DCS Concert

The DCS Concert was held November 14th,2004 in Pollack Hall at 8pm.

Payton MacDonald (USA)
Hazel,Orange and Optimisim (2004) 5 min
Mystic Woods of Shadows (2003) 4 min 
Bant 1 (2003) 5 min 
Spider (2003) 6 min
- Payton MacDonald, Super Marimba

 Super Marimba - is the nexus point of all of my artistic activities.
Here I combine my study of tabla drumming, Western classical composition, 
and Jazz improvisation. I notate my Super Marimba compositions, but the scores
allow for improvisation. Sometimes the improvisation is free and spontaneous,
but often it is of a unique, disciplined sort that I have developed over the
past couple years, based on the kaida/palta theme and variation processes 
used in tabla drumming. These allow me to build up an infinite melodic flow
at multiple rhythmic levels, creating a dense tangle of sound that grooves
and sings. I see my work as the continuation of a nascent keyboard tradition
unique to America. LaMonte Young and Terry Riley started this tradition. 
Artists like Michael Harrison and I are continuing in new, personal directions.
(source: Payton MacDonald)

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Henry J. Ng (Canada)
Blocks (2004) 10 min 
for Clarinet and Quadrophonic Audio                                 
- Daniel Hasznos, Clarinet

Blocks
This work was originally written as a 3 minute solo clarinet piece based on 
abstract musical objects. These objects were composed in such a way that they 
contained opposing characteristics. For example, if one object was loud, the 
next object was soft. The work comprised of numerous independent objects arranged 
together in a somewhat random but coherent fashion.

In this revised and expanded version, with the addition of electronics, the 
focus turns toward gesture. The clarinet and the electronics form a relationship 
through different (and/or similar) gestures. Remaining true to the original idea, 
this composition consists of various gestures arranged together.

Electronics realised at the composer's studio, the McGill Digital Composition 
Studios, and the Royal College of Music Studios.

The composer wishes to acknowledge the Royal College of Music, London, who have 
generously contributed funds towards travel expenses. 
(source: Henry J. Ng).

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Emily Hall, Niklas Kambeitz (Canada)
Agauë  (2004) 25min
for Soprano, Percussion and Hexaphonic Audio
- Kristie Ibrahim, Percussion; Julieanne Klein, Soprano; Charles Gagnon, Sound Engineer

Agauë New Modes is a collaborative, creative process that combines performers, 
composers and digital music technology. Agauë is a musical drama for soprano, 
percussion and multi-channel tape. The text consists of fragments from Euripides' tragedy 
"The Bacchae". The drama centers on the Queen Agauë, who has returned from a frenzied and 
bloody hunting spree. She boasts over the great beast she has slaughtered with her bare 
hands. Her father (represented by a multitrack chorus in the tape part), gradually brings 
her back to her senses, helping her understand that it was her son that she killed while 
under the spell of the god Dionysus. With this realization, Agauë is consumed with despair. 

Text
Praise me
See this prize
Here in my arms
See the beast
I am looking
See the beast
I caught him
Young and wild
With my bare hands
Young and wild
Praise me
(Look at the Sky)*
I am looking
I have forgotten
I feel a change
(Listen to me)
I have forgotten
(Listen to me)
I must know
I bore a sonHis father lay with me
(Come closer)
I touch his body
(Closer)
I bore a son
(Come closer to the truth)
His life blood
I must know
(It was you Agauë)
I caught him
My bare hands
His life blood
My own body
I bore a son
I touch his body
Here in my arms
With my bare hands
My whole life
Now I understand

*Bracketed words are sung by the 'chorus'. Text is composed of fragments from The Bacchae by 
Euripides (404 B.C.E.), lines 1168-end. (source: New Modes)

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 Biographical Notes:

