I attended, with librettist Genni Gunn and director Pauline Vaillancourt, the performance of an excerpt from our opera Alternate Visions on Friday night May 10 as part of the Opera America / Opera.ca conference "Opera Out of Bounds". The performance by the Vancouver Opera Young Artist Ensemble was great! Singing and acting were just perfect. They conveyed the characters, and the humour and pathos of the scene with great conviction and wonderful voices. Congratulations to all! We were very happy to hear the work in this conference context and to discover how well the piece works, even with just piano and singers. We haven't heard the work since the first performance in 2007. What a joy to find the material just as fresh six years later!
We can't help but observe that the stories chosen by the majority of creative teams are historical: few deal with contemporary situations and topics. Most operas also choose a love story at the core of the plot. We're no different in that respect. Ours is a love story, like many opera plots, but there's a difference between being entirely engaged in the situation of a story, such as happens when the context is contemporary, and feeling more like a spectator to a historical situation where the love component is the main thing that touches the audience. In the latter, the audience feels like they are being educated by the history and then they may be pulled in by the love story; in the former, the entire situation rings true and the audience is pulled in by every aspect of the production, ideally.
For more information about the Opera America Conference, visit their site.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, August 13, 2012
Pyatt Recital Hall at Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music a gem
On Sunday morning at 11 am I heard the excellent Oberon Guitar Trio perform a one-hour program of mostly Canadian new music at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music's Pyatt Recital Hall. This is by far the best-sounding recital hall for classical guitar in Vancouver. One can hear the complete dynamic range of the guitar; you can hear a pin drop. And when the flamenco techniques start up and the big chords come, they sound really big.
The Oberon played a perfect set. Their choice of music creates a wonderful flowing and satisfying program from beginning to end. Their Alice in Wonderland piece by Claude Gagnon is their signature piece, available on their "Music of Our Time" CD. They played it with verve. The new works by Nicolella and Sasquoia were welcome additions to the guitar repertoire, the Nicolella being particularly effective, with some hallucinogenic density-building chord progressions. The Beauvais was great too.
Not intending to write "a review" of the concert, I really wanted to emphasize how welcome the Pyatt Hall is to Vancouver for classical guitar and also to congratulate VSO School of Music Guitar department director (and excellent guitarist) Daniel Bolshoy on programming a great "Guitar Day" as part of MusicFest Vancouver. I wish I could have spent the whole day there to here fellow-guitarists Ed Henderson, Celso Machado, and Daniel (playing with another Vancouver treasure, cellist Ari Barnes), but 'twas not to be…
So look out Vancouver for more chamber music concerts at Pyatt Hall at the VSO School of Music.
The Oberon played a perfect set. Their choice of music creates a wonderful flowing and satisfying program from beginning to end. Their Alice in Wonderland piece by Claude Gagnon is their signature piece, available on their "Music of Our Time" CD. They played it with verve. The new works by Nicolella and Sasquoia were welcome additions to the guitar repertoire, the Nicolella being particularly effective, with some hallucinogenic density-building chord progressions. The Beauvais was great too.
Not intending to write "a review" of the concert, I really wanted to emphasize how welcome the Pyatt Hall is to Vancouver for classical guitar and also to congratulate VSO School of Music Guitar department director (and excellent guitarist) Daniel Bolshoy on programming a great "Guitar Day" as part of MusicFest Vancouver. I wish I could have spent the whole day there to here fellow-guitarists Ed Henderson, Celso Machado, and Daniel (playing with another Vancouver treasure, cellist Ari Barnes), but 'twas not to be…
So look out Vancouver for more chamber music concerts at Pyatt Hall at the VSO School of Music.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Sibelius notation software: people plus code equals success
A little background on why I wrote an Open Letter to AVID about their plans for Sibelius software.
AVID had announced that they still fully supported Sibelius software, even though they were "letting go" of the staff in the UK that developed the code and has maintained a continuous and excellent dialogue with users (customers). In a second communication on their blog, titled "Dear Sibelius Community," AVID wanted to assuage criticism of their plans and reinforce their commitment to the software. Customers of the software, whose livelihoods depend on the excellent continued development of the software and the ongoing relationship with the developers, are very nervous the software that has enriched their creative work may lose its focus and excellence. Analysis and speculation by customers of the possible outcomes is widespread.
I was particularly moved to write my previous blog entry (August 1) after reading the following comment written by John Murdoch in response to the second communication referred to above, written by Martin Kloiber, VP, Product & Solutions, Audio, Avid Technology, Inc.
"… your balance sheet includes an entry for the value of the asset that is the source code to Sibelius 7 and related products. Your balance sheet does not reflect the value of the knowledge and memory of the software designers/developers who understand those lines of source code and all of the nuances of how they were developed.
Want the bad news? Even though you count the source code as an asset, the real value is in the people. Lose them, and the source code is worthless.
Don't believe me? Here's a list of software products that held overwhelmingly dominant market share: Ventura Publisher, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Notes, dBase III, Paradox. What distinguishes them all? Each was acquired by a group of MBAs who bought the source code--but didn't keep the developers. And every single one of those products disappeared. (Call your colleagues at Corel--ask 'em how sales of Ventura Publisher and WordPerfect are doing.)
Not convinced? Try a thought experiment. Name a single significant software product where the original source code was handed over to a third-party out-sourcer to continue development that actually worked.
Yeah. None."
Read the original post and comments here:
In my view, these concerns are expressed convincingly and AVID would do well to address the concerns raised.
John Oliver
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Open Letter to AVID, parent company of Sibelius
An Open Letter to the board of directors of AVID, the parent company that owns Sibelius music notation software.
Dear AVID Board of Directors,
My name is John Oliver. I am a professional freelance composer. I have been commissioned to write music for the Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, St. Lawrence String Quartet, and others. I have been using computer music notation software since 1989.
Your dismissal of the Sibelius software development and support team from Finsbury Park UK, and your lack of appropriate response to the outpouring of complaints from Sibelius customers sends a message to me that you do not have plans to continue the investment of time, energy and imagination to keep this software great.
By displaying a lack of interest in the thoughful and mindful shepherding of Sibelius software into the future, you do a great disservice to professional, educational, and amateur music makers around the world.
Here is the impact that your decision will have on me. I came to rely on Sibelius software for all of my professional notation work about a decade ago, after holding out with Logic Pro for over a decade, and rejecting Finale because it seemed to be designed for publishers, rather than composers. In 1989 I bought my first computer, an ATARI STe, and used "NotatorSL", the precursor to Logic Audio and Logic Pro software on the Apple Mac computer. I used the notation component of that software to write my first opera, as well as all my music in the 1990s, including 4 symphonies and three concertos. I innovated a number of specialized workarounds to get the notation I needed. When Apple bought Logic Audio in 2002, the very first thing they did was to focus on audio production; the notation component became stagnant. Where Logic had become too limited in its possibilities, Finale software was aggravating in the workflow and interface design. All that changed with Sibelius.
As soon as I adopted Sibelius, writing music became almost as easy to get from the imagination to the music paper as in the past with pencil on paper. Sibelius offered me, as a professional composer, the means to create professional materials with ease, yet with sophistication and depth. The software developers clearly understand the needs of professional composers and publishers and, significantly, designed their software so that both composers and publishers could concentrate on their respective tasks with the software. Sibelius allows for the best workflow, version management, score development, intelligent layout, professional delivery of parts to orchestras with easy replacement of parts when changes are made during rehearsals, incredible plugin architecture and community of developers who have contributed much-loved additions to Sibelius (notably Bob Zawalich).
