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The
Record Open
Ears Festival dazzles with new music This year's Open Ears festival of music and sound treated audiences to a comprehensive and thorough survey of new music. On Saturday afternoon the Penderecki String Quartet dazzled the audience with performance and programming that was completely captivating from the opening note to the last chord. Of special note was the world premiere of Annunciation by Omar Daniel. The work astonishingly used electronics and digital processing to create two ensembles from one: the digital manipulation of the sound of the live quartet acted as an accompanying ensemble when heard through the sound system. Evolving Elements by Hong Kong born composer Alice Ho was the audience favorite. Marimbist Beverly Johnson joined the Penderecki to create a sonically colourful extended ensemble. Ho's culturally significant composition is based around the Chinese word li, meaning energy. Musically, the work captured the essence of four natural elements: light, water, wind and fire. Ho is among the most important composers writing in our country. She's a top-drawer artist giving voice to the under-represented female visible minority perspective in new music. Peter
Hatch, the mastermind behind the arts festival, has done a mind-boggling
job of covering all styles of new music through the careful selection
of top-notch artists and programming. |
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