Payton MacDonald performs with Alarm Will Sound, a professional new-music group based in New York City and Verederos, a flute and percussion duo. Alarm Will Sound is currently regarded as one of the foremost new music ensembles in the country and has recorded two discs, on the Nonesuch and Cantaloupe labels. The New York Times wrote that they are "the future of classical music." With Verederos MacDonald has performed concerts nationwide and recorded two CDs under the Equilibrium label. Verederos won the 2002 National Flute Association chamber music competition. He has also appeared as a soloist in England and Croatia, performed with Present Music, and toured Japan with Keiko Abe and the Galaxy percussion group. He received the Barbara S. Butler composition award, as well as fellowships from Yaddo and Ragdale. Numerous professional and academic ensembles have performed his music in the U.S., Japan, Canada, and Europe. MacDonald has published articles in Percussive Notes, Twenty First Century Music, and he is a new music critic for American Record Guide.MacDonald earned his BFA from the University of Michigan, where he studied percussion with Michael Udow. He earned his MM, DMA, and the Performers' Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied percussion with John Beck and composition with Robert Morris and Augusta Read Thomas. Further studies include tabla with Bob Becker and Pandit Sharda Sahai. MacDonald is a disciple of Mr. Sahai. In 2004 MacDonald was awarded a grant from the American Institute of Indian Studies for further study in India. MacDonald teaches music at William Paterson University. Henry J. Ng Born in Toronto, 1981, Henry J. Ng began his musical training by studying piano and trumpet, during which he performed in various amateur music theatre, jazz and rock groups. He completed a Bachelor of Music in Composition at McGill University, studying composition with Sean Ferguson and Christoph Neidhöfer, and piano with Richard Raymond. Henry was the recent recipient of the McGill Eric Award for outstanding achievement in electroacoustic music and currently lives in the United Kingdom where he is pursuing graduate studies at the Royal College of Music, London. Daniel Hasznos Clarinetist Daniel Hasznos recently graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Music in Performance, which he attained under the guidance of Joaquin Valdepenas. Some of his principal teachers include Yehuda Gilad, Max Christie and Ray Spasovski. Mr. Hasznos has been a participant of numerous music festivals such as the Bowdoin Music Festival, The Rackeve Music Festival in Hungary, Domaine Forget, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He has performed with the Toronto Philharmonia in Canada and has also given performances in the United States, and Hungary. Charles Gagnon A freelance guitarist on the Montreal scene for the over ten years, Charles has performed in shows, festivals, and radio broadcasts across Canada and in Europe, as well as making countless club and restaurant appearances in the company of jazz, pop, and world music performers. He has accompanied artists such as Eval Manigat (1995 Juno Award, World Beat album) and Lilison Cordeira (1999 Felix Award, World Beat Album), among many others. Charles is currently studying sound recording at McGill University, and has worked as recording and live sound engineer on jazz, pop and classical music projects in the Montreal area. He has recently returned from Germany, where he was working at Emil Berliner Studios for the Deutsche Grammophon label. Emily Hall was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. Her undergraduate studies in piano performance and composition were completed at Mount Allison University (Sackville, N.B.). Her works have been performed, among others, by ARRAYMUSIC, the McGill Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble Synapse, the Group of the Electronic Music Studio of McGill (GEMS), Derek Oger (New Music North Festival), Kinza Tyrrell, the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble, and the Allegra Choir. Hall was the composer for the ongoing McGill-Concordia 2002 FQRSC project, New Directions in Chamber Music. The multidisciplinary research involved musicians, computer programmers, writers, and visual/digital artists. She continues with the 03-04 edition. Emily is pursuing a Masters degree in composition at McGill University under the supervision of Jean Lesage. She is writing her thesis, Inside is the Sky, for chamber orchestra and mezzo-soprano, with text by renowned Canadian poet Lorna Crozier. Kristie Ibrahim was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in May 2000, and is a graduate of the Leigh Howard Stevens International Marimba Seminar. Kristie is a former member of New Zealand percussion ensemble Strike. She has performed as a guest artist with Halifax-based Blue Engine Music, and the Scotia Festival of Music. She has also performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Auckland Philharmonia, and the Wellington Sinfonia. She has played on recordings with The Heavy Blinkers (Hfx., NS), Verona (Wgn., NZ), Mere Boynton (Wgn., NZ), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (the Spirit project), and the NZSO Chamber Orchestra. Kristie is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Chamber Music Performance at McGill University.

Niklas Kambeitz was born in Sweden in 1977, and raised in British Columbia, where he studied composition and classical guitar at the University of Victoria. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in composition at McGill University under the supervision of John Rea. He has also studied with Denys Bouliane, Jean Lesage, alcides lanza, John Celona and Christopher Butterfield. In 2003, his work for chamber orchestra, The Days of Victory, was a finalist in the CBC National Competition for Young Composers. His works have been performed by le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, l'Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, the National Youth Band of Canada, the McGill Wind Symphony, l'Ensemble Synapse and the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble. He is currently composer-in-residence for the McGill Symphony Orchestra and the McGill Choral Ensemble.

Julieanne Klein hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "expressive...", is a versatile singer who has performed in numerous cities throughout North America. Specializing in contemporary music, she was the 2002 featured guest artist of Music of Changes, a chamber orchestra established to assist contemporary composers in the presentation of their music. That year Ms. Klein also made her debut with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, singing Ernst Toch's Cantata of the Bitter Herbs, which was broadcast on the Los Angeles radio station K-Mozart 105.1 FM. In 2003, Ms. Klein toured several cities in Croatia, performing Shostakovich's Seven Romances on Texts of Alexander Blok with the Dora Schwarzberg trio. Ms. Klein is currently obtaining her Doctorate of Music at McGill University, where she was a finalist in the McGill Concerto Competition. She is also a recipient of the McGill Major Fellowship award.

Digital Composition Studios

DCS Concert