High Notes | Spring 2020
FEATURES
Liberating the Queen in Me
In their new play The Queen in Me, soprano Teiya Kasahara (BMus’07) reimagines one of opera’s most iconic villains — and challenges the industry’s centuries-old prejudices
From Aerosmith to Van Halen: How UBC helped shape the hard rock era
In the 1980s, Vancouver was a rock ’n’ roll mecca. High Notes talks to the Prof. Nathan Hesselink and Sharman King (BMus’70) about the UBC alumni who made some of the era’s best and boldest albums possible
Around the World in Six Tones
Musicologist and 18th-century French opera expert Dr. Hedy Law goes back to her Hong Kong roots with an exciting new course that explores the global phenomenon of Cantonese music — the first of its kind in North America
ALSO IN THE ISSUE
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Winter Concerts: Maslanka and Woolfenden; Lang, Sandström and Arvo Pärt; Finzi, Britten and Elgar; plus Oscar Navarro’s Leyendas in stunning 4K HD
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Research & Publications: Italian voices in London, The Philosophy of Rhythm, and love songs
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Alumni Making Waves: Lifetime achievement awards, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools, and bringing beautiful music to self-isolating audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Beyond the Gates: Juno nominations, new compositions, and Women of the Italian Baroque
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Catching Up with Our Students: Awards, scholarships, and tours of Europe and the Philippines
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New Recordings: Prof. J.Patrick Raftery’s A North American Songbook, the vocal music of Marga Richter, and an exciting new composers’ showcase
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In Memoriam: Remembering Prof. Hans-Karl Piltz
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Playlist: Revisiting Vancouver’s heyday as a rock mecca with classic tracks by Bon Jovi, Loverboy, Metallica, and more
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Playlist: Prof. Hedy Law shares some of her favourite Cantonese music, from opera to Cantopop
Do you have a story? Let us know!
If you’re a UBC Music alumnus and you have news to share, please send a note to tyler.stiem@ubc.ca. We’re always looking for stories for upcoming editions of High Notes and our other networks.
Liberating the Queen in Me
Teiya Kasahara as the Queen of the Night. (Photo: Tallulah)
By Tze Liew
For more than two centuries, the iconic Queen of the Night from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte has been thrilling audiences with her vengeful spirit, bloodthirsty drive, and volatile high Fs. Qualities that make her the ultimate villain, fated to eternal doom while the hero and heroine, demure as lambs, skip off to enjoy their happy ending.
But now it’s 2020 — and she’s sick of following the script. What if the Queen of the Night could actually tell her own story?
This is the idea that inspired soprano Teiya Kasahara (BMus’07) to create their groundbreaking new play The Queen in Me — tackling the prejudices that have been part of the opera industry since Mozart’s time. As a queer, non-binary Japanese-Canadian who’s tired of stuffing themself into the ill-fitting shoes of femme fatales and simpering heroines, they are determined to tell new stories that reflect real people, with complex identities.
“I wanted to give the Queen of the Night a voice. I had to tell her story — and then tell mine,” says Kasahara.
In The Queen in Me, the Queen of the Night begins to sing her most iconic aria, “Der Hölle Rache,” like she would in any Magic Flute show. But midway through, she halts. “Stopp! Stopp die Musik!” she screams.
Read the full story
From Aerosmith to Van Halen: How UBC helped shape the rock ’n’ roll history
Prof. Cortland Hultberg (Photo: UBC Archives)
Here’s a little-known fact: Vancouver is the birthplace of some of the most important rock ’n’ roll records of the past 40 years. Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the 1990s, acts like Van Halen, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Blue Öyster Cult, INXS, and the Scorpions flocked to the city to record their iconic albums.
Even less known is the role the School of Music played in the city’s transformation from local hub to international hard rock mecca. That is, until recently: Prof. Nathan Hesselink stumbled upon this secret history while doing research for a project on rhythm and technology in rock music.
Encouraged by fellow faculty member Sharman King (BMus’70) — whose long and successful career as a bass trombonist included a stint as a studio musician at Vancouver’s legendary Little Mountain Sound Studios — Prof. Hesselink tracked down and interviewed as many producers, composers, musicians, and engineers from back in the day as he could find. He pored through archives that hadn’t been opened in decades. His detective work took him on a journey back in time, from the heyday of the 1980s, to the launch of the Bachelor of Music program in the early 1960s, all the way back to Vancouver’s first jazz supper clubs and CBC Radio’s early experiments with live music broadcasts. His research culminated in an eye-opening talk at the School of Music this past February.
High Notes sat down with Prof. Hesselink and Sharman King to discuss the project so far.
Read the full story
Around the World in Six Tones: Exploring the global phenomenon of Cantonese music
Cantonese opera originated in the 13th century. (Wikimedia Commons)
By Tze Liew
Dr. Hedy Law has always been aware of a certain irony at the heart of her academic career. An expert on 18th century French opera and pantomime, she grew up immersed in a very different tradition: her mother was a Cantonese opera teacher.
The contrast wasn’t something she thought too much about, until recently. After more than a decade teaching Western music and theory, she found her attention wandering from the powdered wigs and tinkling harpsichords of Mozart to the phoenix eyes and plaintive erhu that she grew up with in Hong Kong.
Dr. Law realized that she was missing something: a connection to her own cultural roots. It was this feeling that inspired her to design and launch UBC’s brand-new Cantonese Music course, the first of its kind in North America, and a unique addition to the UBC Cantonese Language program.
“I had the huge realization that I’ve been teaching Western music for so long. I thought, if I only teach Monteverdi through Mozart, then I’ll never have a chance to teach Cantonese repertory within the curriculum here. And so I’m just like, really? That seems to be a really big opportunity lost,” she says.
