Ongoing dispatches, tips, and project updates from UBC faculty and students during this period of social distancing and self-isolation. Have something you’d like to share? Email your submission to music.concerts@ubc.ca.
OrpheusVR
Posted 30 July 2020
Here is an exciting teaser of OrpheusVR by Re:Naissance Opera – a groundbreaking new project led by Creative Director and UBC Opera alumna Debi Wong! Composer and alumnus Timothy Benton Roark is also a scriptwriter on the project.
OrpheusVR is a new operatic experience that immerses audiences in a virtual, mythical world, allowing the user to have agency over the outcome of the narrative as well as the music & orchestration that drive the storytelling.
To learn more about the project, sign up for their newsletter, follow @opera_reborn on Instagram, or like Re:Naissance on Facebook.
Jose Franch-Ballester and Bernardino Assunçao on TV
Posted 29 July 2020
Jose Franch-Ballester and Bernardino Assunçao play La Revoltosa (Intermezzo) by Ruperto Chapí, as part of an online concert in honour of Santa Maria Magdalena. The performance was filmed in Moncofa, Spain on July 22, 2020 and televised by TV La Vall.
Emily Liang wins the 2020 Cantonese Lyrics Competition
Posted 27 July 2020
Congratulations to student Emily Liang, winner of the 2020 Cantonese Lyrics Competition: Combating COVID-19! The competition was co-organised by the School of Music and the UBC Cantonese Language Program.
Emily’s song “Rain Before Sunshine” is about a nurse who sees her partner for the last time before volunteering to take care of COVID-19 patients. Fighting her fear of death, she hangs on to a sense of purpose and hopes to see her partner again.
The song was performed by Ashia, a Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist, and produced in Hong Kong, Vancouver, and the US with zero in-person contact.
The song is available on iTunes, Apple Music, YouTube, as well as KKBOX and JOOX for listeners in Asia. Here is the music video, designed by Media Studies student Sonia Kung:
Emily and Dr. Hedy Law, who helped organised the event, were recently featured in a CBC interview.
Shaping Tomorrow’s Voices with Nancy Hermiston
Posted 17 July 2020
In the latest episode (episode 11) of Vancouver Opera’s Offstage podcast, Maestro Leslie Dala chats with Prof. Nancy Hermiston, Director of UBC Opera about shaping tomorrow’s voices.
Nancy’s prestigious career has taken her across the globe. She is the inspiration and mentor to many local artists who have appeared on the show, including Rachel Fenlon (BMus’10, MMus’12) and Simone Osborne (DMPS’09), and is an Officer of the Order of Canada for her achievements as an opera singer, stage director and educator.
Quarantunes
Posted 15 July 2020
Congratulations to our three student teams who made it into the final voting round of Quarantunes, a music competition hosted by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities that encourages students to inspire each other and their communities by making music!
The public will vote for the winning teams, who have the chance to win US$5,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd place and $2,000 for third place. The shortlisted entries were chosen based on five criteria: musical arrangement, technical proficiency, originality, video and/or audio quality, and concept and message.
Go UBC Music students!
Vanessa Mak, Kelly Li & Ayumi Yaesawa — Moon River
Devon Throness & Hudson Throness — Holy Holy Holy
Catherine Akune, Bruno Quezada & Daniel Tong — Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano
The Luchkow-Stadlen-Jarvis Trio
Posted 14 July 2020
Paul Luchkow (BMus’93, MMus’95) and his trio are thrilled to present a concert of early English classical music for violin, viola da gamba and pianoforte, which was presented as part of John Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel’s famous late 18th-century London concert series. They’re playing music by JC Bach, Abel and lesser-known composers James Lates and Antonín Kammell.
Filmed in the stunning surrounds of Christchurch Cathedral, Victoria, this gorgeous, gallant music is not to be missed! Available July 11-17 only. Watch the trailer below — and then come back with a glass of something nice for the show!
Concert trailer by LSJ Trio
Kodiak Brass
Posted 13 July 2020
Missing our concert halls? Below are three lovely performances from April 30, 2018 by Kodiak Brass, a UBC graduate brass quintet with Matheus Moraes (trumpet), Silas Friesen (trumpet), Kristin Ranshaw (horn), Kevin Jackson (trombone), Tony Taylor (tuba) and Jaelem Bhate (percussion). Videos edited by Silas Friesen.
