counselling, I did finish my four years at UBC and graduated with a BA in mostly medical-related courses.

PG: What were your years studying in Vancouver like? Playing with the bands in and around the city must have greatly influenced your music in later years.

I started at the CBC when I was 15 or 16 years old. I was self taught at the time – clarinet and composition. My older sister, Jayne, said “the reason you’re playing the clarinet Phil is you heard Benny Goodman on the radio and you were smitten”, but I think it chose me. But also I think being a 12 | Ontario Notations - Summer 2013

PN: I was playing for the CBC in a small jazz group that had a radio program called Serenade in Rhythm. Ray Norris was the leader, a guitar player, very progressively minded.

There was an accordion player, Vic Centro, in the group. I was considered the weird, avant-garde clarinet player, and Ray supported me and I got to play in the quintet. I started to write for that group; I had never written anything for accordion, but I soon learned. Since I played in the group, I heard everything that I wrote and, in retrospect, I now know and feel that was a very important learning experience for me at that time.

I also played in the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Avison and developed my performance in the style of the classics. In the orchestra I played beside the first clarinet for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, John Arnott, and it was a further wonderful learning experience.

Also I learned a lot about music notation and the copying of music from Lawrence Wilson who was a trumpet player and composer as well. Lawrence did various work for the CBC, and I copied all his music from scores written in ink with complete notation throughout, so a lot of that kinda’ rubbed off on me too.

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GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | PHIL NIMMONS PG: It must have been a bit different, going from playing primarily jazz clarinet to a setting at Juilliard in which the classical repertoire was pushed. Did you feel at all at a disadvantage in terms of your knowledge of repertoire?

PN: No, not at all. The classical repertoire was part of my musical environment at the CBC in Vancouver. I suspect at the time very few other jazz musicians had those opportunities to be exposed to classical music as I was, and dig it as I did. To the best of my memory I got to Juilliard through help from Frederik Prausnitz, a conductor from New York, who came to Vancouver to direct the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra on several occasions. As a member of the Orchestra I had come to know him and he wrote a letter on my behalf. Also, Leonard Bernstein came to Vancouver and, unbeknownst to me, my colleagues took my music for him to look at, and he agreed to write a letter to help me get into Juilliard. I went for my first interview and they said, “We can’t take you in composition, you have no formal training in theory or harmony,” although I’d been I’d been writing my butt off for four or five years – or more.

They saw that I had a clarinet so I played that and got a scholarship; I’m not sure if I received it for the three years that I attended Juilliard but I am sure that I never studied composition while I was there.

then John Weinzweig. That again was a wonderful time. We were a small group of students at the Royal Conservatory in comparison with Juilliard and, in a sense, we all taught one another as it was possible to know most of the students and there was a great exchange of ideas. The first person I meet when I came to Toronto was Harry Freedman and through Harry I met other student composers – Harry Somers, John Beckwith, for instance. Harry also introduced me to John Weinzweig with whom I would eventually study composition.

Little did we know and at the time, that the Canadian League of Composers was just around the corner, so to speak.

And one of the biggest things about my time at Juilliard was that I had the chance to play in almost any kind of ensemble.

And also, all the instrumentalists had to sing; it was required in first year, and I kept taking it because I enjoyed it so much.

I’m not sure how many instrumentalists were involved but we filled the theatre stage, and then some, and the conductor was out front in the orchestra pit. On one occasion we performed the Bach B Minor Mass. I’d never sung before in my life and I don’t know whether we sang in tune, you know, because I was one of maybe 60 or 75 instrumentalist bass singers. But it was a very profound experience for me because the voice is the primordial instrument and it develops sensitivity for a lot of things.

“ I suspect at the time very few other jazz musicians had those opportunities to be exposed to classical music as I was, and dig it as I did.”

Having not studied composition at Juilliard I still wanted to study it. I came to Toronto around 1946 or ’47 and I got accepted to the Senior School at the Royal Conservatory where I studied composition with Dr. Arnold Walter and

PG: When did writing in a “contemporary art” vein become a major force of your work? Were your other activities influenced by your move in this direction?

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Phil Nimmons, second from right, during his early days at the CBC.

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GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | PHIL NIMMONS PN: For a number of years I wrote a lot of incidental dramatic music for radio plays while in Toronto. I worked with J. Frank Willis, a CBC producer from Halifax, and most of the shows that we did, generally speaking, were about the East Coast. So I wound up learning all about Peggy’s Cove, Sable Island, the Bluenose, the Days of Sail exploring the Atlantic slave trade, but also Louis Riel and many other topics with some relating to the history of Canada.

Depending on the character of the radio play it would influence the instrumentation and the size of the group that I would write for; also the budget would be a concern.

PG: You currently teach improvisation at the University of Toronto. Can you share some of your early experiences in music education?

PN: Nimmons ‘N’ Nine Plus Six was part of a Jazz Radio Canada series which interacted with other Canadian Jazz groups across the country. I’ve always felt very strongly about playing to live audiences and so, rather then playing to microphones in studios, we went out to schools to do our broadcast. At first, we only appeared at the school for our concert after doing our rehearsal at a CBC studio. Then we started rehearsing at the school and the music students would sit beside members of Nimmons ‘N’ Nine Plus Six and observe the professionals at work. This led eventually to our group playing the charts that the school jazz ensemble was rehearsing for performances. Also, I would go out to the school a few days before our radio broadcast concert and talk to the music students about the music we would be playing.

Members of Nimmons ‘N’ Nine Plus Six pose during the birthday celebrations at Chalmers House: L to R: Phil Nimmons, John Capon (trombone), Dave Caldwell (saxophone), Mike Malone (trumpet), Darryl Eaton (trumpet).

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I met Oscar Peterson, through Harry Freedman, and we became very close friends. It was Oscar’s idea to start a school that we developed along with Ray Brown into the Advanced School of Contemporary Music (ASCM), which had its start in the basement of Oscar’s home in Scarborough.

It was eventually located at Park Road and ran for three years. People had come to the school with a fair level of accomplishment at that time. And there were no holds barred because we all shared the same thought. There are no shortcuts to becoming a musician, there are no formulas, really there’s hard work; at least, that was our feeling, and I still think that it’s very true.

A CONVERSATION WITH

Steven Gellman

BY ELISSAR HANNA

GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | STEVEN GELLMAN

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s a student of composition living in Ottawa I was delighted and grateful to have the opportunity to speak with CMC Associate Composer Steven Gellman. Gellman recently retired from the Faculty of Music at the University of Ottawa where he taught composition.

While future composition students at the University will not have the same opportunities to work with Gellman, this is an opportunity for the composer to focus his attention on new projects. Here is an excerpt from a recent conversation with Gellman.

EH: How do you go about composing?

SG: I hear music on the inner plane.

Music is a language and music happens to be the language that has always spoken to me the most, more so than words. The inner voice comes to me through music, and I have had a deep, intuitive understanding of great music since childhood, which has grown through the years. So how do I compose music? I listen. And ideas come. I’ll make sketches and after a while an idea emerges that’s quite strong and I know “this is real” and I’ll write it down. Often that will open up a vein of ideas that are related to that first idea or contrasting with it, and I see that these go together in a piece. I like writing longer pieces that tell a trajectory of the soul.

