It’s International Women’s Day! Cheers to the amazing women in our School of Music community — thank you for being trailblazers in life and music and an inspiration to us all. Here are some recent highlights from our faculty and alumni.
Dr. Hedy Law spearheads first Cantonese Music course in North America
Dr. Hedy Law
“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.”
– Dr. Law talks about her decision to represent Cantonese music and culture in the Canadian curriculum
Also check out Dr. Law’s newly published book: Music, Pantomime and Freedom in Enlightenment France
In conversation: Award-winning composers Dorothy Chang and Jocelyn Morlock
(L to R) Dr. Dorothy Chang, Dr. Jocelyn Morlock
“Much of my music is inspired by a specific emotion or state of mind, often in reaction to an external stimulus such as an image, a poem, a natural phenomenon or an event. Typically, the first creative spark of a new piece is simply a single gesture or colour.”
– Dr. Dorothy Chang talks about her composition process
“So much of what’s on a classical music concert is kind of a museum piece. They’re part of a canon which is unfortunately static, and of the past. I would love to see it keep growing and invite in other music that expresses other things, and to expand to reflect our own times.”
— Dr. Jocelyn Morlock speaks to the importance of pushing the boundaries of classical music
Katrina Bligh blazing a trail as a musician in the Canadian Armed Forces
Katrina Bligh (courtesy of MARPAC Imaging Services)
“A lot of the job is what you make of it. You can take the bull by the horns and rise up to become Commanding Officer, Band Chief, or take out-of-trade postings to learn about other parts of the military.”
– Oboist Katrina Bligh (BMus’09) talks about her career as a musician in the Canadian military
Pushing the boundaries of music technology with Kiran Bhumber and Hildegard Westerkamp
Kiran Bhumber (left) and Hildegard Westerkamp (right)
“Listen to where your passion is located, where your skill is located and how that resonates with which part of society. Trust your own ears, trust your own inclination on, especially for women, where your interests lie.”
– Pioneering sound ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp (BMus’72) and up-and-coming composer, producer, and performer Kiran Bhumber (BMus’14) discuss tech, gender, and “trusting your inner voice”
Anne Kang joins British Columbia NDP cabinet
In November, B.C. Member of Legislative Assembly Anne Kang (BMus’99) was named Minister of Advanced Education and Skill Training in Premier John Horgan’s new cabinet. She previously held the position of Minister of Citizens’ Services.
Violist Marina Thibeault receives JUNO nomination for Best Classical Album
Assistant Professor of Viola Marina Thibeault received a JUNO nomination for her album ELLES, recorded with pianist Marie-Ève Scarfone. ELLES features repertoire for viola and piano by exceptional 19th and 21st century women composers: Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Nadia Boulanger, Rebecca Clarke, Lilian Fuchs, and Anna Pidgorna.
Prof. Thibeault has recorded a concert with faculty pianist Dr. Corey Hamm at the Chan Centre, which features three excerpts from ELLES. Watch it here.
Dr. Ève Poudrier receives grant for music theory research
Assistant Professor of Music Theory Dr. Ève Poudrier received a five-year, $250,000+ Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for her research project “Modeling Polyrhythmic Experience.” The project seeks to deepen our understanding of the human experience of complex musical rhythms by examining “polyrhythm” (the superposition of contrasting rhythms that present more than one beat simultaneously) using computational analysis and behavioural experiments. The project is a collaboration with researchers from Ohio State and Stanford Universities, among others.
Conductor Christin Reardon MacLellan wins music education awards
UBC Concert Winds Conductor Christin Reardon MacLellan received the 2020 Canadian Music Educators’ Association Builders’ Award and the BC Music Educators’ Association Distinguished Service Award for her leadership, advocacy and research in the field of music education during the pandemic. Alongside frequent School of Music collaborator Janet Wade, Prof. MacLellan was instrumental in creating and maintaining the “BCMEA/CMEBE Guidance for Music Classes in BC during COVID-19,” a living document which has allowed music education to continue in classrooms during the pandemic.
Dr. Leigh VanHandel edits new book on music theory
A leading expert on teaching music theory, Associate Professor of Music Theory Leigh VanHandel edited the recently published Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy (2020). Later this year, she will give a keynote address at the Society for Music Theory conference on music theory pedagogy. Her research areas include music cognition, the relationship between music and language, computer-assisted research, and how these things all relate to one another.
Pianist Rena Sharon promotes collaboration in art song and chamber music as a model for humanity
Professor of Collaborative Piano Rena Sharon contributed a chapter entitled “Art Song Pedagogy and Performance Practice; Re-envisioning the Realm in the 21st Century” to The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing, Volume II: Education, edited by Helga R. Gudmundsdottir, Carol Beynon, Karen Ludke, Annabel J. Cohen. Prof. Sharon also delivered the lecture “Performative Co-creation: Chamber Music and Art Song as contributors to 21st century models of collaborative humanity” at CollabFest 2020: Conference for the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society in October 2020.