The Moon Represents My Heart
“Moon Represents” is a Canadian Brass arrangement of a well-known Chinese song.
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
West Side Story Suite
Sonic Responses
Posted 9 July 2020
Carlos Savall Guardiola, clarinet
Sonic Responses is a collaborative project berween the Belkin Art Gallery and the UBC School of Music: led by Curator of Outdoor Art Barbara Cole, musicology professor David Metzer and DMA piano student Judith Valerie Engel. The project invited eight musicians and one composer to respond to the changed aural conditions of UBC’s outdoor spaces due to the pandemic.
Nathania Ko, konghou
“A facet of campus life that has changed significantly with the pandemic is one that most of us never noticed before but would be struck by now: the sounds of campus. The whir of students moving between classes, the hum of vehicles on the road and the ripples of classroom discussion were all familiar noises, so much so that we grew inured to them. But they are gone now. In their place, a hush has emerged. The stillness is at once eerie, peaceful and captivating. It calls out to be pondered and explored.”
Here are some videos involving recent UBC Music alumni (click on the images to access the video pages):
Velour by Jocelyn Morlock, performed by Paolo Bortolussi
Posted 5 July 2020
Dr. Paolo Bortolussi (flute) plays “Velour” by Dr. Jocelyn Morlock, as part of Unaccompanied, a new online concert series featuring video recordings of live performances of Canadian works written for solo instruments. Presented by Canadian Music Centre BC, in partnership with Redshift Music Society.
NoteWorthy Podcast by Alireza Mojibian and Duncan Watts-Grant
Posted 3 July 2020
Luka Kawabata, baritone
Opera alumni Alireza Mojibian (MMus’17) and Duncan Watts-Grant (BMus’16) have created NoteWorthy — a podcast based around conversations between musicians and the music they love to play and listen to. Join them each Tuesday evening for discussions with new artists about “how we are navigating life during the COVID-19 outbreak, how we are each pushing forward in our own way and how our love for music and the arts not only defines who we are but encourages us to be hopeful for a brighter future.”
The latest episode features baritone Luka Kawabata (MMus’20), discussing Kawabata’s journey as a musician, his hopes as a young artist and what it means to be a millennial in 2020.
Recitals from Home by violinist James Ehnes
Posted 30 June 2020
Celebrated Canadian violinist and UBC Honorary Doctorate recipient James Ehnes has recorded a stellar program of violin masterworks from his home in Florida — the Six Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach and the Six Sonatas for Solo Violin by Eugène Ysaÿe. The series will be released as six programs over the course of the summer, with the first episode available now!
In recognition of his special relationship with UBC, he has created a student discount code for 25% off rental or purchase of his programs. Email music.concerts@ubc.ca to get the code.
Spiegel im Spiegel
Posted 25 June 2020
Faculty members and VSO musicians Christie Reside (alto flute) and Vern Griffiths (percussion) perform a beautiful rendition of Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, as tribute to frontline healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 crisis. The video features images of frontline workers from across Vancouver as well as scenery of a boarded-up city and the inventive murals that quickly sprang to life in Vancouver.
Prof. Reside first heard this piece at the start of her own social isolation and instantly felt an emotional connection to the work. “I was thinking of works that would be a fitting tribute, and I wanted to choose something with a powerful, emotional impact that would really show our gratitude to the frontline workers. Spiegel im Spiegel refers to an infinity mirror — what you get when two mirrors are placed facing one another, thereby producing an infinite number of images.”
In a recent interview, Pärt commented on the isolation demanded by the coronavirus crisis. “Our current situation is paradoxical: on the one hand it means isolation, on the other, it brings us closer. While isolating ourselves, we should be able to, we are even forced to, appreciate our relationships in a small circle and to tend to them. All of this we have to learn before we expect, or even demand, love and justice from the whole world. In a way, the coronavirus has sent us all back to first grade. Only once we’ve passed this test can we begin to think about the next steps. This is a very long process.”
Playlist: The Blue Cottage
– Laurie
Posted 23 June 2020
Life at the Blue Cottage follows a pace from another time. My husband Don and I listen to music using vintage technology, a stereo system with a turntable and big speakers. We also enjoy radio, read books in print and receive the newspaper, delivered daily into our cast iron mailbox.
