Esprit announces New Wave Festival at TD Music Hall & Season Finale at Koerner Hall
For Immediate Release – Tuesday, 21 February, 2023
Esprit announces New Wave Festival at TD Music Hall & Season Finale at Koerner Hall
Esprit Orchestra’s 40th Anniversary Season continues with the return of the New Wave Festival, a concert lounge experience with programs at 7:00PM on Wednesday, April 12th and Sunday, April 16th. Offering attendees stunning views of Toronto’s urban landscape through floor to ceiling windows, the 2023 New Wave Festival will be presented at the newly opened, state-of-the-art TD Music Hall, part of the Allied Music Centre connected to historic Massey Hall. A convergence of contemporary music and nightlife, the festival has an atmosphere more akin to a lounge than a traditional concert hall. The TD Music Hall is a casual and dynamic space equipped with a full-service bar in addition to top-of-the-line immersive audio, video and lightning capabilities which perfectly befit Esprit’s bold and experimental programmes.
Esprit’s annual New Wave Festival was established in 2002 to support the careers of emerging Canadian composers. Forgoing the formality of the concert hall in exchange for a relaxed and social space, composers, performers, artists and the public are invited to mingle and network while experiencing Esprit’s quintessentially innovative and audacious programming in a uniquely intimate setting. April 12th will include brief keynote commentary from esteemed Canadian composer John Rea, while April 16th will feature a short roundtable exploring the extraordinary creative lives of composer Julius Eastman and his contemporary, Claude Vivier.
With two distinct programs, the concerts comprise brand new commissioned pieces by young Canadian composers engaged in Esprit’s Three Year Creative Strategy, curated alongside works from new music’s most radical and influential figures. April 12th’s New Wave 1 will include World Premieres of two Esprit commissioned works, L’histoire que les vagues racontent for chamber orchestra and electronics by Sophie Dupuis and Roydon Tse’s Mobilize, for sinfonietta. The program also includes Akira Nishimura’s Kecak, Claude Vivier’s enchanting Pulau Dewata in an arrangement by John Rea, and the World Premiere of Chris Paul Harman’s Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin, performed by soloist Mark Fewer.
New Wave 2, on April 16th features Misato Mochizuki’s science and techno inspired Chimera, a stirring complement to World Premieres of new works for chamber orchestra by Canadians Julia Mermelstein and Stephanie Orlando. Among the first major performances of his work in this country, Esprit presents the Canadian Premiere of the fearless and trailblazing Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla, in an arrangement for string septet by fellow American Jessie Montgomery. A true visionary, Eastman was unafraid of controversy, stating as his personal motto, “to be what I am to the fullest: Black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, and a homosexual to the fullest.” Eastman’s staunch embrace of his race and sexuality often vexed his audiences, who were provoked by his controversial practice of using affronting, offensive language and slurs as the titles of his works. Rooted in improvisation and imbued with spirituality, Eastman’s music, including 1979’s Gay Guerrilla, is distinctly of its time yet still intensely relevant and radical today. Eastman’s friend, Mary-Jane Leach, once succinctly described him and his music as such, “Julius Eastman was a gay African-American composer of works that were minimal in form but maximal in effect.”
Sunday, April 23rd sees Esprit and Music Director Alex Pauk return to Koerner Hall with a big, bold and visionary program that serves as the finale of Esprit’s landmark 40th Anniversary concert season. World Premieres of works by Canadian composers Chris Paul Harman and Eugene Astapov will be accompanied by Esprit’s first performance of the groundbreaking 2012 work, The Four Seasons Recomposed, a reimagining of Vivaldi by Max Richter with violinist Aaron Schwebel appearing as soloist. The evening concludes with John Corigliano’s powerful and profoundly evocative Symphony No. 1, composed in memory of the composer’s dearest musician friends who were lost to the AIDS epidemic.
