BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//CMC Prairie Region - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:CMC Prairie Region
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://pr.cmccanada.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for CMC Prairie Region
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Edmonton
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:MDT
DTSTART:20250309T090000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:MST
DTSTART:20251102T080000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:MDT
DTSTART:20260308T090000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:MST
DTSTART:20261101T080000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:MDT
DTSTART:20270314T090000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:MST
DTSTART:20271107T080000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Winnipeg
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20250309T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20251102T070000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20260308T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20261101T070000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20270314T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20271107T070000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260116T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260116T140000
DTSTAMP:20260420T032452
CREATED:20251215T210054Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T210122Z
UID:10000166-1768568400-1768572000@pr.cmccanada.org
SUMMARY:Dorico for Dummies (and everyone else)
DESCRIPTION:Are you a refugee of Finale or Sibelius? Does the thought of learning yet another software send a shiver down your spine? \nIf you’ve ever been interested in learning Dorico\, but don’t know where to start\, or you get overwhelmed\, you’ve come to the right place. Join CMC Prairie library assistant and music engraver Anton Lindenblatt\, as he introduces Dorico music notation software in a two-part series. You’ll learn the basic functions\, including interface navigation\, note entry\, adding articulations and markings\, and utilizing popovers for everything from adding metre to clefs and ornaments\, (session 1) in addition to more advanced features such as page/layout and condensing (session 2). A reference card including shortcuts will also be included. \nAnton will do a side-by-side transcription of a work from our collection\, which you can follow along with at home! \nThere will be two sessions\, January 9th and 16th at 1 pm MST\, both on Zoom\, with full recordings published on our YouTube channel afterwards. \nREGISTER
URL:https://pr.cmccanada.org/event/dorico-for-dummies/2026-01-16/
LOCATION:Manitoba
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://pr.cmccanada.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/12/Dorico-for-Dummies.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20260121T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20260121T210000
DTSTAMP:20260420T032452
CREATED:20251215T232040Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T232040Z
UID:10000167-1769022000-1769029200@pr.cmccanada.org
SUMMARY:WNMF Showcase: Launchpad
DESCRIPTION: Dates \n\nWednesday\, January 21\, 2026 \, 7:00 pm \n Venue \n\nCentennial Concert Hall\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtists\nDaniel Raiskin\, conductor\nMonica Chen\, conductor\nWinnipeg Symphony Orchestra\n\n\nWorks\nChris Byman: Scherzo Oscuro – World premiere\nLiam Berry: O My Heart\, the Wind – World premiere\nGabriella Canzani: Ode to Mourning Doves – World premiere\nMadeleine Ertel: Dance in Fragments – World premiere\nKevin Hayward: Fractured – World premiere\nAshton Latimer: Overflow – World premiere\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis concert is FREE\, but tickets must be reserved. \n  \nThroughout its history\, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra has played a leading role in supporting the creation of new music in Canada\, most notably through its now 35-years-young Winnipeg New Music Festival. Building on this tradition of fostering the voices of the future\, the (newly renamed) Michael Nesbitt Composers Institute now enters its seventh year\, gathering emerging talents from across the nation to work with the WSO in bringing to life an exciting program of fresh ink orchestral music. \nWSO’s Music Director Daniel Raiskin and RBC Assistant Conductor Monica Chen lead your WSO through a set of world premieres of new works by six gifted composers\, including the winner of the Canadian Music Centre (Prairie Region)’s annual Emerging Composer Competition. Mentor composers Christopher Theodanidis and Kelly-Marie Murphy join WSO composer-in-residence Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis in introducing this year’s featured young artists as the 2026 