This work was composed for the 2023/24 season of the GroundSwell new music series in Winnipeg. The world premiere performance was given on May 22, 2024 at Laudamus Auditorium, Winnipeg.
The performers were:
Karl Stobbe, Elation Pauls – Violins
Elise Lavalée, Dima Kreshchenskyi – Violas
Paul Marleyn, Ethan Allers – Violoncelli
Commissioned by GroundSwell and premiered on November 23, 2021. The musicians were Madeline Hildebrand, Kerry DuWors and Cathy Wood.
This work is a cycle of fourteen songs based on selected poems from Dennis Cooley’s 1984 collection Bloody Jack. These poems relate to the life of John Krafchenko, a Hungarian immigrant to Canada who became a notorious outlaw. The music was originally composed between 2015 and 2017, and revised in 2020. The piece is dedicated to performers Laura Loewen and Dawn Bruch.
Septet was commissioned by the ensemble mosaik with financial assistance from the Canada Council. The world premiere was given in Calgary on February 8, 2017. The musicians were:
Bettina Junge – flute
Simon Strasser – oboe
Christian Vogel – clarinet/bass clarinet
Martin Losert – alto saxophone
Chatschatur Kanajan – violin
Mathis Mayr – cello
Ernst Surberg – piano
These are orchestrations of six songs from Hugo Wolf’s Mörike Lieder:
Ein Stündlein wohl vor Tag
Der Gärtner
Zitronenfalter im April
An den Schlaf
Erstes Liebeslied eines Mädchens
Nixe Binsefuß
They were written for soprano Sarah Kirsch, conductor Wanda Kaluzny and the Montreal Chamber Orchestra.
All of the poems are concerned with the subject of time: time that is wasted, the unceasing nature of time, the perishability of beauty in time, our desire to change our experience of the flow of time, the finality of time, time and timelessness. I think that they fit together beautifully as a cycle, and I have been holding on to them for a number of years waiting for an opportunity to set them. This opportunity came in the form of a commission from Wanda Kaluzny and the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, which I was pleased to fulfill. The works were written for soprano Sarah Kirsch.
Commissioned by Trio ’86
Krista Martynes, Clarinet
Jennifer Thiessen, Viola
Marc Wieser, Piano
with financial assistance from The Manitoba Arts Council
World Premiere:
February 28, 2012 – Providence University College, Winnipeg, Canada
additional performances:
2/29/12 – Brandon University
3/1/12 – Canadian Mennonite University
3/2/12 University of Manitoba