Today is our first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, created, in the words of the website set up to commemorate the occasion, to "honour the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of [...]
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 [...]
Written by Jennifer Butler (Published with permission by composer Jennifer Butler. Previously published by CBC) R. Murray Schafer's annual Wolf Project is a participants-only collaborative, experiential week of chant, music, theatre and camping in the wilderness of Haliburton Forest. Composer Jennifer Butler has been a participant in Schafer's Wolf Project since 2000 and recalls the [...]
Remembering R. Murray Schafer (Published with permission of Jon Washburn and Vancouver Chamber Choir) In my 48 years as conductor of the Vancouver Chamber Choir, my greatest privilege was to be a colleague, friend and champion of the great and genius Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. "Our Murray Schafer", as we often thought of him, [...]
As you may have surmised from the title, I've been re-reading Hilary Mantel's glorious Booker Prize-winning Cromwell Trilogy, which culminates in The Mirror And The Light. One of the many things that struck me through this second reading was the constant presence of plague in the shadows of the main storyline. There was no understanding [...]
Renewal is very much in the air. We can see it all around us as the natural world gives birth again to abundance and plenty, ushering in entire new generations of insects and birds and animal life and the plants that sustain us all. I’ve been working up on the Sunshine Coast for personal business [...]
CMC BC is proud to help introduce BIPOC Voices, a new resource to help opera companies, orchestras, and individuals find and program music by culturally diverse composers. BIPOC Voices is currently accepting submissions of works for voice and instruments, and looking to make free demo recordings of some of these works. You can learn more at [...]
From The Vancouver Sun By Kevin Griffin Published Apr 11, 2021 A return to normal gatherings indoors could happen progressively through the fall with larger venues back to full capacity by the end of 2021, Henry told an arts roundtable organized by the B.C. Alliance for Arts + Culture. But it all depends not only on [...]
(Feature Photo credit: Miss604.ca) I took part in a terrific Land Acknowledgement workshop this past week put on by Nahanee Creative's founder Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee, with a moving introduction by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Chief Janice George. Ta7talíya is a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh decolonizing activist and a brilliant teacher. One of the reflections to follow from that workshop has led to [...]
Cover Artwork: Book cover for Dylan Robinson’s Hungry Listening, featuring artwork by Bracken Hanuse Corlett. Atsi, gathering songs from the museum to return to our families (2018) CMC BC is pleased to announce that Stó:lō scholar Dylan Robinson was presented with the Barbara Pentland Award of Excellence last Friday, February 5, 2021, for his extraordinary [...]