I’m writing this article on behalf of the entire team that makes up CMC BC to thank you for the support you have shown us through two years of the pandemic we’ve all endured together.
The unique family that supports and makes possible the work we do is comprised of composers and musicians and scholars. The many small donors who are so generous. The three levels of government that made unprecedented efforts to support arts organizations across the country to save one of the economically hardest hit sectors — Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council at the federal level; the Province of BC and BC Arts Council provincially; and the City of Vancouver locally. The extraordinarily generous anonymous Osbertus Fund, held at Vancouver Foundation that donated $20,000 to us in 2020 just after the pandemic hit and then $50,000 this past year, which helped us be so vibrant at such a difficult time and lifted our spirits during some of those darkest days. The Vancouver Foundation, who supported the fascinating and rewarding work we undertook together pursuing Decolonization, Equity and Inclusion on numerous fronts. And a generous first-time donation from the McGrane-Pearson Endowment Fund held at the Vancouver Foundation.
The Indigenous leaders like Dr. Dylan Robinson and Marion Newman who have collaborated with and inspired us. Syrus Marcus Ware, the artist, activist and scholar who helped lead us in Anti-Racism work. The volunteers, Bill Orr and Greg Soone, who have devoted more than a decade creating our Digital Archive, which captures the rich history of contemporary concert music in BC.
The Azrieli Foundation that supported our free education programs as they moved online during the pandemic. And the Chair — Jennifer Butler — and members of our BC Advisory Council that have engaged in our work with new energy, intensity, and vision.
And the members of my team — Heather Molloy, our Administrator, and Jordan Nobels, our Librarian — who have gone so far beyond the call of duty over the past two years inventing creative solutions and delivering needed services and programs and supports for our composers and the musicians and organizations who bring their music to life.
The reason the Canadian Music Centre in BC today is vibrant and thriving, despite all of the challenges of the past two years, is solely thanks to you. All of you together. And on behalf of the Canadian Music Centre nationally and everyone here in BC, than you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness and help.Here is what you have made possible.
Programs
Awards
Scholarships
This year’s Pentland Prize and scholarship of $1000 went to Pallas Athena Loredo, a doctoral student at UBC School of Music.
This year’s Southam Prize and scholarship of $500 was awarded to Ashley Seward, who just completed her Master’s Degree in Composition at UBC School of Music.
We are extremely grateful to Geoffrey Newman, who sponsors The Pentland Prize, and Martha Lou Henley, who sponsors The Southam Prize.
Awards of Excellence
Dr. Dylan Robinson, was presented with a Barbara Pentland Award of Excellence for his extraordinary contribution to Canadian Music on February 5, 2021, in particular his landmark book Hungry Listening.
Chor Leoni was presented with a Pentland Award of Excellence for extraordinary contribution to Canadian Music on Friday night, June 3, 2022, for their innovative C4 Canadian Choral Composition Competition and for the many dozens of new works they have commissioned from and premiered by Canadian composers.
Outstanding Composition Awards
On Friday, June 3, I presented three Pentland Awards of Excellence for Outstanding Composition to the three finalists of Chor Leoni’s 2022 C4 Canadian Choral Composition Competition onstage at their performance of works by the finalists at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church. The three finalists were: Katerina Gimon, Pierre Simard, and Robert Rival.
Outstanding Performance Awards
Contestants in the Vancouver International Music Competition were all encouraged to perform a Canadian work, with the best performance in each age category selected by their jury for a Barbara Pentland Outstanding Performance Award virtually on October 8, 2021, and with overall best category winners receiving honoraria as well.
Barry Tan — Piano (Overall Best)
Shun Ishikawa — Piano (Age 8 and Under)
Ryder Hsu — Piano (Age 9-12)
Hamilton Lau — Piano (Age 18-35)
Vivian (Wei An) Chen — Strings (Best Overall)
Phelicia Wen — Strings (Age 8 and Under)
Bonnie Wong — Strings (Age 9-12)
Elishia Yeung — Strings (Age 13-17)
Bruno Quezada — Strings (Age 18-35)
Education
Dylan Robinson Talks
Dylan Robinson gave two online talks sponsored by CMC BC about his new book, Hungry Listening. Dr. Robinson is a xwélméxw artist and scholar of Stó:lō descent and holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts at Queen’s University. And, as of July 1, takes up his new position as an Associate Professor at UBC’s School of Music.