Read the full story
Winter 2020 concerts available online
Catch up with our large and small ensembles online! Enjoy some of the recent concerts you can watch via our Vimeo channel.
New research and publications
Prof. Michael Tenzer contributed a book chapter entitled “How Many Kinds of Rhythm Are There?” to The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, edited by Peter Cheyne, Andy Hamilton, and Max Paddison (Oxford University Press).
Dr. Claudio Vellutini’s new essay, “Interpreting the Italian Voice in London (and Elsewhere),” appeared in London Voices, 1820-1840: Vocal Performers, Practices, Histories, edited by Roger Parker and Susan Rutherford, and published by the University of Chicago Press. He also presented a paper entitled “Resisting Shakespeare? Felice Romani and Saverio Mercadante’s Amleto in Restoration Milan” at the latest meeting of the American Musicological Society in Boston, Massachussetts.
Dr. Stephen Chatman published the sheet music to his compositions for chorus and piano, including After Love, Joy, Listen, I love you, Oh day of fire and sun, Love Me, Teasdale Love Songs, and The Mystery.
Alumni Making Waves: Lifetime achievement awards, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools, and making beautiful music during the COVID-19 pandemic
Alexina Louie
Legendary Canadian composer and School of Music alumnus Alexina Louie (BMus’70) was awarded the 2020 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, in recognition of her groundbreaking orchestral and chamber works, film scores, and more. As the Canadian Music Centre notes, “Her distinctive style — a blend of Asian and Western influences — draws from a wide spectrum of sources, from her Chinese heritage to her theoretical and performance studies. Though she is a thoroughly Canadian composer, her musical voice is heard, recognized and acclaimed around the world.” In February, Louie returned to the School of Music for a composer residency, during which the UBC Symphony Orchestra performed her The Ringing Earth: Festive Overture at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.
Composer Jared Miller (BMus’10) received a 2020 Juno nomination in the category of Classical Composition of the Year for his album Under Sea, Above Sky. The work is an ode to our planet, representing “both Earth’s massive, majestic and wild side, and its incredibly fragility, as climate change continues to wreak havoc upon it.” Under Sea, Above Sky was commissioned and recorded by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada with support from the SOCAN Foundation in 2019.
More alumni news
Beyond the Gates: Juno nominations, new compositions, and Women of the Italian Baroque
Dr. Jocelyn Morlock and Dr. Dorothy Chang
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) commissioned new compositions from professor of composition Prof. Dorothy Chang and sessional lecturer Dr. Jocelyn Morlock as part of its 2020: The Year of Beethoven program. At five different concerts in 2020*, the CPO will pair Beethoven’s symphonies and piano concertos with new works by Canadian composers who have been influenced by the great German composer’s legacy. Interloper, Dr. Morlock’s composition, will debut on May 29th and 30th, while Dr. Chang’s Skizzen (Sketches) will debut on June 12th and 13th. They will be streamed live on the CPO website. *Please note that these events could be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assistant Professor of Voice J. Patrick Raftery made an appearance on the Operabiz Podcast, where he looked back on his four-decade opera career, how the industry has changed, and his own transition from baritone to tenor. In April he released a new album, A North American Songbook.
More faculty news
Catching up with our students: Awards, scholarships, and tours to Europe and the Philippines
The Silverman Competition winners
DMA students Lisa Yu-Hsien Lin and Judith Valerie Engel, and BMus student Daniel Tong are the 2020 Robert and Ellen Silverman Piano Concerto Competition finalists. They were among six UBC piano students to compete at the competition semi-finals at Roy Barnett Recital Hall in February. All three finalists will have the opportunity to perform their concerto with the UBC Symphony Orchestra at the Old Auditorium in the autumn.
The UBC Laptop Orchestra (SUBCLASS) travelled to Manila in February 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.
More student news
New Recordings: A Quinary, A North American Songbook, and more
A Quinary, out now on Redshift Records, features five new concerti by five Canadian composers, including UBC’s Prof. Dorothy Chang, Prof. Stephen Chatman, Dr. Jocelyn Morlock, and Edward Top, played by five Canadian performers. A Quinary was conceived and spearheaded by flutist and sessional lecturer Paolo Bertolussi, who also performs on the album.
Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera J. Patrick Raftery released A North American Songbook, his new album on Naxos Records. Featuring works by Weill, Greer, Stokes, Morawetz, and Chapman, the album explores war, love, substance, abuse, and mental health. Featuring Prof. Mark Anderson, piano.
More new recordings
In Memoriam: Professor Hans-Karl Piltz
We are sad to announce the passing of Prof. Hans-Karl Piltz, a talented violist and teacher who helped shape the School of Music as it evolved from a small Bachelor of Arts program in the late 1950s to the large and thriving School it is today. Prof. Piltz was 96 years old.
Prof. Piltz was born in Germany and grew up in Chicago, where he was introduced to string instruments in high school. He served in the U.S. Army for three years, fighting in Europe during World War II. Upon returning home, he immersed himself in the study of viola, first with the principal viola of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and then at Northwestern University. He worked for several years as a professional orchestral musician, including stints as principal viola with the Arkansas and Atlanta Symphonies.
Continue reading
Playlist: Little Mountain Sound
Professor of ethnomusicology Nathan Hesselink and bass trombonist and adjunct professor Sharman King to 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.
Full playlist
Playlist: Cantonese Music
By Hedy Law
The music you grow up listening to stays with you wherever you go. Looking back on the Cantonese music I grew up with, I’m amazed by how broad and varied a genre it is — from Cantonese opera to folk song to pop, it’s a well-loved global phenomenon that captures an important sense of identity, history and heritage for members of the Cantonese diaspora. This playlist will be taking you off the beaten track of Mozart and Monteverdi to introduce you to a different, but equally rich tradition of Cantonese music.
Full playlist
