Justin Christensen
Hand I used to hold
premiere: Nov. 1 2011
Justin Christensen is currently pursuing a PhD in the United Kingdom with Michael Finnissy. He has completed degrees in music composition at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Netherlands and in music composition and trumpet performance at McGill University. His past teachers include Louis Andriessen, Clarence Barlow, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, Diderik Wagenaar and John Rea. Amongst other prizes and awards, he received the J.B.C. Watkins Award from the Canada Council in 2007. His compositions have been performed by the Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Insomnio, Aventa Ensemble, Continuum Contemporary Music Canada, New European Ensemble, and Modelo62 and at festivals such as Gaudeamus New Music Week and Ostrava Days Festival.
Hand I used to hold: “As the heuristic aspects of memory attempt to glean some sense of causal interdependence in our experiences, I play with lawful distortions that should increasingly borrow from the canon of Polykleitos. In this work, I also try to hold on to some of the illusory ephemeral fragments of the pasts that influence my cognitive biases. Do we all have a ranz des vaches, and does it help?” – Justin Christensen