For mixed ensemble: alto saxophone, viola, percussion, piano, electronics, and two dancers; 2018
Commissioned by Din of Shadows and premiered at Din of Shadows II on May 5, 2018, at Array Space in Toronto. Performed by Olivia Shortt (sax), Emilie Gelinas-Noble (vla), Jonny Smith (perc), Markéta Ornova (pno), Angela Blumberg (choreographer, dancer), Ming-Bo Lam (dancer), and Julia Mermelstein (electronics).
drifting vividly is inspired by situational and thought-based dreaming when the body and mind gradually slows down, letting go of the outside world and surrendering to stillness. The piece evolves from restless, disembodied gestures, to giving in and finding a connection to one’s body, allowing scattered thoughts and sounds from the outside environment to gradually dissolve into abstraction.
The choreography seeks to capture the music’s ongoing nature and steadiness as well as the subtle shifts and dramatic notions that reside underneath its surface.
Sunder
For flute, piano, and electronics; 2018
Commissioned and premiered by Amanda Lowry and Jason White on April 30, 2018, at Maureen Forrister Recital Hall in Waterloo, ON.
Sunder: split apart, or into pieces
This piece focuses on resonance, as background, foreground, as expansive sound, and it’s own disintegration.
I was questioning how these trails or tail-ends of actions can imprint onto new formations; how can they change or influence new behaviour amongst the performers; can these imprints act as memories of previous material?
in turn explores depth and contraction of space in an environment that is in constant flux. There are sequences in natural phenomena that continually return but in different ways each time. There is subtlety in these changes and they are constantly prone to disruption, transforming and evolving this process into new paths.
2nd prize winner in the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra's 2018 Young Composers Competition
Commissioned by Caution Tape Sound Collective and premiered by Evan Bowen at Singles Vol.3 on October 21, 2017, at
Arrayspace in Toronto. Supported by Ontario Arts Council through commissioning grant.
Woven, Still explores elements of ritualistic and habitual tendencies through two contrasting sound spaces that
gradually influence the other. Some habits can be tightly wound and so ingrained in our bodies, almost as if one
snaps or is pulled back into place when trying to let go. The dynamic of this tension slowly dissolves throughout
the piece through an opening of space, allowing room to breathe and reflect.
wonted explores habitual sounds from daily routines, usually experienced as background. These sounds become the focus through warped and distorted perspectives until they are gradually revealed in their environment. There’s a juxtaposition between these activities and electronically sculpted sonorities that create underlining emotions behind the tasks at hand, invoking what might be there subconsciously.
wonted had its acousmatic premiere on March 24, 2018 at Spark to Stone Concert co-presented by Caution Tape Sound Collective and the Association of Canadian Women Composers at Array Space in Toronto.
Additional performances: May 19, 2018 at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto and May 20, 2018 at the Button Factory Arts in Waterloo, ON.
For mixed ensemble: viola, bassoon, percussion, piano, and electronics; 2017
Commissioned by Caution Tape Sound Collective and premiered a part of Quintile on March 18 at Array Space in Toronto.
Performed by Bianca Chambul (bsn), Evan Bowen (perc), Emilie Gelinas-Noble (vla), Jana Luksts (synth, electronics), Markéta
Ornova (pno)
“Everything is impermanent and comes to an end. Every moment that comes into being is a moment of destruction” –
Dzigar Kongtrul
into a landscape, unrest is inspired by the idea of how impermanent our surrounding and environments are from the
very subtle to the more pronounced. There are cycles to how things form and transform according to what is present
in the space. Our awareness guides what we deem to be background and foreground and this is continually changing as
we experience one moment to the next. The piece plays with this shifting awareness and the expectation for things to
continue as they were.
Commissioned and premiered by Blue Rider Ensemble at the Canadian Music Centre on March 10, 2017.
without ground explores qualities of vulnerability through delicate activity and unstable suspension. The piece
evolves around the idea of experiencing fragility at the point of almost breaking. What happens when this fragile state
does break and overwhelms all space? There is a complexity to how these qualities manifest through the lack of control
and disorder of its groundless nature.