It’s been such an extraordinary summer in BC! We’ve experienced absolutely sublime weather, making July and August golden months.
But that beauty is juxtaposed sharply against province-wide drought and unprecedented wildfires that continue to threaten homes and impact a way of life in this province we have taken for granted far too long.
Here at CMC BC, we continue exploring how we can be more relevant to our place and time, and how we can better serve the creators that have been warning the world about these dangers since R. Murray Schafer’s dramatic and prophetic North/White was premiered here in 1973 by the National Youth Orchestra, as well as how we can better support the new music ecosystem of practitioners, ensembles, presenters, and teachers that helps bring this music to life.
As part of this refocusing of our efforts, we are sponsoring four concerts this month, including musica intima’s The New Canon on September 11th at Heritage Hall, a free concert exploring the backbone of musica intima’s core repertoire.
We are also sponsoring Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet’s album launch concert on Friday, September 15 at 7:30 pm in the VSO School of Music’s Pyatt Hall, celebrating the release of their second studio recording, Metamorphosis. The CD and concert feature original saxophone quartet works by Fred Stride, Rodney Sharman, Violet Archer, Beatrice Ferreira, and Saxophilia’s own David Branter.
We are also sponsoring The Chamber Musicians of Kamloops’ presentation of A Falcon, A Storm or A Great Song on September 16th, at 7:30 pm, at Kamloops United Church, featuring music by Imant Raminsch in celebration of his 80th Birthday.
And on Sunday Sept 24, Soft Time presents Companions at The Church of Truth in Victoria, featuring Paraphrase for voice and electronics by Mitch Renaud, A constellation of companions for solo piano by Kristy Farkas, and Le Poème Invisible for voice and piano by Anna Höstman, along with a series of improvisations featuring Cathy Fern Lewis.
In addition, we are releasing three new score videos today featuring the voice, including Jeffrey Ryan’s Loons for Soprano, David Gordon Duke’s choral work Lions, Tygers, and Bears; and finally Barbara Pentland’s chamber opera The Lake
And we will be holding a wine and pizza reception for Victoria CMC Associate Composers on Friday, September 22 from 5-6:30 pm, hosted by our BC Director, Sean Bickerton. Please contact bcregion at cmccanada.org to RSVP and confirm location.
One of the solutions to the climate change we are experiencing is to better incorporate Indigenous learning and ways of being that would help bring our way of life into better harmony with the natural world.
We are exploring how we can better Decolonize our work and Indigenize our space through two new programs, one of which is to commission a celebrated Indigenous artist to create a mural on the west wall of our lobby in a tribute to music and the sun, as a companion to the graphic score of Schafer’s Sun that now covers the north wall of our lobby.
And we are inaugurating a new Enhanced Indigenous Artist in Residence program this fall in what we hope will prove a landmark partnership with the Victoria Symphony. We will be releasing details about both of these projects later this fall.
There is much more for us to do to fulfill our mandate to help bring our composer’s music to life and provide support to everyone involved in new music across BC. But this year, we have already greatly expanded our reach across the province, sponsoring concerts of music by BC composers in Powell River, Kamloops, and White Rock for the very first time, two concerts in Victoria, as well as one on Gabriola Island for the first time that is upcoming, and have begun free new educational projects with the Courtenay Youth Music Centre this past July, musica intima this fall, and the Okanagan Symphony next spring.
We can’t wait to share what’s next with you as we continue to evolve and grow!