Winnipeg New Music Festival lifts off in this free symphonic concert celebrating Winnipeg’s musical community. \n  \n\nPROGRAM NOTES\nChris Byman – Scherzo Oscuro (2025) [World premiere]\nWinner of the 2026 CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composer Competition \n“Scherzo Oscuro takes the idea of a scherzo – traditionally light and witty – and twists it into something darker. The work draws inspiration from Charles Ives’ provocative orchestral experiments and Bernard Hermann’s vivid cinematic language\, but also from Carl Jung’s concept of “shadow-work”: the integration of subconscious darkness into conscious thought. \nThe music is built on dualities: left brain versus right brain\, hero versus anti-hero\, sobriety versus intoxication\, order versus chaos. These tensions appear most clearly in the use of bitonality and in a rhythmic motive derived from the mantra “one day at a time” (or more bluntly\, “one day at a f****** time”). Introduced by the strings in the opening\, this obsessive figure re-emerges throughout the piece in various guises\, often hammered out as a stubborn\, recurring thought. \nFormally\, the scherzo tipsily bends the rules of Sonata and Rondo\, never settling neatly into either. The result is a humorous and layered musical joke: a piece that laughs at the dark while grappling with serious undercurrents of addiction\, duality\, struggle\, and persistence.” \n\nLiam Berry – O My Heart\, the Wind (2025) – [World premiere] \nIt’s close to the end of winter and you’re standing on the back porch of your new house in the West End. The inescapable road dust that coats everything has tinged the yard grey-brown. A siren wails along Portage. Your wife is getting the baby to bed upstairs and you really don’t have the energy to carry the bag of garbage in your hand out into the alley. \nWeighing down your mind is an anger and a disappointment so deep it seeps into everything. The sea levels you were told were rising when you were six years old have only gotten higher. The wildfires have become seasonal. Systemic change does not seem as inevitable as structural failure. All any of your friends want is an inkling that they might one day live in a home they own. \nUpstairs\, your baby is still crying and the wind starts blowing and your heart is wrenched out of your mouth because when the future bends towards certain catastrophe of one kind or another\, what hope can there be? \nAnd yet\, the wind is blowing\, and the trees off your back porch are beautiful even before their leaves have come in\, and what a wondrous thing it will be when your baby first sees leaves. So hope is really the only possible thing to do. \nO My Heart\, the Wind asks and answers a question:\n“Where does hope lead us?”\n“It is on the wind. \n\nGabriella Canzani – Ode to Mourning Doves (2025) – [World premiere] \nWhen I was in the initial stages of writing Ode to Mourning Doves\, it became clear that the melodic lines I was creating evoked birdcall. Once this idea of birds had gotten into my head\, it began to overtake the project; I couldn’t help but conceptualize this piece as a plethora of birds\, singing and flying around together. Throughout the piece\, you might catch the moments when the birds emerge at sunrise\, sing from the treetops\, fly by the oceanside\, and engage in several other escapades until the sunset quiets them. \nAll of the birdcalls in Ode to Mourning Doves are fictional\, with the exception of one: the mourning dove’s. This bird’s beautiful song\, which I used to imitate with my sister when we were kids\, first appears in its entirety after the first complete silence of the piece (mm. 24-25). The flutter-tongue and pitch-bending used on the flute to imitate the mourning dove’s call create a beautiful\, but lonely sound. As the piece progresses\, certain aspects of this call\, such as the subtle downward slide (pitch-bending) at the end of notes\, are transferred from the flute to the strings\, who eventually play the full melody at the climax of the piece (mm. 64-65). \nWith this work\, I hope to have captured the beauty of a spring morning\, and the tranquillity that washes over us as we let nature become our escape. \n\nMadeleine Ertel – Dance in Fragments (2025) – [World premiere] \n“If we’re not supposed to dance\, why all this music?” – Gregory Orr \nDance in Fragments is the journey of one theme through the prisms of rhythm\, counterpoint\, and melodic variation to create an uneasy\, disjointed dance – a dance for a clumsy\, self-conscious dancer. As a composer\, Ertel is concerned with preserving music’s relationship to dance/movement through rhythm as a way to strengthen the performer-audience relationship. The constant referencing and reshaping of musical material in this piece creates a feeling of indecision\, like the dancer cannot stop going back and rehashing past