The garden is lovely to watch throughout the seasons. Chickadees in May, carefully hopping from wind vane to hanging basket, and to the bird house where they make their nests. Mason bees buzzing in and out of the bee box, and bumble bees flitting about pollinating the yard, doing the ground work for abundant summer blooms & veggies.
It’s a wonderful place to be stuck. At home with music.
“Goucho” by Steely Dan
The soundtrack to our days in the cottage has developed a natural rhythm, though somewhat different now that I’m working from home. It should not have been a surprise to learn that on normal days when I would be driving to work in the early mornings, Don would be eating his breakfast with the stereo speakers cranked up, blasting something like Steely Dan’s “Goucho.”
Continue reading/listening on the High Notes blog.
Roots and Shoots with Cree cellist Cris Derksen
Posted 21 June 2020
If you follow your own heart and swim up your own salmon stream, some pretty cool things can happen.” — Cris Derksen (BMus’07)
Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day. We are thrilled to share with you a new video recording from Cree cellist and composer Cris Derksen, in a special online edition of the Chan Centre’s Roots and Shoots Music Education Program.
Featuring performances of “New Heya”, “North”, and more, Derksen shares her evocative sound world where the traditional and the contemporary weave together to create unique, breathtaking music.
“Holy, Holy, Holy”
Posted 19 June 2020
Some calming trombone music: here is recent grad Devon Throness’ take on an old hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Bishop Reginald Heber (1861). Devon recorded and produced the video, with stunning animation by Cameron Swanson, and photography by Hudson Throness.
The ‘New’ Old Aud
Posted 17 June 2020
Today is the 10th anniversary of the “new” Old Auditorium! To celebrate, UBC Opera has released an archival video of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from June 17, 2010 — the first opening performance at the Old Aud.
“It was ten years ago that we opened the ‘new’ Old Aud as a permanent home for UBC Opera,” says Prof. Nancy Hermiston, Director of UBC Opera. “In those ten years the UBC Opera Ensemble has presented twenty productions on its stage, often in collaboration with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. The theatre has become a favourite performance and lecture venue at UBC and for the community. The Old Aud once again has taken its place as an integral part of UBC’s cultural and scholarly life.”
Tábortüznél
Posted 16 June 2020
The UBC University Singers present a soulful performance of Tábortüznél by Lajos Bárdos, with Prof. Graeme Langager conducting. Check it out:
Playlist: Summer Spirit
– Tze Liew
Posted 12 June 2020
It’s hard not having something new to look forward to in the summer. Everyone’s pining for the usual plans — holiday getaways, graduation celebrations, beach barbecues, outdoor festivals — opportunities for growth and refreshment that have to be put on hold due to the pandemic.
Here’s a playlist of music that gets me in the mood for summer, through all the uncertainty and upheaval going on lately. A consolation that there’s still sunny walks to enjoy, brilliant blooms to sniff at, and music to take you places. And, um, sunbathing on the front lawn in my garish orange Hawaiian print pants.
“Cathedral in a Suitcase” by Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny’s “Cathedral in a Suitcase” opens up spaces. It feels like adventure. The piece unfolds with the forward momentum of chimes and rustling bells, weaving in layers of synth melody and feverish guitar riffs that build up into a triumphant cathedral of sound. It makes me think of riding on winds to places that are vast and exciting.
Continue reading/listening on the High Notes blog.
Prof. Jose Franch-Ballester in The Province
Posted 11 June 2020
Prof. Franch-Ballester and Bernardino Assunçao
Like many musicians isolating far away from friends and family, internationally renowned clarinetist and UBC prof. Jose Franch-Ballester began recording daily performances as a way of staying in touch — everything from Mozart sonatas to Mary Poppins.
You’ve probably seen a few of them here on the COVIDland blog and on the School of Music’s social media.
This week, The Vancouver Province profiled Jose along with his cousin and frequent collaborator, MMus student Bernardino Assunçao. Check it out!
Rainy Day Listening
Posted 9 June 2020
The Vancouver Opera’s new Offstage podcast features some great guests with great stories, including legendary Canadian mezzo-soprano — and UBC alumna — Judith Forst (BMus’64). In episode four she sits down with Les Dala for an entertaining, wide-ranging chat.
