Musicworks, Author at Musicworks

The Complex Stillness of Mark Ellestad

“For me, there is a kind of stillness in music that comes from a generous and welcoming place. It has nothing to do with speed or style or tradition or school. It can come from dark or light, from any shade of intensity. It doesn’t need to express anything at all. I love it whenContinue reading “The Complex Stillness of Mark Ellestad”

Musicworks Unveils 2021 Contest Winners

TORONTO, CANADA, July 21, 2022: Musicworks is thrilled to announce the winners of its 2021 Electronic Music Composition Contest. Portuguese composer Mariana Vieira has won first prize with her composition The Unexpected Encounter with Diversity. “Winning the prize of the Electronic Music Composition Contest has been a great joy, and I’m grateful to Musicworks forContinue reading “Musicworks Unveils 2021 Contest Winners”

Jenny Moore Tears Things Up

The first intimation that Jenny Moore has arrived at the music room at The Victoria, a historic pub in East London, is when the crowd slowly starts to part. The six members of her ensemble Mystic Business are doing a slow stomp, each hitting a pair of Boomwhacker tubes against each other to produce pitched,Continue reading “Jenny Moore Tears Things Up”

Pierre Kwenders Dreams for the World

“I grew up surrounded by music lovers. There was always music playing and people dancing. There was always a reason for a family gathering, and I was one of those kids always ready to dance. Whenever there was a family gathering, there was an acoustic guitar around and my uncle would take the guitar andContinue reading “Pierre Kwenders Dreams for the World”

Yaz Lancaster’s Liberatory Modes

There’s a rare kind of malleability to the music of transdisciplinary artist Yaz Lancaster. Best known as a composer, violinist, and poet, Lancaster holds degrees both in classical violin and in poetry from New York University (NYU), and has had compositions performed by ensembles such as JACK Quartet and the Boston chamber orchestra A FarContinue reading “Yaz Lancaster’s Liberatory Modes”

Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions

In early October 2021 Gayle Young and I meet in Toronto before heading to her home in Ontario’s Niagara region. The drive is less than two hours, yet somehow, our destination is so much further away. The spaces between buildings grow wider as do those between the little squares of light in the darkness. IContinue reading “Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions”

The Tao of Gayle

Last year in mid October, while scrolling down Facebook, I came across a densely expressive and evocatively written post from Montreal singer Sarah Albu, who was “surfacing momentarily,” she wrote, from a recording project “revisiting, revising, and recording” the complete vocal works of Gayle Young from 1976 to today. I was moved and intrigued byContinue reading “The Tao of Gayle”

What’s Inside Musicworks 142?

The authentic enthusiasm and curiosity of artists writing about artists for whom they feel an affinity propelled Musicworks in its early days. This dynamic is in the magazine’s DNA and continues to inform the storytelling in our pages, as you’ll discover in the Summer 2022 issue! ORDER YOUR PHYSICAL COPY OF MUSICWORKS 142 FROM OURContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 142?”

Yves Charuest and The Existential Act of Improvisation

In the fall of 2016, I attended Montreal rehearsals and concerts and Toronto recording sessions ofRoscoe Mitchell and the Toronto-Montreal Art Orchestra for a feature article that was published in Musicworks 127. This complex, largely through-composed music—Mitchell’s orchestrations of previous improvisations—required the gradual, stop-start building of short segments. The alto saxophonist Yves Charuest was assignedContinue reading “Yves Charuest and The Existential Act of Improvisation”

Roxanne Nesbitt’s Sonic Investigations

People often describe sound as something that reverberates outward into space, but the music of interdisciplinary artist Roxanne Nesbitt seems to move inward; it has an audiovisual geometry that focuses the eye and the ear, pulling you closer to the source. To perform her 2010 composition Distaff, thin strings are threaded through the strings ofContinue reading “Roxanne Nesbitt’s Sonic Investigations”