Montreal's top contemporary chamber orchestra to premiere works by MUN students
The Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+) will perform six new compositions specially written by MUN composition students on November 16th, 2010 in D.F. Cook Hall. The project is part of ECM+ - the orchestra’s cross country tour highlighting four rising stars of Canadian composition in addition to premiering student works. Participating senior composition students have worked closely with Dr. Clark Ross to prepare their works. Tickets are $15/$10 for students and seniors. They may be purchased at the door or reserved through our concert hotline at 864-4455.
Under the artistic direction of Véronique Lacroix, the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+) is playing in St. John’s as part of its sixth Canadian tour, which will bring to a spectacular close its Generation 2010 project. From Victoria to St-John’s, with stops in Vancouver, Banff, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, the ECM+ invites music lovers across the country to discover new works by four of the most brilliant up-and-coming Canadian composers. Conductor Véronique Lacroix, violin soloist Véronique Mathieu, and the ten musicians of the ECM+ will be on stage with composer and writer Nicolas Gilbert, who will guide the audience through four new works that are as unique as they are fascinating.
Simon Martin (Quebec), Christopher Mayo (Ontario), Cassandra Miller (British Columbia), and Gordon Williamson (Ontario) are the four composers who were chosen during the Generation 2010 competition, now one of the most popular composition competitions in the country. In February 2010, in collaboration with the prompt musicians and artistic director of the ECM+, they gave a series of public live composition workshops, which provided an opportunity for all genres musical experimentation. Following eight months of hard work, the composers are now ready to present the fruit of these workshops to the public. Generation 2010 is a one-of-a-kind event for those wishing to experience the process of musical creation from inside the composer’s mind, to hear four composers, along with the conductor and host, reveal some of the secrets of their work on stage. From the timbral refinement of Martin to the raw emotionality of Miller, the astonishing virtuosity of Mayo to the overflowing invention of Williamson, listeners will discover there are as many different methods of composing as there are composers.
Since its inception in 2000, the Generation project has devoted itself to presenting works to the public in an inviting and stimulating manner, to contribute to their understanding of and encourage them to immerse themselves in the creative process. Over the years, the Generation project, which has featured dozens of the young generation’s most talented composers (such as Louis Dufort, Gordon Fitzell, Paul Frehner, Nicolas Gilbert, Jean-François Laporte, Nicole Lizée, André Ristic and Ana Sokolovic), has become an indispensable part of the ECM+ program and is always one of the highlights of its musical seasons.