Long Time Ago
Posted 8 June 2020
Lovely — School of Music Profs J. Patrick Raftery, voice, and Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet, perform Aaron Copland’s “Long Time Ago” with MMus student Bernardino Assunçao. Watch:
Canadian Singing Postie: Make Them Hear You
Posted 4 June 2020
Baritone Justin Welsh (BMus’02 , MMus’04), a.k.a. the Canadian Singing Postie, talks about the protests happening in the US and here in Canada and sings “Make Them Hear You” from Ragtime — whose lyrics, as he points out, are very relevant today. Be sure to check out CBC’s recent story on Justin, too!
Isolation Commissions: Vocalise
Posted 2 June 2020
Another terrific Isolation Commission from the Little Chamber Music Society and Music on Main! Here is alumna Nicole Linaksita (BSc’16, BMus’16) performing Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise”:
Connecting with Compassion
Posted 1 June 2020
UBC Music students have teamed up with the Faculty of Medicine on Connecting with Compassion, a new initiative to help ease social isolation for seniors during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Harp student Hayley Farenholtz, percussion student Aaron Graham, and many others recorded performances that will be shared on complimentary iPads with seniors in long-term care homes. Check out Hayley’s performance, below, and learn more about the project on the High Notes blog.
Special thanks to Tom Lee Music for opening their studio—free of charge—to make the musical recordings for the CWC initiative possible!
Isolation Commissions: Blackbird
Posted 28 May 2020
As part of Little Chamber Music’s Isolation Commissions Project, Music on Main commissioned DMA student Aaron Graham to record this lovely rendition of the Beatles classic “Blackbird” on marimba. Be sure to check out the full series, which features many talented UBC students and alumni!
Fly Me to the Moon
Posted 26 May 2020
Watch as Prof. Jose Franch-Ballester and MMus student Bernardino Assunçao, clarinet, along with special guest UBC President Santa J. Ono, cello, perform the Bart Howard classic:
Playlist: Jazz Piano in Transcription
– Prof. Michael Tenzer
Posted 22 May 2020
The best jazz pianists are as inspiring as ever, but the art of transcribing what players play has really come into its own since the advent of scrolling scores on You Tube, not to mention applications that help with the transcribing. (There are now some superstar transcribers out there.) If you haven’t taken the time to discover what the pianists actually do when they play, you owe it to yourself to do it, and you will be devastated in the best way. Savor these six tracks; there’s lots more out there too.
Chick Corea: “Windows” (1968)
This is one of Corea’s signature compositions: it’s a jazz waltz showcasing his spare, crisp pianism and ringing harmonies.
Continue reading/listening on the High Notes blog.
#SongsofComfort: Violin student Andy Kim
Posted 20 May 2020
Fire, Water, Earth and Air: SUBCLASS in action
Posted 19 May 2020
February flashback! Prof. Robert Pritchard and the UBC Laptop Orchestra (SUBCLASS) travelled to Manila this winter to collaborate with students from the University of the Philippines College of Music on a one-of-a-kind concert. Using innovative motion-activated bodysuit technologies pioneered in the SUBCLASS lab, UBC students “performed” works by UP students that were created especially for the technology, which converts movement into sound. Check it out:
Playlist: The Natural World
– Dina MacDougall
Posted 15 May 2020
We start our journey with melodies inspired by the lunar cycle, then travel to the Arctic by dog sled, accompanied by throat singing and strings. After an expansive meditation on the effects of melting polar ice, we continue on to a prairie lake to nourish our spirit.
Next, explore a mythological Finnish forest, then dive deep into a lush seascape. Marvel at the birds and bees, then travel back to the Arctic and look up to the magic of the Northern Lights.
Don’t have Spotify? Listen on the High Notes blog.
Down from the Gates
Posted 13 May 2020
Check out “Down from the Gates,” a composition for trombone quartet from recent grad Devon Throness:
#SongsofComfort: DMA student Emily Logan
Posted 11 May 2020
“As loud as a lawnmower if you had your windows closed”
Posted 8 May 2020
What’s it like to live with a trombonist during lockdown? Karina Bharne, whose partner is bass tromobonist and UBC sessional lecturer Ilan Morgenstern, shares her experience with CBC Music today. Here’s an excerpt:
“I would say perhaps it would be as loud as a lawnmower if you had your windows closed.” Karina Bharne has been spending much of the COVID-19 pandemic confined in a one-bedroom apartment in Tacoma, Wash., with her husband, Ilan Morgenstern, who is the bass trombonist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
“My apartment building has closed down all of our commons areas,” Bharne explained to CBC Music, “so Ilan practises in our apartment. I’ve been doing more work from home, though I still go to the office to collect our mail and deposit cheques in the bank.”
