February and March bring a vibrant array of new sounds, kicking off with an energetic start of multiple concerts in early February. And right in the middle, in early March, comes International Women’s Day on March 8 – a time to celebrate progress while acknowledging the challenges that persist. While one might hope such a day would no longer be necessary, recent developments south of the border highlight persistent threats to women’s rights and freedoms, underscoring the continued importance of IWD.
In this month’s column, I’ll pay particular attention to how women composers and performers are amplifying their creative voices, and a long overdue catch-up conversation with Toronto composer Linda Catlin Smith.
Early February brings three notable performances: a very special tribute to Ann Southam on February 4 at the Canadian Music Centre; Soundstreams’ performance of Poitu Varen by composer and curator Kalaisan Kalaichelvan on February 5; and then, on February 8, from New Music Concerts, a concert featuring the world premiere of Linda Catlin Smith’s new work We have gone forth for dancing along with a second world premiere – by Rashaan Allwood, NMC’s composer-in-residence.
The February 4 concert at the CMC marks the release of pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico’s new album, More Rivers, the title of a Frank Horvat composition commissioned by Petrowska Quilico, inspired by Ann Southam’s iconic water-themed work Rivers – a work inextricably interwoven with Petrowska Quilico’s own lifetime of commissioning new work by Canadian composers.
The February 5 Soundstreams performance of Poitu Varen is unique. It features music created from four pianos and natural materials interconnected through transducer speakers. Set within the club-like atmosphere of Hugh’s Room Live in its new setting on Broadview, between Gerrard and Dundas, the audience will be surrounded by the performers for a “meditative journey exploring the concept of resonance.”
(Later in the month, on February 27, Soundstreams brings the Vancouver Chamber Choir to perform the world premieres of six new works by participants in their Emerging Composer program.)
The February 8 NMC event, along with the Smith and Allwood premieres, will also offer audiences a rare opportunity to experience Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee (Snow) written in 2008, and subtitled Ten Canons for Nine Instruments. The venue is an unusual one: beside the windows of St. James Cathedral at Church and Queen Street, giving the audience, weather cooperating, an evocative backdrop of the hopefully snow-covered landscape.
Editor’s Note: The recording of Frank Horvat’s More Rivers is featured in the Editor’s Corner. See DISCoveries, pg. 50.
Women from Space
Now in its sixth season, at 918 Bathurst St., home of the Music Gallery, this festival continues to grow and evolve, excelling in celebrating musical innovation and gender diversity. Running from March 7 to 9, it intentionally aligns every year with the weekend closest to International Women’s Day. Everything gets going this year with a solo performance by composer and improviser Allison Cameron entitled Small Scale Experimental Machine. This multidisciplinary set blends field recordings, electronics, video, surround sound and audience participation. On the same evening, vocalists Laura Swankey and Christine Duncan along with guitarist Patrick O’Reilly—known as the trio Plastic Babies —will celebrate the launch of their debut recording.
One of the distinguishing recurring features of the festival is its in-house 18-performer large ensemble BIG BANG! Last year, the ensemble paid tribute to Björk’s music and this year, in the opening evening’s closing set, the spotlight turns to Nina Simone, whose iconic songbook will be reimagined with new arrangements by six different composers.
March 8 reflects another hallmark of this festival: collaboration. Guest curated by the Toronto Dance Theatre, and highlighting the concept of spontaneous encounters, the evening brings together a fascinating mix of experimental performers with the artistry of different dancers, including Chantelle Mostacho, celebrated for her mastery of waacking—a street dance style born in the gay clubs of Los Angeles during the disco era, and TDT member Erin Poole.
On March 9, the festival closes with a performance of LA-based composer Meara O’Reilly’s work Hocket for Two Voices and an appearance by the legendary pianist and composer Myra Melford with her Fire and Water Trio. In her prolific career, Melford has merged composition and improvisation in a variety of styles, from jazz to folk and the avant-garde.
Women from Space co-curators, Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, seem to bring an inexhaustible supply of inventiveness to the event. This year’s festival promises more of the same.
