Aaron Gervais, composer » arditti quartet http://aarongervais.com Website for composer Aaron Gervais Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:09:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Professional Experience http://aarongervais.com/cv/professional-experience/ http://aarongervais.com/cv/professional-experience/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:29:00 +0000 Aaron Gervais http://aarongervais.com/wp/?p=38
Apr 2011
Quatuor Bozzini Composers Kitchen
Montréal, Canada
Workshop and residency with the string quartet. Development and performance of new work.
Jan–Mar 2010
Judge
JUNO Awards, Classical Composition of the Year Category
Sep 2009–present
Consultant and Web Writer
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
Developing and implementing strategies for audience building. Involving graduate students from San Francisco–area music departments in volunteer publicity activities for the ensemble. Writing interviews.
Jul 2009
Composition Fellow
Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East
Bennington VT, USA
By invitation. Duties include composing a work for amateur musicians and coaching the ensemble.
Feb 2009
orkest de ereprijs Young Composers Meeting
Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Winner of the 2009 competition. Wrote a piece for the ensemble, participated in masterclasses.
2008
Artistic Director
Recycled 80s Live
Canada
Conceived and organized the creation of a concert-length, amplified piece for nightclubs based on quotations of ‘80s pop songs, including composition of the score, hiring of musicians, arranging for performances, and creating audio–video support materials.
Nov–Dec 2009
Banff Centre Fall Creative Music Residency
Banff, Canada
Sep–Dec 2007
Koninklijk Conservatorium Residency
the Hague, the Netherlands
Professional development residency and composition masterclasses with Martijn Padding.
Aug 2007
Domaine Forget Academy New Music Seminar
St-Irénée QC, Canada
Participated in masterclasses. Rehearsals and performance with the Nouvel ensemble moderne.
Feb 2007
Arditti Quartet Residency, UC San Diego Visiting Artist Program
San Diego, USA
Composed a piece for the Arditti Quartet. Rehearsals, recording, and masterclasses with the quartet.
2005–2007
Teaching Assistant
University of California, San Diego
Preparation: Three-month, intensive pedagogy seminar on teaching critical reading and writing to undergraduates.
Duties: Attending lectures and meetings with professors, creating lesson plans based on course reading, teaching classes, holding office hours, helping students develop research papers, and grading written assignments and exams.
Classes Taught: (Music) MUS1B Music Theory, MUS12 Intro to Opera, MUS4 Introduction to Western Music History, LTEN159 Popular Music of the ‘60s; (World Literature) MMW2 The Great Classical Traditions, MMW3 The Medieval Heritage.
2005–2006
Composer in Residence
Ensemble contemporain de Montréal Génération 2006
Montréal, Canada
Wrote a piece for the ensemble, gave a masterclass on my music at the École de musique Vincent d’Indy, rehearsals with student musicians, workshop and rehearsals with the ensemble, cross-Canada tour.
Aug 2005
Tapestry New Opera Works Composer–Librettist Laboratory
Toronto, Canada
Composition of four short opera scenes with four librettists, daily masterclasses and discussions, rehearsals with performers, performances.
Sep 2004–Jan 2005
University of Toronto Contemporary Opera Showcase Programme
Toronto, Canada
Only undergraduate student invited to participate. Wrote a chamber opera for U of T students, rehearsed with the singers and ensemble, held meetings with the music director.
Spring 2004
Artistic Director, Organizer
University of Toronto – Harvard Composition Exchange
Organized a student-run exchange between composition students at both universities. Curated a concert of student works.
Spring 2004
Artistic Director, Organizer
Curated a concert of new music for saxophone in Toronto. Responsible for finding performers, composing a new piece, making programming decisions for other repertoire, and publicizing the concert.
Summer 2002
Artistic Director, Organizer
Curated a concert of new music for student composers at the University of Alberta. Responsible for finding performers, composing a new piece, making programming decisions for other repertoire, and publicizing the concert.
1995–2007
Private music instructor in percussion, composition, music theory, and history.
]]> http://aarongervais.com/cv/professional-experience/feed/ 0 Arditti Quartet Residency http://aarongervais.com/noteworthy/arditti-quartet-residency/ http://aarongervais.com/noteworthy/arditti-quartet-residency/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:53:29 +0000 Aaron Gervais http://aarongervais.com/wp/?p=172 I wrote a piece for the Arditti Quar­tet’s 2007 res­i­dency at UCSD.

]]> http://aarongervais.com/noteworthy/arditti-quartet-residency/feed/ 0 Arditti Quartet Residency http://aarongervais.com/performances/arditti-quartet-residency-2/ http://aarongervais.com/performances/arditti-quartet-residency-2/#comments Fri, 09 Feb 2007 06:13:18 +0000 Aaron Gervais http://aarongervais.com/wp/?p=542 Première of Four Stills on Evaporation.

]]> http://aarongervais.com/performances/arditti-quartet-residency-2/feed/ 0 Four Stills on Evaporation in Thirty-One Fragments http://aarongervais.com/music/four-stills-on-evaporation-in-thirty-one-fragments/ http://aarongervais.com/music/four-stills-on-evaporation-in-thirty-one-fragments/#comments Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:47:36 +0000 Aaron Gervais http://aarongervais.com/wp/?p=404 This piece reflects my ongo­ing inter­ests in sec­tional forms, doing away with tran­si­tional mate­r­ial, and the chal­leng­ing of aes­thetic assump­tions. There is no attempt to relate any of the mate­ri­als of the piece over the large scale. Instead, I have focused on a broad ges­ture—that of a long dimin­u­endo—that goes from begin­ning to end. Within that ges­ture are a series of thirty-one frag­ments, some with local rela­tion­ships to adjoin­ing frag­ments, some with­out. No struc­tures or orga­niz­ing prin­ci­ples have been used that are not imme­di­ately appar­ent to the ear, and each sec­tion is com­posed intu­itively with regard to pitch, rhythm, tone colour, and phras­ing. The piece also includes sev­eral the­atri­cal ele­ments, and is there­fore best appre­ci­ated in a live performance.

]]> http://aarongervais.com/music/four-stills-on-evaporation-in-thirty-one-fragments/feed/ 0 Arditti Quartet, New Wave Change http://aarongervais.com/news/arditti-quartet-new-wave-change/ http://aarongervais.com/news/arditti-quartet-new-wave-change/#comments Fri, 21 Apr 2006 07:03:25 +0000 Aaron Gervais http://aarongervais.com/wp/?p=303 First of all, a slight change regard­ing the last post­ing. Due to rehearsal sched­ul­ing com­pli­ca­tions, my piece with Esprit’s New Wave Fes­ti­val has been changed. They will be pre­sent­ing Flüsse-Einflüsse instead. Many thanks to Ina Hen­ning for gra­tiously agree­ing to do this on short notice.

Sec­ondly, I am pleased to announce that I was chosen to write a piece for the Arditti Quar­tet during their res­i­dency at UCSD in 2007. The Arditti are one of the most highly-regarded string quar­tets in con­tem­po­rary music and I am more than thrilled to be work­ing with them.

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