Read the full story here.
Playlist: Comfort and Joy
– Prof. Alexander Fisher
Posted 7 May 2020
When we are living through challenging times like these, music always provides something of a salve. Many of us are at home behind closed doors and wondering what the future holds, looking out the window at these sunny spring days which seem to provide a measure of hope. And with our normal routines upended, we can also turn to music to provide comfort.
Scroll to view the full playlist >>
For many centuries music has provided a vehicle for us to express grief, but also experience the promise of comfort and joy. This was certainly true in Germany during the 17th century, a time of massive dislocation and social upheaval. By the time the Thirty Years War broke out in 1618, Germany was already experiencing an economic downturn, worsened by outbreaks of disease; but the onset of the religious wars led to a period of incredible suffering. Germans of all religious stripes, but especially the Lutherans, turned to devotional prose, poetry, and music to convey the depths of human suffering and to gain some measure of comfort in the hope of eternal redemption.
I put together this playlist to share with you some of my favourite pieces and recordings from this period, starting with Heinrich Schütz and ending with Johann Sebastian Bach, in the hopes that you might also experience the depth of feeling and comfort that this music embodies.
Don’t have Spotify? Listen on the High Notes blog.
#SongsofComfort: President Santa J. Ono and incoming student Simon Proulx
Posted 6 May 2020
Today's #SongsofComfort contribution features incoming UBC School of Music 1st year student Simon Proulx. He joins the Class of 2024 from Oak Park High School in Winnipeg and is currently studying with Chris Byman. He will be studying with Jose Franch-Ballester at UBC. pic.twitter.com/BP5Yap2gc3
— Santa J. Ono (@ubcprez) May 4, 2020
#SongsofComfort: UBC cello student Adrian Pang
Posted 5 May 2020
Here’s our student Adrian Pang playing Jasspodpolska as part of @ubcprez 's #SongsofComfort project!
@ubcartsculture @ubc_arts @UBC #cello pic.twitter.com/ci1UVHR2mX— UBC School of Music (@UBC_Music) May 4, 2020
Your daily opera fix: UBC Opera in the Czech Republic
– Prof. Nancy Hermiston, UBC Opera Director
Posted 4 May 2020
I hope that you are all safe, sound and healthy! Normally the UBC Opera ensemble would be rehearsing for our June show. Sadly, we had to cancel those performances for the safety of our audiences and our performers. However, we are delighted to be able to bring you this recording of our concert in Plzeň, in the Czech Republic which took place in February at the J.K. Tyl Theatre:
Their opera orchestra was so very supportive and enthusiastic for our UBC performers. General Music Director and conductor of the J.K. Tyl Theatre, Norbert Baxa, led this wonderful concert. The audience was so enthusiastic and welcomed us back as part of their family. This is the third year of this collaboration. During the summer months for the past 24 years we have been joining Norbert at his European Music Academy in Teplice, Czech Republic. There, we have joined forces with the North Bohemian Orchestra, community adult and children’s choruses, the city’s youth ballet and all the technical staff of the Teplice Opera House to present one or two operas. We then have toured with our Czech colleagues to smaller Czech cities such as Decin, Jablonec, Karlovy Vary, Marienbad and many others. Norbert has also conducted many operas for us here at UBC and is a favourite with our audiences.
We will be working hard over the summer in a virtual space to prepare our next productions for you and hope that you will join us again as soon as we can open. I hope that you are doing well and we miss you all! We look forward to welcoming you back to the Old Auditorium and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts for the magic and talent of the UBC Opera Ensemble. Enjoy the performance!
Playlist: Little Mountain Sound
Posted 1 May 2020
To help kick off your weekend, Prof. Nathan Hesselink and bass trombonist and adjunct professor Sharman King share some of their favourite tracks recorded in Vancouver during the 1980s and ’90s, when the city became an international destination for some of the world’s biggest rock bands. Here’s Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” recorded at Little Mountain Sounds Studios in Vancouver:
Check out the full playlist and read about how UBC grads helped shape rock ’n’ roll history.