But it's not just the software alone that I admire and that keeps me using it as the principal tool for music writing. The presence of Daniel Spreadbury and other experts on the Sibelius Forum, who were always there to help with issues that would arise with this very complex software, kept my faith and kept me upgrading. When an issue was a serious one, Daniel would always respond in a timely fashion with depth of knowledge and customer service that was astonishing in content and excellence.
Due to this combination of excellence in programming and customer support, I have been a vocal advocate of Sibelius software since I began using it. Sibelius is the core software that enables me to maintain the highest standards of excellence in my own professional work as a composer.
When AVID attacks the very foundation of Sibelius software success - the combination of excellent programming and stellar customer support - I feel as though AVID is attacking my profession.
I urge the AVID Board of Directors to consider the serious negative impact your decisions around firing the staff at Finsbury Park will have on thousands of professional lives, the customers of your software. I am not alone in informing you that my own faith in Sibelius software disappears with the staff who have been let go. I will no longer be able to recommend Sibelius software to my friends and colleagues. I will not purchase any more upgrades because I do not believe that your decision will result in the coherent continued development of Sibelius.
To maintain any position of respect in the field of professional music, AVID would do well to consider the impact of their decisions on the professions that they service with their products. As a corporate strategy, I can see no financial long-term success resulting from the current plan with regard to Sibelius software. If anything, your blatant disregard for an entire professional sector cannot bode well for your repectability in other sectors. The music producers in Hollywood will not be happy with the grumblings of the composers and arrangers coming in to a recording session with ProTools.
There are only two courses of action that would restore my dedication to Sibelius software:
1] reinstate the design and support team in the UK;
2] sell the software back to the Finn brothers or, failing that, to consider any public offer that serves the interests of music in art and education, and to do so before the development team have all gone to other employment.
Sincerely yours,
John Oliver, D. Mus.
past Composer-in-Residence: Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Windsor Canadian Music Festival, Music in the Morning.
http://www.johnolivermusic.com
Sunday, September 11, 2011
John Oliver explains the spirit behind his 9/11 composition Give Us Peace.
After reading this Nation of Change article, I felt a need to explain the reasoning behind my own 9/11 musical composition.
I just want to clarify, for those who may not know, that the CBC commissioned a piece from me to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It is called "Give Us Peace." It is a work composed entirely of sampled and prerecorded sounds (an electroacoustic work). I created the work to memorialize those who lost their lives on that day. But I believed that these attacks were a criminal act and should be investigated. I never believed that these events could justify the declaration by the United States of war against any country. As I began to read about the science behind what happened at the World Trade Center, I became suspicious of the entire event. Nothing to date has convinced me that the World Trade Center buildings fell because they were hit by aircraft. Building 7 was not hit by any aircraft at all, but it fell to the ground in a controlled demolition on that day. So for those who disapprove of any work of art that considers anything to do with 9/11 and are suspicious of the motivation of the creators of such work, I simply want to clarify that my creation of the musical composition "Give Us Peace" was a genuine attempt to comfort those who feel injured in body or spirit by the events of that day.
You can listen to an excerpt from the piece here. Some may find the opening of the piece disturbing. (An association with Edvard Munch's panting The Scream is appropriate.) I certainly found the events themselves disturbing, as I did most of the ideas and actions that emerged in United States foreign policy during the year after the events.
I just want to clarify, for those who may not know, that the CBC commissioned a piece from me to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It is called "Give Us Peace." It is a work composed entirely of sampled and prerecorded sounds (an electroacoustic work). I created the work to memorialize those who lost their lives on that day. But I believed that these attacks were a criminal act and should be investigated. I never believed that these events could justify the declaration by the United States of war against any country. As I began to read about the science behind what happened at the World Trade Center, I became suspicious of the entire event. Nothing to date has convinced me that the World Trade Center buildings fell because they were hit by aircraft. Building 7 was not hit by any aircraft at all, but it fell to the ground in a controlled demolition on that day. So for those who disapprove of any work of art that considers anything to do with 9/11 and are suspicious of the motivation of the creators of such work, I simply want to clarify that my creation of the musical composition "Give Us Peace" was a genuine attempt to comfort those who feel injured in body or spirit by the events of that day.
You can listen to an excerpt from the piece here. Some may find the opening of the piece disturbing. (An association with Edvard Munch's panting The Scream is appropriate.) I certainly found the events themselves disturbing, as I did most of the ideas and actions that emerged in United States foreign policy during the year after the events.
Friday, April 29, 2011
BP daily dose
British monarchy
petroleum
Iraqi cradle
oil
Tar nicotine
sands
Fish net
oil
Take all
daily
© Copyright 2010 John Oliver
petroleum
Iraqi cradle
oil
Tar nicotine
sands
Fish net
oil
Take all
daily
© Copyright 2010 John Oliver
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Pumpin Oil premiere set for this Friday February 25th in Long Island City
What a crazy world! We're all so connected through computers these days. In October 2009 I received an email message from an ensemble whose email list I had signed onto that said:
Dear Friend,
We are thingNY, a collective of composer-instrumentalists based in New York City. On Saturday, December 19, 2009, we will be presenting a concert called SPAM, based on responses we get to this very email. Congratulations! If you're reading this email, you've been selected to write us some music - even if you've never written music before. It could be a few words, a notated score, a set of instructions, a drawing, a video of your dog, your favorite photo of Leonard Nimoy, or anything else you can imagine. It could even be something that takes a second or two to perform.
I thought "that's a cool idea" and promptly forgot about it. Then a reminder message came two days before the deadline and I just sat down and created CLIMATE CHANGE in a matter of 6 hours. And sure enough, thingNY selected and performed the piece. (It went on to be performed again by thingNY, and more recently by the Swedish group ARS NOVA.)
So when the second call came for SPAM V. 2.0, I just sat down and created another theatrical piece, this time called PUMPIN' OIL. You can imagine what that's about…
Creative minds the world over are coming up with great events and find unique ways of generating new music and programming. Kudos to thingNY for inspiring composers of all ages from around the world to contribute to this cabaret-style event.
Dear Friend,
We are thingNY, a collective of composer-instrumentalists based in New York City. On Saturday, December 19, 2009, we will be presenting a concert called SPAM, based on responses we get to this very email. Congratulations! If you're reading this email, you've been selected to write us some music - even if you've never written music before. It could be a few words, a notated score, a set of instructions, a drawing, a video of your dog, your favorite photo of Leonard Nimoy, or anything else you can imagine. It could even be something that takes a second or two to perform.
I thought "that's a cool idea" and promptly forgot about it. Then a reminder message came two days before the deadline and I just sat down and created CLIMATE CHANGE in a matter of 6 hours. And sure enough, thingNY selected and performed the piece. (It went on to be performed again by thingNY, and more recently by the Swedish group ARS NOVA.)