EH: Do you sit at the piano and compose?

SG: I used to a lot. When I was young, I was a pianist/ composer; I would sit at the piano and have stream of consciousness impromptu improvisation, and when I liked what I heard, I wrote it down. These days, I do very little of that. It’s more internal. And if I use the piano at all, it’s just to verify; especially when I’m searching for harmonies.

When I’m not writing tonal music and am rather inventing harmonies, then sometimes I have to go to the piano to make sure. I need the piano when I’m searching to express a specific colour.

EH: What’s the latest piece that you composed?

SG: The latest was in Calgary when I worked on “The

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Dybbuk” together with La Caravan Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Maya Lewandowsky. The Dybbuk is a Jewish folktale. The Dybbuk is a spirit or ghost of the heroine’s former lover who claims her from the rich old businessman that her father has arranged for her to marry. She doesn’t want to marry him. She wants her lover back. But when the lover, the young man, hears that she is betrothed to the rich old man, he has a sudden heart attack and dies from a broken heart. So there’s a reason for the Dybbuk. He comes back and possesses her at her wedding. The work is a story of love obsession and possession between two worlds.

EH: Did you work collaboratively? Were you in the dance rehearsals composing simultaneously?

SG: Between June of last year and the premier this past January at the “High Performance Rodeo”, I spent an average of two weeks most months living with Maya and her partner in Calgary, which was lovely as we’re all friends.

I would go to all the rehearsals with the dancers and she would ask for a certain kind of music, and sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t.

It was a great experience for me because too often, I’ve been in my Ebony Tower all alone, having to compose. So I really enjoyed this. And the dancers would say “I really like this piece, could you make that part longer?” And I would say “sure”. So it was really collaborative. I like very much the mutual appreciation as you’re creating together.

EH: You’ve been a musician for the majority of your life.

How does it feel to know that so much of your time has been dedicated to this craft?

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GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | STEVEN GELLMAN

SG: I’m very happy to have been able to compose a lot of music and to be able to make my living in music by teaching it and sharing with others. Teaching is a wonderful way to share my knowledge and experience and I am very happy to be paid to do that. I feel it’s very fortunate to be able to make your living through something that you love the best.

EH: What were your years like studying with Messiaen?

SG: Messiaen was one of those incredibly rare beings who was a truly great composer and a truly great teacher at the same time. He was very supportive and encouraging of my composition. We had some very interesting dialogues. And I have eternal love and respect for him. He was so deeply cultured in the best sense of the word. He had spiritual culture, he knew civilizations, he knew history, he knew art.

In addition, he would always take [analysis] steps deeper and make comparisons. For example, he would speak about the Greek foundations in some of Debussy’s rhythms and the plainchant behind some of his works. He would put pieces together in ways that you would not get from a history book.

EH: Are you involved in any music projects currently?

SG: No major projects right now. I have some compositions on the back burner, which I will bring out later this summer.

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“ I’m very happy to have been able to compose a lot of music and to be able to make my living in music by teaching it and sharing with others.”

A CONVERSATION WITH

Barrie Cabena

BY JASON CARON

GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | BARRIE CABENA

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MC Associate Composer Barrie Cabena was born in 1933 in Melbourne, Australia. He would eventually study in Toronto and pursue a career in Ontario where he has been active as a composer, educator, and performer. In particular, he is recognized for his work with the organ. Cabena is celebrating his 80th birthday this summer, and we had the chance to contrast his experience in Canada and abroad, and reflect on his numerous achievements.

JC: You have had a creative career that has taken you from Australia, to the UK, and now to Canada. Can you compare and contrast the music scenes you encountered in these countries?

BC: I grew up as a chorister in the English Cathedral tradition, much of which was rooted in the past. Twentieth century music was little known or used. But outside the church the musical culture was rich. For example, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a world class orchestra, performed each concert four times, with perhaps a change of concerto, and I usually attended each concert, sitting, score in hand, in the choir stalls just behind the players. I learned a great deal of Vaughn Williams, Bax, Walton, and Hindemith, and so on, but only rarely music by Australian composers.

In England, from 1954 to 1957, it was in a way more of the same, but perhaps more intensely so. I often attended up to three concerts or recitals a day! And I heard contemporary French, German, and Russian music. The SPNM [Society for the Promotion of New Music] aired up-and-coming English composers generously. Festivals abounded. And then there were the Proms!

Coming to Canada in 1957 was rather like returning to the limits I experienced in Melbourne, but with the added dominant Protestant conservatism of Ontario, which was quite stifling. New music was viewed with great suspicion and resistance—at least in 1957. There were few orchestras of any skill outside centres like Toronto, and classical music on the radio was quite sparse. Lawrence Welk ruled supreme!

But serious and committed musicians of considerable ability were to be found, and were slowly making their presences felt.

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JC: What prompted you to stay in Canada?

BC: Staying in Canada—once I had recovered from the initial culture shock!—was easy: my energy in exploring the unfamiliar as a performer was strangely welcomed. The fact that I was able to build a studio/career around a church job would not have been possible in Australia (at $300 a year!), nor in England, where the competition to survive required a much more aggressive personality than I had. Whatever my gifts were they were warmly welcomed, and you could say that I blossomed.

So Canada was the right place for me to stay, and it has remained so.

“ Growing up as a choirboy exposed me to the wonders and mysteries of the organ, and its basically terraced dynamics appealed to the rather nonromantic pianist in me.”

JC: What sort of advantages or extra insights does an international composer have?

BC: The international composer has, in my simple experience, broken through some of the fences imposed by upbringing. Their greater experience allows some freedom in taking in new influences and carving out a less constricted life-path. Of course a composer may embrace the system

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GENERATIONS/CONVERSATIONS | BARRIE CABENA

PHOTO: JAMES HERTEL

of, say, a Hindemith, and become as stuck as if he/she had stayed at home, but in my case I found it rewarding to explore the music of The Netherlands, France, and Germany—particularly in my performing—that coloured my compositions way beyond my being Australian, British, or Canadian.

JC: There is the saying, and I can’t remember who said it, that if the piano is king, then the organ is God. What drew you to the instrument?

BC: Growing up as a choirboy exposed me to the wonders and mysteries of the organ, and its basically terraced dynamics appealed to the rather non-romantic pianist in me.

The sustaining possibilities also appealed to someone who loves harmony although, to misquote Stravinsky, you have to be careful to allow the music to breathe. As a kid I found sounds like the celestes enchanting. And of course the extra dimension created by the pedals was irresistible. The fire and passion of a Liszt or a Reubke, expressed with powerful reeds and mixtures, turned me on as a teenager, as later did the extraordinary experiments of Karg-Elert, who opened us to such amazing possibilities.

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Barrie Cabena (centre) pictured with two organ students. Photo courtesy of Wilfrid Laurier University Archives.

JC: How do you feel about being both an organ composer and performer, and how has being one shaped the other?

BC: Organist/composers are a breed apart. It must be because the organist has so many opportunities to try out in performance what has been written. An organist/composer also has the opportunity to include acoustics in the adventure—something rarely given the orchestral composer.

