Saturday, September 8, 2012 8:00PM
Live streaming opens at 7:45PM – http://finearts.uvic.ca/music/events/live/
Phillip T Young Recital Hall (University of Victoria, MacLaurin Building)
Helen Pridmore, soprano / Michael Finnissy, piano
Sunday, September 9, 2012 8:00PM (Pre-concert talk 7:15PM)
Live streaming opens at 7:45PM – http://finearts.uvic.ca/music/events/live/
Phillip T Young Recital Hall (University of Victoria, MacLaurin Building)
Internationally renowned composer and pianist Michael Finnissy (UK) teams with celebrated Canadian soprano Helen Pridmore in the Canadian premiere of his work, Whitman. With text drawn from Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass and Specimen Days”, the work emerges as an autobiography, in which both singer and pianist portray Whitman at various stages of his life.
IgNITE!, Aventa’s annual workshop for composers, has proven to be an integral force in the Canadian new music scene. This workshop is dedicated to emerging Canadian composers who are selected by a jury process for their excellence. During the workshop, participants have the opportunity of working intensively with a professional ensemble, as well as esteemed national and international composers in the development of their music. The 2012 workshop, moderated by Victoria composer Christopher Butterfield, featured guest composers Michel Gonneville (QC) and Michael Finnissy (UK).
in vain
Sunday, November 4, 2012 8:00PM (Pre-concert talk 7:15PM)
Live streaming opens at 7:45PM – http://finearts.uvic.ca/music/events/live/
Phillip T Young Recital Hall (University of Victoria, MacLaurin Building)
Aventa Ensemble
Bill Linwood, conductor
Georg Friedrich Haas, in vain
Described as “an esoteric Romantic, dwelling on the majesty and terror of the sublime” (New Yorker), Austria’s Georg Friedrich Haas has emerged as one of the major European composers of his generation. His 2000 work, in vain, has become a masterpiece of the modern repertoire with performances worldwide. Composed in the wake of the rise of the right-wing Freedom Party in the 1999 Austrian elections, in vain conveys, in part, Haas’ despair in the face of decaying hopes for social progress.
“This modern masterwork transforms the concert hall into a place of shuddering mystery, suggesting that the way of truth goes through the dark.” – Alex Ross, The New Yorker
Unfolding over the course of 70 minutes, this work is a study of opposites – lightness against darkness, motion against stillness, pure intervals against microtonality. Closely allied with the French spectralist school, Haas is not afraid of theatrical gestures, opulent expanses of sound and the creation of landscapes on an almost Wagnerian scale. Following a virtuosic opening of rapid swirling patterns, the hall descends into darkness with stillness pervading the music. Gradually the horn and trombone emerge from the darkness with a cascading theme, reminiscent of Wagner’s Rheingold. Just as the listener feels that they are at the cusp of a new and sublime tonality, the work’s title becomes fully understood.
For more videos of Canadian and international repertoire visit: Aventa on Vimeo
Murderous Little World
Friday, November 30, 2012 8:00PM (Pre-concert talk 7:15PM)
Phillip T Young Recital Hall (University of Victoria, MacLaurin Building)
Bellows and Brass Trio
Keith Turnbull, director
Guy Few, trumpet/voice/piano
Joseph Petric, voice/accordion
Eric Vaillancourt, voice/trombone
Conceived by award-winning composer Linda Bouchard, Murderous Little World is an evening-length work of experimental music theater based on poems by Anne Carson. Inspired by Carson’s achievement, Bouchard has translated the book’s intellectual power and emotional energy to the stage as a work of experimental music theater. The title comes from within Carson’s 2001 collection of poems “Men in the Off Hours”, in which she blends free verse with prose passages. The result is startling reinventions of historical figures such as Lazarus, Virginia Woolfe, Sigmund Freud, and Hokusai. Murderous Little World is given visual expression by video artist Jan Breuleux and is set to an electronic score showcasing trumpet, trombone, accordion, and piano.
