Arts & Culture

New to "New Music"? Curious about "Contemporary"? The Globe and Mail's music critic Robert Everett-Green and the members of the Toronto New Music Alliance will serve as your personal tour guide to the world of contemporary classical music, combining performance and discussion.

Joins us for this free series of four programs at Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Str.), every Monday night from April 23 to May 14, 7-8pm at the Beeton Auditorium, main floor. Everyone is welcome, no registration is required. Each program will showcase performers and composers that are active in Toronto. Prepare yourself for a sonic adventure!

• SERIES HOST: RobertEverett-Green, Music Critic, The Globe and Mail.

1. Monday April 23, 7-8pm ARRAYMUSIC and NEW MUSIC CONCERTS.
2. Monday April 30, 7-8pm SOUNDSTREAMS and THE CANADIAN MUSIC CENTRE.  
   
3. Monday May 7, 7-8pm CONTACT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC and CONTINUUM CONTEMPORARY MUSIC.         
   
4. Monday May 14, 7-8pm NEW ADVENTURES IN SOUND ART and junctQín KEYBOARD COLLECTIVE.

Joseph Macerollo and Ina Henning perform Andrew Staniland's Pentagrams. Part 1 of 2. (Video Courtesy of Moving Headshots Productions.)

Below is the detailed program for the first two evenings in April 2012. We will blog about the third and fourth concerts in another post in May. For the entire four-part series – Download the New Music 101 folded program brochure 2012.

Program 1: Monday April 23, 7-8pm, ARRAYMUSIC and NEW MUSIC CONCERTS

Arraymusic's program will reveal works from the Array Ensemble's upcoming April 28th concert at the Music Gallery.

This collaboration between Arraymusic and the Toy Piano Composers will present a compelling in-depth look into the processes and techniques in the preparation and execution of new music. Not only will the performers be on hand, the composers themselves will attend and speak about their material. [Photo credit: Arraymusic ensemble.]

New Music Concerts – "Pentagrams" – Five pieces for two accordions by Andrew Staniland.

Like many of Staniland's works, Pentagrams draws inspiration from some of the fascinating cultural aspects of numbers. Each of the five movements explores a specific musical inspiration drawn from the number five.

"Pentagrams" was commissioned by New Music Concerts and is dedicated to Joseph Macerollo and Ina Henning. [Pictured on the right.]

Program 2: Monday April 30, 7-8pm SOUNDSTREAMS and THE CANADIAN MUSIC CENTRE

Soundstreams will illustrate its approach to programming new music through a combination of audio/video excerpts and live performance.

The live performance will focus on contemporary repertoire for voice including a discussion about extended vocal techniques. [Photo credit: mezzo soprano Krisztina Szabo]

The Canadian Music Centre – "Shi" (poetry) – a new music/dance composition for solo dancer and electronic tape by Toronto composer Alice Ping Yee Ho, commissioned by Little Pear Garden Collective with the assistance of the Toronto Arts Council. "Shi" was choreographed by Emily Cheung, artistic director of Little Pear Garden, and will be performed by Bridgett Tsang. [Photo credits below: Left: composer Alice Ho; Right: choreographer Emily Cheung]

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We at the Arts Department of Toronto Reference Library are very excited to offer New Music 101: Pushing the Boundaries of Sound and Performance for a second year and partner with the wonderful artists from the New Music Alliance. It was a very successful and enthusiastically received program series last year and we have invited them again with different performances and discussions of contemporary classical music. (If you are curious about the "New Music 101" performers and program in Spring 2011 – we blogged about them.)

Toronto has a rich and diverse "new music" scene. The members of the New Music Aliance are unique organizations collaborating to promote and share the art of contemporary music with broad audiences. They are bold and creative, multi-disciplinary and experimental, they push the boundaries of musical expression. COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!