JC: How active are you musically, now? Are there still goals that you wish to accomplish compositionally, academically, and so on?

BC: Even in my 80th year I am still composing busily— probably every day. But I will probably not write another organ sonata—sixty-eight is quite enough, thank you! But I would love to write at least one more children’s opera, and I read fairy tales often in the hope of finding a story.

Unfortunately my A-Fib, which makes me tired, and my arthritis, which messes up my fingering, indicates that I probably should stop giving organ recitals—but it is hard to give up something I enjoy so much.

ESPRIT ORCHESTRA 2013-2014 Season Alex Pauk, Founding Music Director & Conductor JOIN US TODAY! SUBSCRIBE! 416.408.0208 or performance.rcmusic.ca

New Era Launch Thursday, October 24, 2013 Works by R. Murray Schafer, Claude Vivier, Alfred Schnittke, Samy Moussa.

Presented by popular demand following Teng Li’s previous appearance with Esprit, the concert features a repeat performance of Schnittke’s Viola Concerto.

O Gamalan Sunday, November 17, 2013 Works by José Evangelista, Chan Ka Nin, Alex Pauk, André Ristic, Lou Harrison and Claude Vivier. The programme includes music influenced by gamelan or combining gamelan and orchestra. Featuring Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan as guest ensemble.

Strange Matter Sunday, January 26, 2014 Works by Samy Moussa, Zosha Di Castri, Gabriel Prokofiev and Unsuk Chin.

In collaboration with the UofT Faculty of Music New Music Festival. The concert introduces Samy Moussa as a conductor with his star rising fast in Europe.

Firebrands Sunday, May 25, 2014 Featuring newly commissioned works by Zosha Di Castri and Christopher Mayo – young Canadian composers living and making a major impact abroad. Also music by Louis Andriessen, one of Europe’s most eminent and influential composers of today. Part of Koerner Hall’s inaugural 21C Music Festival.

All concerts start at 8:00 PM; Pre-concert talks at 7:15 PM Koerner Hall in the TELUS Centre at The Royal Conservatory Subscriptions: $200, $180; $75 Single Tickets: $55; $50; $20

WWW.ESPRITORCHESTRA.COM

Robert Aitken, artistic director

www.NewMusicConcerts.com | Sunday October 6, 2013 | Betty Oliphant Theatre | Stefan Meets Anton and Morty Meets John Classics by Wolpe, Webern, Feldman & Cage, curated by Austin Clarkson | Friday November 1, 2013 | Betty Oliphant Theatre | David Eagle – Art of Interactive Electronics Canadian electroacoustic music by LeBlanc, Eagle, Tan & Pidgorna | Saturday December 14, 2013 | Betty Oliphant Theatre | An Evening with Jean-Pierre Drouet Percussive theatrics by Globokar, Aperghis, Rzewski, Battistelli & Kagel | Sunday January 19, 2014 | The Music Gallery | Motion Ensemble – From Atlantic Shores A cornucopia of Canadian music from the east coast by Blais, Steffler, Morse, Oickle, Charke, Moore, Genge & Altmann | Thursday March 20, 2014 | Jane Mallett Theatre | An Evening with the Arditti String Quartet Pioneering quartets by Carter, Paredes, Ferneyhough & Lachenmann, co-produced with Music Toronto | Friday April 18, 2014 | Betty Oliphant Theatre | A Portrait of Jörg Widmann An evening devoted to the inimitable music of Jörg Widmann | Wednesday May 21, 2014 | Mazzoleni Hall, Royal Conservatory | Beijing Composers with Wei-wei Lan Music by Guoping Jia, Fuhong Shi and Alexina Louie, featuring Pipa virtuoso Wei-Wei Lan; NMC’s contribution to the inaugural season of the Royal Conservatory of Music 21C Music Festival Subscriptions (7 events) $170 regular | $105 seniors / arts workers | | $35 students | Pick 3 (or more) each $28 reg | $18 snr/arts | $8 student | [Prices include 13% HST] Call NMC @ 416-961-9594

www.newmusicconcerts.com

CD Reviews By: Jason Caron

There have been many exciting CD releases in the first half of 2013 that featured CMC Associate Composers based in Ontario. Here are two that caught my attention.

VOCES BOREALES Yoko Hirota

Pianist Yoko Hirota recently released a CD of solo piano works entitled Voces Boreales. Having attended one of the CD release concerts for Hirota's previous album, Small is Beautiful, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of this most recent offering. Hirota’s new CD, released on the CMC’s Centrediscs label, contains more of her technically flawless and deeply sensitive playing. The album is also a tribute to Northern Ontario, my former home and Hirota’s current one—she is an Associate Professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury. The music contained on the album represents an all-Canadian cast of composers, young and old.

The album was recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, and the character and depth in the sound of the piano shine through in spades. Much like the pieces on Small is Beautiful, Hirota has a taste for the dazzlingly abstract and punishingly virtuosic. As an example, Brian Current's entry on the CD, Sungods, begins with glittering and sparkling runs, as though precious stone were being crushed into dust and cast into the wind. It has a fantastic sense of progression into successively bigger ideas, with a majestic destination.

Another stand out piece is Robert Lemay's Hiroshima mon amour, which borrows its name from the novel by Marguerite Duras. The music itself was inspired by Lemay’s trip to Hiroshima and in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome. The piece is appropriately tragic, angry, confused, and ends questioningly. Very fitting, given the gravity of the subject matter. As Hirota herself mentions in the liner notes, one

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can make an apt comparison between Lemay’s piece and the music of Toru Takemitsu. Hirota comments that Lemay displays a great sensitivity to the progression of different colours and as well, I think, a rare focus and intensity that Takemitsu possessed, seldom found in other 20th- and 21stcentury composers.

Listening to Voces Boreales from start to finish reveals the challenges inherent in art music albums. Very few composers write a piece to be effective on a CD, and thus when individual pieces are compiled for that purpose I find myself wondering whether alternate sequences would have been more engaging. Ultimately, the strength of these very fine pieces, and Yoko Hirota’s playing, make this an excellent record.

You can click here to purchase Voces Boreales, or hear samples from the CD.

CD REVIEWS

WOMAN RUNS WITH WOLVES Beverly Johnston

It almost goes without saying that Woman Runs With Wolves, another recent release from Centrediscs, features truly stellar performances; and, much more has been said elsewhere about Beverly Johnston's vast skill, versatility, and sensitivity, than can be articulated in an album review.

Johnston’s very fine collaborators on this CD, Susan Hoeppner, Lauren Margison, and Pamela Reimer, also match that vitality in their playing.

The sound engineering on this disc is fantastic. Each separate instrument and indeed each timbre is rich, balanced, and distinct from one other. This is attributed to very meticulous stereo placements, and also how well each instrument was recorded to maintain as much of its live timbre as possible. However, what makes this album really click is the impressive number of instruments and the variety of corresponding sounds that are brought together and somehow blend well.