The Sinking of the Titanic
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 9:00PM
Vancouver Aquatic Centre
Aventa Ensemble
Bill Linwood, conductor
Jordan Nobles, Surface Tension*
Jennifer Butler, under bleak skies*
Giorgio Magnanensi, Quid*
Gavin Bryars, The Sinking of the Titanic
*premiere performance
On December 4, the deck of the enormous indoor pool was transformed into a stage for Victoria’s Aventa Ensemble, who performed British composer Gavin Bryars’ 1969 masterpiece, The Sinking of the Titanic. 2012 marks one hundred years since the “unsinkable” British passenger liner collided with an iceberg on its maiden voyage, resulting in the deaths of more than 1500 of its 2223 passengers. In the intervening century, countless artists have sought to explore the many facets of the historic maritime disaster. Bryars’ drew his inspiration from reports that the Titanic’s eight-piece orchestra remained on the deck, playing their instruments, as the liner sank into the sea. The multimedia work weaves recordings of survivors describing the Titanic’s final moments with Bryars’ evocative, hymn-based composition.
Black Box Music
Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2013 8:00PM (Pre-concert talk 7:15PM)
Phillip T Young Recital Hall (University of Victoria, MacLaurin Building)
Bill Linwood, conductor
Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano
Anne Grimm, soprano
Vincent Ranallo, baritone
Michel Gonneville, Cantata of the unredeemable debt
Kaija Saariaho, The Tempest Songbook
Simon Steen-Andersen, Black Box Music
“one of the most original compositional voices of our time” (Denver Post), Kaija Saariaho is one of the leading Scandinavian composers of her generation. The Tempest Songbook is a collection of short works for soprano, baritone and ensemble based on William Shakespeare’s text.
Black Box Tour – February 26th – March 4th, 2013
Chants du Nord
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 7:00PM
Théâtre Rouge, Conservatoire de musique de Montréal
4750, avenue Henri-Julien
Aventa Ensemble
Bill Linwood, conductor
Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano
Anne Grimm, soprano
Vincent Ranallo, baritone
Jocelyn Morlock, Lacrimosa
Kaija Saariaho, The Tempest Songbook
Michel Gonneville, Cantate de la dette perpétuelle
Aventa acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts in the commissioning of Michel Gonneville’s Cantate de la dette perpétuelle / Cantata of the unredeemable debt.
Black Box What?
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 8:00PM
ROULETTE – 509 Atlantic Ave (On the corner of Atlantic & 3rd Aves)
Aventa Ensemble
Bill Linwood, conductor
Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano
Anne Grimm, soprano
Vincent Ranallo, baritone
Håkon Stene, percussion
Laurie Radford, _fuse_!
Michel Gonneville, Cantata of the unredeemable debt
Kaija Saariaho, The Tempest Songbook
Simon Steen-Andersen, Black Box Music
Aventa gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Alberta Arts Council in the commissioning of Laurie Radford’s _fuse_!
Aventa at Groundswell
Saturday, Mar. 2, 2013 8:00PM
Convocation Hall, Wesley Hall
515 Portage Avenue, University of Winnipeg
Bill Linwood, conductor
Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano
Anne Grimm, soprano
Vincent Ranallo, baritone
Kaija Saariaho, The Tempest Songbook
Simon Steen-Andersen, Black Box Music
Jocelyn Morlock, Lacrimosa
Michel Gonneville, Cantata of the unredeemable debt
Reading Session: Saturday, Mar. 2, 2013 2:00PM
Convocation Hall, Wesley Hall
515 Portage Avenue, University of Winnipeg
David Storen, Metamorphosis
Michael Ducharme, Still
David Betz, L’Éclipse du tempête
New Works Calgary
Monday, Mar. 4, 2013 8:00PM
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary
8 pm, pre-concert talk at 7:20 pm
Bill Linwood, conductor
Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano
Anne Grimm, soprano
Vincent Ranallo, baritone
Kaija Saariaho, The Tempest Songbook
Simon Steen-Andersen, Black Box Music
Laurie Radford, _fuse_!
Michel Gonneville, Cantata of the unredeemable debt