So when the second call came for SPAM V. 2.0, I just sat down and created another theatrical piece, this time called PUMPIN' OIL. You can imagine what that's about…
Creative minds the world over are coming up with great events and find unique ways of generating new music and programming. Kudos to thingNY for inspiring composers of all ages from around the world to contribute to this cabaret-style event.
|
Monday, January 17, 2011
B.C. Chinese Music Ensemble & Nu:BC Collective announce Chinese and Canadian commissions
I'm involved in this great cultural collaboration between China and Canada. Here's the press release announcing the project…
Arts Partners in Creative Development
~~~ FUTURE HERITAGE / INTERCULTURAL INNOVATIONS ~~~
Workshops / Concert
B.C. Chinese Music Ensemble / Nu:BC Collective
The BC Chinese Music Association (BCCMA) and B.C. Chinese Ensemble (BCCME) in partnership with Nu:BC Collective and the UBC School of Music were awarded an Arts Partners In Creative Development Project < Future Heritage : Intercultural Innovations > . The BCCME / Nu:BC ensemble combines 16 of Canada’s most talented Chinese and new music performers, and will present 3 workshops and a gala concert with world premieres of newly commissioned works by six (6) exceptional composers. Three (3) Canadian and three (3) Chinese composers explore new styles of Chinese and Western musical culture in one ensemble conducted by Ray Zhuo.
The collaboration with Canadian / Chinese composers creates a unique and innovative instrumental style reflecting contemporary Canadian culture while the combination of the BCCME and NU:BC demonstrates the equality of the two musical cultures. The composers from China : Jian-Ping Tang of Central Conservatory of Music, Ning Wang of China Conservatory of Music, Cheng-Long Zhuo of the Shanghai Musicians Association will bring to Vancouver an enormous amount of exposure to the top echelons of Chinese musical life. Their musical styles combine abstract and highly expressive emotions, built solidly on Chinese classical / traditional music skills. Simultaneously the three renowned Canadian composers : Dorothy Chang of UBC, John Oliver and Owen Underhill of SFU share their talent and imagination joining Western contemporary with Chinese musical essence.
The theme of “ Succession , Innovation , Amalgamation , Delimitation and Artistic Conception ” celebrates the skill, knowledge and ability to communicate between cultures. Through listening to each other at the deepest artistic levels and showcasing the artistic equality of the performers, instruments and musical thoughts, we are laying the foundations for a new level of musical and intercultural innovation. The whole process from workshop to performance will be documented and edited into a bilingual DVD for educational purposes and will be deposited into music libraries across Canada and China. Come and take part in creating the musical heritage of the future !
PROGRAM
Colorful Forest : Cheng-Long Zhuo / Ensemble
Slender Gold : Owen Underhill / Ensemble
Tsu-ur Song : Ning Wang / cello, bass, suona, dizi - Concerto Grosso
Four Gardens : Dorothy Chang / Ensemble
Goddess of Luo River : Jian-Ping Tang / flute/zheng - Double Concerto
The Bridge : John Oliver / viola, sanxian, percussion - Triple Concerto
WORKSHOPS
Feb 15-16 , 2011 2:00-4:30 pm Feb 17 , 2011 1:30-4:00 pm :
3 workshops with all six composers in attendance
Gessler Hall - UBC School of Music and open for UBC music students
CONCERT
Date : Feb 18, 2011 Friday 8:00 pm
Place : Roy Barnett Recital Hall, UBC School of Music
Tickets : $30 / $20 *( * senior/student )
Ticket information : Tel. 604-327-8807 , E-mail : bccma@rogers.net , web : www.bccma.net
Media Contact : Mark Armanini, Tel. 604-739-8047, E-mail : armanini@interchange.ubc.ca
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Gypsy Chronicles for the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra
I just finished a new work for the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra. This orchestra that mixes instruments of the western orchestra with instruments from all over the world presents a unique challenge. Their musicians have different skill sets: some read music with great fluency, while others learn music mainly by ear. Some who read music are faster with their signs from their Chinese, Indian or other traditions using letters, numbers, and lines, rather than the notes and rhythmic notation we're used to in western music. It all makes for a great challenge to write music that the whole band can play.
My greatest challenge was to create an opening that everyone in the band could get their musical mind around, and to celebrate the great project of intercultural music making. To this end, I imagined myself on the road to Byzantium, or Constantinople, or Istanbul (take your pick): somewhere on the Silk Road, with a bunch of gypsies, who originate from Allah/God/Vishnu knows where. And they are all playing their instruments together. So the first movement (of four) is somewhat traditional in sound, evocative of some sort of imagined Persian music. The Persian 17-note mode – the tuning of the "tar" (triple-coursed gourd-resonating guitar from Iran), one of the 'guitars' in the band – is at the core of the sound of this music. (Ah yes, the sound of the music, based on this scale and an altered Chahargah mode, has wonderful resonant properties that merit a completely separate entry…) This first movement is infused with the unison melodic practice of the Middle East, yet it is mysteriously striving to compose itself, perhaps suggesting echoes of the early melodic conversions of Claude Vivier and Stockhausen, yet I unabashedly veer toward the Troubadours. All great fun to prepare you for the small monuments of the second and third movements, about which I'll say absolutely nothing – don't want to spoil the party. And in closing, the music returns to dance.
My propensity for rhythmic drive, precision, and variety make my music challenging to play. This is appropriate since the concert is all about rhythm. It's titled "Rising Beat on the Infinite Horizon" and takes place on November 28, at The Cultch featuring a 22-member orchestra with 6 guest percussionists. There is a great deal of playfulness in this piece and lots of fun with solos on Arabian oud, Persian tar and santur, frame drum, tabla, erhu, and western chamber orchestra. I hope to see you there.
EVENT DETAILS:
"Rising Beat on the Infinite Horizon"
at The Cultch
1895 Venables St, Vancouver, BC, CA
November 28, 2010, 8 pm
My greatest challenge was to create an opening that everyone in the band could get their musical mind around, and to celebrate the great project of intercultural music making. To this end, I imagined myself on the road to Byzantium, or Constantinople, or Istanbul (take your pick): somewhere on the Silk Road, with a bunch of gypsies, who originate from Allah/God/Vishnu knows where. And they are all playing their instruments together. So the first movement (of four) is somewhat traditional in sound, evocative of some sort of imagined Persian music. The Persian 17-note mode – the tuning of the "tar" (triple-coursed gourd-resonating guitar from Iran), one of the 'guitars' in the band – is at the core of the sound of this music. (Ah yes, the sound of the music, based on this scale and an altered Chahargah mode, has wonderful resonant properties that merit a completely separate entry…) This first movement is infused with the unison melodic practice of the Middle East, yet it is mysteriously striving to compose itself, perhaps suggesting echoes of the early melodic conversions of Claude Vivier and Stockhausen, yet I unabashedly veer toward the Troubadours. All great fun to prepare you for the small monuments of the second and third movements, about which I'll say absolutely nothing – don't want to spoil the party. And in closing, the music returns to dance.
My propensity for rhythmic drive, precision, and variety make my music challenging to play. This is appropriate since the concert is all about rhythm. It's titled "Rising Beat on the Infinite Horizon" and takes place on November 28, at The Cultch featuring a 22-member orchestra with 6 guest percussionists. There is a great deal of playfulness in this piece and lots of fun with solos on Arabian oud, Persian tar and santur, frame drum, tabla, erhu, and western chamber orchestra. I hope to see you there.
EVENT DETAILS:
"Rising Beat on the Infinite Horizon"
at The Cultch
1895 Venables St, Vancouver, BC, CA
November 28, 2010, 8 pm
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Contemplating Motion: a proportional score
On June 9, the Turning Point Ensemble hosted a concert in North Vancouver at which they premiered dozens of new compositions completed by young composers from Seycove Secondary School and Sherwood Park Elementary School. This is part of their "Creating Composers: Nurturing Life-long Musical Expression Through Composition" program, a partnership with Vancouver-area schools that provides opportunities for children to express themselves through composition. Each year, the TPE partners young composers with professional composers to mentor their aspirations and work, and they provide a series of workshops with the musicians of the ensemble to teach effective writing techniques.
