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(May 24, 2001, Gazette)

The Phenomenon of Singing
International Symposium III

For information about Festival 500, see www.festival500.com

Festival 500 in cooperation with Memorial University of Newfoundland will host Symposium III, an integral academic component of the festival from June 28 to
July 1. The purpose of the symposium is to gather international expertise, provide a forum for interdisciplinary academic discussion and the dissemination of research, and to generate further knowledge relating to the phenomenon of  singing. Symposium III takes place at Memorial’s School of Music.

A truly international flavour will predominate Symposium III. In addition to invited guest speakers, selected papers representative of on-going research in countries such as England, Austria, Sweden, Brazil, India, Finland, United States and Canada will be presented. Presentations speak to focus areas including cultural, sociological, historical, pedagogical, compositional and artistic aspects of singing. A special theme of Symposium III will be mentorship and its role in the ongoing production of music. The special cultural emphasis for Festival 500 2001 will be the music of Scandinavia.This is in recognition of Newfoundland’s recent celebration of our 1000-year anniversary of the Viking’s arrival in North America.

For more information about the schedule of events click here

Symposium III is part of a larger international choral festival that takes place in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Immediately following the symposium, there is an eight day choral festival that welcomes individual singers and conductors to come and participate in music making and learning. You can hear our guest vocal ensembles (The Real Group, Rajaton and The Elmer Iseler Singers) and invited choirs from South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, England, United States and Canada. You can attend workshops led by choral experts such as Erkki Pohjola, Richard Gill, Stephen Hatfield, Nancy Telfer, Horace Clarence Boyer and Lydia Adams. The public can attend the opening ceremonies and sing in the Massed Adult Project in the grande finale concert under conductor Sir David Willcocks. And perhaps best of all, you can attend the big party at the end of the week.

For further information, contact Dr. Andrea Rose at 737-7602, e-mail arose@mun.ca; Ki Adams at 737-3415, e-mail kiadams@mun.ca; or check the Web at www.ucs.mun.ca/~singing

For more information about Festival 500, see www.festival500.com

Invited Guest Speakers

Horace Clarence Boyer — USA
Horace Clarence Boyer has performed gospel and jazz music throughout the United States and abroard. He is a researcher of African American vocal music, has published over 40 journal articles and is the author of How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel. Mr. Boyer was selected as curator of musical instruments at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institute, from 1985 to 1987, during which time he served as the United Negro College Fund Distinguished Scholar-at-Large and directed the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Libby Larsen — USA
One of the most important and celebrated composers working today, Libby Larsen has created an immense catalogue of works that spans virtually every genre. She has been called “a mistress of orchestration” (The Times Union) as well as “the only English-speaking composer since Benjamin Britten who matches great verse with fine music so intelligently and expressively” (USA Today). Larsen is a vigorous, articulate advocate for the music and musicians of our time. The first woman to serve as a resident composer with a major orchestra, Larsen has held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. Larsen’s numerous awards include a 1994 Grammy (producer) for the CD The Art of Arleen Auger, an acclaimed recording that features Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese.

Regula Qureshi — Canada
Regula Qureshi is the director of the Centre for Ethnomusicology at the University of Alberta, where she directs the Indian Music Ensemble. Qureshi’s research focuses on music as a social and discursive process. A specialist in South Asian, Islamic and Canadian musical practices, she is the author of Sufi Music in India and Pakistan: Sound, Context and Meaning in Qawwali, co-editor of Voices of Women: Essays in Honour of Violet Archer, and a contributor to Ethnomusicology, Asian Music, Journal of Musicology and Journal of the American Musicological Society. A cellist and sarangi player, Qureshi’s current book projects are Hindustani Musicians Speak and Sarangi: Art Music and Political Economy in North India.

Erkki Pohjola — Finland
Erkki Pohjola is one of the leading personalities of Finnish music education, an exceptional choral conductor, and a pioneering figure in the international children’s and youth choir movement. Outside of Finland, Pohjola is best known as the founder of Tapiola Choir. With 50 concerts abroad, 20 recordings, and commissions with many leading Finnish and foreign composers, Pohjola and Tapiola Choir have become a model for the rest of the choral world. As a logical continuation of his 31-year tenure as conductor of Tapiola Choir, Pohjola developed a new concept called Songbridge 2000 project. Recognized by UNESCO as a component of its Music and Peace program, this project links nations through choral music and the world-wide cooperation of children’s and youth choirs and contemporary composers.

Warren Jones — USA via satellite
Warren Jones has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers, including Marilyn Horne and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, earning the title “the single finest accompanist now working” according to the San Francisco Examiner. He has an extensive recording catalogue and, for 10 years, was assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. Jones will explore the interaction between the vocal coach and the artist preparing for performance, during a live interactive video conferencing format, via satellite, between the Symposium in Newfoundland and the Music Academy of the West in California. With singers, pianists, teachers and researchers participating in both sites, this session will focus on issues of interpretation, style languages and artistry.
This session will be made possible through the work and support of FESTIVAL 500 sponsor, Newtel Communications, a leading innovator in telecommunications.

Comments from past participants... Newfoundland has touched on a unique thing they can give the world and hopefully benefit thereby. This symposium cannot be transported elsewhere. “Sharing” is Newfoundland. Thank you for the very real opportunity to broaden my horizons. The thing I liked best was the new knowledge I gained from passionate individuals devoting themselves to diverse aspects of singing.