Symphony series strings ensemble serial12/28/2022 ![]() Thois was an exciting project, since I’m a big fan of fiddle music, both Métis, Indigenous and non-indigenous, in Manitoba. In 2016 I was commissioned by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Frontier Fiddlers (an ensemble of young musicians in the Frontier School division in Northern Manitoba, including players from indigenous reserves). Xiao Nan Wang premiered it with the MCO and Judith Yan. These were CANTU for orchestra, inspired by visits to Corsica and participation in a Corsican Polyphonic Chant group, and premiered by the WSO and FAR HEAVENS for chromatic dizi (the traditional chinese transverse flute, but transformed into a chromatic instrument by Winnipeg’s Xiao Nan Wang) and string orchestra. Then two pieces written as part of a Major Arts Grant from the Manitoba Arts Council (for work in 2010/11). In 2009, two orchestral/large ensemble pieces: I SPOKE TO NO ONE, for large mixed ensemble, was inspired by passages from James Joyce’s Ulysses, particularly Stephen Daedalus’ walk on the beach and THE SONG OF THE STARS for soprano, guitar, and strings, based on an anonymous poem by the Passamaquoddy people, whose lands are in New Brunswick. It touches on both the noble, mystical, wild image we often have of wolves as well as the darker, vicious, predatory side. This piece is inspired by memories from childhood of my Grandmother’s stories of wolves in the Carpathian mountains in Ukraine. In 2008 WOLF DREAMS (with Kolomayka) was premiered by a 14-piece ensemble conducted by Alain Trudel, in the GroundSwell Series. The orchestra part contains the “aura”– psychological, emotional and spiritual references to the land, animals, the aurora borealis, and the spirit of the performer and the music (as conveyed so well by Simeonie!). It’s based on a traditional Inuit square dance tune, played many times over, as it would be in a real square dance in Nunavut. The other premiere was MANIMASII AURA for button accordion and chamber ensemble, written for Inuit accordion virtuoso Simeonie Keenainak and the CBC Orchestra with Alain Trudel. ![]() Mark’s Church, where several family members from the early- and mid-1800s are laid to rest. Niagara-on-the-Lake is also an ancestral home for my family, as my father’s ancestors moved here in 1815 in fact, the premiere took place in St. I wrote it for Atis Bankas and the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival. The first was BEATING HEART, a double concerto for violin and button accordion based on Irish traditional music, with movements “Invocation”, “Lament”, “March” and “Reels”. The “North Wind” is a cataclysmic event, whose diminishing echoes return throughout the piece to challenge the soloist.Ģ007 saw two premieres. ![]() Xiao-Nan moved to Winnipeg from China in the early 90s, and has modified his traditionally-diatonic instrument to play chromatically. These three are among my most ‘local’ pieces, each inspired by a different aspect of the climate, geography, and emotional landscape of southern Manitoba.įrom 2005 is NORTH WIND, which I wrote for dizi (Chinese bamboo flute) virtuoso Xiao-Nan Wang and the WSO and Andrey Boreyko. I’ve also written several string-based chamber orchestra pieces for the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Brandon Chamber Players: THE RESTLESS WIND, DANCING WAVES, and CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND STRING ORCHESTRA (written for soloist Paul Marleyn). RHYTHM OF SPRING (for the WSO) incorporates my continuing interest in natural processes and the proportions of the Fibonacci Series. PILGRIMAGE for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra relates very much to the Prairies: Alberta (where I lived in 1979), Manitoba (where I live now) and its Boreal forest, and the subtle lands of Saskatchewan in between. It’s a piece whose architecture mixes Balinese temple structure with Bolognese arcades it also refers to American soul music. TEMPLE STEPS was also written for the WSO. These have been some of the high points in my musical life. I wrote it for myself as soloist, and have performed it with several orchestras, including the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (who commissioned it in 1990) and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. My next piece was very different: a concerto for button accordion and orchestra called DANCING ON WINGS OF FIRE, inspired by a Balinese cremation ceremony and African/North American pop music. My orchestral writing began in student years with PLANES, a serial piece sonically representing abstract mathematical concepts, which was premiered 13 years later by the Winnipeg Symphony and Kazuhiro Koizumi.
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