This year, they commissioned a short work from me to include on the concert. The professional challenge I faced was to create a work that could be rehearsed and successfully performed with only one short rehearsal. The educational challenge before me was to create a work that displayed new approaches to composition with which the young composers would be less familiar, and to demonstrate how a piece can be conceived of with very simple means and be developed within the constraints of the initial idea. The result was Contemplating Motion for violin, cello, trombone, clarinet, and harp.
I found myself returning to deep-listening-based composition and proportional notation. This manner of scoring music focusses the musicians' attention on the evolving sounds they are making: on the sonic-energy relationship of their own sounds to the sounds that came before and that will come next. In the case of my own score, all of the notes are written out, and there are specific durations that need to be counted, but there is flexibility in the actual timing that each musician chooses in the execution of their notes, except later when a rhythm emerges. You can download the first two pages of the score here.
As you will see from the beginning of the musical score, the music explores the resonance of a low C. Movement is created by "timbral transformation," that is, selective focus on various parts of the spectrum (or overtone series) of the note C. There are only two "chords" in the piece, when the resonance focus shifts to the note D. So there is no traditional harmony or melody in the music, only the exploration of sound. (The music student may notice that a secondary harmonic area is explored in the harp part at the tritone, where the major 3rd and dominant 7th are "common tones" in equal temperament; here the natural and tempered versions of the notes collide. See the second to last bar in the score. Buy the score here.)
When I presented the finished score to the high school class, most were perplexed at what I had created and wondered how to play such music. Many were just putting together their first chord progressions, improvising at their instruments with the familiar materials of music. Some had "sound idea" concepts that were more abstract. But I sensed that proportional notation was entirely new. I did my best to explain how all sound is motion, and that "contemplating motion" could refer not only to rhythm, but to "harmony" – or in my case "resonance" – as well. Certainly a quantum leap for many. To Rob McLeod's credit (their music teacher and leader of the collaboration with TPE), they were already exposed to the concepts through brief encounters of the scores John Cage, and, I sensed, discussions of sound object and musique concrete, though I didn't get a sense that the scores of Penderecki, Lutoslawski, Boulez and Stockhausen had been explored in any depth. But these kids were just getting started!
Working with the Turning Point Ensemble on this music was very rewarding. I found it an interesting exercise to work under the same conditions as the school-aged composers. Most rewarding for me though, was to hear, at the concert, a piece that had clearly been conceived of using my piece as a model. Sure enough, the composer, whom I had not previously met (i.e. she was not one of the students I had tutored), came to me after the dress rehearsal and thanked me for my presentation, saying that, once she saw my score and heard me talk about it, she saw "a way to write down my own piece."
The Turning Point Ensemble and the North Vancouver School District have together created an incredibly rich cultural program for young people in this program, connecting creativity, self-expression, self-confidence, and the thirst for knowledge and new experience in a way that raises a generation of societal leaders. The flexibility of mind and of personality that this kind of program engenders is of great benefit to society, regardless of the final role that any of these young people may play in our society. If we want a society of innovators and high-functioning people, then this sort of program should not only be supported in our public schools, but be considered an essential offering for the high-functioning and/or highly-motivated young person. Instead, the North Vancouver School District has cancelled the program for this coming year, citing lack of funds.
Please consider writing a letter to John Lewis, the "Superintendent of Schools and CEO" for the North Vancouver School District.
This year, they commissioned a short work from me to include on the concert. The professional challenge I faced was to create a work that could be rehearsed and successfully performed with only one short rehearsal. The educational challenge before me was to create a work that displayed new approaches to composition with which the young composers would be less familiar, and to demonstrate how a piece can be conceived of with very simple means and be developed within the constraints of the initial idea. The result was Contemplating Motion for violin, cello, trombone, clarinet, and harp.
I found myself returning to deep-listening-based composition and proportional notation. This manner of scoring music focusses the musicians' attention on the evolving sounds they are making: on the sonic-energy relationship of their own sounds to the sounds that came before and that will come next. In the case of my own score, all of the notes are written out, and there are specific durations that need to be counted, but there is flexibility in the actual timing that each musician chooses in the execution of their notes, except later when a rhythm emerges. You can download the first two pages of the score here.
As you will see from the beginning of the musical score, the music explores the resonance of a low C. Movement is created by "timbral transformation," that is, selective focus on various parts of the spectrum (or overtone series) of the note C. There are only two "chords" in the piece, when the resonance focus shifts to the note D. So there is no traditional harmony or melody in the music, only the exploration of sound. (The music student may notice that a secondary harmonic area is explored in the harp part at the tritone, where the major 3rd and dominant 7th are "common tones" in equal temperament; here the natural and tempered versions of the notes collide. See the second to last bar in the score. Buy the score here.)
When I presented the finished score to the high school class, most were perplexed at what I had created and wondered how to play such music. Many were just putting together their first chord progressions, improvising at their instruments with the familiar materials of music. Some had "sound idea" concepts that were more abstract. But I sensed that proportional notation was entirely new. I did my best to explain how all sound is motion, and that "contemplating motion" could refer not only to rhythm, but to "harmony" – or in my case "resonance" – as well. Certainly a quantum leap for many. To Rob McLeod's credit (their music teacher and leader of the collaboration with TPE), they were already exposed to the concepts through brief encounters of the scores John Cage, and, I sensed, discussions of sound object and musique concrete, though I didn't get a sense that the scores of Penderecki, Lutoslawski, Boulez and Stockhausen had been explored in any depth. But these kids were just getting started!
Working with the Turning Point Ensemble on this music was very rewarding. I found it an interesting exercise to work under the same conditions as the school-aged composers. Most rewarding for me though, was to hear, at the concert, a piece that had clearly been conceived of using my piece as a model. Sure enough, the composer, whom I had not previously met (i.e. she was not one of the students I had tutored), came to me after the dress rehearsal and thanked me for my presentation, saying that, once she saw my score and heard me talk about it, she saw "a way to write down my own piece."
The Turning Point Ensemble and the North Vancouver School District have together created an incredibly rich cultural program for young people in this program, connecting creativity, self-expression, self-confidence, and the thirst for knowledge and new experience in a way that raises a generation of societal leaders. The flexibility of mind and of personality that this kind of program engenders is of great benefit to society, regardless of the final role that any of these young people may play in our society. If we want a society of innovators and high-functioning people, then this sort of program should not only be supported in our public schools, but be considered an essential offering for the high-functioning and/or highly-motivated young person. Instead, the North Vancouver School District has cancelled the program for this coming year, citing lack of funds.
Please consider writing a letter to John Lewis, the "Superintendent of Schools and CEO" for the North Vancouver School District.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Five-ring Concerto recordings (excerpts) now available
I listened to the recording of the first performance of my Five-ring Concerto last night. Nice recording by Andrew Smith of Vancouver Live Sound captured the excitement of the concert.
You can hear the recordings here:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Oliver/17803448646
Look down the left column for "My Band"
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/johnolivermusic
Reverbnation: http://reverbnation.com/johnolivermusic
CTV was the "official broadcaster" of the Olympics and, as far as I know, did not record any concerts other than those that were part of the official ceremonies. CBC bid for the broadcast rights and lost. CBC is a broadcaster with vast experience recording and broadcasting to both TV and radio, whereas CTV is a television network only. As a consequence, the Cultural Olympiad went essentially unnoticed and unreported by CTV. I watched the Olympics extensively and did not see a single news cast that included reporting about the Cultural Olympiad.