decisions. In this piece\, listeners may experience moments of vulnerability\, reactivity\, and longing\, and are encouraged to think about how these themes come up in their own lives. \n\nKevin Hayward – Fractured (2025) – [World premiere] \nFractured speaks about broken things and broken people. Its broad textures are partially inspired by the view of the St. Lawrence from Domaine Forget\, in Saint-Irénée\, Québec. \n\nAshton Latimer – Overflow (2025) – [World premiere] \nWhen starting this orchestral piece\, I had many ideas in mind. I composed sketch after sketch\, trying to shape a sense of story in what I was writing. One thing I noticed across all these sketches was their strong connection to texture\, timbre\, and the coloristic properties of the orchestra. With that in mind\, I wove together material from each to create Overflow.  \nIn my mind\, Overflow doesn’t follow a set story or programmatic narrative. Instead\, its title serves as a literal reflection of how I envisioned the piece. The opening section features flourishes from various instruments alongside a melodic line in the violoncello and bassoon. As the layering develops\, the music grows increasingly unstable\, leading into the second section—where the overflow begins. \nThis section is driven by a rising and descending line in the strings and woodwinds\, which continuously expands in length and speed\, creating the effect of the orchestra spilling over itself in a chaotic surge. The final section revisits and reflects on the textures explored earlier\, incorporating an altered version of the opening melody.
URL:https://pr.cmccanada.org/event/wnmf-showcase-launchpad/
LOCATION:Centennial Concert Hall\, 555 Main Street\, Winnipeg\, Manitoba\, R3B 1C3\, Canada
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://pr.cmccanada.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/12/wnmf-launchpad.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20260123T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20260123T210000
DTSTAMP:20260420T032452
CREATED:20251215T232259Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T233027Z
UID:10000168-1769194800-1769202000@pr.cmccanada.org
SUMMARY:WNMF 1: Sunrise
DESCRIPTION: Dates \n\nFriday\, January 23\, 2026 \, 7:00 pm \n\n\n Venue \n\nCentennial Concert Hall \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtists\nDaniel Raiskin\, conductor\nLisa Pegher\, percussion\nWinnipeg Symphony Orchestra\n\n\nWorks\nChristopher Theofanidis: Rainbow Body\nJennifer Higdon: Percussion Concerto\nPolina Nazaykinskaya: Reading the Wind – Canadian premiere\nJames MacMillan: Concerto for Orchestra: Ghosts – Canadian premiere\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe WSO is proud to present this year’s WNMF distinguished guest composer\, Christopher Theofanidis. The festival opens with his celebrated orchestral work Rainbow Body\, which draws inspiration from medieval lyricism and mysticism to trace a colorful and dramatic sonic journey. \nCelebrated percussionist Lisa Pegher joins us for her WSO debut in a performance of the fiery Percussion Concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon\, a work that seeks to flaunt the rich tonal and technical possibilities of the world of orchestral percussion. Polina Nazaykinskaya’s Reading the Wind follows\, taking inspiration from Stravinsky’s legendary Rite of Spring in its celebration of music\, dance\, nature\, and ritual. \nThe evening culminates in James MacMillan’s symphonic tour de force Concerto for Orchestra\, a work that channels haunting memories of music from the past to showcase each section of the symphony orchestra\, both in focused isolation and in flavorful combinations with each other. \n  \n  \n  \n\nPROGRAM NOTES\nChristopher Theofanidis – Rainbow Body (2000) for orchestra \nIn the past few years I have been listening to the music of medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen a great deal\, and as simple and direct as this music is\, I am constantly amazed by its staying power.  Hildegard’s melodies have very memorable contours which set them apart from other chants of the period.  They are wonderfully sensual and set up a very intimate communication with the divine.  This work is based on one of her chants\, ‘Ave Maria\, o auctrix vite’ (Hail Mary\, source of life). \nRainbow Body begins in an understated\, mysterious manner\, calling attention to some of the key intervals and motives of the piece.  When the primary melody enters for the first time about a minute into the work\, I present it very directly in the strings without accompaniment.  In the orchestration\, I try to capture a halo around this melody\, creating a wet acoustic by emphasizing the lingering reverberations one might hear in an old cathedral. \nAlthough the piece is built essentially around fragments of the melody\, I also return to the tune in its entirety several times throughout the work\, as a kind of plateau of stability and peace within an otherwise turbulent environment.  