Electric Licorice

Artists: Krista Martynes (Clarinettist), Cassandra Miller (Composer), and Wolf Edwards (Composer)

Composer talk: Friday, June 29, 2012, 7:00 p.m. Admission by donation.

Pre-concert talk: Saturday, June 30, 7:00 p.m. Admission by donation.

Concert: Saturday, June 30, 8:00 p.m.

Admission: General $15; Members, Students $10.

Clarinettist Krista Martynes and composers Cassandra Miller and Wolf Edwards descended upon Open Space in a short residency from June 28 to 30.

The clarinet (affectionately called the licorice stick in some circles) came alive as its range and colours were expanded through the use of electronics and computer processing. During this short residency, Cassandra Miller worked with Krista Martynes on the creation of a new work. Wolf Edwards’s newest work was rehearsed for its premiere on Saturday night. Saturday night’s concert closed the week, showcasing the culmination of this three-day stretch. This exciting concert also included works by David Lang, Zosha di Castri, Karlheinz Essl, and Steve Reich, as well as a premiere of Adam Basanta’s Feelings I’m Too Tired For.

On Friday, June 29, at 7:00 p.m., composers Cassandra Miller and Wolf Edwards participated in a round table discussion about the challenges and rewards of writing for the clarinet with electronics and showed highlights from their past compositions.

Saturday, June 30, 7:00 p.m., Krista Martynes gave us insights into the evening’s program from a performer's point of view before the main event at 8:00 p.m.

Come rub shoulders with Krista Martynes, Cassandra Miller, and Wolf Edwards and learn a thing or two about everyone’s favourite licorice stick.

Biographies

Krista Martynes is a multi-media clarinettist who brings new life to standard and new repertoire. She broadens her performances with inventive improv including audio and video sampling that maintains an acoustic character. She has performed with Orchestre des Régions Européennes and at the 19th International Sacred Music Festival at the Abbaye de Sylvanes. Krista has been a featured composer, performing the works of such composers as Georges Aperghis, Pascal Dusapin, Gerard Pesson, Wolfgang Rhim, and Jorg Widmann.

Her video commission from New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) will be featured in the Sound Play Festival in Toronto. Krista worked with Germany’s Experimental Studio des SWR under the direction of Andre Richard, performing and participating in a documentary on the music of Luigi Nono. She was also involved with members of the Instant Composers Pool with the Magpie Music and Dance Company in Amsterdam.

Currently, Krista can be heard and enjoyed in diverse contexts in various orchestras: with her innovative Trio ‘86; in her contemporary ensemble, Cliq:Musiq; and with her improv collective, Arguments with an Elephant. She will make you smile. www.kristamartynes.com

Wolf Edwards began formal musical training at the Victoria Conservatory of Music (1994–1996) before transferring to the University of Victoria (1996–2000), where he completed an undergraduate degree in music composition. To further his education, Edwards relocated to Montreal, Quebec (2000–2002), where he attended private lessons in composition, theory, and analysis with Gilles Tremblay.  In 2002 Wolf was granted a two-year University of Victoria Fellowship enabling him to complete the degree of Master of Music in 2004.

Edwards has been the recipient of many awards and prizes including the Community Council Composition Competition 2006 (first prize), Canada Council for the Arts/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Jules Leger Competition for New Chamber Music 2005 (third prize), Molinari Quartet International 2002–2003 (third prize), Strings of the Future International Composition Competition 2001 (first prize), the Vancouver Sonic Boom Prize (1998), and the Murray Adaskin Prize in Composition in 1997.

Edwards has participated, lectured, and had his music performed in many international festivals, and events, throughout North America and Continental Europe. His works have been performed  and/or commissioned by the Siemens Art Foundation of Germany, Newspeak Ensemble (U.S.A.), Productions Totem Contemporain (Quebec), the SMCQ (Quebec), the Arte Saxophone Quartet (Switzerland), Sixtrum Percussion Ensemble (Quebec), the Esprit Orchestra (Ontario), Ensemble Surplus (Germany), Arditti String Quartet (England), Molinari String Quartet (Quebec), Victoria Symphony (British Columbia), Aventa Ensemble (British Columbia), Sofia Soloists (Bulgaria), Quasar Quatuor de Saxophones (Quebec), l’Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal (Quebec), l’Ensemble Chorum (Quebec), and Quatuor Bozzini (Quebec). 

Composer Cassandra Miller is the artistic director of Innovations en concert, a non-profit organization that presents experimental music concerts in Montreal. In 2011, she received the Jules-Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for her composition Bel Canto. Composition teachers included Christopher Butterfield (University of Victoria), Richard Ayres and Yannis Kyriakides (Royal Conservatory of the Hague), and Michael Finnissy (private study 2012).  www.cassandramiller.wordpress.com

This residency and concert is made possible through funding from the SOCAN Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.