It seems inconsistent and a lost opportunity that the BC and federal governments would invest in all of these cultural activities for the Olympics, and then sit on their hands when these investments do not get properly disseminated by the chosen broadcaster. The Olympics was the moment to show the world the great wealth of culture we offer, not only the famous entertainers at the opening and closing ceremonies, but throughout the entire society. It is in the public interest for the governments of BC and Canada to ensure that such an investment doesn't go to waste. Surely if private enterprise can't do the job properly, then a publicly-accountable entity (like the CBC) should be charged with making our country proud by broadcasting the numerous excellent events of the Cultural Olympiad. There's no question that CTV does sports well, but it makes me wonder what were the criteria for the bid to be the official broadcaster. If the bid criteria excluded a requirement to broadcast the Cultural Olympiad, then we can guess what members of the Olympic Organizing Committee and VANOC actually think about this aspect of the games.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
"Paris - Amsterdam : 512" a popular success in Amiens FRANCE
I just received an email from the organizer of the event for 500 saxophones in Amiens, FRANCE. My composition Paris - Amsterdam : 512 was a great hit with the public. Here's what Serge Bertocchi had to say:
Merci 1000 fois pour ta pièce , qui fut l'un des beaux moments de notre Journée !!
Les participants, petits et grands, comme le public ont accueilli ta pièce avec enthousiasme !
Serge
To learn more about the wonderful saxophonist Serge Bertocchi, please visit his myspace page.
I will be posting some images and sounds once I receive them.
UPDATE: Here is a link to the opening of the piece, a recording made by a member of the audience on a portable device.
Merci 1000 fois pour ta pièce , qui fut l'un des beaux moments de notre Journée !!
Les participants, petits et grands, comme le public ont accueilli ta pièce avec enthousiasme !
Serge
To learn more about the wonderful saxophonist Serge Bertocchi, please visit his myspace page.
I will be posting some images and sounds once I receive them.
UPDATE: Here is a link to the opening of the piece, a recording made by a member of the audience on a portable device.
Monday, May 24, 2010
2010 ICMC Red Edition 360 degrees of 60x60: 6 different mixes of 60 works, 60 composers, 60 seconds each
BACKGROUND
60x60 contains 60 works from 60 different composers. Each composition is 60
seconds (or less) in duration sequenced together to create a one hour
performance. Highlighting the work of a great many composers, 60x60
testifies to the vibrancy of contemporary composition by presenting the
diverse array of styles, aesthetics and techniques being used today.
Debuting in New York City November 2003, 60x60 started as an acousmatic
"tape" concert with its 60 short electronic works synchronized with an
analog clock to mark the passage of each minute. since then 60x60 has
received thousands of audio submissions from more than 50 countries around
the world, produced radio shows, collaborated with multimedia (including
dance, video, sculpture, and photography) and released several audio albums
on CD.
360
360 degrees of 60x60 was created for the 2010 ICMC RED Edition
(International Computer Music Conference) 360 one minute pieces were
selected to create 6 one hour mixes. The 6 different mixes are all named a
different shade of red to honor the RED edition of ICMC: Burgundy mix,
Crimson mix, Magenta mix, Sanguine mix, Scarlet mix, and Vermilion mix.
360 composers were selected from over 40 different countries. Composers
ranged from different aesthetics, styles, ethnicity, culture, age, gender
and career stage. 60x60 is specifically designed to represent a broad
cross-section of acousmatic music being created throughout the world today.
In the spirit of worldwide collaboration and exposure in addition to
installation performance of the 360 degrees of 60x60 at the International
Computer Music Conference, “remote” concerts of the 6 mixes will take place
in more than 100 venues throughout the world over the next year. “360
degrees of 60x60, 60 works, 60 seconds long; to and from all around the
world.”
At the conference all 6 mixes will be performed as a 6 hour installation
each day of the conference.
June 1st and June 2nd from 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM 360 degrees of 60x60
installation will take place at the EMF (Electronic Music Foundation) 307
7th Avenue Suite 1402 (between 27th and 28th Street) New York City, NY 10001
June 3rd, June 4th and June 5th from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM 360 degrees of
60x60 installation will take place at the Wang Center Chapel Stony Brook
University Stony Brook, New York 11794
The mixes will be performed in alphabetical order: Burgundy, Crimson, Magenta,
Sanguine, Scarlet mix, and Vermilion.
The 360 composers included in 360 degrees of 60x60 are:
360 degrees of 60x60 (Burgundy Mix)
Emerson Aagaard, Robert Allaire, Tatjana Bahme-Mehner, David Berlin, Kari
Besharse, John Bilotta, Rich Bitting, Colin Black, Greg Bryant, Paul
Burnell, Thomas Ciufo, Andrew Dolphin, Thomas Donahue, Phil Edelstein,
Brendan Faegre, Amanda Feery, Brian Fending, Ken Field, Judy Franklin, Terry
Gambarotto, John Gibson, Akiko Hatakeyama, Martin Herraiz, Joel Hickman,
Holland Hopson, Nick Hwang, Gretchen Jude, Timo Kahlen, Michiko Kawagoe,
Christopher Keyes, Shu-Fang Ko, Robert Lepre, Paul Lombardi, Fernando
Lopez-Lezcano, Hayley McCamey, Brian McGeever, Katie McMurran, Alexander
Mouton, Ken Paoli, Aki Pasoulas, Joseph Pehrson, Nora Ponte, Gene Pritsker,
Giuseppe Rapisarda, Robert Ratcliffe, Tim Reed, Prent Rodgers, Eric
Schwartz, Kazuaki Shiota, bob siebert, Diana Simpson Salazar, John Thompson,
Dan Tramte, Julian Villegas, Zina von Bozzay, Randall West, Marcus Wrango,
Hsi Yang, Zachary Young, and Josh Zaslow
360 degrees of 60x60 (Crimson Mix)
Sean Archibald, Richard Arnest, Lydia Ayers, Christopher Bailey, Michael
Baldwin, Zachary Todd Barr, Brian Belet, Daniel Blinkhorn, James Brody,
Warren Burt, Ede Cameron, Foster Clark, Cindy Cox, Mike Crain, Josh Crowe,
Pierre Desmarais, Francis Dhomont, Marco Dibeltulu, Matthew Ellis, Robert
Fleisher, Doug Geers, Michael Gogins, David Gordon, Kraig Grady, Esin
Gunduz, Tomer Harari, Jaclyn Heyen, Ryan Homsey, Chuckk Hubbard, Aaron
Krister Johnson, duck juggler, Tova Kardonne, Elizabeth Joan Kelly, Howard
Kenty, Laura Kramer, Petri Kuljuntausta, Chris Mann, Phil Mantione, David
Morneau, Peter Mottram, Chiharu Mukaiyama, Milica Paranosic, Christopher
Preissing, Jeffrey Rabena, Dean Rosenthal, Bettie Ross, Edward Ruchalski,
Iván Sánchez, Anne van Schothorst, Wolf D. Schreiber, Anthony St.Pierre,
Heather Stebbins, Paul Tucker, Vittorio Vella, Clemens von Reusner, Rodney
Waschka, Marcel Wierckx, and Tom Williams
360 degrees of 60x60 (Magenta Mix)
Liana Alexandra, Taylor Ashley, Jeremy Baguyos, Per Bloland, James Bohn,
Susan Brewster, Ann Cantelow, Da Jeong Choi, Stavros Choplaros, David
Claman, Douglas Cohen, Amanda Cole, J.C. Combs, Ron Coulter, Lucio E.
