Music Composition & Sonic Arts

March 4, 7:30 PM
Convocation Hall
University of Alberta
FREE (Donations Welcome)

SHHH! Ensemble, with Edana Higham, piano; Zac Pulak, percussion.

Featuring several newly commissioned works, structured improvisation, and creative instrumentation SHHH!! Ensemble’s innovative “Spirits” programme takes the listener on a journey through composer’s reflections on the nature of creativity, meditation, inspiration, whiskey, and the beyond.

SHHH!! Ensemble performs Spirits

Andy Akiho – Karakurenai
John Beckwith – Meanwhile +*
Kelly-Marie Murphy – Dr. Blue’s Incredible Boneshaking Drill Engine +*
John Gordon Armstrong – The Angel’s Share +*
Kevin Hanlon – SHHHuffle / Bach – O How Fleeting, O How Hollow *
Micheline Roi – Grieving the Doubts of Angels +

• = Canadian Composer
• = Commissioned by SHHH!! Ensemble

SHHH!! Ensemble Bio:

SHHH!!… a powerful utterance designed to draw attention forward… creating space and awareness… opening ears to something important.

SHHH!! Ensemble is a piano/percussion duo dedicated to the creation and dissemination of new and rarefied sounds. The Ottawa based duo of pianist Edana Higham and percussionist Zac Pulak pride themselves in the presentation of programmes that are as accessible as they are groundbreaking.

The ensemble is committed to creating and exploring works for piano and percussion through commissioning and arranging. Recent highlights include residencies at the Canadian Music Centre and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, commissions from iconic Canadian composers such as John Beckwith, Jocelyn Morlock, and a forthcoming double-concerto from Kelly-Marie Murphy.

To stay up-to-date with all of SHHH!! Ensemble’s activities them on social media using the @shhhensemble handle.

Please join us for two exciting concerts of brand new music, composed by University of Alberta undergraduate and graduate composers.

On Monday, Dec. 9, the Ultraviolet Ensemble, featuring Chenoa Anderson (flutes), Allison Balcetis (saxes), Amy Nicholson (cello), and Roger Admiral (piano) will perform new compositions by Cole Dorchester, Isaac Earl, Chuck Hanson, Sarah Hubert, Rio Houle, Catherine Labbe, Alex McNaughton, Ryan Miralles, Diana Tayler, and Ashley Weckesser.

MONDAY, Dec. 9, 7:30 PM
Convocation Hall
Free Admission (donations accepted)

On Tuesday, Dec. 10, organist Marnie Giebrecht-Segger and percussionist Mark Segger will perform new works for the organ and percussion by graduate composers Brendan Bevan, Derek Horemans, and Justin Sullivan. Not to be missed!

TUESDAY, Dec. 10, 7:30 PM
Convocation Hall
Free Admission (donations accepted)

Student improvisors perform new and spontaneously generated sounds.

Monday, Dec. 2, 7:30 PM
Studio 27, Fine Arts Building
Admission free

The Sound Studies Institute, in conjunction with Acoustics Week in Canada 2019, brings us an artist talk and masterclass from renowned soundscape composer and acoustic ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp.

Date:    Thursday, October 10, 2019
Time:    3:30pm – 5:00 pm
Venue:  Studio 2-7, Fine Arts Building, University of Alberta
Cost:    Free admission

After completing her music studies at UBC in the early 1970s, Westerkamp joined the World Soundscape Project under the director of R. Murray Schafer at Simon Fraser University. Her involvement with this project not only activated deep concerns about noise and the general state of the acoustic environment in her, but it also changed her ways of thinking about music, listening and soundmaking. A founding member of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology and chief editor of its journal Soundscape for twelve years, Hildegard Westerkamp has written extensively on acoustic ecology and the practice of listening. She has hosted soundscape workshops, lead soundwalks, given lectures, and performed concerts both locally and internationally.

Hildegard Westerkamp’s electroacoustic compositions and audio art are centred around exploring aspects of the acoustic environment: urban, rural or wilderness soundscapes, voices, noise or silence, music and media sounds, and the everyday sounds of cultures around the world. She has created pieces from and for specific sites, including Vancouver’s Harbour Symphony, École Polytechnique, and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi. Westerkamp’s compositions draw attention to the act of listening itself, to the inner, hidden spaces of the environments we inhabit and to details both familiar and foreign in the acoustic environment.