The CD begins with Christos Hatzis' Arctic Dreams, a shimmering arctic soundscape complete with Inuit throat singing, the wash of the northern lights, and bird calls, which achieve an overall icy, tranquil mood. Rant! by Tim Brady kicks up the energy—it’s a piece based on an impassioned Rick Mercer waxing philosophic. It has the great tension building and release as a cutting argument would, and the overlapping of voices with text from Rick Mercer himself is arresting. Micheline Roi's Grieving the Doubts of Angels

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opens with Pärt-esque calmness, the character of each percussion instrument here used to great effect. Eventually the piece tumbles into an intricate dance and then a driving finale. In The Fire of Conflict is another soundscape by Christos Hatzis, this time featuring the unlikely timbre of a rapper sampled in the electronic backing. The title track, composed by Alice Ho, is half-piece-of-music, half-ritual, full of faux throat singing, barking, inhuman background singing, and ominous foreboding rhythms. It is perhaps the most evocative piece on the CD. Summit by David Occhipinti is a charming, melodic solo marimba piece that is a perfectly timed palette cleanser for the final piece, Up and Down Dubstep by Laura Silberberg. There are so many sounds in Silberberg’s piece it would have taken a more focused listen to note them down after the first go.

The pieces by Silberberg, Ho, and Hatzis best illustrate what I think is the most remarkable feature of this CD: the great amount of variety across the repertoire but also within the pieces themselves. It is the work of no small force that has wrangled all of these sounds into a cohesive whole, thanks to some clever sequencing of well written pieces and stellar performances. A wonderful CD for those who have eclectic tastes!

You can click here to purchase Woman Runs With Wolves, or hear samples from the CD.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Good Housekeeping for Composers: Some Thoughts on Personal Administration BY: MONICA PEARCE

Does anyone ever really know what it will be like to have a career as a composer? A clear picture of what day-today life will look like? An approximate trajectory of how one might achieve fame, wealth, and glory? Probably not.

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rowing up on Prince Edward Island, I do not recall meeting a living composer of art music until I went away to university, so I was never really aware that it was even a “career choice”, let alone what it would look like. When it came barging into my imagination during my undergraduate degree, I started fantasizing about what it might be like to be a “Composer”. Naturally, my initial perception was based on unrealistic standards of success: regular orchestral premieres, blockbuster film scores, travelling the world, those benefits enjoyed by a select number of popular composers. As you might imagine, at the current stage in my career this perception has changed and developed remarkably.

There are many interesting facets to fashioning a career in composing in Canada, but the one in which I am particularly interested is the topic of personal administration; put otherwise, how composers learn to manage their own careers, mostly by trial and error. In my roles as a composer, artistic director, and administrator, I have done quite a bit of that trial and error myself, always wondering whether I should have picked up this knowledge in some more formal way. While going through their training, most composers focus on developing their creative craft by writing pieces, taking classes in orchestration and counterpoint, participating in workshops, and forming friendships with like-minded composers and performers. This makes sense—university is a special time where composers can take musical risks with little or no repercussions. However, after leaving the academic nest, composers have a myriad of lessons left to learn regarding managing their own careers, including how to best represent themselves on paper, online, and in person. This is where things get interesting and frightening: a composer might be able to write harmonics for the double bass, but are they on top of grant deadlines, competitions and workshop applications, their website, and all of the important premieres of their peers?

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To be honest, even the most organized, obsessive-compulsive composer probably carries around a fair amount of what I will call “administration guilt”, a consequence of an everexpanding to-do list. For many composers I talk to, keeping personal websites up-to-date is on the top of that list. For others, it might be notifying SOCAN of performances, or finally becoming a SOCAN member, as the case may be. My greatest challenge is the ongoing and almost dizzying (albeit enticing!) array of opportunities and applications that pop up: grant applications, composer competitions, workshops, and calls for works.

“ I still have to pick and choose opportunities that resonate with what I do as a composer and artist, and also factor what I can do within my own personal contexts of time, work and money.”

To apply or not to apply? It can be a tough question at times, where a composer must weigh the front-end work (putting together materials, the cost of printing scores, the cost of application fees in some cases) with the risk of being rejected, and all that work done seemingly for nothing.

My overarching philosophy in these situations is that it is better to apply, regardless of the outcome. Even if an application is unsuccessful, it will act as a form of advertisement for the composer and their music. If individual members of the jury or committee enjoy a composer’s music, there may be tangential benefits since juries often consist of other composers and established artists. These kinds of applications should be a priority for composers, and time should be budgeted each year for these exercises. Having said that, I still have to pick and choose opportunities that resonate with what I do as a composer and artist, and also factor what I can do within

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my own personal contexts of time, work and money. These variables are common for all composers, and they will impact the amount and variety of administration that can be undertaken.

Ontario composers have a number of exciting granting possibilities at their disposal. For instance, The Ontario Arts Council’s Music Commissioning Program brings the performer/ensemble and composer together in the application process; David Parsons, the OAC Classical Music Officer, reports a fifty percent success rate for their Music Commissioning Program in recent years. In addition, the OAC has been trying to better balance the commissions between emerging and established composers, resulting in a dynamic mix of recipients. The Canada Council for the Arts funds some of the most innovative projects across the country through its Commissioning of Canadian Compositions program; with its high application volume, this program is more competitive, but it is one of the strongest out there. Toronto composers have an additional opportunity through the Toronto Arts Council’s Music Creation Grants, which allows some freedom for composers to craft their particular creative projects as these are not commissioning grants. Similar to other opportunities, many composers balk at grant applications—the first application may seem difficult and onerous. However, the administration involved becomes easier with successive applications as a composer becomes more familiar with the format. When scheduling grant applications for these programs, composers should consider contacting the particular granting officer to gain more knowledge about the program.

Composer competitions are a fascinating beast, I must admit.

At my day job as the General Manager of the Canadian League of Composers, I manage the monthly newsletter Zoom In, which has a section on upcoming events and opportunities, many of which are competitions. I cannot list every competition that comes through the CLC inbox, but I try and include a national and international mix. After two years of compiling (and even more years of looking on my own), a pattern begins to emerge in terms of which competitions and calls will seem attractive to composers. In most cases, it often comes down to how much administrative effort the composer will need to put in to apply. For example, an online application with no fee is very appealing, whereas

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asking for a new work with a very specific instrumentation that cannot have had a performance is less so. I think everyone is different in what competitions and calls will pique their interest, but the administrative aspects play a significant role in whether the composer will actually apply.

Balancing the time invested in applying with the potential professional reward can be hard to manage; this situation is made easier when there is ample lead time before a competition deadline to allow the composer to make an informed decision and put together the materials.

“ One of the most important aspects of being a composer is how they connect to their community.”

An intriguing study on composer competitions was published by the Institute of Applied Cultural Economics and Sociology, which looks at patterns of application criteria, the weighting of monetary reward, and optimizations of duration and instrumentation for competition eligibility. The surprising data from this study shows, among other things, that a 5-7 minute duo will put composers in the most eligible position for the greatest amount of competitions, for the least amount of effort. This makes me wonder whether the applicants and the organizations are equally influenced by administrative effort!