Cuellar, Mark Eden, Robert Fanelli, Jonas Foerster, Ulf Grahn, Melissa Grey,
Richard Hall, Anthony Hood, Bernard Hughes, Marie Incontrera, David Jaggard,
Travis Johns, Tuan Hung Le, Cyprian Li, Brian Lindgren, Sylvi MacCormac, Eli
McCartney, David Mooney, Serban Nichifor, Charles Nichols, Robert Payne,
Andrian Pertout, Guillermo Pozzati, Bob Rocco, Paul Russell, Antti Saario,
jacky schreiber, Daniel Sedgwick, David Ben Shannon, Adam Sovkoplas, Adam
Stansbie, Ken Steen, Christiane Strothmann, Elke Swoboda, Agnes Szelag, Aart
Uunivers, Jeremy Van Buskirk, Victor Villarreal, John Villec, Patricia
Walsh, Jane Wang, Dan Weymouth, Brent Wilcox, Ozan Yarman, Ph.D., Gregory
Yasinitsky, and Ivan Zavada,
360 degrees of 60x60 (Sanguine Mix)
Paul Adriaenssens, Anthony Arlotta, Rebecca Ashe, Greg Bartholomew, Dennis
Bathory-Kitsz, Jay Batzner, Cameron Bobro, Jason Bolte, benjamin Boone, Ian
Corbett, Andrew Davis, Daniel Dominguez Teruel, David Drexler, Enrico
Francioni, Kenneth Froelich, Iris Garrelfs, Philippe-Aubert Gauthier, Monroe
Golden, Daniel Griffing, David Hahn, Jack Harris, Andy Hasenpflug, Luke
Jennings, Lynn Job, Jiri Kaderabek, Bevin Kelley, Kevin Kissinger, Juraj
Kojs, HyeKyung Lee, Stephen Lias, Patrick Liddell, John Link, Tom Lopez,
Craig Marks, Gene Marlow, John Maycraft, Mike McFerron, Scott McGregor -
Moore, David McIntire, Tricia Minty, Steve Moshier, Alon Nechushtan, Julia
Norton, Doug Opel, Maggi Payne, Michael Pounds, Margaret Schedel, Les Scott,
Alan Shockley, Mary Simoni, Steven Snowden, Michael Spicer, Laurie Spiegel,
Stephen Stanfield, Madjid Tahriri, Eldad Tsabary, Doug Van Nort, Giovanni
Varrica, Rob Voisey, and Jon Weinel
360 degrees of 60x60 (Scarlet Mix)
Aaron Acosta, Monty Adkins, John Akins, Jacob Alford, Shani Aviram, Mark
Ballora, John Biggs, Adrian Borza, George Brunner, Michael Casey,
Christopher Chandler, Jen-Kuang Chang, Hsin-Li Chen, Ming ying Chen, Michael
Takezo Chinen, HEE YOUNG CHO, Lin Culbertson, elise cumberland, Mathew
Dalgleish, Jared Davison, Moritz Eggert, Travis Elrott, Juan Escudero, Thea
Fahardian, Jeff Fairbanks, Michael Farley, Brent Ferguson, Thomas Gerwin,
William 'Kwesi' Grant-Acquah, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Bruce Hamilton,
Christopher Haworth, Min Eui Hong, Sair Sinan Kestelli, Anton Killin, Nicole
Kim, Yota Kobayashi, Yu-Ping Lin, Zachary Lovitch, Christian McLeer, Marty
Meinerz, Valerio Murat, Lee Noyes, James O'Callaghan, Rui Ogawa, David
Parfit, Scott Peterson, Momilani Ramstrum, Tony Saunders, Patrick Scott,
Daniel Steffey, Joyce Wai-chung Tang, Clay Taylor, En-Ning Tsai, Corinne
Tuney, Florian Vitez, Shu-Cheng Wu, Azumi Yokomizo, Sabrina Peña Young, and
Mark Zaki
360 degrees of 60x60 (Vermilion Mix)
Kevin Austin, Kwesi Awotwi, Daryn Bond, Arnold Brooks, Lou Bunk, Mark
Corwin, Mitch Curtis, Ricardo Dal Farra, Douglas DaSilva, Thomas Dempster,
Hrayr Eulmessekian, Mary Beth Farmer, Yves Gigon, Josh Goldman, Mark
Hannesson, Andrew Heathwaite, Ron Herrema, GuangJie Ho, Daniel Houglum,
Stephen Howden, Ioannis Kalantzis, Ioannis Kourtis, David Krajic, Fernando
Leppe, David Litke, Guillaume Loizillon, Pasquale Mainolfi, Svetlana Maras,
John Maters, Alexandre Matheson, Diana McIntosh, Jeffrey Mettlewsky, Bonnie
Miksch, Rosemary Mountain, Steven Naylor, David Ogborn, John Oliver, Alex
Olsen, Michael Olson, Juan Pablo Medina, Samuel Pellman, Kala Pierson,
Michael Pionsonneault, Grant Pittman, Ambrose Pottie, David Power, Fabian
Racca, Gilberto Rosa, Stephen Schedra, Jorge Sosa, Julian Stein, Penko
Stoitschev, Steel Stylianou, Kotoka Suzuki, Roberto Terelle, Barry Truax,
Graeme Truslove, Roxanne Turcotte, Victor Valentim, Michael Weinstein, and
Hildegard Westerkamp
60x60 contains 60 works from 60 different composers. Each composition is 60
seconds (or less) in duration sequenced together to create a one hour
performance. Highlighting the work of a great many composers, 60x60
testifies to the vibrancy of contemporary composition by presenting the
diverse array of styles, aesthetics and techniques being used today.
Debuting in New York City November 2003, 60x60 started as an acousmatic
"tape" concert with its 60 short electronic works synchronized with an
analog clock to mark the passage of each minute. since then 60x60 has
received thousands of audio submissions from more than 50 countries around
the world, produced radio shows, collaborated with multimedia (including
dance, video, sculpture, and photography) and released several audio albums
on CD.
360
360 degrees of 60x60 was created for the 2010 ICMC RED Edition
(International Computer Music Conference) 360 one minute pieces were
selected to create 6 one hour mixes. The 6 different mixes are all named a
different shade of red to honor the RED edition of ICMC: Burgundy mix,
Crimson mix, Magenta mix, Sanguine mix, Scarlet mix, and Vermilion mix.
360 composers were selected from over 40 different countries. Composers
ranged from different aesthetics, styles, ethnicity, culture, age, gender
and career stage. 60x60 is specifically designed to represent a broad
cross-section of acousmatic music being created throughout the world today.
In the spirit of worldwide collaboration and exposure in addition to
installation performance of the 360 degrees of 60x60 at the International
Computer Music Conference, “remote” concerts of the 6 mixes will take place
in more than 100 venues throughout the world over the next year. “360
degrees of 60x60, 60 works, 60 seconds long; to and from all around the
world.”
At the conference all 6 mixes will be performed as a 6 hour installation
each day of the conference.
