FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY I imagine that what I hear echoing off the walls of the white-cube gallery is the proceedings of a robot congress, a cacophonous, fevered debate on robot rights—and not a single little robot agrees with any other. I detect strains of barely recognizable melodies, guitar riffs, the squeals ofContinue reading “Jeff Morton”
Author Archives: Musicworks
Cassandra Miller’s Unclassifiable Concert Music
If you had just commissioned Cassandra Miller to write a new piece of music for you, she might get the ball rolling by chuckling and then asking you, “What do you sing when you’re in the shower? What was your favourite song as a kid? What would you be if you weren’t a musician?” ThenContinue reading “Cassandra Miller’s Unclassifiable Concert Music”
Eliot Britton
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY By his own account, Eliot Britton’s music treads dangerous territory. “I represent huge problems with art music and the whole idea of art music,” he says, and goes on to describe how in his compositions within the context of his Ph.D. in music research at McGill University, he’s inchingContinue reading “Eliot Britton”
Rose Bolton
Rose Bolton speaks clearly about what she wants. “I think clever would be the word that I would not want to hear people use when speaking about my music—regardless of whether it actually is or not. Ultimately, it’s not music about music; there has to be a bigger purpose.” Bolton didn’t always think this way.Continue reading “Rose Bolton”
Jocelyn Morlock
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Jocelyn Morlock had purple hair for years. “It was indigo, in fact.” She narrows it down further: “Like an eggplant.” Specificity of colour matters to Morlock, not the least in music. “Colour: That’s what I think about when I hear somebody’s work I like,” she says. Morlock can beContinue reading “Jocelyn Morlock”
Nicole Lizée
I asked Nicole Lizée, newly commissioned to compose a work to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of John Cage’s birth, if she has ever before composed with that iconic artist in mind. How could she not? She is, after all, known for her nonstandard use of instruments, prepared turntable, found objects, and dance music—all elements associatedContinue reading “Nicole Lizée”
Olivia Block
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY The sound of a clarinet passage emerges from a quiet section and is punctuated by a series of minute electronic tones. Accompanying the clarinet is a recording of the wind, but the sound is more than just that of a rush of wind; it is the sound ofContinue reading “Olivia Block”
Sarah Peeble`s Audio Bee Booth
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY Pollination Wunder Station is a wunderkammer—cabinet of curiosities—full of fascinating living things. The piece is part habitat interpretation, part bio art, part sound installation, and part sculpture. It is one in a series of audio bee booths that are amplified habitat installations for solitary nesting bees and wasps. TheseContinue reading “Sarah Peeble`s Audio Bee Booth”
Clint Conley and Hildegard Westerkamp
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY You haven’t picked up your guitar in weeks, if not months. You stare at the staff paper and the rows of empty lines burn an impression on your retina. Is this just writer’s block, or is it gone for good? Many artists have an up-and-down, on-again-off-again relationship withContinue reading “Clint Conley and Hildegard Westerkamp”
Cage And Duchamp’s Reunion
FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY On the periphery of the dimly lit stage of Toronto’s Ryerson Theatre, four musicians are setting up musical instruments, laptops, and various musical gadgets in preparation for the evening’s all-night performance. Audio cables snake across the stage to converge in the centre, where a technician is plugging them intoContinue reading “Cage And Duchamp’s Reunion”