I am pleased to say that I am performing in a number of concerts at this year’s Scotia Festival of Music (May 27 to June 8th 2012) One of the most interesting will be Frederic Rzewski’sAttica and Coming Together, probably one of the most influential early minimalist compositions of the 1960’s. It’s with a wonderful collection of musicians and the Terrain dance company from New York. Really an incredible group of inspiring dancers. Coming Together and Attica are two works that Frederic Rzewsk wrote as a powerful response to the 1971 Attica prison riots. Performed in the round with an ensemble of us ten musicians, this is a brilliant opportunity to witness live dance and music in a pretty powerful combination. Here is an example of the piece being performed by the Artefects ensemble:
Sanctuary is playing two concerts in March of 2012 in Nova Scotia! After hibernating over the past 6 months and working very hard rehearsing and developing an entirely new collection of original pieces, we are ready to show our new stuff to the world. All of these pieces will soon be recorded for our next CD release in the fall.
Come out and hear Sanctuary’s brand of lyrical, contemplative music at its very best.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM University Hall Auditorium Acadia University, Wolfville, NS
Tickets at the door: Adults $10.00 / Students $5.00
Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 8:00 pm Atlantic School of Theology Chapel 660 Francklyn Street Halifax, Nova Scotia 902-423-6939
Tickets at the door: CASH ONLY Adults $15.00 / Students $10.00
(Turn right at the 1898 Building on Franklin St on the AST Campus) Google Map
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra presents this annual festival in the dead of winter in the center of Canada. It is a bold stroke for this visionary group. Currently, the Winnipeg New Music Festival is an incredible undertaking with more than 50 pieces being performed in just 7 days. Since 1992, the Festival has presented 680 works by 266 composers; half of which are Canadian and local composers. It has been the site of 222 world-premieres and continues to challenge the boundaries of all forms of music. Over the past 20 years the attendance has totaled 155,000 averaging 10,300 per year making the New Music Festival one of the highest attended of its kind.
Coming up on Saturday, May 18th I will be conducting the Upstream Orchestra at the International Festival de Musique Actuel in Victoriaville, Quebec. This performance includes two works by the great contemporary jazz orchestra composer Paul Cram, his piece “Convoy” and the world premiere of “The Magic Order”.
This will be the second time I have had the wonderful opportunity to conduct this incredible group of improvising musicians. In January of 2012, I had a chance to conduct the wonderful, vibrant and intense Witch Gong Game 11-10 by the British composer Barry Guy, which will be repeated in the performance on May 18th.
Witch Gong Game is based on a painting of the same name by the British painter Alan Davies. The 20 piece Upstream Orchestra performed at the 2012 Open Water’s Festival. Have a look at the video of the performance – it was an incredible ride! You can also read a review by Bill Shoemaker here.
Sanctuary is playing a concert on Sunday, April 1st in Salem, Oregon. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is presenting us in a special concert as part of their Palm Sunday observations.
It will require a special trip right across the continent for us – from the east coast to the west, but I am sure it will be worth the effort! We will be playing music appropriate for pre-Easter contemplation. In the Christian tradition, this is a period of inner reflection. Sanctuary plans on playing some of favourite chant based repertoire for this event. One of the pieces we will play is my composition Creatures of Infinite Grace, based on an 8th century Agnus Dei from the Latin Mass:
This version is for bass clarinet and string orchestra, and in Salem, Oregon it will be for bass clarinet, cello and pipe organ. Nevertheless you get a sense of how suspended and contemplative we expect this concert to be.
World premiere performance of Extreme Unction by Christos Hatzis. A concerto for bass clarinet and string orchestra.
November 18, 8:00 PM
Jeff Reilly, bass clarinet,
Toronto Sinfonia under the direction of Nurhan Arman
Glenn Gould Studio, CBC Broadcast Centre
Toronto, Canada
Sample of the Midi version using synth strings and a combination of live and synth bass clarinet