June 1st and June 2nd from 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM 360 degrees of 60x60
installation will take place at the EMF (Electronic Music Foundation) 307
7th Avenue Suite 1402 (between 27th and 28th Street) New York City, NY 10001
June 3rd, June 4th and June 5th from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM 360 degrees of
60x60 installation will take place at the Wang Center Chapel Stony Brook
University Stony Brook, New York 11794
The mixes will be performed in alphabetical order: Burgundy, Crimson, Magenta,
Sanguine, Scarlet mix, and Vermilion.
The 360 composers included in 360 degrees of 60x60 are:
360 degrees of 60x60 (Burgundy Mix)
Emerson Aagaard, Robert Allaire, Tatjana Bahme-Mehner, David Berlin, Kari
Besharse, John Bilotta, Rich Bitting, Colin Black, Greg Bryant, Paul
Burnell, Thomas Ciufo, Andrew Dolphin, Thomas Donahue, Phil Edelstein,
Brendan Faegre, Amanda Feery, Brian Fending, Ken Field, Judy Franklin, Terry
Gambarotto, John Gibson, Akiko Hatakeyama, Martin Herraiz, Joel Hickman,
Holland Hopson, Nick Hwang, Gretchen Jude, Timo Kahlen, Michiko Kawagoe,
Christopher Keyes, Shu-Fang Ko, Robert Lepre, Paul Lombardi, Fernando
Lopez-Lezcano, Hayley McCamey, Brian McGeever, Katie McMurran, Alexander
Mouton, Ken Paoli, Aki Pasoulas, Joseph Pehrson, Nora Ponte, Gene Pritsker,
Giuseppe Rapisarda, Robert Ratcliffe, Tim Reed, Prent Rodgers, Eric
Schwartz, Kazuaki Shiota, bob siebert, Diana Simpson Salazar, John Thompson,
Dan Tramte, Julian Villegas, Zina von Bozzay, Randall West, Marcus Wrango,
Hsi Yang, Zachary Young, and Josh Zaslow
360 degrees of 60x60 (Crimson Mix)
Sean Archibald, Richard Arnest, Lydia Ayers, Christopher Bailey, Michael
Baldwin, Zachary Todd Barr, Brian Belet, Daniel Blinkhorn, James Brody,
Warren Burt, Ede Cameron, Foster Clark, Cindy Cox, Mike Crain, Josh Crowe,
Pierre Desmarais, Francis Dhomont, Marco Dibeltulu, Matthew Ellis, Robert
Fleisher, Doug Geers, Michael Gogins, David Gordon, Kraig Grady, Esin
Gunduz, Tomer Harari, Jaclyn Heyen, Ryan Homsey, Chuckk Hubbard, Aaron
Krister Johnson, duck juggler, Tova Kardonne, Elizabeth Joan Kelly, Howard
Kenty, Laura Kramer, Petri Kuljuntausta, Chris Mann, Phil Mantione, David
Morneau, Peter Mottram, Chiharu Mukaiyama, Milica Paranosic, Christopher
Preissing, Jeffrey Rabena, Dean Rosenthal, Bettie Ross, Edward Ruchalski,
Iván Sánchez, Anne van Schothorst, Wolf D. Schreiber, Anthony St.Pierre,
Heather Stebbins, Paul Tucker, Vittorio Vella, Clemens von Reusner, Rodney
Waschka, Marcel Wierckx, and Tom Williams
360 degrees of 60x60 (Magenta Mix)
Liana Alexandra, Taylor Ashley, Jeremy Baguyos, Per Bloland, James Bohn,
Susan Brewster, Ann Cantelow, Da Jeong Choi, Stavros Choplaros, David
Claman, Douglas Cohen, Amanda Cole, J.C. Combs, Ron Coulter, Lucio E.
Cuellar, Mark Eden, Robert Fanelli, Jonas Foerster, Ulf Grahn, Melissa Grey,
Richard Hall, Anthony Hood, Bernard Hughes, Marie Incontrera, David Jaggard,
Travis Johns, Tuan Hung Le, Cyprian Li, Brian Lindgren, Sylvi MacCormac, Eli
McCartney, David Mooney, Serban Nichifor, Charles Nichols, Robert Payne,
Andrian Pertout, Guillermo Pozzati, Bob Rocco, Paul Russell, Antti Saario,
jacky schreiber, Daniel Sedgwick, David Ben Shannon, Adam Sovkoplas, Adam
Stansbie, Ken Steen, Christiane Strothmann, Elke Swoboda, Agnes Szelag, Aart
Uunivers, Jeremy Van Buskirk, Victor Villarreal, John Villec, Patricia
Walsh, Jane Wang, Dan Weymouth, Brent Wilcox, Ozan Yarman, Ph.D., Gregory
Yasinitsky, and Ivan Zavada,
360 degrees of 60x60 (Sanguine Mix)
Paul Adriaenssens, Anthony Arlotta, Rebecca Ashe, Greg Bartholomew, Dennis
Bathory-Kitsz, Jay Batzner, Cameron Bobro, Jason Bolte, benjamin Boone, Ian
Corbett, Andrew Davis, Daniel Dominguez Teruel, David Drexler, Enrico
Francioni, Kenneth Froelich, Iris Garrelfs, Philippe-Aubert Gauthier, Monroe
Golden, Daniel Griffing, David Hahn, Jack Harris, Andy Hasenpflug, Luke
Jennings, Lynn Job, Jiri Kaderabek, Bevin Kelley, Kevin Kissinger, Juraj
Kojs, HyeKyung Lee, Stephen Lias, Patrick Liddell, John Link, Tom Lopez,
Craig Marks, Gene Marlow, John Maycraft, Mike McFerron, Scott McGregor -
Moore, David McIntire, Tricia Minty, Steve Moshier, Alon Nechushtan, Julia
Norton, Doug Opel, Maggi Payne, Michael Pounds, Margaret Schedel, Les Scott,
Alan Shockley, Mary Simoni, Steven Snowden, Michael Spicer, Laurie Spiegel,
Stephen Stanfield, Madjid Tahriri, Eldad Tsabary, Doug Van Nort, Giovanni
Varrica, Rob Voisey, and Jon Weinel
360 degrees of 60x60 (Scarlet Mix)
Aaron Acosta, Monty Adkins, John Akins, Jacob Alford, Shani Aviram, Mark
Ballora, John Biggs, Adrian Borza, George Brunner, Michael Casey,
Christopher Chandler, Jen-Kuang Chang, Hsin-Li Chen, Ming ying Chen, Michael
Takezo Chinen, HEE YOUNG CHO, Lin Culbertson, elise cumberland, Mathew
Dalgleish, Jared Davison, Moritz Eggert, Travis Elrott, Juan Escudero, Thea
Fahardian, Jeff Fairbanks, Michael Farley, Brent Ferguson, Thomas Gerwin,
William 'Kwesi' Grant-Acquah, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Bruce Hamilton,
Christopher Haworth, Min Eui Hong, Sair Sinan Kestelli, Anton Killin, Nicole
Kim, Yota Kobayashi, Yu-Ping Lin, Zachary Lovitch, Christian McLeer, Marty
Meinerz, Valerio Murat, Lee Noyes, James O'Callaghan, Rui Ogawa, David
Parfit, Scott Peterson, Momilani Ramstrum, Tony Saunders, Patrick Scott,
Daniel Steffey, Joyce Wai-chung Tang, Clay Taylor, En-Ning Tsai, Corinne
Tuney, Florian Vitez, Shu-Cheng Wu, Azumi Yokomizo, Sabrina Peña Young, and
Mark Zaki
360 degrees of 60x60 (Vermilion Mix)
Kevin Austin, Kwesi Awotwi, Daryn Bond, Arnold Brooks, Lou Bunk, Mark
Corwin, Mitch Curtis, Ricardo Dal Farra, Douglas DaSilva, Thomas Dempster,
Hrayr Eulmessekian, Mary Beth Farmer, Yves Gigon, Josh Goldman, Mark
Hannesson, Andrew Heathwaite, Ron Herrema, GuangJie Ho, Daniel Houglum,
Stephen Howden, Ioannis Kalantzis, Ioannis Kourtis, David Krajic, Fernando
Leppe, David Litke, Guillaume Loizillon, Pasquale Mainolfi, Svetlana Maras,
John Maters, Alexandre Matheson, Diana McIntosh, Jeffrey Mettlewsky, Bonnie
Miksch, Rosemary Mountain, Steven Naylor, David Ogborn, John Oliver, Alex
Olsen, Michael Olson, Juan Pablo Medina, Samuel Pellman, Kala Pierson,
Michael Pionsonneault, Grant Pittman, Ambrose Pottie, David Power, Fabian
Racca, Gilberto Rosa, Stephen Schedra, Jorge Sosa, Julian Stein, Penko
Stoitschev, Steel Stylianou, Kotoka Suzuki, Roberto Terelle, Barry Truax,
Graeme Truslove, Roxanne Turcotte, Victor Valentim, Michael Weinstein, and
Hildegard Westerkamp
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Emperor Under Glass for solo piano
New publication Emperor Under Glass for solo piano. Get your FREE PDF here.