Many of these opportunities require that composers represent themselves as fully as they can on paper, including a CV, biography, works list, and so on. But what about a more recent platform: how do composers best represent themselves online? Does every composer need their own personal website? While many prominent composers get by successfully without a website, it certainly does help increase visibility. Ten years ago, if I wanted to know more about a Canadian composer, I would have had to haul out the big red Encyclopedia of Music in Canada and look them up. Now, I pretty much assume that every composer I am looking for will be searchable online. This is not always true, of course, even when I add the word “composer” to the end of the search. But when I do find the composer—and they have a website that gives me a peek into their particular context of creativity, and sometimes samples of their music— that feels good; like we have created a new connection.

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When a composer’s website has covered the basic questions of who they are, where they have been and what they sound like, I find the next layer quite interesting: how composers choose to represent themselves through subtle self-branding and narrative threads. Sometimes composers find it easier to harness this second layer through social media, keeping their followers apprised of their performances, and sharing pictures and anecdotes related to their works. As an aside, it is worth noting that this aspect of putting yourself out there is easier for some than others—composers tend to be an insular bunch! However, in Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking she addresses the fact that introverts (many composers) may find it easier to promote themselves online than in person.

Online promotion is attractive because it combines a sense of contributing to the conversation socially with the magic of solitude, which is a key ingredient in composing.

“ Even if an application is unsuccessful, it will act as a form of advertisement for the composer and their music.”

Whether a composer is looking sharp on paper and online, it would be foolhardy to underestimate the importance of how they represent themselves in person as part of an artistic community. Even though the actual pencil-on-paper or mouse clicking in Sibelius is mostly done in solitude, one of the most important aspects of being a composer is how they connect to their community. My idea of community has several overlapping layers: from a new music circle made up of other composers and performers; to all different types of audience members; to supportive friends and family. It randomly grows out from there in nebulous ways. It takes effort to keep track of activities within your community, and remain in contact with a growing number of people, but if a composer is supportive it can have an exponential effect on their career: whether they are attending concerts and readings, saying a kind word post-performance, or generally having a good attitude. Not only does it hold benefits for the composer in the future in ways that cannot be predicted, it also helps to create the type of supportive community

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that benefits everyone. I am reminded of an amusing and prescient quote from Woody Allen: “eighty percent of success is showing up.” There is some truth to that.

As a final thought, the fact that composers have to figure out the majority share of administrative skills on their own is still a reality, for now. The Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre came together in 2010 to address this gap with the Emerging Composer Mentorship Project, where three composers receive actual training and mentorship on some of these professional development aspects. I feel fortunate to have been a part of the administrative team in collaboration with the CMC that put this project together, because I got to have a say in what I thought composers would want to learn more about, from taxation to recording to interdisciplinary collaboration. That felt good.

During those times when I find myself getting lost in the administration related to my composing, I have a couple of people who I can go to for advice and support. It is good for composers to have a couple of those contacts on speed dial (or Gchat, as it were), for when you hit the administrative wall. These can be individuals who are good at proofreading, and who know how to work a budget, but also folks who are unfamiliar with administration but will listen to you vent about your struggles. This is a specialized set of skills within a very specialized career, and we all need a little help now and then.

Although I have since tempered my lofty vision of a career as a composer, I still feel there are opportunities for composers to address the conditions and contexts that shape their livelihoods. Should there be more formal avenues for composers to learn how to manage their careers? I think it would help. For example, the Fine Arts Department of York University trains their students in administration, including taxation and grant-writing, an approach which I hope will become more common across other institutions going forward. In the meantime, composers can use other tools to help each other along the way: knowledge sharing, a good dose of organization, and probably the strongest tool, their own creativity.

FEATURE ARTICLE

In Focus A Second Perspective on Personal Administration By: Paul Frehner

composer competitions and workshops that were advertised in the newsletter, and over a period of five or six years my works received many performances in Europe as a result of these endeavors. In addition, through responding to an ad and going through an extended workshop phase I eventually received a commission from the Genesis Foundation to compose an opera for Almeida Opera. These experiences broadened my horizons and made me realize that the working community for a composer is truly international in scope.

ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS FOR COMPOSERS Administration, or the management of the day-to-day aspects of a business, is a continuous and ever-evolving process that is crucial to the advancement of a person’s career in any profession, including that of a composer. I have been working professionally as a composer since about 1997. It is hard to pin down an exact date since I have always thought that my professional activities began long before I received any payment for work completed. It can all be organized under the heading of “cost of setting up shop.” In those days administration consisted of preparing the usual biographical info, scouring various composer classifieds and bulletin boards for opportunities for performances and workshops, making sure my handwritten scores were looking sharp, sending out said scores to various ensembles, attending concerts, developing contacts with performers and letting them know I was interested in writing for them. This all eventually led to my first professional commission, which was a ten-minute piece entitled Phantasmagoria written for the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal’s Projet génération, a workshop/concert format that is still going strong today. I distinctly remember the director of the ensemble, Véronique Lacroix, telling us composers who were working on the project to “apply, apply, apply” for opportunities, emphasizing that while most doors will be slammed shut, if you persevere and if, most importantly, there is something in the music, some doors will be opened and those are the ones you have to go through.

This was very helpful advice as it encouraged me to be bold and to not fear failure. I began to continuously look for intriguing opportunities that I thought would be a good fit for me. A great source of information for composer opportunities back then was the Gaudeamus Newsletter, which was published twice a year by the Gaudeamus Foundation in Holland. I responded to many calls for scores, 29 | Ontario Notations - Summer 2013

STARTING FROM SCRATCH After finishing my Master’s degree in 1998 the pathway forward as a working composer was not at all evident. I wasn’t prepared for the administrative aspect of being a composer, but then again there really was not much to administer at that point. I was a young father of two at the time and to get ahead a bit and keep on top of bills I formed a music school with my wife Susanne. In addition, I also directed two church choirs. Managing my own music school gave me some insights into running a business and I think that I have carried some things forward from that experience and am continuously applying them to my life as a composer.

After a one-year break from studying I entered the DMus program in composition at McGill. It was during this period that my career started to move forward in a significant way. I had won a couple of competitions and by the time I graduated had some commissions on my plate. I found that one successful project would often lead to another opportunity in a snowball-like effect. In some cases new projects came through recommendations from one artistic director to another.

One administrative aspect I felt particularly well prepared for was writing project proposals. Composer statements on grant applications have to be to the point, while at the same time conveying a clear vision of the proposed piece. After having written various project proposals during my studies I felt like I knew how to write a descriptive yet concise proposal.

HAVING AN ONLINE PRESENCE While I have felt it important to do so, I have never actively maintained a very visible presence online. For years I have been meaning to set up a website and only now am I slowly beginning to establish one. Other organizations, such as

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“ These

experiences broadened my

horizons and made me realize that the working community for a composer is truly international in scope.” the CMC and Soundstreams Canada, have taken the lead for me in this area and it has yielded significant rewards in the form of performances and commissions. A conductor recently said to me that he had listened to all of my orchestral and ensemble music on the Centrestreams section of the CMC website. This sort of exposure is invaluable as it greatly speeds up the programming process for concert organizers. Indeed, when I have programmed concerts in the past I have found it most useful to be able to visit composers’ websites or Centrestreams and to be able to listen to recordings. I am afraid that composers who do not get their stuff out there in the form of archival recordings might be somewhat at a disadvantage.