Prof. Marina Thibeault on Canada Performs
Posted 30 April 2020
Today at 3 p.m. PT! Prof. Marina Thibeault performs live from her office at the UBC School of Music as part of the National Arts Centre’s Canada Performs program. Check it out, below:
Lilombola
Posted 29 April 2020
Start your day with Ethnomusicology doctoral student Jason Winikoff’s amazing one-man drum ensemble! Here he is, perfoming the Luvale dance “Lilombola.” Headphones recommended.
My Quiet Forest Home
Posted 28 April 2020
Harpist Samantha Ballard (BMus’15) has a new album, Octopath Traveller, coming out on May 15th. Here’s the delightful first single, “My Quiet Forest Home”:
You can preview the whole album here.
Splendid Isolation
– Connor Page, BMus student
Posted 27 April 2020
As Arvo Pärt said in a recent interview, today’s situation “show[s] us in a painful way that humanity is a single organism and that human existence is possible only in relation to other living beings. The notion of ‘relationship’ should be understood as a maxim, as the ability to love.”
To me, this School of Music blog and the Songs of Comfort are two of many indications of a time of difficulty becoming a beautiful time of relationship and generosity — or, as a wonderful book of travel, solitude and companionship by Patrick Leigh Fermor was titled, A Time of Gifts. What better medium for generous relationship than music? Resonance connects in space; rhythm connects in time.
As I thought about what I might contribute to this conversation, I came across an Irish reel called “Splendid Isolation.” How fitting! I paired it with another reel, dusted off a couple of Irish whistles and attempted to rehabilitate some modest editing skills (forged in the fires of Dr. Bob‘s first-year Music Tech). This is dance music pure and simple, and I hope it may help bring on some communal toe-tapping—a sense of relationship in solitude that makes isolation a little more splendid.
Playlist: Cantonese Music
Posted 22 April 2020
Looking for new music to listen to? Check out Dr. Hedy Law‘s awesome Cantonese Music playlist, featuring Cantonese pop, opera and more! Here’s a sample track, “Silver Hair White”《銀髮白》by the pop group Utopia, Momentarily 剎那的烏托邦 (Eman Lam 林二汶 & Yoyo Sham 岑寧兒):
Dr. Law’s full playlist is available over on the High Notes blog.
First listen: 100,000 Lakes
Posted 21 April 2020
Prof. T. Patrick Carrabré’s 100,000 Lakes is out now. In his own words:
“The music on this album brings together many of my interests. Chamber music with various combinations of strings and piano has been central to my output, as have collaborations with artists from outside the western classical tradition. In recent years I have also been working with electronic and manipulated audio sources as a means of augmenting the possibilities of acoustic instruments. Thematically, these works search for connections to the past, while hoping that we will learn from that past and forge a better future, where diversity is valued and our connection to each other and the natural world nourishes our spirits.”
Here’s a sample:
Listen to the full album here.
Rosea performs Lady Gaga
Posted 20 April 2020
UBC Music trio Rosea — Vanessa Mak (piano), Kelly Li (flute) and Ayumi Yaesawa (violin) — perform their lovely arrangement of Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from A Star is Born.
Here2Talk: Free, confidential counselling for students during COVID-19
Posted April 17th, 2020
The Government of British Columbia has launched a free, 24-hour counselling and referral service for the province’s postsecondary students. Here2Talk offers students confidential sessions with a trained mental-health counsellor by mobile app, phone or online chat. The web, phone and chat services, operated by Morneau Shepell, are available in English and French, with additional languages available upon request. Service operators will also be able to refer students to resources in their local communities.
Ubuntu String Quartet: Tjonneblomen (The Water Lily)
Posted April 15th, 2020
Ubuntu String Quartet features UBC Music students Kurt Chen (violin), Yiyi Hsu (violin), Christian Bailey (viola) and Adrian Pang (cello). Here they are performing “Tjonneblomen (The Water Lily),” a waltz by Norwegian fiddler Gjermund Haugen.
