LAST DAY OF THE FESTIVAL

There is one more event left in this year's New Music Festival. In a few hours, we'll see and hear a film with a live music soundtrack composed by five student composers from regional universities. James Fogerty from Universite de Moncton, Robert Drisdelle from Dalhousie, Denis Callaghan from Memorial, Lukus Uhlamn from Mount Allison, and Carmen Braden from Acadia have each composed part of the live soundtrack for Vertov's "Man with a Movie Camera." It will all be performed live today at the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville.

Since my last post, there have been two wonderful concerts as well as a fascinating lecture by Russell Hartenberger called "Subdivide and Conquer: Capturing the Hidden Beat." Last night's concert was a great success. We had a good crowd despite the bad weather and the performances were extraordinary. Mark Hopkins described the concert as epic! Each piece was a tour de force that had all of us in the audience spellbound, ending with a wonderful performance of John Luther Adams' "The Farthest Place" by the newly-formed Tidal Pool Collective Ensemble.

Special thanks to Derek Charke and Mark Hopkins for planning the festival. It reached a new level this year and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with for next year! 

NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL in full swing!

Today is day three of the New Music Festival. The first two days of the festival have been terrific. On Wednesday, we were bombarded with percussionists beginning with guest artist Russell Hartenberger's percussion masterclass in the morning. The stage was freezing cold but the students still played very well and Russell's insight into the pieces and performing techniques was fascinating. He spent the rest of the day giving lessons to our students. Wednesday evening was the first concert and we had a record festival attendance. Russell introduced works by Steve Reich and John Cage. We heard fascinating stories about his role in the creation of the seminal Reich works Six Pianos/Marimbas and Music for Pieces of Wood. The students performed very well - great kick off to the festival.

I was pleased to see so many students and faculty at my lecture on "Metrical Processes in Rock Music" yesterday and I'm looking forward to Russell's lecture today. Last night's concert was another success. The faculty, students, and ensembles performed very well and we were treated to a wide variety of music from Prokofiev's 7th Sonata performed by Ron Tomarelli to Ives' "The Unanswered Question" to a very interesting piece for vibes, marimba, and darabuka by Ken Shorley. And the stage was nice and warm!

Tonight's concert looks very exciting with many of our faculty and guest performers taking the stage to perform works by Ferneyhough, Messiaen, Adams (John and John Luther), and faculty composer Derek Charke among others.

Check out the website for complete information about the festival.