>>PREVIEW
HAPPENING: UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
January 26 to February 2
Rozsa Centre
Happening 2007, the University of Calgary’s New Music Festival, will deliver a jaw-dropping variety of intriguing sounds. Listeners will encounter improvisations performed on exotic and rare instruments from all corners of the globe, cutting-edge electroacoustic compositions, the delicate ringing tones of Chinese classical music, challenging sonic creations by local and international composers and much more.
The mastermind behind Happening is associate professor David Eagle. "The theme of this year’s festival is ‘from the past into the future,’" Eagle says. "I don’t see a divide between authentic traditional music from different cultures and something new or improvised that is created using traditional instruments."
Headlining the festival are two Vancouver-based performers who joyfully blur the boundary between traditional and experimental music. Mei Han is a virtuoso on the Zheng, a Chinese stringed instrument, while Randy Raine-Reusch performs on hundreds of diverse world music instruments drawn from his incredible collection.
Together they create a hybrid music that combines ancient musical traditions with more modern styles, including jazz, electronic and contemporary classical. In addition to their evening concerts (January 30 and 31), Han and Raine-Reusch will offer a free improvisation workshop at 2:00 p.m. on January 29.
Calgary native and U of C alumni David Berezan also reaches into the past for inspiration. To collect the material for his piece entitled "Ting" (heard on February 2), Berezan visited the Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland and recorded sounds made by the bizarre kinetic sculptures of the 20th century Swiss artist and sculptor Jean Tinguely. He then manipulated the recorded material to create a piece of surround-sound art that "gives the sensation that sounds are moving right through you," according to Eagle.
Closing the festival will be performances by Calgary’s two pre-eminent new music ensembles, Ensemble Resonance and Land’s End Chamber Ensemble. Ensemble Resonance (February 1) will incorporate dance and spontaneous painting by three local artists into their performance.
On February 2, Land’s End will feature a performance of "Les moutons de panurge" by American composer Frederic Rzewski, described as a "collective improvisation for any number of musicians and any number of non-musicians playing anything."
The gala opening concert, featuring the Spiritus Chamber Choir, is Jan. 26, and the festival concludes Feb. 2. All events take place at the Rozsa Centre, U of C. For the complete schedule go to: http://newmusic.ffa.ucalgary.ca |
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