Rainbow Body has a very different sensibility from the Hildegard chant\, with a structure that is dramatic and developmental\, but I hope that it conveys at least a little of my love for the beauty and grace of her work. \nRainbow Body is dedicated to Glen Rosenbaum\, without whose support and encouragement I would not be composing. \n—Christopher Theofanidis \n\nJennifer Higdon – Percussion Concerto (2005)\nLisa Pegher\, percussion \nThe 20th century saw the development of the percussion section grow as no other section in the orchestra. Both the music and the performers grew in visibility as well as in capability. And while the form of the concerto wasn’t the least bit new in the century\, the appearance and growth of the percussion concerto as a genre exploded during the later half of the century. \nMy “Percussion Concerto” follows the normal relationship of a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. In this work\, however\, there is an additional relationship with the soloist interacting extensively with the percussion section. The ability of performers has grown to such an extent that it has become possible to have sections within the orchestra interact at the same level as the soloist. \nWhen writing a concerto I think of two things: the particular soloist for whom I am writing and the nature of the solo instrument. In the case of percussion\, this means a large battery of instruments\, from vibraphone and marimba (the favorite instrument of soloist Colin Currie)\, to non-pitched smaller instruments (brake drum\, wood blocks\, Peking Opera gong)\, and to the drums themselves. Not only does a percussionist have to perfect playing all of these instruments\, but he must make hundreds of decisions regarding the use of sticks and mallets\, as there is an infinite variety of possibilities from which to choose. Not to mention the choreography of the movement of the player; where most performers do not have to concern themselves with movement across the stage during a performance\, a percussion soloist must have every move memorized. No other instrumentalist has such a large number of variables to challenge and master. \nThis work begins with the sound of the marimba\, as Colin early on informed me that he has a fondness for this instrument. I wanted the opening to be exquisitely quiet and serene\, with the focus on the soloist. Then the percussion section enters\, mimicking the gestures of the soloist. Only after this dialogue is established does the orchestra enter. There is significant interplay between the soloist and the orchestra with a fairly beefy accompaniment in the orchestral part\, but at various times the music comes back down to the sound of the\nsoloist and the percussion section playing together\, without orchestra. \nEventually\, the music moves through a slow lyrical section\, which requires simultaneous bowing and mallet playing by the soloist\, and then a return to the fast section\, where a cadenza ensues with both the soloist and the percussion section. A dramatic close to the cadenza leads back to the orchestra’s opening material and the eventual conclusion of the work. \nWritten for Colin Currie\, this work is dedicated to him. \n“Percussion Concerto” was commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra\, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra\, and The Dallas Symphony Orchestra. This commission was made possible with support from The Philadelphia Music Project (an artistic initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts\, administered by The University of the Arts)\, and by a generous gift from LDI\, Ltd. and the Lacy Foundation. \n–Jennifer Higdon \n\nPolina Nazaykinskaya – Reading the Wind (2013) [Canadian premiere] \nI composed Reading the Wind in 2013 as part of a program honoring the centenary of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Reflecting on Stravinsky’s masterpiece\, I was struck by the profound connections between music\, dance\, nature\, and ancient ritual—forces that\, when intertwined\, can awaken a mystical experience. \nRhythm and sound can unveil the power of the invisible world. In turning the pages of nature’s unwritten book\, we rediscover mystery as an essential part of our existence. Learning to interpret the symbols that lie beyond language sharpens our perception of light and shadow\, allowing us to sense the shifting Winds of Change. \nIn this way\, the artist does not so much invent as reveal—like a sculptor who releases form from stone by clearing away what is superfluous. By seeking truth through communion with nature\, even the wind itself can become a guide\, dissolving boundaries between past and future and uncovering hidden patterns that bind them