Congratulations, Class of 2021!
Happy Convocation Day! Congratulations to all our wonderful graduates for making it through a challenging year. We all know that it’s been a tough year, but you did it! No matter where you are in the world right now, we hope that you can take the time to connect with us and celebrate this tremendous […]
UBC Music nominations galore at the 2021 Western Canadian Music Awards
UBC Music nominations galore at the 2021 Western Classical Music Awards! Three of our faculty composers, Edward Top, Jocelyn Morlock and T. Patrick Carrabré, and alumna Katerina Gimon were nominated for Classical Composer of the Year. Faculty pianist Corey Hamm who is part of PEP (Piano and Erhu Project) with Nicole Ge Li was nominated […]
Commemorating the legacy of Justice Thomas Berger with music and art
Supreme Court Justice Thomas Berger — UBC graduate, legendary lawyer and trailblazing advocate for Indigenous land rights — passed away today at 88. Justice Berger’s groundbreaking work in First Nations activism led to the inclusion of Aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution. He was a counsel for the Nisga’a nation of B.C.. He led the […]
High Notes | Spring 2021 Edition
FEATURES Cris Derksen is home Award-winning cellist Cris Derksen (BMus’07) on the urgency of Indigenous activism in the arts, the importance of hustle, and the future of live music in a post-pandemic world Emmerich Kálmán, rediscovered Dr. Jonathan Girard and the UBC Symphony Orchestra shine a light on century-old symphonic treasures Conjuring the future An […]
Alumni Making Waves: Opera débuts, a virtual piano app, and a project to reclaim languages and cultures erased by colonialism
Tenor Spencer Britten (MMus’17) was featured as an opening soloist in Against the Grain Theatre’s Messiah/Complex, a bold cross-Canada performance of Handel’s Messiah created in partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A timeless piece of music with a distinctly Canadian twist, Messiah/Complex is performed in Arabic, Dene, English, French, Inuktitut, and Southern Tutchone, showcasing a […]
Catching Up With Our Students: National Youth Band, Cosi fan tutte, and a collaboration with UBC Neuroscience
UBC Bands students Erica Binder, Lawrence de Guzman and Graeme Lister were selected to The National Youth Band of Canada (NYB), the most comprehensive music education youth project offered by the Canadian Band Association. The NYB provides an enriching musical and cultural experience to outstanding musicians aged 16 to 22 in Canada, with opportunities to […]
Winter concerts 2021
Catch up on all the highlights from the School of Music’s winter term — from big, bold Bands concerts to chamber music by some of Canada’s very best classical musicians. Bands: Spring Showcase The UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble and UBC Concert Winds perform a wildly ambitious and creative season finale, featuring works by Russell Peck, […]
Cris Derksen is home
Award-winning cellist Cris Derksen (BMus’07) on the urgency of Indigenous activism in the arts, the importance of hustle, and the future of live music in a post-pandemic world Cris Derksen is home. The COVID pandemic has brought the Juno-nominated cellist’s life on the road — more than a decade of near constant-travel, with frequent stops on […]
Research and Publications: Music, Pantomime, and Freedom in Enlightenment France, Queer Identity and Visibility in the Wind Band, and more
Associate Professor of Musicology Dr. Hedy Law published Music, Pantomime, and Freedom in Enlightenment France (Boydell & Brewer), a new book that explores how “composers and performers use[d] the lost art of pantomime to explore and promote the Enlightenment ideals of free expression.” Winds, Brass, and Percussion Chair Dr. Robert Taylor contributed the chapter “Out […]
Emmerich Kálmán, Rediscovered
Dr. Jonathan Girard and the UBC Symphony Orchestra shine a light on century-old symphonic treasures by the Jewish-Hungarian composer By Tze Liew Emmerich Kálmán couldn’t sing, and wouldn’t dance — but his music has moved hundreds of thousands of operetta-goers to fits of tears and waltzes of joy. Capturing many a heart with gems […]