Panels & Workshops

Expand­ing the Bound­aries: Pro­gram­ming New Music in an Age of Diversity

May 24–25, Edward John­son Build­ing, 80 Queens Park, Toronto

Workshops

How do pre­sen­ters build their pro­gram­ming? How can artists begin a dia­logue with them — what do pre­sen­ters respond to?

Both one-hour work­shops deal with this same issue, but catered to their unique sit­u­a­tions (Work­shop #1 — fes­ti­val pre­sen­ters, Work­shop #2 — sea­son presenters).

Workshop #1 — Selling to a Festival Presenter

  • David Lang — Bang On A Can Fes­ti­val (New York)
  • Vin­cent Ho — Win­nipeg Sym­pho­ny Orches­tra New Music Festival
  • Ellen Water­man — Guelph Jazz Festival
  • Gra­ham McKen­zie — Hud­der­s­field Con­tem­po­rary Music Fes­ti­val (UK)

Workshop #2 — Selling to a Season Presenter

  • Jarko Aikens — Muziekge­bouw (Ams­ter­dam) — 20 minutes
  • Michel Frigon — Inno­va­tions En Con­cert (Mon­tre­al) — 10 minutes

Panels

Pan­els total about 1h45m and include ini­tial state­ments, a mod­er­at­ed dis­cus­sion between the pan­elists, fol­lowed by an oppor­tu­ni­ty for the audi­ence to dis­cuss and/or ask ques­tions. Ques­tions pro­vid­ed under each pan­el descrip­tion (“to stim­u­late pan­elists”) are not nec­es­sar­i­ly what the pan­elists will cover.

Panel #1 — Exploring Diversity

What is this thing called “New Music”? What is the scope of the activ­i­ties that con­sti­tute “New Music”? What do all of these activ­i­ties have in common?

  • Ellen Water­man — Moderator
    w/
  • DB Boyko — West­ern Front (Van­cou­ver)
  • John Gzows­ki — Com­pos­er (Toron­to)
  • Clemens Merkel — Quatuor Bozzi­ni (Mon­tre­al)
  • Alex Pauk — Esprit Orches­tra (Toron­to)
  • Gra­ham McKen­zie — Hud­der­s­field Con­tem­po­rary Music Fes­ti­val (UK)

To stim­u­late pan­elists: Does it real­ly mat­ter if we define new music? Is a def­i­n­i­tion impor­tant to you, to the audi­ence, or to the media? Is your def­i­n­i­tion of new music aes­thet­i­cal­ly, tech­ni­cal­ly, cul­tur­al­ly or process oriented?

Panel #2 — Touring New Music: Canadian versus International Realities

*Joint Ses­sion with Cool Drum­mings conference*

The dif­fer­ences and sim­i­lar­i­ties between Cana­di­an and inter­na­tion­al new music events.

  • Tim Brady — Moderator
    w/
  • Jarko Aikens — Muziekge­bouw (Ams­ter­dam)
  • Veronique Lacroix — Ensem­ble Con­tem­po­rain de Montréal
  • Ana Lara, Musi­ca Y Esce­na (Mex­i­co)
  • Peter Hatch — Open Ears Fes­ti­val (Kitch­en­er)
  • Alan Pier­son, Alarm Will Sound (USA)
  • Eve Egoy­an, Pianist (Toron­to), Frank Druschel, Würt­tem­berg Cham­ber Orchestra

To stim­u­late pan­elists: How do Cana­di­an events relate to one anoth­er? How do inter­na­tion­al events relate to Cana­di­an ones (and vice ver­sa)? Is there a dif­fer­ence in approach, vision, for­mat, etc.? How does con­tent dif­fer? How does process dif­fer? Are the goals in terms of pub­lic inter­ac­tion dif­fer­ent? Is there a dif­fer­ence in how Cana­di­an ver­sus Inter­na­tion­al pre­sen­ters decide what they program?

Panel #3 — Dissemination

Get­ting New Music heard and seen… live music, record­ed music, the dig­i­tal envi­ron­ment. Find­ing the right dis­sem­i­na­tion for your genre of work.

  • Lawrence Cher­ney — Moderator
    w/
  • David Lang — Bang On A Can Fes­ti­val (New York)
  • Dar­ren Copeland — NAISA (Toron­to)
  • David Pay — Music On Main (Van­cou­ver)
  • Jean Piché — Video­mu­sic (Mon­tre­al)
  • Andy Shep­pard — CBC — (Pro­duc­er of the Signal)

To stim­u­late pan­elists: What medi­um is your pri­or­i­ty and why? Com­pare and con­trast the dif­fer­ent meth­ods of dis­sem­i­na­tion you make use of. In what way does each method ben­e­fit or deter you? What reasons/goals best suit each method of dis­sem­i­na­tion? Does each method have the same kind of val­ue to dif­fer­ent kinds of new music artists?

*Sub­ject to change with­out pri­or notification*