together. \n—Polina Nazaykinskaya \n\n\nJames MacMillan – Concerto for Orchestra: Ghosts (2023/2024) [Canadian premiere] \nMy Concerto for Orchestra was written in 2023/24 and is in one continuous\, through-composed movement\, lasting about 25 minutes. It has a subtitle – Ghosts – as the music seems to be haunted by other\, earlier musical spirits and memories. Right from the start of the opening section we can hear allusions to folk-dance forms\, an eastern European hymn and Scottish traditional music. \nVarious chamber groups emerge from within the orchestral fabric and there is much deliberate focus on soloistic playing throughout. Duets and trios are important – the work opens with an eleven-note theme being thrown between two trombones\, and later there are other duos for clarinets\, piccolo and tuba\, and two violas. \nTrios are also prominent – three bassoons at one point\, as well as a quotation from Beethoven’s Ghost Trio (which gives this work its subtitle)\, and allusions to the famous Debussy trio of flute\, viola and harp. Also in the spotlight at various points is a string quartet\, a wind quintet and a brass sextet. \nThe work has four main interlocking sections. The first is fast and presents most of the initially important materials. The second section is slow and elegiac\, and operates like a two-part canon\, presenting many different combinations of the two lines\, sometimes fully orchestral\, other times soloistic and in chamber dimensions. \nThe third section\, a scherzo\, is marked presto. Its main “refrain” is an energetic\, rhythmic theme based on my memories of the dance forms my children used to listen to when they were teenagers… The episodes between these focus on some of the chamber groups mentioned above. Eventually we hear a brief moment from the Beethoven Ghost Trio\, but the piano is replaced by a celeste. This is then smudged into the Debussy memory and finally a new trio (cor anglais\, bass clarinet and vibraphone) joins\, all forming a trio of trios. \nThe Concerto culminates in an Allegro finale\, based on an unsettled and compulsive compound rhythm\, containing nasal fanfares on horns and counter-rhythmic interjections on trumpets\, piccolo and xylophone. The music eventually subsides to a more serene conclusion\, where the hymnic theme (which has haunted the music throughout) is given its final statement. \nProgramme note © James MacMillan 2024
URL:https://pr.cmccanada.org/event/wnmf-1-sunrise/
LOCATION:Centennial Concert Hall\, 555 Main Street\, Winnipeg\, Manitoba\, R3B 1C3\, Canada
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://pr.cmccanada.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/12/wnmf-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260123T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260123T213000
DTSTAMP:20260420T032452
CREATED:20250708T161048Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250708T161048Z
UID:10000124-1769196600-1769203800@pr.cmccanada.org
SUMMARY:Jocelyn Morlock\, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
DESCRIPTION:About The Concert\n\nThe Vancouver Symphony’s Music Director Otto Tausk makes his Edmonton debut conducting a Mozart masterpiece\, his Sinfonia concertante. Featuring ESO Concertmaster Robert Uchida and Principal Viola Keith Hamm\, the music in this piece has been described by historian Alfred Einstein as “dropped from heaven.” \nWritten when Mendelssohn was just 15 years old\, his First Symphony is filled with energy and youthful passion\, reflecting his ideal that “the essence of beauty is unity in variety.” \nManitoba-born Jocelyn Morlock called her mesmerizing Strange Loop “whimsical and fun/frenetic” music where “despite movement\, one always ends up where one started.” \nThis concert will include an intermission. \n\nProgram to Include\n\n\n\n\nMENDELSSOHN\nSymphony No. 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMOZART\nSinfonia concertante for Violin and Viola\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJOCELYN MORLOCK\nStrange Loop\nESO Premiere\n\n\n\nProgram subject to change. \n\nFeatured Artists\n\nOtto Tausk\, Conductor\nESO Debut\nRobert Uchida\, ESO Violin\nKeith Hamm\, ESO Viola\n\n\n\n\n  \nAbout ESO Classics\n\nESO Classics are dynamic and engaging concerts that feature the most memorable orchestral pieces. This masterworks series is our flagship and showcases the greatest symphonic masterpieces in classical music. From Bach and Handel in the Baroque period and Mozart and Beethoven in the 18th century Classical period\, all the way to 21st century contemporary composers\, this series encompasses the best of classical music. Our world-class musicians are joined by some of the most talented soloists from around the world\, delivering unparalleled performances of these illustrious works. Let the timeless beauty of live classical music enrich and transport you!
