Student composers shine at Faculty of Music concerts

 

The first performance features electroacoustic works, combining electronic sounds with musicians on stage. The second includes a set of songs and a one-act opera based on the nursery rhyme Rub-a-dub-dub.

Omar Daniel, professor of composition, said the electroacoustic concert, at 7 p.m. April 7, is an excellent opportunity to hear new works by tomorrow's composers. “Although electronics are involved, it all involves performance by musicians on stage. The pieces are generally short - they're bite-sized. The composers are varying levels of students, from entry-level undergrads to grad students."

Preparing for the concert requires a lot of time. “The stage is filled with equipment," said Daniel. “We start very early in the morning to take the instruments out of the electronic studio, run them down to the theatre and set up. Then we have to take it all back at the end."

The concert is worth the effort and a lot of fun. “We always have a good time," said Daniel, “because it's not just students on their acoustic instruments. It's fun to involve electronics. They produce unusual and evocative sounds."
Keunyoung Yoo wrote Water Music for pre-recorded tape and containers of water. “The water becomes an instrument," said Daniel. “It's a wonderful sound."

All the composers participate in their works.

April 10 at 8 p.m. the UWO Symphony Orchestra and several singers will perform master thesis works. Three Men in a Tub explores the concepts of the constant monotony in a life, and why some chose never to leave that situation while others opt to shut themselves away from it or deny it. The butcher (whose love was stolen by a giant), the baker (betrayed by his bartender) and the candlestick maker (who claims he quit his job as professor) each tell their story about why they chose life in a tub rather than facing their real lives. The inevitable conflict arises and the men's lives are changed forever. The libretto was written by Ben Charland, the music by Andrea Wettstein. Quirky rhythms and constant meter changes are offset by harmonies based on the six-note blues scale.

The Don Wright Faculty of Music is one of Canada's top music schools with faculty and alumni who are world-renowned performers, composers, theorists, musicologists and educators.

Both concerts are free and held in Talbot Theatre.

April 7, 7 p.m.         Electroacoustic Student Composers
April 10, 8 p.m.       Thesis Composition Recital