ESPRIT ORCHESTRA PRESENTS: NEW WAVE FESTIVAL 2023
TD Music Hall | 178 Victoria St. | $20 Tickets
Festival Sponsors: Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, SOCAN Foundation and The Azrieli Foundation
NEW WAVE 1
Wednesday, April 12th, 2023 | 7:00PM
Alex Pauk, C.M. | Conductor
Mark Fewer | Violin
SOPHIE DUPUIS (Canada)| L'histoire que les vague racontent** (2021-2022)
for 14 musicians and live electronics
ROYDON TSE (Canada) |Mobilize**(2022)
for sinfonietta
SALVATORE SCIARRINO(Italy) |Brazil(1988)
(arrangement based on music by Ary Barroso)
CLAUDE VIVIER (Canada) |Pulau Dewata (1977)
arr. JOHN REA (Canada)
CHRIS PAUL HARMAN (Canada) |Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin* (2019)
Mark Fewer, violin
AKIRA NISHIMURA (Japan) | Kecak (1979)
for percussion sextet
NEW WAVE 2
Sunday, April 16th, 2023 | 7:00PM
Alex Pauk, C.M. | Conductor
Ryan Scott | Snare Drum
MISATO MOCHIZUKI (Japan) |Chimera (2000)
for 11 players
JULIUS EASTMAN (United States) |Gay Guerrilla*** (1979)
arr. JESSIE MONTGOMERY (United States)
for string septet
ANDREW STANILAND (Canada) |Orion Constellation Theory (2014)
for solo snare drum and electronics
Ryan Scott, snare drum
JULIA MERMELSTEIN (Canada) |between walls** (2023)
for chamber orchestra and electronics
STEPHANIE ORLANDO (Canada) | 4-7-8**(2023)
for chamber orchestra
STEVE REICH (United States) |Sextet (1984)
for percussion and keyboards
*World Premiere | ***Canadian Premiere
**World Premiere commissioned by Esprit with the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council
ESPRIT ORCHESTRA 2022/23 CONCERT SEASON
Sunday, April 23rd, 2023
Esprit Orchestra Presents: Season Finale
8:00 pm Concert | 7:15 pm Pre-Concert Talk
Pre-concert talk moderated by composer Alexina Louie, O.C.
Alex Pauk, C.M. | Conductor
Eugene Astapov | RBC Associate Composer/Conductor
Aaron Schwebel | Violin
PROGRAMME:
MAX RICHTER(Germany/United Kingdom) | The Four Seasons Recomposed (2012)
Spring
Aaron Schwebel, violin
EUGENE ASTAPOV (Canada) | Burial Rites: In Memoriam Marcus Gibbons**(2023)
MAX RICHTER(Germany/United Kingdom) | The Four Seasons Recomposed (2012)
Winter
Aaron Schwebel, violin
—
CHRIS PAUL HARMAN (Canada) | Clementi sottosopra* (2023)
JOHN CORIGLIANO(United States) | Symphony No. 1 (1988)
Apologue: Of Rage and Remembrance
Tarantella
Chaconne: Giulio’s Song
Epilogue
*World Premiere** World Premiere commissioned by Esprit with generous support from the RBC Foundation, SOCAN Foundation and Sofia Gomez Gibbons
ESPRIT ORCHESTRA 40TH ANNIVERSARY KOERNER HALL SERIES
Royal Conservatory of Music TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning
273 Bloor Street West
Individual concert tickets start at: Adult $45; Senior 65+ $45; Under 30 $27; Student $25
Please call (416) 408 0208 or visit rcmusic.com
Season Sponsor:
Esprit Orchestra is Canada’s only full-sized orchestra devoted exclusively to performing and promoting new orchestral music.
Esprit Orchestra gratefully acknowledges Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Azrieli Foundation, SOCAN Foundation, Ontario Arts Foundation, The Michael and Sonja Koerner Charitable Foundation, The Mary-Margaret Webb Foundation, Tim & Frances Price, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Power Corporation of Canada, RBC Foundation, The Max Clarkson Family Foundation, The Charles H. Ivey Foundation, The Amphion Foundation and Anonymous for their generous support.
Media Contact:
Cameron Dubé
cameron@espritorchestra.com
(416) 815-7887