URL:https://pr.cmccanada.org/event/jocelyn-morlock-edmonton-symphony-orchestra/
LOCATION:Winspear Centre\, 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square NW\, Edmonton\, AB\, T5J 4X8\, Canada
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://pr.cmccanada.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/01/MorlockJocelyn03-e1537336135241-scaled-copy-2.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Edmonton Symphony Orchestra":MAILTO:info@winspearcentre.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20260124T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Winnipeg:20260124T210000
DTSTAMP:20260420T032452
CREATED:20251215T232516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T233114Z
UID:10000169-1769281200-1769288400@pr.cmccanada.org
SUMMARY:WNMF 2: Lisa Pegher: A.I. Rhythm Evolution
DESCRIPTION: Dates \n\nSaturday\, January 24\, 2026 \, 7:00 pm \n\n\n Venue \n\nStudioLab xR \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtists\nLisa Pegher\, percussion\nDrake Andersen\, live electronics\nVincent Zhu\, visuals\n\n\nWorks\nJessica Mays: B A O B A B\nMax Grafe: The Roots of Rhythm Remain\nDrake Andersen: Exchange\nLisa Pegher: Fate Amenable to Grace\nStephanie Ann Boyd: Sloane\nMagenta-Z: Out of Time\nHaralabos [Harry] Stafylakis: Therein Lies the Enemy\nVictor Baez: Kýklos Zoís [Life Cycles]\nAlex Burtzos: Re-//Signed\nDerek Cooper: IAM/AI\nYu-Chun Chien: Through the Night\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTaking a timely thematic turn\, WNMF follows guest percussionist Lisa Pegher to the StudioLab xR\, where she presents a program that explores the relationship between music\, creativity\, and technology. \nCrafted in collaboration with New York City-based composer collective ICEBERG New Music\, A.I.RE integrates instrumental performance\, electronics\, multimedia elements\, and generative artificial intelligence into a musical narrative that is at once conceptually fascinating and viscerally impactful. \n  \nThis is a concert add-on. You can add it to your WNMF Pass at checkout. \n  \n  \n\nPROGRAM NOTES\nJessica Mays – B A O B A B \nThis composition evolved to be improvisational and atmospheric. It evokes the origins of percussion and the relationship it holds to human expression in different cultures. A baobab is a type of tree and\, in this context\, it represents the roots of percussion. \n\nMax Grafe – The Roots of Rhythm Remain \nHis piece evokes early percussion compositions. The roots of rhythm ethnic drumming and percussion remain in place\, but are becoming more distant and synthesizing with other types of percussion. It’s performed on a standard multi-percussion setup with moments of improvisational drumming. \n\nDrake Andersen – Exchange \nExchange i s an interactive electronic work that serves as a transition throughout the program. It is generated from a bank of resonating filters that gradually takes on the musical qualities of whatever lisa is playing. After collecting enough material\, a machine learning algorithm leads the piece beyond what has been played\, suggesting new paths and confluences between human and machine. \n\nLisa Pegher – Fate Amenable to Grace \nThe title of this introspective piece is a play on words inspired by elon musk’s use of author iain bank’s ship names from his culture series novels. Most notably\, “of course | still love you” in naming some of his spacex rocket landing sites. \nThis particular ship’s name was “fate amenable to change” and i renamed i t “fate amenable to grace.” while both are fitting creatively\, I like to think that the higher power’s grace is a constant\, always there to support me through the uncharted change and growth that ultimately leads to our fate. The work is dedicated to someone with whom i crossed paths for only a brief time\, but whose presence resulted in my overcoming of a major creative block i had been experiencing. This piece is the result of that overcoming. \n\nStephanie Ann Boyd – Sloane \nStephanie wrote this piece during the beginning of lockdown in 2020\, and with it i got a soundtrack for a summer spent in a very empty Manhattan. It’s a piece meant to be enjoyed and grooved to. A piece to throw all cares away to. (this work sits in a space of pop music where drums are beginning to become integrated with backing tracks\, and is a fun part of the evolution that we still live in). \n\nMagenta-Z – Out of Time \nTime is a concept i often contemplate\, and have a different stance on than our modern-day society. We’ve created a world where everyone feels like they’re constantly running out of time. But in reality\, time is unlimited\, and nothing can be created nor destroyed. Yet we seek adhere to a confined structure that humans have essentially made up. \nMagenta-z is an alter ego\, meant to portray the creative world where there are no set names\, rules or concepts. Many artists have different stage names\, and I’ve often struggled with the idea of being confined to a single name or mission in life. Einstein once said “imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited\, whereas imagination embraces the entire world\, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” this piece represents a reinvention and evolution in the program\, from acoustic drums to electronic drums\, and an evolution in myself as well. \n\nHaralabos [Harry] Stafylakis – Therein Lies the Enemy \nThis piece\, for drum set and electronics\, utilizes an excerpt from Stephen fry’s 7 deadly sins podcast (season 2\, episode 1\, 1:19-7:50). The work explores political elements online\, and how social media\, computers\, and the internet have influenced our daily lives. By excerpting a controversial podcast and setting it to a ballistic prog rock electronic backtrack. Stafylakis forces the listener to contemplate some of the ways computers have helped – and hurt – our society\, and how that has been projected onto our governmental systems as well. \n\nVictor Baez – Kýklos Zoís [Life Cycles] \nThis piece is for a percussion soloist and electronics. The entire content of the piece is generated live by the performers). The electronics component consists of a patch comprising a two-tape delay and a harmonizer. The percussionist starts without electronics\, and the piece is built as the execution of the score unfolds\, with the electronics operator reacting and adjusting to their partner’s actions. \n\nAlex Burtzos – Re-//Signed \nHis work utilizes sound excerpts from the commentary which accompanied Garry Kasparov’s chess match against the IBM supercomputer deep blue in 1996. The score is prefaced by a quote: “the real problem is not whether machines think\, but whether men do” – b.f. skinner (1904-90) \nDuring the work I represent the human portion of the match\, improvising based on a graphic score and “battling” the electronics. The groovy\, trap-inspired music changes based on my choices during the performance. \n\nDerek Cooper – IAM/AI \nIAM/AI is a call and response between the performer and computer\, where my choices as the human are listened to by the computer and the output varies based on what the computer hears. My choices also determine\, to some extent\, how the computer responds. This piece has complex MAX MXP mappings and is one of the more interactive computer to human compositions in the program. \n\nYu-Chun Chien – Through the Night \nHis work explores computers’ ability to detect movements and is largely driven by expressive motions from the performer. The audience and see and feel the music becoming more hybrid and mostly captured within the computer in the live visuals.
URL:https://pr.cmccanada.org/event/wnmf-2-lisa-pegher-a-i-rhythm-evolution/
LOCATION:StudioLab xR\, 201 Portage Ave c100\, Winnipeg\, Manitoba\, R3C 0B9\, Canada
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://pr.cmccanada.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/12/wnmf-2.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR