Over the past four decades, Jean Derome’s musical interests have spanned everything from standards to skronk. He has composed graphic scores for large ensembles, created multimedia works for string quartets, and devised music for dance, theatre, and cinema works. But what Derome is best known for is his key role in the development of theContinue reading “Jean Derome’s Reflections of Joy”
Author Archives: Musicworks
Shannon McKee’s “The Copy Room”
As I step into the undersized side room of the middle-school office, I want to remove my high heels. I want to kneel on the thin, brown carpet and touch my forehead to the ugly floor. I want to offer up a soft song. Because when I—a teacher’s assistant for twenty-five twelve-year-olds—cross the threshold ofContinue reading “Shannon McKee’s “The Copy Room””
The Passion and Curiosity of Barbara Hannigan
“An absolute stroke of luck for opera” is just one of the countless accolades Canadian-born, Amsterdam-based soprano Barbara Hannigan has received for her performances of both classical and contemporary music. Composers and musicians she has worked with are unanimous in their praise. She has premiered a large number of major works, among them operas withContinue reading “The Passion and Curiosity of Barbara Hannigan”
James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings
James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings, winner of Musicworks’ 2014 Electronic Music Composition contest, is a highly suspenseful acousmatic piece in which sounds are partially diffused through tactile transducers (specialized speakers that transmit sound through any object to which they’re attached) that are attached to an acoustic guitar and a toy piano. The two instruments are not playedContinue reading “James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings”
The Joy of Discovery
When I was working at the Kingston Whig-Standard in late 1980s, when the daily was still independently owned, I would make my way up the city’s main drag at least once a week for some serious crate-diving (back then, people were replacing their vinyl with CDs like mad), then head home with an armload ofContinue reading “The Joy of Discovery”
Divorce Records
“It depends on what you call the beginning, I guess,” says Darcy Spidle when probed about the origins of his experimental music label, Divorce Records. “The first thing I did with the label— about fifteen years ago—was to make big posters that said ‘Music Sucks,’ and then put the Divorce logo underneath. I pasted themContinue reading “Divorce Records”
Composer Wolf Edwards loads the chamber
Wolf Edwards’ various stories are so interesting and so curiously entwined that it’s hard to know where to start. Working in the fish-packing plants of Ucluelet, B.C., the ugly-duckling sibling of Tofino’s trendy swan? Playing guitar on the stage of some black-hole dive with anarcho-punk band Iskra? Swapping musical knowledge with British violinist Irvine Arditti,Continue reading “Composer Wolf Edwards loads the chamber”
Video Game Music: New Directions in Play
The first time I played PaRappa the Rapper was a struggle. I was with my parents at a novelty deli where each table was outfitted with a television and a PlayStation video-game console. I didn’t have one at home, but a paper-thin, hip-hop cartoon dog named PaRappa that goes on some sort of adventure inContinue reading “Video Game Music: New Directions in Play”
Myriam Bleau spins Soft Revolvers
In a darkened room, an artist is manipulating four translucent circular objects on a tabletop, moving from one to another. Audience members gather around. The objects emit light. Their spinning motion activates deep tones and beats that crackle and whir, and snippets of voice that drop in and out. The sounds fade as the spinningContinue reading “Myriam Bleau spins Soft Revolvers”
Kris Davis nurtures new shapes in jazz
Kris Davis is working on setting a routine. It’s not an unusual task. It’s one that new mothers all over Brooklyn who work odd hours have to contend with. But it’s a challenge. She’s up at six a.m. every day with her son, who turned one in July 2014. While on new-mother duty, Davis isContinue reading “Kris Davis nurtures new shapes in jazz”