Went for a walk today and recorded the waves in Kingsport, Nova Scotia. Trying out my new Roland audio recorder...

Found a cricket. Had to record it. Here’s its debut. Cheers!

Here are a few photos from a camping trip to the Yukon:


On the Dempster Highway


Dempster highway


Tombstone Park


This is what your camper looks like after driving on the Dempster highway! It was white... I think?


Dawson City


Yukon River


It wants my coffee!

It's winter in Nova Scotia. No snow, yet, but loads of rain. Today there was a spectacular rainbow after the rain let up.

I'm (finally) getting started on a new work for voice (Janice Jackson) and electronics. This should be completed by the middle of November. Today I begin my search for text in earnest. I've been thinking about the direction the work will take and will, in all likelihood, steer it towards themes of earth and acoustic ecology with ecopoetics as source material for the text.

Here are some details on several upcoming events:

1. A performance of works based on Darwin will happen at the Maritime Museum on October 17. I'll be playing flute in this ensemble.

2. Two Canadian Music Centre 20th Anniversary concerts will happen this October; (1) on October 24 in Antigonish at St.FX. University and (2) on October 25 in Wolfville at Acadia. Mark Adam and I will be performing Tony Genge's work "arabesque". Eugene Cormier and Ross Chaisson, a former Acadia grad, will be performing "Time's Passing Breath" for two guitars and soundtrack. I'll post more info closer to these dates

3. The St. Lawrence String quartet will perform a new work commissioned as part of their 20th Anniversary. "Sepia Fragments" was co-commissioned by the Huckabone Family and CBC radio. The SLSQ will perform this work in four locations; (1) PEI on Nov. 12, (2) Acadia University on Nov. 13, (3) MUN in NFLD on Nov. 14 and finally in Toronto (4) on November 16 at the University of Toronto. This performance will be recorded for CBC and broadcast at a later date. I'll post more info closer to these dates.

4. The Winnipeg Symphony has invited me to be one of their "Distinguished Canadian Guest Composers" for the 2010 New Music Festival, whose theme is also Earth. I'm quite excited about this! I've finished the scores and parts for three works, two arrangements of earlier string quartet pieces that I discuss in my posting below this one, and a new commission for full orchestra and soundscape, which I also discuss below. I'll be in Winnipeg for more than a week in February and will have a chance to take in the entire event.

5. Our own Acadia New Music Festival, Shattering the Silence is starting to take shape. It will happen on Jan. 20 – 24, 2010. We've commissioned two new works, one from Jerome Blais and the other from Peter Togni, which I'm excited about! We're in the process of securing our special guest performer and solidifying the concerts and other events which will take place during the 5 days.

6. Recently announced; The Kronos Quartet will perform Tundra Songs again this year with Tanya Tagaq. More info closer to the dates...

It's been quiet on this news page lately so I thought it might be time to post something...

I've taken some time this summer to simply read, study scores and listen to music – and also to travel and to attend my sister's wedding in Nanaimo. However, my composing schedule has been busy as usual. I'm working on several pieces at the moment, including:

1. Electroacoustic Studies that are based on – more or less – singular sound sources;

2. A new 15 minute work for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (it includes an electronic soundscape, which has taken a considerable amount of time to complete!) called Falling from Cloudless Skies;

3. A reworking of some Inuit Throat Song Games for string orchestra that will be premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Tanya Tagaq during the Winnipeg New Music Festival in February 2010 (along with the new orchestra work mentioned above (2.) and a string quartet – Cercle du Nord III – which was originally composed for the Kronos Quartet);

4. And I'm starting a new work this August for Halifax soprano Janice Jackson that will be premiered at our New Music Festival in Wolfville this January 2010. Funding just came through – thanks once again to Nova Scotia, Tourism, Culture and Heritage for their ongoing support. This work will be for voice and live processing using the Max/MSP programming environment.

5. In addition I'll begin work this year on a composition for 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone and tuba, that has been commissioned by PEI trombonist Dale Sorensen with funding provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Photo taken in the early morning from the top of Haleakala Crater. This is from a trip my wife and I took to Maui earlier this month; be sure to click on the photo for a larger resolution. Cheers!

Pauline and I are traveling to San Francisco and Los Angeles at the end of April for the world premiere of Tundra Songs at the Disney Hall with the Kronos Quartet and Tanya Tagaq on May 3.Then it's off to Cleveland to play flute for a concert and recording of David Felder's "Dionysiacs" with the Slee Sinfonietta. At the end of May Xanthos Ensemble from Boston is performing What do the Birds Think? in New York City.We head to Toronto for the Luminato Festival in June where Kronos is playing Tundra Songs again for two evenings, June 12 and 13. Straight after this we hop on another flight to Winnipeg to visit Pauline's family. In July it's back to Wolfville to participate in the Acadia Wind Conducting Symposium. Then more travel in August, to Kansas City to hear WARNING, Gustnadoes Ahead at the 2008 National Flute convention. Updates and photos will be posted as soon as I find time

At the Banff Centre for the Arts for a Composer Residency.


On a hike at Lake Louise with other participants


Before a performance of Raga Cha


Practice studio in the woods

In Iqaluit, Nunavut March 19 - 27 to record sounds for a new Kronos Quartet commission.


View from the window of the Bed and Breakfast


Getting ready to travel by dog sled


At a Polynia


Downtown Iqaluit


Race day!

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

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