Out with the old, in with the new
02/08/07 09:02 Filed in: Press
Out with the old, in with the new (music) Thur Feb. 8, 2007 Shattering the Silence festival begins this Friday - compositions by students, professors and international musicians alike By Katie Fahey
"Between the innovative student composers and performers, the showcase concerts and the Cabaret evening at On the Verge, you can brace yourself for some very cool music this weekend. This weekend marks the debut of Acadia’s first annual New Music Festival aptly named, Shattering the Silence.
“We want to mix this up and give students and the community a chance to hear sounds they haven’t encountered before… hence the theme Shattering the Silence!” says enthusiastic co-founder and co-artistic director of the festival, Dr. Derek Charke. He, along with fellow music professor Dr. Mark Hopkins, conceived of the event. “There is so much beautiful music being written right now, today, by living composers that it’s a shame to not have a showcase festival that specifically addresses, promotes and fosters new music creation.”
Charke says a good percentage of the music being performed has been written in the past ten years. “What makes this festival special is the sheer number of world premieres.” He goes on to say “there will be so much variety that the audience is sure to walk away with some memorable experiences!”
The weekend kicks off Friday afternoon with a free preview concert at Denton Hall Auditorium. It continues with showcase concerts throughout the weekend and includes an evening at On the Verge. Excitingly, there are two specifically student focused concerts both at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
Student composer Justin Wah Kan will be debuting a piece involving two flutes and his own live electronic mix. “It’s great to be able to be a part [of the festival] and watch it grow,” he says, adding that “its part of being in composition to have your pieces performed at these type of events (and as many as we can get into).”
Fellow student composer Greg Harrison says his pie was one of five chosen from Dr. Charke’s composition class to be performed at the festival. “This isn’t your conventional music festival (i.e. selected Bach works on piano). There will be some wacky performances and works out there,” he says. “For instance, the piece I wrote is for marimba and a guitar loop pedal.”
On the programme are 10 world premieres by student composers including Andrew Anderson, Nick Bedell, Mitch Burke, Rebecca Crisp, Kevon Cronin, Edward Enman, Greg Harrison, Amanda Riley, Ryan Neilson and Justin Wah Kan. Student performers include Stephen Ambra, Alaina Boyd, Mitch Burke Greg George, Laura Gillis, Greg Harrison, Kathyrn Humphries, Megan Johnson, Emily Lang, Kristen Lenz, Chad Nelson, Erin O’Toole, Joel Rudolph, Kattie Titus, Roy Richardson and Casandra Widdifield."
"Between the innovative student composers and performers, the showcase concerts and the Cabaret evening at On the Verge, you can brace yourself for some very cool music this weekend. This weekend marks the debut of Acadia’s first annual New Music Festival aptly named, Shattering the Silence.
“We want to mix this up and give students and the community a chance to hear sounds they haven’t encountered before… hence the theme Shattering the Silence!” says enthusiastic co-founder and co-artistic director of the festival, Dr. Derek Charke. He, along with fellow music professor Dr. Mark Hopkins, conceived of the event. “There is so much beautiful music being written right now, today, by living composers that it’s a shame to not have a showcase festival that specifically addresses, promotes and fosters new music creation.”
Charke says a good percentage of the music being performed has been written in the past ten years. “What makes this festival special is the sheer number of world premieres.” He goes on to say “there will be so much variety that the audience is sure to walk away with some memorable experiences!”
The weekend kicks off Friday afternoon with a free preview concert at Denton Hall Auditorium. It continues with showcase concerts throughout the weekend and includes an evening at On the Verge. Excitingly, there are two specifically student focused concerts both at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
Student composer Justin Wah Kan will be debuting a piece involving two flutes and his own live electronic mix. “It’s great to be able to be a part [of the festival] and watch it grow,” he says, adding that “its part of being in composition to have your pieces performed at these type of events (and as many as we can get into).”
Fellow student composer Greg Harrison says his pie was one of five chosen from Dr. Charke’s composition class to be performed at the festival. “This isn’t your conventional music festival (i.e. selected Bach works on piano). There will be some wacky performances and works out there,” he says. “For instance, the piece I wrote is for marimba and a guitar loop pedal.”
On the programme are 10 world premieres by student composers including Andrew Anderson, Nick Bedell, Mitch Burke, Rebecca Crisp, Kevon Cronin, Edward Enman, Greg Harrison, Amanda Riley, Ryan Neilson and Justin Wah Kan. Student performers include Stephen Ambra, Alaina Boyd, Mitch Burke Greg George, Laura Gillis, Greg Harrison, Kathyrn Humphries, Megan Johnson, Emily Lang, Kristen Lenz, Chad Nelson, Erin O’Toole, Joel Rudolph, Kattie Titus, Roy Richardson and Casandra Widdifield."