Elliot Weisgarber Workshop
Last year we released the final music videos from the 2020 Elliot Weisgarber Workshop featuring composer-mentor Edward Top and Nicole Ge Li and Corey Hamm’s PEP Piano and Erhu Project. Ten young composers worked with them to develop a composition for this unusual combination of instruments, following in the cross-cultural tradition of which Weisgarber was such a pioneer.
R. Murray Schafer Spatial Music Workshop
This year we held an R. Murray Schafer Spatial Music Workshop featuring Jordan Nobles and Driftwood Percussion Ensemble. Thirty students participated in that seminar, with international students also surveying that class. Final works will be presented in a free concert on Friday, July 5, 2022 at the Roundhouse in Vancouver.
Composer In The Classroom
We are grateful for funding from CMC Canada and the Azrieli Foundation to offer five Composer In The Classroom seminars in schools across the province this fall. Seminars are planned in the Okanagan, Salt Spring Island, Victoria, Vancouver, and the lower Mainland outside Vancouver.
Concerts
Spring 2022
Stephen Chatman 70th Birthday Celebration
Featuring Vancouver Chamber Choir and Vetta Chamber Players
Sunday, March 6, 3pm, Chan Centre
Co-Presented w UBC School of Music & Vancouver Chamber Choir
Inspired by Rauschenberg
Featuring composer-violinist Jack Campbell
Friday, May 27, 5-6pm
Vancouver Art Gallery
First of a new series of five concerts — New Music At The Gallery
Co-presented with Vancouver Art Gallery
LightSpace Spatial Music Concert (Free Concert)
Featuring Driftwood Percussion Ensemble
Thursday, July 7, 2022, 5:30 pm,
Roundhouse Exhibition Hall
Co-Presented w/ Redshift Music Society
Fall 2022
A Queer Recital
Featuring Rachel Iwaasa, piano
Includes World Premiere by Cris Derksen (Co-commission by CMC BC & ISCM)
Friday, September 23, 7pm
SUM Gallery
Co-Presentation w/ Queer Arts Festival
Square @ The Fox
Featuring Square (A composer rock band)
Date TBC
Leila Lusting Celebration
Date TBC
Regional Concert Initiative
We’re pleased to announce the launch of a new program involving a call for proposals that will go out this summer for six $1,000 grants annually, one each awarded in Cariboo, Thompson-Okanagan, Kootenays, Sunshine Coast, Islands, Lower Mainland (outside Vancouver) to composers, musicians, or small ensembles in those regions. Concerts should celebrate music by Canadian composers featuring a preponderance of BC composers.
Videos & Recordings
50 Unaccompanied music videos
As an alternative to live concerts, we produced 50 Unaccompanied music videos through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 in collaboration with Redshift Music Society. Each music video featured a performance of a Canadian work for solo instrument selected by an outstanding and diverse group of musicians. The performances cover a broad spectrum of composers and serve as a truly remarkable survey of Canadian music.
A complete list of the recordings follows the article and they are all available for viewing on CMC BC’s video channel.
100 Score Videos
We also produced 100 Score Videos — 50 in 2021 and another 50 this year. Now the Unaccompanied project is complete, we hope to create another 30 score videos by the end of this year. These animated score videos are a powerful teaching tool and represent yet another broad survey of the vast and varied universe of Canadian composition.
A complete list of the score videos follows this article and they are all available for viewing on CMC BC’s video channel.
CD’s
The Okanagan Symphony just released their first commercial recording on the Centrediscs label featuring three concerti by three landmark BC composers: Ernst Schneider, Imant Raminsh, and R. Murray Schafer. CMC BC is a proud major sponsor of that album.
And CMC BC hopes to release our own CD recording of Barbara Pentland’s opera The Lake on Centrediscs next year.