I wrote Emperor Under Glass in a single day on Monday December 7, 2009 as a response to an open invitation from Australia’s Aurora Festival to create a new work for solo piano on the theme of “Momentary Pleasures.” Beethoven's Emperor concerto played every week on our turntable while I was growing up. I loved the opening energetic arpeggios and was always disappointed when the main theme came in. Thus, these arpeggios were a momentary pleasure that I wished could go on forever. Now I understand it is the resonance to which I was attracted, and which quietly becomes the subject in my short piece.
I wrote Emperor Under Glass in a single day on Monday December 7, 2009 as a response to an open invitation from Australia’s Aurora Festival to create a new work for solo piano on the theme of “Momentary Pleasures.” Beethoven's Emperor concerto played every week on our turntable while I was growing up. I loved the opening energetic arpeggios and was always disappointed when the main theme came in. Thus, these arpeggios were a momentary pleasure that I wished could go on forever. Now I understand it is the resonance to which I was attracted, and which quietly becomes the subject in my short piece.
Monday, May 3, 2010
On closing music programs and Programs of Choice in the Vancouver Public School System and province-wide
Today I wrote an Op Ed piece that I posted on the Decimating the Arts in Canada blog. Click on the title to read the entire article.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Collaborative Piano Blog: John Oliver's Fantasie #1 from the Hot Tempered Clavier
The Collaborative Piano Blog: John Oliver's Fantasie #1 from the Hot Tempered Clavier
Chris Foley introduces his readers to my warped Bach music.
Chris Foley introduces his readers to my warped Bach music.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Monday, April 19, 2010
Concept and Idiom: composition and guitar
A NEW ONLINE PRESENTATION
I also realized the educational value of the presentation and so have now published it online. You can access it here.
A NEW PUBLICATION
I wrote Guacamayo's 11,000th Polemic (No. 1) in 1985. This revolutionary work uses the slide ("bottleneck") on the classical guitar in a way that no piece of music ever had. The music is a mixture of driving rhythm and sliding effects that takes the listener into a sound world that becomes unrecognizable as "guitar." Musique concrète (French electroacoustic music from the mid-20th century that used transformed recorded sounds mixed together in a studio to create life-experience-based poetic music) is a clear influence, along with visitations by the specters of post-spectralism and Nancarrowesque imitation. You can listen to an excerpt here. Watch for an announcement in this space when the publication becomes available for purchase.
Listen to an excerpt from the opening to Guacamayo's 11,000th Polemic (No. 1)
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
MINIMUSICA: 15 Concert Studies for Classical Guitar GROUP BUY
http://earsay.com/johnolivermusic/store/groupbuy/groupbuy.php
Northwest Guitar Festival 2010 – Conclusion
Northwest Guitar Festival 2010 – Conclusion
A post from Bradford Werner, a member of the Victoria Guitar Trio, who, together with Victoria Conservatory of Music guitar department head Alexander Dunn, performed my guitar quartet PRISMOPHONY on Friday night.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Northwest Guitar Festival performance of PRISMOPHONY guitar quartet
The Northwest Guitar Festival has been a real pleasure. Taking place in Victoria, BC, Canada from April 9 - 11, the festival features a guitar competition, concerts, and master classes. I have been Guest Composer at this edition. Here's a brief report from the first two days.
My presentation "The Music of John Oliver" was a success and I think prepared the participants in the festival (and audience) not only for the appearance of my music on the program, but also other contemporary works. I was glad to hear from audience that they were fascinated by my story of a life in music that begins with classical guitar, moves to electronic music, operas and symphonies, and then back to classical guitar, with the influence of all of these filtering back into some of the new guitar music.
The performance of my guitar quartet PRISMOPHONY by Alex Dunn and friends on Friday night was excellent. The audience appreciated my spectral canon technique that is featured in three of the work's four movements. It's wonderful to create musical structures that take the listener on a journey to a rarified sonic place that might be called "avant-garde," but to do so in a sonic context that baths the listener in resonant sound that is soothing, yet in constant motion.
Last night featured great performances by two outstanding guitarists: Stephen Lochbaum and Janet Grohovac, playing beautifully programs of challenging favourites of the guitar repertoire. Both former Alex Dunn students, their tone and approach to phrasing show the power and strength we might expect from his best students.
2 pm concerts by Continuum Consort, Victoria Guitar Trio, Oberon Trio and Duo Verdejo all offered varied and mixed programming, with a lot of new music. No time for a "review" but suffice to say that there were no real disappointments in any of these concerts.
Must run. More activities today.
My presentation "The Music of John Oliver" was a success and I think prepared the participants in the festival (and audience) not only for the appearance of my music on the program, but also other contemporary works. I was glad to hear from audience that they were fascinated by my story of a life in music that begins with classical guitar, moves to electronic music, operas and symphonies, and then back to classical guitar, with the influence of all of these filtering back into some of the new guitar music.
The performance of my guitar quartet PRISMOPHONY by Alex Dunn and friends on Friday night was excellent. The audience appreciated my spectral canon technique that is featured in three of the work's four movements. It's wonderful to create musical structures that take the listener on a journey to a rarified sonic place that might be called "avant-garde," but to do so in a sonic context that baths the listener in resonant sound that is soothing, yet in constant motion.
Last night featured great performances by two outstanding guitarists: Stephen Lochbaum and Janet Grohovac, playing beautifully programs of challenging favourites of the guitar repertoire. Both former Alex Dunn students, their tone and approach to phrasing show the power and strength we might expect from his best students.
2 pm concerts by Continuum Consort, Victoria Guitar Trio, Oberon Trio and Duo Verdejo all offered varied and mixed programming, with a lot of new music. No time for a "review" but suffice to say that there were no real disappointments in any of these concerts.
Must run. More activities today.
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