The School of Music’s concert season looks a little different this year. Rehearsals are socially distanced and performances are broadcast online from empty halls. While we miss the joy of sharing music with live audiences, the change has opened up creative spaces for our musicians to re-imagine their performances, visually and musically. Here are some highlights:
Liberating Performances
Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music Jose Franch-Ballester staged a wildly ambitious and eclectic concert featuring works by Pärt, Fauré, Prof. Steven Chatman, Balinese melodies, and more. With special guests the University Singers (Graeme Langager, conductor); Paolo Bortolussi, flute; Corey Hamm, piano; the UBC Clarinet Studio; and I Putu Gede Sukaryana (Balot) and Michael Tenzer, traditional Balinese instruments.
Prof. Krisztina Szabó’s UBC Début
The acclaimed mezzo-soprano (and newly minted UBC faculty member) performed Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder” and Canadian composer Jeffrey Ryan’s “Miss Carr in Seven Scenes” in her first-ever Wednesday Noon Hours concert.
Il viaggio a Reims
UBC Opera staged their first-ever socially distanced opera, Rossini’s Viaggio a Reims, at the Chan Centre, featuring three different casts. Here’s Cast A:
You can watch the Cast B and Cast C performances online as well.
Cris Derksen
The Juno-nominated Cree cellist (and UBC alum) presented a unique concert of works for cello and electronics, blending classical music with traditional indigenous music. Works included “New Heya,” “Dark Dance,” “Aabaakawad:NIRIN,” “North,” and more.
A Tribute to Hans-Karl Piltz
In honour of violist and Professor Emeritus Hans-Karl Piltz (1926–2020), Prof. Marina Thibeault and the UBC Faculty Strings presented works by Mozart, Clarke, and Martinu.
Chopin: Four Ballades and a Barcarolle
To kick of the School of Music’s 2020-21 concert season, Professor of Piano Mark Anderson performed Chopin’s Ballades Nos. 1–4 and Barcarolle, Op. 60.
Barnett Hall 10th Anniversary Concert
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the renovation of Roy Barnett Recital Hall, Professor Emerita Jane Coop, piano, performed an intimate concert featuring works by Bach and Rachmaninoff. Read more about the renovation here.
Tuning In, Tuning Up
The School of Music launched Tuning In, Tuning Up, a new video series where we talk with the musicians and composers featured in our concerts. Here’s a recent episode where Canadian composer Jeffrey Ryan talks about how we listen to music, what it means to be a composer, why he channeled legendary artist Emily Carr for his new composition “Miss Carr in Seven Scenes.”