Film
Heather Pawsey’s Astrolabe Musik Theatre has just premiered its new film The Lake / nx̌aʔx̌aʔitkʷ, which features Barbara Pentland’s landmark opera by the same name and tells a story of first settler-Indigenous contact in the Okanagan. The libretto is by Dorothy Livesay.
The film saw its world premiere on March 24, 2022 at 7:00 p.m at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal as part of Le FiFa (International Festival of Films on Art) and recently premiered here at the DOXA Film Festival. CMC BC is a proud major sponsor of this film and we hope to present the film later this year in the Adaskin Salon.
Justice, Equity & Inclusion (aka Modernization)
BIPOC Voices
We sponsored Rich Coburn’s visionary BIPOC Voices, a new online library of music for voice by Indigenous, racialized, and culturally diverse composers, and helped promote the new library with an article commissioned from Rich on our website that was featured in Centrepulse and on our social media.
2022 Strategic Visioning Process
We are extremely grateful to have received $24,950 in funding from the BC Arts Council for a Strategic Visioning Process which will involve Life Cycle Analysis with Howard Jang, one of the top arts leaders in country; in-depth patron consultation and market research conducted by Jesse Tanaka, who was involved in structuring the first patron consultation we undertook in 2016; Justice, Equity, and Inclusion work with Warren Dean Flandez, a nationally recognized expert; and work on Decolonization and Indigenization with Marion Newman.
This Visioning Process will involve our composers, the BC Advisory Council, our team, patrons, Associate Composers, funders, other stakeholders, and a much more broadly defined version of community including equity-seeking groups we do not currently serve.
Given the CMC’s history of historic cultural appropriation and theft which was an integral part of our nation’s intentional steps to create a more ‘authentic Canadian’ sound and culture, we have a special role to play in understanding and coming to terms with that history, in making amends, and taking steps towards meaningful reconciliation.
Our goal is to re-imagine CMC BC within the national Mission, Vision, Values and Strategic Plan, exploring how we can be more relevant in the lives and work of more equity-seeking communities and further embody the concepts of Indigenization and Decolonization in everything we do.
Facilities
Taking advantage of being closed for rentals during most of 2021 due to the pandemic, we undertook a series of measures to better soundproof the Murray Adaskin Salon against street noise, including replacing the weather stripping and caulking around the Salon windows and exit door; filling gaps in the outdoor signs with expanding foam insulation; purchasing panels of acoustic foam fitted to the windows; and installing a wall of heavy sound blankets which have helped make the Salon a better recording space. We also purchased a matched stereo pair of AKG C414 XLS microphones and new LED lights and mic stands.
During the Great Depression, FDR used to advise people to “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” That very much expresses our approach to make the most of this uniquely intimate venue. The Murray Adaskin Salon will never be a pristine recording studio, but all of the Unaccompanied videos were produced in the Adaskin Salon, demonstrating its continually evolving potential.
And finally we purchased additional back-end equipment necessary to complete our Live-streaming system and activated the system for the very first time last fall for a broadcast by AstroLabe Musik Theatre.
Technology Upgrades
Jack Tripp Virtual Studio Headset System
Made possible by a grant from the BC Arts Council, CMC BC partnered with City Opera Vancouver to purchase a state-of-the art Jack Tripp Virtual Theatre sound synchronization and recording system consisting of forty headsets and back-end equipment allowing simultaneous yet distanced rehearsals for choirs and ensembles and offering real-time precise synching. The system of 45 headsets and mikes will be shared by the partner organizations, including Redshift Music Society and Vancouver Moving Theatre Company, and will live at CMC BC so it can be lent out on demand. Kudos to Charles Barber for leading this initiative!
Website Transition to CMC Canada Site
We have worked for one year with CMC Canada’s web developer to make changes and upgrades to the regional site available to BC within the CMC Canada website. That work now being completed, we have this month forwarded our domain to its new home at bc.cmccanada.org. This article is the first published solely on this new home.
We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past year and of our goals for this year. Thank you again to everyone who has done so much to help make this work possible.