New Music Culture-Hopping and Boundary-Free By ALLAN KOZINN Published: December 24, 2006 (Quoted here in part)

"The Kronos Quartet, which has been arguing for omnivorous multiculturalism for years, offered its latest manifesto in its “Live Mix” series at Carnegie Hall and Zankel Hall in March and April. The three-hour closing concert was especially illuminating: after a section that included striking works by composers from Ethiopia (Getatchew Mekurya) and Canada (Derek Charke), as well as the quartet’s arrangements of short pieces by the Icelandic rock band Sigur Ros, the Kronos joined forces with the Indian singer Asha Bhosle for an extraordinary performance of film songs by Ms. Bhosle’s husband, Rahul Dev Burman."

SONG OF THE TIDES performed at the 2006 NSMEA Conference on Friday Oct. 27, 2006 at Trinity United Church, Temperance St., New Glasgow.

Posted by Matt Sedlar Kronos Quartet at GW's Lisner Auditorium, Washington D.C. (Quoted here in part)

"The quartet began the night with perhaps one of the strongest arrangements, Derek Charke's "Cercle du Nord III." Commissioned by Canadian public radio, the piece utilized sound recordings taken from a 2005 trip to Canada's Northwest Territories, where Charke attempted to record nature but discovered that the presence of mankind kept interfering -- whether through the sound of snowmobiles, trucks or even an Inuit power plant. The arrangement, which played out in three distinct sections, combined the sound recordings with Harrington, violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt playfully trading off parts. The piece also showed off Larry Neff's excellent lighting design, which effectively followed the mood throughout."

Dr. Mark Hopkins conducts the Acadia University Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble in the world premiere performance of SONG OF THE TIDES. Sat. October 21, 2006 8pm Harvey Denton Hall on the Campus of Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

New approach to wind band comes with “Song of the Tides” Acadia music profs debut composition By Kathryn Furtado

"Saturday, October 21 marked the first concert of the year for Acadia University’s Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble. Dr. Mark Hopkins, conductor of both groups, described the evening as a “concert of firsts”. Not only did the Acadia University Wind Ensemble, a group newly created this year, give their first-ever performance, but they also premiered a brand new piece of music, “Song of the Tides.” This piece was commissioned by Dr. Hopkins for the Acadia University Wind Ensemble, and composed by Acadia’s Dr. Derek Charke. The piece looks beyond simple performance and, with funding from the Canadian Music Centre and SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada), it serves as a teaching tool for junior high school bands across Nova Scotia and the other Atlantic provinces.

“Song of the Tides” looks to emulate the sounds of the shore of Nova Scotia, while keeping developing players within comfortable ranges and rhythms. Accompanied by a collection of pre-recorded sounds from around Nova Scotia, it encourages students to make less standard sounds with (and without) their instruments to achieve the proper effect. All these sounds serve a purpose, such as teaching students about intonation and tone, or making them more aware of their breathing. The piece hopes to expose junior high students to quality wind band music. It will allow them to explore both a different style of composition and a different type of performance than the more mainstream, mass-produced, developing wind band literature (which is described as “the musical equivalent of a fast food diet”).

The piece has two movements. The first, “Low Tide,” has the soundtrack playing while either select soloists, or all the players in the ensemble, improvise along with it. This freedom makes it an ideal movement for a workshop setting, and allows the students to explore the music as well as the various styles of playing. The ensembles will also be invited to write their own scores for the first movement, making it their own. The second movement, “High Tide”, is fully scored with the soundtrack only playing periodically throughout the movement. Like the first movement, the second seeks to introduce different techniques, but also includes more ‘traditional’ writing for wind bands, all within the technical abilities of a junior high ensemble.

The next performance of “Song of the Tides” by the Acadia University Wind Ensemble will take place on Friday, October 27, at 4:00pm at the Nova Scotia Music Educators’ Association (NSMEA) conference in New Glasgow. At this conference, junior high band teachers will hear the piece played, and, following this, (thanks to the funding from SOCAN and the Canadian Music Centre) will have the chance to sign a list to receive a score and set of parts, completely free of charge.

Drs. Hopkins and Charke will then set up clinics with the schools that are interested (an estimated minimum of twelve schools), during which they will attend rehearsals to workshop the techniques involved in the piece, allow for exploration with the improvisational section, and provide students with a rare opportunity: the chance to meet and quiz the composer of a piece they are playing. As Dr. Hopkins pointed out during the Saturday night concert, this is a rare occasion, because the bulk of the works students will perform were composed by people who are now dead.
Though Dr. Charke admits that it’s difficult to judge just how long it took to compose a piece of music, he estimates that “Song of the Tides” was completed in about four months. Drs. Charke and Hopkins toured the province in August to collect the sounds found on the CD, which include the waves rushing over the rocks, the calls of seagulls, and even the horn of the Princess of Acadia ferry, blown especially for the recording.

“Song of the Tides” is an outreach initiative born at Acadia University that is already well on its way to enriching both the developing wind band’s repertoire and the musical training of young players in Nova Scotia."


Mark Hopkins and Derek Charke recording sounds for Song of the Tides

Derek was at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City for a performance of WHAT DO THE BIRDS THINK? by the Group for Contemporary Music as part of the Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Mary Sharp Cronson, producer. The program was curated by Howard Stokar. For over forty years The Group for Contemporary Music has distinguished itself as a leading force in the discovery of new talent. The explosive new works of five young composers - Drew Baker, Yu-Hui Chang, Derek Charke, Jason Eckardt, and Paul Nauert will be performed.


Group for Contemporary Music in rehearsal at the Guggenheim

Kronos Quartet presents the European Premiere of CERCLE DU NORD III at the Vienna Concert House, Vienna, Austria.

London Flutes present the World Premier of four new works for flute quartet at a series of events throughout May 2006.

Each programme include new works by British composers Hywel Davies, Edmund Jolliffe, Tara Guram, and Canadian composer Derek Charke. The evening concerts in Brighton and London each follow one of the quartet’s highly successful one-day flute workshops for flutists of all abilities and ages. Tickets are £10, £8 concessions and £5 for students attending the Brighton and London one-day flute workshops. All tickets include a glass of wine or soft drink, and are available online or on the door.
Doors open at 7pm.

Sunday 14th May 2006, 7.30pm, Brighton College, Brighton, UK Sunday 21st May 2006, 7.30pm, Lauderdale House, London N6, UK Saturday 27th May 2006, 7.30pm, Bristol Music Club, Bristol, UK

Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle Make Not-So-Strange Bedfellows By ALLAN KOZINN (Quoted here in Part)

"For the final concert of the Live Mix series, on Saturday evening, the Kronos Quartet moved upstairs to Carnegie Hall's main stage from the comparatively intimate confines of Zankel Hall. It had good reason to make the jump, with the singer Asha Bhosle as the soloist in the second half of the program. The concert drew a huge audience, with the quartet's usual following dwarfed by Indian-music fans who were well versed in Ms. Bhosle's repertory and responded to it as rapturously as a Western pop audience responds to a band playing its biggest hits...

The three-hour concert began with a few non-Indian works, including arrangements of short pieces by the Icelandic rock band Sigur Ros and an Ethiopian composer, Getatchew Mekurya, as well as "Cercle du Nord III," an inventive, rich-textured score for quartet and electronic sound by the Canadian composer Derek Charke."

Derek was in New York City to hear CERCLE DU NORD III receive it's NYC premiere by the Kronos Quartet on a sold out program with legendary Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium.


In Carnegie Hall


New York

On tour with the Kronos Quartet! The Kronos Quartet recently commissioned and premiered two of Derek's works, 22 INUIT THROAT SONG GAMES FOR STRING QUARTET and CERCLE DU NORD III at the Chan Centre in Vancouver, Canada.


Group shot in Calgary


Kronos in performance


Yukon river


Panel discussion David Harrington, John Sherba, Hank Dutt, Jeffrey Zeigler, Derek Charke, Tanya Tagaq


Kronos Quartet dog sledding


Arriving in Whitehorse, Yukon