I personally do not do social media, but the benefits of this sort of promotion are potentially enormous. Student performers and professional arts organizations alike are becoming increasingly active in promoting their events through online social media and those that are successful in this regard are seeing positive effects in the form of increased attendance numbers. Just recently, a concert by six student pianists here at The University of Western Ontario had maximum capacity attendance and their promotion was largely online. Event campaigning through social media is clearly both effective and efficient.

ADMINISTRATION AND UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM When I was a student at McGill there was a course that all students in the performance stream had to take: “Life as a Professional Musician.” It was a pass/fail course based entirely on attendance. The professor, Abe Kestenberg, was

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really good on his feet—like a stand-up comedian. The course content was largely anecdotal and he recounted stories from his considerable experience as a professional musician and member of the musician’s union. There were also frequent guest speakers from the classical and jazz scene in and around Montreal, and the course was helpful in that it gave students a true glimpse into what life as a pro is like.

Along those lines, I think that a series of retrospective lectures from various professional composers, performers, agents, and arts administrators on the subject of financial and administrative “dos” and “don’ts” would be helpful for student composers. It would be questionable whether this could be done as an official course with proper assignments and grading, since composition programs are already chockfull of content just dealing with the fundamental issues of being a composer. Perhaps students in composition should be guided to take an elective course in business administration as an alternative. If there were a dedicated course for composers, there is the question of the expertise of the instructor: a lot of composers, even those who have had considerable artistic and commercial success, are often flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to navigating the administrative and financial side of their careers—it doesn’t appear to be an exact science and what works for one might not work for another. Regardless of the source of information, composers will work in numerous contexts and more fundamental skills like communication and organization will help when coping with administrative and financial matters.

NOTE WORTHY Recent Achievements and special events involving Associate Composers and Voting Members of the CMC 2013 Toronto Emerging Composer Award

Connect Four: CMC Associates at the Boston-International Contempo Festival With over 400 applicants from around the world in several categories, the CMC was very excited to learn that four CMC Associate Composers were recognized in the recent Boston Metro Opera’s (BMO) International Composers’ Competition.

2013 Toronto Emerging Composer Award Winner Anna Höstman, and Chris Thornborrow who received an honourable mention.

CMC Associate Composer Anna Höstman has won the 2013 Toronto Emerging Composer Award. As the winner, Höstman will receive $5,000 to help her realize a new piece of music based on her experience walking the Camino de Santiago that will incorporate Baroque period instruments.

CMC Associate Composer Chris Thornborrow received an honourable mention in the award and will receive $1,000 to help develop a piece with a game-like structure for the Toy Piano Composers Ensemble. Both composers were publicly recognized during the Esprit Orchestra Concert in March.

The Toronto Emerging Composer Award is made possible through the generous support of philanthropists Roger D. Moore and Michael Koerner.

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Leonard Enns received a Festival Award in the art song/ cycle category for “In the End”—Enns also won a Director’s Choice award for his piece Behind the Seen. Lloyd Burritt also received a Director’s Choice award for his pieces ImageNation, Moon Loves Its Light, and Winter Words in a Dark Love Song, as well as a BMO Merit Award for Moth Poem.

Inventory by Brian Current received a Festival Award in the Art Song category, and his opera Airline Icarus received a BMO Mainstage Award. Also in the Opera category, Alice Ping Yee Ho received a BMO Merit Award for her opera The Imp of the Perverse.

The Boston-International Contempo Festival is widely regarded as Boston’s dedicated venue for new vocal music.

The festival is now entering its fourth year, and as one component of the events the Composers Competition offers free performances of select operas, music theater, art songs and cycles, and choral works submitted by composers worldwide.

NOTEWORTHY

Leonard Enns Retires

Icarus Abroad, Brian Current’s Opera in the US

After thirty-six years, CMC Associate Composer Leonard Enns is leaving his teaching position at Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo. Enns, who celebrated his 65th birthday in February, plans to focus on composition, conducting, and other interests. He gave his final concert with the University of Waterloo Chamber Choir at the Sharon Temple north of Toronto in April.

Excerpts of Airline Icarus, the opera written by CMC Associate Composer Brian Current with librettist Anton Piatigorsky, were performed as a part of Frontiers, an annual program of new works included in the Fort Worth Opera Festival in Texas. This was the first in a series of presentations in the US to include excerpts of Airline Icarus with future performances in Boston (at the Contempo Festival) and New York. These performances will lead up the full production by Soundstreams in June 2014. Airline Icarus will also be featured on a commercial recording issued by the Naxos Canadian Classics label next season.

The timing worked out rather well, as Enns enjoyed three premieres in the month of May. Apart from his piece at the Boston-International Contempo Festival (mentioned above), Enns had a premiere performance of his piece Surge Amica Mea in San Francisco and Santa Clara, California. Surge Amica Mea was commissioned by the Golden Gate Men’s Chorus. Shortly thereafter, Camerata Nova and Correction Line Ensemble premiered Enns’s Nun Kanet All Our God in Winnipeg in late May; the piece is written for choir, violin, cello and percussion.

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Brian Current also had a piece, Strata, performed by the Soundstreams ensemble during their Chinese tour.

Soundstreams toured a program of contemporary Canadian music to Taiwan and China, culminating in an appearance at the Beijing Modern Music Festival.

Top left: University of Waterloo Chamber Choir at the Sharon Temple north of Toronto in April. Leonard Enns is pictured in the far right.

Top right: An image from the Italian production of Brian Current’s Airline Icarus.

Bottom left: Sharon Temple.

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NOTEWORTHY In the Ether

Awards for Music Recordings

HARMAN IN AUSTRIA Following a recent trip to Europe, CMC Associate Composer Brian Harman had his piece Rituals and Tendencies broadcast by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation on March 18. The piece, commissioned by Wiener Jeunesse Kammerchor, had previously been premiered at Vienna’s Radiokulturhaus in February.

CENTREDISCS AT THE EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS The CMC’s own record label, Centrediscs, received two awards at the 2013 East Coast Music Awards, including Classical Recording of the Year for Between the Shore and the Ships featuring Helen Pridmore and Wesley Ferriera. The title composition, written by Derek Charke, received Classical Composition of the Year.

STROOBACH IN THE US AND CANADA In late 2012, Marvin Rosen, producer and host of the radio program Classical Discoveries at WPRB radio, which broadcasts from Princeton, New Jersey, featured CMC Associate Composer Evelyn Stroobach’s composition O Come, O Come, Emmanuel for choir and cello. The recording came from a performance by the Kyiv Chorus and the National Opera Chorus in Kiev, Ukraine. Earlier this year, Tom Quick, producer and host of the radio program Monday Evening Concert at CKWR radio, broadcasting from Waterloo, played Stroobach’s work for string orchestra Aria for Strings. The piece was performed by the Thirteen Strings of Ottawa and conducted by Winston Webber.

Our Native Song, An anthology by Glenn Buhr CMC Associate Composer Glenn Buhr has compiled a collection of essays about music and culture that he has given as lectures over a number of years. The book, entitled Our Native Song, argues that all music, including European classical music, is folk music. By examining different musical cultures, such as jazz, pop, reggae, and other styles, Buhr discusses music as a social phenomenon that emerges organically through various rituals such as concerts, festivals, and simple singing. Buhr proceeds to contrast countries with successful musical legacies with countries, like Canada, who are only beginning to establish a distinct musical voice.

