The Canadian Music Centre in BC and Redshift Music Society are pleased to announce the first-ever R. Murray Schafer Spatial Music Workshop, a free online seminar offered to composers across the country with the goal of exploring spatial (or ‘socially-distanced’) acoustic music.

Building on the success of CMC BC’s Jean Coulthard String Quartet Readings and Elliot Weisgarber Workshops, this workshop is named in memory of the late R. Murray Schafer, a long-standing Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre who created some of the world’s most celebrated spatial works and recently passed away. 

The workshop will be led by CMC Associate Composer Jordan Nobles as composer-mentor — one of the leading contemporary exponents of spatial music today. Jordan will lead a series of conversations focusing on both the practice and history of spatial music, in the process exploring works from a variety of composers including Schafer, American composer Henry Brant, and others. Participating composers will then be invited to write pieces for a spatialized percussion ensemble. 

The workshops will allow composers to gain experience writing for percussion ensemble, along with the invaluable opportunity of having their pieces read and rehearsed under the guidance of percussionist Katie Rife, allowing them to revise and refine their work several times over the course of the seminar,  culminating in a spatial concert performance in spring 2022. The workshop will take place once a week via Zoom and begin late Fall.

ELIGIBILITY
Canadian emerging or established composers. Anyone can ‘audit’ the course (i.e. not compose a piece but join the online discussions). There is no age limit.

GUIDELINES
There is no application form
There is no submission fee
Submissions must include the following:

  • At least 2 relevant scores (and recordings if possible) showcasing the composer’s ability to write for ensembles.
  • Please submit only digital scans or PDFs (no computer notation software files)
  • A short biography (200 words maximum), including full contact information.

DEADLINE
Submissions must be received online no later than November 1st, 2020 by email to bcregion@cmccanada.org with the subject heading RMS Spatial Music WorkshopPlease direct any questions to: jordan.nobles@cmccanada.org

Canadian Music Centre in BC

Founded in 1979, CMC BC produces concerts, operates an extensive public-lending library of Canadian music; creates unique educational programs; runs a prestigious awards program recognizing extraordinary contributions to Canadian music province-wide; provides creative services and facilities to leading performing arts organizations, orchestras, choirs, teachers, universities, music schools, ensembles, performing artists and conductors; and offers a highly-specialized music print and bind service.

Redshift Music Society

Redshift Music Society is a Vancouver-based organization dedicated to bringing the music of living composers to the general public through innovative production, site-specific performance, and new media. Since its founding in 2001 by Artistic Directors Jordan Nobles and Mark Takeshi McGregor, Redshift has premiered hundreds of new works by Canadian and international composers in collaboration with some of the world’s boldest and most inventive performers, ensembles, and collectives. Described as “chaotic and mesmerizing” (The WholeNote), a “seasonal benchmark” (The Vancouver Observer), and “groundbreaking” (The Georgia Straight), our concerts aim to activate alternative public spaces such as libraries, art galleries, parks, swimming pools, bank lobbies, and graveyards with contemporary music. https://redshiftmusic.ca/

Jordan Nobles

JUNO award-winning composer Jordan Nobles is known for creating music filled with an “unearthly beauty” (Mondomagazine) that makes listeners want to “close (their) eyes and transcend into a cloud of music” (Discorder Magazine). He has received many honours in recent years including a JUNO Award, a Western Canadian Music Award, and numerous International prizes. He was the recipient of Jan V. Matejcek Award from SOCAN in recognition of his “overall success in ‘New Classical Music”.

His focus is spatial music, making musicians stand in weird places with stopwatches, and composing works for open instrumentation. He lives in Deep Cove, BC with his wife Kelly, and son Julian.