Voices and Strings
Commissioning new works to creative minds such as Peggy Lee, Mary Margaret O’Hara and Linda Bouchard means to focus on very uncompromising ways of sound thinking and composing. With Voices and Strings we wish to create a poetic series of sound panels and songs identified by the original work, reflection, poetry and composition of these exceptional Canadian artists. Together with the transparent works of Linda Catlin Smith and Jay Schwartz this performance offers, through an intentional “reduction” of means (string orchestra), an opportunity to share an exciting exploration of sonic, musical and poetic ideas. The different styles and techniques of these five composers are here at the service of rich and engaging soundscapes which, while freeing themselves to escape any possible classification, present sounds and voices in ways somewhat similar to the process of creating an essence, a special, embodied and musical one.
We look forward to sharing the beautiful works of all the composers. Mary Margaret O’Hara and Peggy Lee’s new project is going to be an exciting one: new songs and improvisations stemming from Peggy and Mary Margaret’s long standing collaboration. Both Linda Bouchard and Linda Catlin Smith compositions will offer original and sonically rich textures, lyrical and formal architectures which enhance the transparency of the string ensemble’s palette. Finally, Jay Schwartz’s slowly evolving composition follows a formal plan where harmonic resonance is produced while blurring textures and sound bands in large and evocative metamorphoses that reveal sound energy in the process of its forming.
Voices and Strings
Works by Peggy Lee and Mary Margaret O’Hara, Linda Bouchard, Linda Catlin Smith, and Jay Schwartz
Saturday, April 18, 2015; 8PM
Free pre-show chat at 7:15PM
Orpheum Annex (823 Seymour Street, 2nd floor) [map]
Single tickets $35 regular, $15 students (includes taxes and venue surcharges)
Advance tickets available at voices-and-strings.brownpapertickets.com and 1.800.838.3006
Vancouver New Music invited Linda Bouchard, Peggy Lee and Mary Margaret O’Hara to create new works that consider the idea and form of a rich and variable musical form: the song. From the original canzona, Lied, chanson, up to the most creative assemblage or paradoxical expression, this flexible, fluid and omnipresent form has been an inspiration the world over for centuries. Works by Linda Catlin Smith and Jay Schwartz complement the program.
Featuring Peggy Lee (cello) and Mary Margaret O’Hara (voice) with a string ensemble of some of Vancouver’s finest string players performing their new piece 2 cans and a string thing.
Programme:
Linda Catlin Smith – Les fleurs anciennes (2000, 10′)
Conductor: Giorgio Magnanensi
Violin 1: Cam Wilson, Domagoj Ivanovic, Yun Jung, Molly MacKinnon
Violin 2: Elyse Jacobson, Janna Sailor, Erin Dorfer
Viola: Reg Quiring, Manti Poon, Peter Ing
Cello: Marina Hasselberg, Stefan Hintersteininger
Double Bass: Laurence Mollerup
Jay Schwartz – Music for Orchestra III (2010, 20′) **
Conductor: Giorgio Magnanensi
Violin 1: Cam Wilson, Domagoj Ivanovic, Yun Jung, Molly MacKinnon
Violin 2: Elyse Jacobson, Janna Sailor, Erin Dorfer
Viola: Reg Quiring, Manti Poon, Peter Ing
Cello: Marina Hasselberg, Stefan Hintersteininger
Double Bass: Laurence Mollerup, Anne Duranceau
Linda Bouchard –Réfraction (2015, 20′) *†
Conductor: Giorgio Magnanensi
Violin 1: Cam Wilson, Domagoj Ivanovic, Yun Jung, Molly MacKinnon, Meghan Van Cleave, Boris Ulanowicz
Violin 2: Elyse Jacobson, Janna Sailor, Erin Dorfer, Zuzana Uskovitsova, Meredith Bates
Viola: Reg Quiring, Manti Poon, Peter Ing, John Kastelic
Cello: Marina Hasselberg, Stefan Hintersteininger, Finn Manniche, Doug Gorkoff
Double Bass: Laurence Mollerup, Anne Duranceau
Peggy Lee & Mary Margaret O’Hara – 2 cans and a string thing (2015, 25′)*
Conductor: Giorgio Magnanensi
Voice: Mary Margaret O’Hara
Cello Solo: Peggy Lee
Violin 1: Cam Wilson, Domagoj Ivanovic, Yun Jung, Molly MacKinnon, Meghan Van Cleave, Boris Ulanowicz
Violin 2: Elyse Jacobson, Janna Sailor, Erin Dorfer, Zuzana Uskovitsova, Meredith Bates
Viola: Reg Quiring, Manti Poon, Peter Ing, John Kastelic
Cello: Marina Hasselberg, Stefan Hintersteininger, Finn Manniche, Doug Gorkoff, Peggy Lee
Double Bass: Laurence Mollerup, Anne Duranceau
* World premiere
** Canadian premiere
† Commissioned by Vancouver New Music with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Commissioning of Canadian Composers program.