You can purchase a copy of the book by visiting Counterpoint Music Library Services. Click here to visit their website!

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JUNO AWARDS CMC Associate Composer Vivian Fung received the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for her Violin Concerto featured on her album from Naxos.

JOHN PALMER IS FAR FROM HUMBLE AT HUMBOLDT CMC Associate Composer John Palmer received the first prize in the Humboldt State University Composition Contest for Brass Chamber Music for his piece Three Shades of Blue. This annual contest invites composers to submit unpublished works for varying brass ensembles, and this year the focus was brass septet. Palmer’s piece was part of the Humboldt Brass Music Workshop which took place in Arcata, California during July.

NOTEWORTHY CMC Associates among participants in Soundstreams Workshops The inaugural Soundstreams Emerging Composers Workshop took place May 5 to 14, with six participants from across Canada: Anna Pidgorna, Adam Scime, Caitlin Smith, and CMC Associate Composers Emilie LeBel, Gabriel Dharmoo, and Graham Flett. The composers were mentored by resident composer R. Murray Schafer, resident mentor Juliet Palmer, and the Gryphon Trio, who acted as the workshop’s resident ensemble.

Over the ten days of the workshop, the composers and mentors worked in group sessions held at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, developing new pieces, discussing the process of composition and exploring each individual’s compositional voice. They also took part in professional development sessions with industry professionals on topics such as artistic direction, marketing, development, and music libraries, and attended several performances including Soundstreams’ Music for China concert, and a special showcase of the Gryphon Trio at the CMC. The composers also visited R. Murray Schafer’s home to explore his publishing house and learn more about his environmental practices.

The second Soundstreams Emerging Composers Workshop will take place in March 2014 with mentor composer Ye Xiaogang. Information about applications will be available on Soundstreams’ website in fall 2013.

Top: Workshop participants pictured together near Schafer’s home. Standing L to R: R. Murray Schafer, Kyle Brenders, Anna Pidgorna, Graham Flett, Caitlin Smith, Gabriel Dharmoo. Kneeling L to R: Lawrence Cherney, Adam Scime, Emilie LeBel, Chris Lorway.

Bottom: Members of the Gryphon Trio (right) rehearsing a piece with the workshop participants at the CMC.

Professors Beckwith and Elliott Receive Music Library Association Award The Music Library Association has recognized CMC Associate Composer John Beckwith and CMC Voting Member Robin Elliott with the 2013 Carol June Bradley Award supporting historical research in music librarianship.

Beckwith and Elliott edited Mapping Canada’s Music: Selected Writings of Helmut Kallmann, which includes a selection of Kallmann’s writings that vary between aspects of Canadian music and autobiographical pieces illustrating the significance of Kallmann’s contributions to research in his field. The book is available through Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

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The cover design of Mapping Canada’s Music features notation from the piano piece Le Papillon by Calixa Lavallée.

Lavallée is one of three 19th century Canadian composers, along with Theodore Molt and James Paton Clarke, whom Kallmann conducted a great deal of research on.

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John Beckwith also received the 2013 Toronto Arts and Letters Club Award.

The award celebrates exceptional contributors to the arts, and Beckwith was recognized for his role as a composer, critic, teacher, among others.

NOTEWORTHY Checking in with some of our new Associate Composers…

AARON JENSEN COMPELS US TO SING!

PHOTOS BY:ROBERT SAXE

CMC Associate Composer Aaron Jensen recently completed his second year as Artistic Director of SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival. Presenting over 100 events, SING! showcased international artists such as the multi Grammy-winning Swingle Singers and the renowned Swedish quintet The Real Group. The showcase offered eclectic masterclasses ranging from Overtone Singing to Improvisation, and featured innovative events such as NFB Sings!, pairing classic Canadian short films with SING! artists. The World Collaborations Concert interwove the music of South Africa, India, Georgia, Mongolia, and Spain together, and included a world premiere performance of Jensen’s thirteen-piece song cycle From Sea to Sea, featuring choral settings of poetry from every Canadian province and territory. Hosted by Marilyn Lightstone, From Sea to Sea was premiered

by The Elmer Iseler Singers, The Elora Festival Singers, Cawthra Park Chamber Choir, Countermeasure, and the SING! Singers, featuring Denzal Sinclaire. For more information on SING!, visit www.singtoronto.com

Top: Lydia Adams conducting The Elmer Iseler Singers, feat. Scott Peterson.

Bottom: Aaron Jensen shaking hands with Noel Edison after the finale.

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AFARIN MANSOURI IN LONDON CMC Associate Composer Afarin Mansouri Tehrani had a piece presented at the Institute of Musical Research at the University of London in June as part of the international conference, With Four Hands; Music for Two Pianists.

Tehrani’s piece Horse and Fire was written in 2009 and is inspired by an oil-canvas painting of the same name by Persian-Canadian visual artist Maryam Kafi.

LUC MARTIN IN THE US AND VANCOUVER Recent CMC Associate Composer Luc Martin had two of his pieces performed recently. His piece Petits Oiseaux Bleus for flute and cello was performed in Vancouver by the NOVO ensemble on April 26th, and on the 27th Auprès de ma Blonde for piano was performed by Francilia Agar Schofield in Arizona.

Martin has also confirmed that his piece Les coffres du silence will be performed by the Timmins Symphony Orchestra. Martin lives and works in Timmins.

MATTHEW WHITTALL’S WORK FETED IN FINLAND CMC Associate Composer Matthew Whittall is one of two recipients of the 2013 Teosto Prize. Whittall won the award for his piece Dulcissima, clara, sonans. The piece is an orchestral song cycle, and was premiered by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Hannu Lintu and soprano Mia Huhta. The award jury saw the work as a demonstration of Whittall’s original and harmonically interesting style; as one of two winners he will receive €20,000.

The €40,000 prize, now issued for the 10th time, is one of the biggest music prizes in Finland. The prize was established by the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto in 2003 to highlight fresh, original, and innovative works. Each year, the Prize is awarded to recognize one to four works in any genre.

MEMORIAL

Morris Kates 1923-2013

By: Matthew Fava

Canadian Composer Morris Kates passed away on March 7, 2013 at the age of 89. More often cited and lauded for his research in biochemistry, Kates is among the rare breed of chemist-composer who made time to practice his music in the midst of his student and professional life in science.

Morris Kates was born in Galati, Romania in 1923 and shortly thereafter was brought to Canada by his family, spending his early years in Toronto and then moved to Ottawa after he finished graduate studies.

His twin interests started at an early age: Kates began studying the violin at 11 years of age, and by the time he was in high school he was composing while simultaneously exploring laboratory science for the first time.

Kates pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Toronto, and although he focused on sciences, he took courses in music harmony, counterpoint, and composition, and played in the University of Toronto Orchestra.

In 1950 Kates joined the National Research Council of Canada. In his first year he served as a postdoctoral fellow, and then he functioned as a research scientist until 1968.