#SongsofComfort: UBC Opera student Sodam Lee
Posted April 9th, 2020
Sodam Lee is studying Opera with Professor Nancy Hermiston of the UBC School of Music. Her #SongsofComfort contribution is 'Du bist die Ruh(You are the Peace)' by F.Schubert. pic.twitter.com/F7jp7qV2Nb
— Santa J. Ono (@ubcprez) April 1, 2020
Playlist: Great Harpists
– Elizabeth Volpé Bligh, Adjunct Professor of Harp
Posted April 7th, 2020
Over the next few weeks our faculty, students, and staff will share playlists featuring some of their favourite music, organized around a theme or idea. Check out the Playlist archive here.
Sasha Boldachev did a concert and master class for UBC in 2018. He is one of the best harpists in the world right now. Here he is playing his arrangement of Scheherezade by Rimsky Korsakov. He is a force of nature.
And Petrouchka:
Sivan Magen did a master class and concert for UBC in 2019. Here he is, performing a trio that my UBC harp student Madison Dartana’s chamber group was going to perform this spring. It’s such a great piece!
Judy Loman, my brilliant teacher, playing Scarlatti:
Arwen Myers performed with Early Music Vancouver last year and blew me away:
The best jazz harpist in the world, Park Stickney, doing his genius rendition of Debussy’s Danses Sacrée et Profane, which he performed live for the our World Harp Congress at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver in 2011. It was one of the highlights of the Congress.
Mozart at Home
– Prof. Jose Franch-Ballester and MMus student Bernardino Assunçao
Posted April 5th, 2020
Every day from self-isolation we’re recording and sharing a new clarinet duet. Today’s duet is based on Mozart’s Sonata in C, K.296, 1st movement, arranged by V. Voxman. You can watch more here. Stay safe, everyone!
Project Choir-antine: When You Believe
Posted April 2nd, 2020
Check out Project Choir-antine, a virtual choir of 150-plus voices singing the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey classic “When You Believe.” Organized by BMus student Mikey Jose and featuring many School of Music students, the project raised funds for Food Banks Canada and B.C. Women’s Hospital to support their essential programs during the COVID-19 crisis.
#SongsofComfort: Clear Lake
Posted April 1st, 2020
Craving the beautiful outdoors? Check out Director T. Patrick Carrabré’s “Clear Lake,” a work from his new album 100,000 Lakes, which will be out in a few weeks. Showcased as part of UBC President Santa J. Ono’s #SongsofComfort project.
#19forCOVID19: O mio babbino caro
Posted March 31st, 2020
More inspiring, beautiful music from School of Music alumni: Here’s soprano Teiya Kasahara (BMus’07) performing “O mio babbino caro” from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Watch out for our High Notes profile of Teiya, coming later this week!
Systems Collapse
– Leif Jack, First Year BMus Composition Student
Posted March 30th, 2020
As a student, adjusting to online classes has been strange. I’m the kind of person who works best when I have a set routine keeping me disciplined and free from boredom. Luckily though, things have stayed interesting. One positive side of classes being online is that I now have much more time in the day, as I don’t have to move from class to class. Thus, all the time getting ready for class and travelling to the music school is open to compose music! As a composer and musician, I have been thinking a lot about how this pandemic affects us, but also society as a whole. I’ve had a few musical ideas floating around, but a few days ago I got an idea for a minimalist-style work for violin, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. It started with a slithering idea in the clarinet, but it felt too intense to be a beginning, so I decided to start with ticking idea in the violin, using the col legno battuta technique. From there, I worked at lightning speed that evening, writing three minutes of music, but the piece is still only halfway done. Overall, my conception for the piece, as it relates to the pandemic, with the title “Systems Collapse,” is a reflection on how systems like human interaction gradually coalesce, become more interconnected and increase in complexity, but also how the risk of catastrophic collapse arises due to small, unrelated errors in such systems.
Musical Priest
– Elizabeth Volpé Bligh, Adjunct Professor of Harp
Posted March 28th, 2020
We didn’t get to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year because of the pandemic, so I thought I would share this rendition of “Musical Priest” with you.
The CPO & ESO Quarantine Project
Posted March 27th, 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak is inspiring some beautiful, creative music-making. Here’s the Calgary Philharmonic and Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, led by School of Music alumna Janna Sailor (MMus’08, DMPS’12), doing a virtual performance of Elgar’s “Variation IX (Nimrod)” from the Enigma Variations.
