Like most composers, I absorbed certain widely accepted musical axioms from my university studies, but they’ve never been entirely satisfying. As a consequence, I constantly search for better explanations, in the process hopefully becoming a better artist. One of the issues I’m increasingly focusing on is how music history is interpreted. Although I have previously argued for an enhanced role for music history in composer education, I also think we need to re-examine how we use (and abuse) that history. In my own practice, letting go of false history-based causative associations, what I see as a kind of compositional historicism, has paid creative dividends. (more…)

This is a reprint of the first edition of my e-mail newsletter.

For some time I’ve had a newsletter signup form on my website but this is the first time I’m actually sending a newsletter out!

I plan on doing this 2–3 times per year. For more frequent info, see my website or Twitter. Unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Contents

• Upcoming Concert: Halo Ballet Première – 24 Oct 2010 – Toronto
• Upcoming Concert: Hockey Story – 20 Jan 2011 – San Diego
• Oksana G. Opera Development Workshop
• Results of Experiment: Can I Avoid Choosing the Music I Listen to?
• Help Me Help You: Collaborative Audience Building

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The New Year is off to a busy start, with several premières coming up and a variety of new projects in the works.

• On 25 Jan 2010, Brazilian-Canadian pianist Luciane Car­dassi pre­mières my new piece, Hockey Story, on the Hap­pen­ing 2010 New Music Fes­ti­val in Calgary. This piece, on the theme of hockey, is for speak­ing pianist and electronics.
• Shortly thereafter, on 19 Feb 2010, I’m off to Holland for the première of a piece commissioned by ork­est de erepris. This piece, Elegy of Others, is a collage, with quotations ranging from Vivaldi to R.E.M. and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
• Finally, February wraps up with the orchestral reading (28 Feb 2010) of a section from the opera, Oksana G., that librettist Colleen Murphy and I have been developing for several years. We conducted a successful piano-vocal workshop with Tapestry New Opera at the Banff Centre in August and now the Canadian Opera Company is doing a reading, as part of the long-term development process for this piece.

These events mark the culmination of several projects from 2009. Several other projects, including some unconventional ensembles and the use of unusual media, are under development for 2010. Additional details will be posted when available.