At that point he became a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa. He would serve in various capacities including Chairman of the department, and Vice-Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Kates retired from the University in 1989 as Professor Emeritus. His work as a researcher and lecturer was repeatedly celebrated within the biochemistry community in Canada and internationally.

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While in Ottawa, Kates continued performing as a member of string quartets and chamber orchestras. Over the course of his life, Kates’ music was performed in Canada, the USA and Europe. It would go through various transformations.

His first pieces bear the qualities of impressionism and employ twelve-tone technique; later works have a prominent neoclassical style in structure and harmony. He also had a budding interest in vocal music and music for winds in his later years.

Kates was quick to embrace an idea and take to it expeditiously. When discussing Kates’ music, David Currie, Conductor of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, recalls an “instinctive, natural and fluid style of composition, unencumbered by any particular compositional dogma.”

Currie enjoyed many years of friendship with Kates, and commissioned or conducted Kates’ music on several occasions including Columbus! for baritone and orchestra which the OSO premiered in 1992.

Neighbour, friend, and fellow music lover Stuart MacKinnon remembers Kates’ friendly and collaborative spirit. His closest musical collaboration with Kates was the creation of a song cycle entitled Six Love Poems by Frank R. Scott, which he performed in Ottawa with pianist Dina Namer in 1995 at the St. Luke’s Anglican Church recital series. MacKinnon also produced a recital series at Rideau Park United Church in Ottawa during the 1980s and 1990s that included several choral and instrumental works written by Kates.

Morris Kates will be deeply missed by his colleagues in the music and science communities. He is survived by his loving wife Pirkko, his daughters, grandchildren, and extended family.

Upcoming Events Here is a selection of events happening in the summer and early fall featuring the music and performances of CMC Ontario Associate Composers.

AUGUST 7 | MARJAN MOZETICH Amhersts, Ontario Sweet Water (world premiere) – Elora Festival Singers – Waterside Summer Concerts SEPTEMBER 7 | GIDEON KIM The Church of Redeemer, Toronto, Ontario Dry Bones Shall Live and Amazing Grace – Toronto Messiaen Ensemble SEPTEMBER 8 | JULIET PALMER The Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand Solid Gold (World Premiere) – Madeleine Pierard (soprano), Orchestra Wellington SEPTEMBER 9 | Evelyn Stroobach Rome, Italy Aurora Borealis – National Philharmonic of Romania, Renee Baker (Conductor) SEPTEMBER 22 | PHIL NIMMONS The Music Room, Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Waterloo, Ontario Duologue, and PS42JS for Clarinet and Accordion Peter Stoll (Clarinet), Joseph Macerollo (Accordion) OCTOBER 11 | GLENN BUHR Gallery 345, Toronto, Ontario Glenn Buhr and the Button Factory Band

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LES AMIS EUROPEAN TOUR AND CELEBRATION OF THE JOHN WEINZWEIG CENTENARY SEPTEMBER 24 | Ivan Granko National University, Lviv, Ukraine JOHN WEINZWEIG Swing and fugue and tango for two – Erika Crino (piano) Conversation Piece and Berceuse – Marianna Humetska (piano) Belaria – Lynn Kuo (violin) MICHAEL PEPA Fantaisie Bohemienne – Lynn Kuo (violin), Marianna Humetska (piano) Squamish – Lynn Kuo (violin), with tape SEPTEMBER 26 | Lviv Philharmonic Society, Lviv, Ukraine JOHN WEINZWEIG Divertimento No. 10 – Erika Crino (piano) MICHAEL PEPA Musical Offering – Lynn Kuo (violin) Trema – Erika Crino (piano/percussion) A similar program will be toured in Pernik (Bulgaria), Belgrade (Serbia), and Sagreb (Croatia)

ONTARIO REGIONAL COUNCIL

ONTARIO REGION VOLUNTEERS

Paul Frehner James Harley, Chair Glenn Hodgins, Vice Chair Christien Ledroit Robert Lemay, CLC Representative Donald Pounsett Darlene Chepil Reid Abigail Richardson-Schulte Alan Stanbridge Andrea Warren Lee Willingham Karen Yolevski

Samuel Bayefsky Jason Caron Paolo Griffin Elissar Hanna Amanda Lowry Lelland Reed Saman Shahi

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Support Canadian Music Centre:

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ONTARIO REGION VOTING MEMBERS Lydia Adams William Aide Robert Aitken CM Bernard W Andrews Julian Armour James Arthur John Barnum Rodger Beatty Réa Beaumont Jack Behrens Raymond Bisha Richard Burrows Allison Cameron Aris Carastathis Glenn Carruthers Hector Centeno Lawrence Cherney CM Kevin Chocorlan Austin Clarkson Glenn Colton Robert Cram Brian Current

Michael Doleschell Anne-Marie Donovan Janne Duncan Gwendolyn Ebbett Robin Elliot Paul Frehner Tony Gomes James Harley Peter Hatch Alice Ping Yee Ho Glenn Hodgins Dean Jobin-Bevans Elaine Keillor Eileen Keown Keith Kinder Andrew Kwan Larry Lake Christien Ledroit Brent Lee Robert Lemay Erhei Liang Alexina Louie

Gillian MacKay Marta McCarthy Cam McKittrick Elma Miller Kelly-Marie Murphy Angela Nelson-Heesch David Ogborn David Olds Laurence Packer Norbert Palej Juliet Palmer Monica Pearce Christina Petrowska-Quilico John Phillips Trevor Pittman Donald Pounsett Roxane Prevost Andy Radhakant Darlene Chepil Reid Colleen Renihan Abigail Richardson-Schulte Micheline Roi

James Rolfe Shauna Rolston Robert Rosen Linda Catlin Smith Alan Stanbridge Peter Stoll Jeremy Strachan Timothy Sullivan Amanda Sussman David Visentin Gerald Vreman Janis Wallace Andrea Warren Victoria Warwick Lee Willingham Stan Witkin Alexa Woloshyn Karen Yolevski Gayle Young Gerard Yun

Friends (Up to $99) Gwen Beamish Dr. Réa Beaumont Arden Broadhurst Aris Carastathis Marie Josée Chartier Susan Hamblin-Dennis Dr. Robin Elliott David Gerry Ruth Watson Henderson Glenn Hodgins Alexandra Lee Dr. Glenn Alan Mallory Boyd McDonald Colleen Renihan Doreen Allison Ryan

Richard M Sacks Marta McCarthy & Randy Smith Afarin Mansouri Tehrani

DONORS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE CMC ONTARIO REGION Benefactors ($1,000-4,999) Michael M. Koerner Roger D. Moore

Patrons ($500-999) James Harley Dr. Elaine Keillor Shauna Rolston Sustainers ($250-499) Dr. John Burge Phil Nimmons Contributors ($100-249) Lydia Adams Robert Aitken

PUBLIC FUNDERS

FOUNDATIONS

An agency of the Government of Ontario.

Relève du gouvernement de l’Ontario.

William G Andrews John Beckwith Arden Broadhurst Michael Doleschell John S Gray Peter A. Herrndorf Karen Holmes John B. Lawson Dr. Glenn Alan Mallory David Olds Eric N. Robertson Ben Steinberg Timothy Sullivan Lee Willingham Stan Witkin Jean Wuensch