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Hildegard Westerkamp Soundscape Residency and Concert

May 24 – 27, 2006

All events at Open Space, 510 Fort Street, Victoria
Call 383-8833 for more information

Open Space welcomes Vancouver composer, sound ecologist, writer and teacher
Hildegard Westerkamp to Victoria for a Soundscape Residency May 24 through
May 27, 2006. Westerkamp’s visit presents a rare opportunity to experience Sound-
walking, to hear about the fields of acoustic ecology and soundscape composition,
and to listen to Westerkamp’s intricate and profound soundscape compositions in
an 8-channel surround sound concert Saturday evening May 27.

Hildegard Westerkamp is well known in both the new music and ecology
communities worldwide for her remarkable sensibility about sound and place.
Originally from Germany and based in Vancouver for many years, Westerkamp, has
traveled widely offering soundscape workshops, lectures and presentations of her
soundscape compositions in Canada, Germany, India, Poland, Brazil, Jerusalem,
Greece, the United States and other places. Westerkamp has taught at Simpon
Fraser University, and is a founding member of the World Forum for Acoustic
Ecology (with colleagues R. Murray Schafer, Barry Truax and others) as well a
founder the Canadian Association for Acoustic Ecology. Westerkamp has com-
posed film soundtracks, sound documentaries and has produced radio programs.
Her soundscape compositions have been called “a magical fusion of sounds” by
the Globe and Mail, and excerpts from her pieces are included in the soundtracks of
Gus van Sant’s recent films “Elephant” and “Last Days”.

During Westerkamp’s Soundscape Residency at Open Space, everyone is invited to
experience Soundwalking during a Public Soundwalk Event from 2 to 4 pm,
Saturday May 27. This Soundwalk is a chance to explore the Victoria sound envi-
ronment by ear, and listen to “place” as if listening to a mysterious new concert
performance and discover the inner, hidden spaces of the environment we
inhabit. Those interested in learning more about soundwalks are encouraged to
join Westerkamp in a series of Soundscape workshops May 24 – 27.

Friday, May 26 at 8 pm, Westerkamp will offer a public talk and demonstration of
soundscape composition and will discuss the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.

Saturday May 27 at 8 pm Westerkamp will present a selection of her soundscape
compositions designed for 8-channel surround sound system, including two of her
compositions made from sound sources in India, her very West Coast
Talking Rain and her recent Für Dich – For You, based on the poem by Rainer
Maria Rilke.

For information about Hildegard Westerkamp and her Soundscape compositions and workshops, go to http://www.sfu.ca/~westerka/