Esprit Orchestra in festival mood
This season Esprit Orchestra made an interesting curatorial decision. Instead of distributing their season evenly across the fall and winter/spring, they decided to concentrate their main efforts on the spring. They did one concert in the fall titled Prelude Concert #1, to be followed on February 23 with a second Prelude Concert – like the first, a program of mostly concertos by influential composers, in this case Hans Abrahamsen, Henryk Gorecki and Esprit’s own Alex Pauk, alongside the Canadian premiere of Steve Reich’s Runner.
It’s what follows that February 27 concert that could be described as their main event – their Edge of Your Seat International Festival, with four concerts between March 5 and April 6 featuring a significant amount of music that will be new to their audiences.
Renowned Japanese composer and virtuoso marimba player Keiko Abe will have two of her works featured in the festival, celebrating her enduring influence. Abe has dedicated her career to elevating the marimba’s profile and expanding its possibilities. Through teaching, instructional television programs and her collaboration with Yamaha, she played a pivotal role in extending the instrument’s range from four to five octaves. She also pioneered the six-mallet technique and mentored celebrated percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Esprit will perform her compositions The Wave on March 4 and Michi on April 2, with Ryan Scott as the marimba soloist.
The festival will showcase not only orchestral works, but also an array of chamber pieces, including two works by San Francisco-based composer Gabriella Smith. Smith’s work invites listeners to take delight in climate action and her string quartet Carrot Revolution, performed on April 2, is described as “ecstatic.” The piece draws inspiration from a quote by Cézanne who envisioned a day when “a single, freshly observed carrot will start a revolution.” Her other work Imaginary Pancake for solo piano will be part of the April 6 performance.
Other works by women in the festival include an Esprit Orchestra commission entitled Floral Reef by Montreal-based Julia Mermelstein performed on April 2. Swedish composer Lisa Streich will make a special appearance for the performance of her piece ISHJÄRTA (Ice Heart) on March 27. Streich is known for integrating motorized instruments with spectral harmonies, while Mermelstein combines electronic soundscapes with choreography, creating a surreal and immersive experience.
Linda Catlin Smith
Returning to our first cluster of early February concerts, I’ve long been captivated by the subtle shifts and shimmering colours in Linda Catlin Smith’s music, so her new work for New Music Concerts on February 8 was one of the first things to catch my eye when I looked at what February/March has to offer. Completed in 2023, We have gone forth for dancing is a commission from Tim Moody and serves as a companion piece to Das Rosen-Innere for cello and piano premiered by NMC on June 12, 2024 and commissioned by Moody’s partner, Doina Popescu.
Both are short works (just as challenging, Smith says, as writing larger-form pieces), and were composed as responses to specific texts provided by the commissioners (in this case a quote from the tenth book of the Hindu sacred text, the Rig-Veda.)
In our conversation we explored ideas around her compositional approach, why creative people are drawn to the things they are, and how aesthetics come into being.
“As a child, I listened to many recordings and always favoured the slow movements,” she observed. “They allowed me the time to hear everything, creating an atmosphere of feeling. There’s space to dwell in the sound world being created, rather than observing something exciting happening in front of me. I can wrap myself around this state of being, and like walking in water, it slows you down so everything can be felt and observed.”
Arising from this, she says “I approach music as a kind of thinking in sound—not verbal thinking, but ‘sound thought,’ a state I love inhabiting. Similar to still life paintings, where subtle shifts of colour, especially in the shadowy backgrounds, are atmospheric, beautiful and mysterious. I strive for that kind of thing.
“Over time, I’ve also tried to allow for more harmonic complexity and have become increasingly drawn to melody— something that people avoided for a long time. I love meandering melodies, like those in Gregorian chant, that gently move up and down, creating subtle delineations of line. It’s like pulling on a thread and seeing where it leads.”
I am looking forward to hearing where this progression has taken her.
Wendalyn Bartley is a Toronto-based composer and electro-vocal sound artist. sounddreaming@gmail.com