Give them something beautiful to listen to
– Dr. Valerie Whitney, Assistant Professor of Horn
Posted March 26th, 2020
When the UBC Symphony Orchestra performed their most recent (and, sadly, final) concert to an almost-empty auditorium, I wanted to shout to the students, “THIS is why you spend hours in the practice room! YOU have something powerful to offer a world in crisis!” The world is always in crisis, we’re just feeling it in a particularly salient way right now.
One morning a few years ago I was mulling over the question of the value of perfecting the art of blowing into an 18-foot long tube of twisted metal when it occurred to me in an almost audible voice: “we [musicians, artists] are relief workers!” We are able to speak a language that can transport listeners, that can reach into a place in the soul where few other means can, that can bring comfort, peace, and dare I say, beauty, into a world in crisis. For me and most performers I know, the act of making music is a sort of soul food in and of itself.
“As musicians, we’re able to speak a language that can transport listeners, that can reach into a place in the soul where few other means can, that can bring comfort, peace, and dare I say, beauty, into a world in crisis.
— Prof. Valerie Whitney”
So, in this particular season, I’m practicing partly for myself, because I need the soul-food, and also so that I have something to give when public society reopens. When I worry about annoying my neighbours, I remind myself to give them something beautiful to listen to, even if it’s sometimes “just” scales, and lip slurs.
I’m sending little videos of myself playing silly kids’ songs to my nieces and nephews, and I’m reading through a pile of repertoire which I’ve wanted to get to for about two years now.
And most importantly, I’m remembering that everyone, literally everyone, is adjusting to a new way of living life, and adjusting my expectations for what a productive work day, or a productive practice session, should look like.
Right now, my horn and music-making needs to be a source of food, a life-giving source, free of expectations…and sometimes, even free of the productive criticism that, under normal circumstances, is critical for my own musical growth. This will look different for every individual, and I invite you to join me in exploring how your own music-making can be a source of relief for yourself and those in the world around you.
How to stay fit in social isolation
– Dr. T. Patrick Carrabré, Director of the School of Music
Posted March 26th, 2020
Being new to British Columbia, I am still adjusting to the smaller living footprint. Our piano is in my office at UBC, so composing might need to move to a virtual environment (in my head), even though I love the tactile feel of expressing my thoughts by playing. Since all of the gyms are now closed, I have been alternating between walks in the Pacific Spirit Park and some version of my hotel room workout. That usually includes a combination of unweighted squats, pushups, planks and some ab work. (Want to give it a try? I like this workout, this one, and this one). We are also planning to finish the new Picard series and trying to figure out how to access Westworld.
Inspiration and introspection
– Marina Thibeault, Assistant Professor of Viola
Posted March 26th, 2020
https://youtu.be/GRpINHO-Nbw
Getting back to fundamentals
– Emily Richardson, BMus Student
Posted March 26th, 2020
In this period of uncertainty due to COVID-19, I’ve decided to take everything one day at a time. The school year is so hectic that I’m making sure to take time to enjoy the slower pace of life and recharge! I’ve been catching up on sleep, drinking lots of tea, and video calling friends and family. Now is a great time to pursue some of the projects I never seem to have time for, such as experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. On a less exciting note, I no longer have an excuse to procrastinate things like taxes and papers, so I’m trying to get those off my plate!
Now that I have no upcoming performances to cram for, I finally have time to get back to fundamentals and work on the orchestral excerpts I always put off. However, it can be challenging to practice in a small dorm room and try to avoid disturbing my neighbours, given how thin the walls are! The one plus is I find having limited time really focuses my practice and makes me extra efficient. It also gives me lots of incentive to work on breathing, which doesn’t make any sound at all! Overall, I’m doing my best to consider this like a staycation and go with the flow.
Some fun resources you may wish to explore:
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The Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall is currently free. This is a great time to explore lots of new pieces you have always been meaning to listen to.
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One of my personal favourite parts of the UBC Library is that all the Harry Potter movies are free to stream online through the website! It can be a great way to spend an evening – arrange a video call movie night where you watch with friends.
Throughout this, it’s important that we take care of each other. It’s really easy to feel isolated! However, I believe there are lots of opportunities to connect and support each other. I wish everyone the best, and can’t wait to make music together again soon!
How can music help with anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis?
– Dr. Jonathan Girard, Director of Orchestras & Dr. Shimi Kang, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Posted March 16th, 2020