You can listen to the CBC Ideas podcast featuring Hildegard Westerkamp to learn more about her work in soundscape composition and acoustic ecology.

This concert is a celebratory retrospective concert of the compositions of Professor Emeritus Howard Bashaw. Bashaw’s dense, complex language is brought to life by virtuosic performers across many genres, including chamber, choral, solo piano, and electracoustic sounds.

Friday, Oct. 19, 2019. 7:30 – 9:00 PM
Convocation Hall

More Info

Welcome to another fun-filled year of new music and sound art at the University of Alberta! For those new to the department, this website is your one-stop resource for information about the program, concerts, visiting artists, etc. Note that the music department pages are still the official location for general music department info, so please make sure you get to know that site as well.  Please note: all dates for student concerts and events are listed in the sidebar (which are subject to change). Please check this site often for updates and reminders!

Composition Forum this year, as usual, will be on the 4th Wednesday of the month, 4-5:30 PM, in the electroacoustic studio (Fine Arts Building 27-D). Please see the sidebar ( ->) for dates, and PUT THEM IN YOUR CALENDAR NOW. For those new to the program, Composition Forum is a chance for all composers, grad, undergrad, faculty, to get together, talk about composition, show work to each other, etc. Or, we might just watch a film. If you are taking composition tutorials, attendance is required, and your teacher may ask you to present work-in-progress.

Please see the Department of Music website for information regarding orientation.

Orientation

MONDAY, April 15, 6 PM, Convocation Hall

Contempo and XiME, featuring acoustic music, electronic music, improvised music, new instruments – created and composed by undergraduate composers and undergrad/graduate improvisors. Please note the time is 6 PM, not 7:30.

TUESDAY, April 16, 12 NOON, Studio 27, Fine Arts Building

Come enjoy an hour of new electroacoustic music created by student composers from Music 445. And Donuts!

TUESDAY, April 16, 7:30 PM, Convocation Hall

New compositions by graduate student composers, featuring Allison Balcetis (saxes) and the Edmonton Saxophone Quartet.

Hope to see some of you there! Please forward to interested parties!

Join Quasar quatuor de saxophones for their residency at the University of Alberta Department of Music! Culminating in their concert on February 5th featuring all Canadian works chosen from a massive nation-wide call:

Émilie Girard-Charest : Bestiaire
Jim O’Leary: Saxophone Quartet
Ofer Pelz: I need to hear it first
Rebecca Bruton: Mammalian Mother Tongues
Jean-Marc Bouchard : Cathédrale-Graffitis (with participation of UofA faculty and students!)

Concert Admission: $20 General, $10 Students and Seniors, Free for Dept. of Music Faculty and Students

All Other Events are FREE

Monday, February 4, 2019

• 7:00 PM Graduate Composition Student Workshop, room 1-29

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

• 8:00 PM Concert: Sonic Territories – Con Hall

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

• 12:00 PM Masterclass – room 2-28

• 3:00 PM Round Table: Composing Today: What? To What Ends? For Whom? Room Studio 2-7D

Please joins us for the end-of-term composers concert featuring undergraduate composers and improvisors.  These students have worked hard to create these brand new works.  Come out and support them!

Monday, Dec. 10, 7:30 PM
Convocation Hall, University of Alberta North Campus
FREE / Optional donation

Works by:

• Isaac Earl
• Michaela Morrow
• Michelle Glen
• Ashley Weskesser
• Alex McNaughton
• Noah McRobbie
• Jackson Hunter
• Sam Sfirri
• Cornelious Cardw

Active since 2000, the Department of Music’s student ensemble “contempo” will be presenting its annual fall concert on Friday, November 23 at 7:30 PM in Convocation Hall. The concert will feature music composed in the last 40 years by international and Canadian composers. All are welcome to listen to a great variety of sounds, shapes, and dramatic gestures.

Contempo is co-directed by Roger Admiral and Andriy Talpash.

Works include Everything You Own Has Been Taken To A Depot Somewhere, Difficulties Putting Into Practice, Workers Union, Tinkleberries,  ÆTher, and more.

Admission is free. All are welcome