Career Development Award Winners James Ehnes, Charles Richard-Hamelin, and Karina Gauvin, commissioned composer Zosha di Castri, and Music in the Afternoon concert performers Made in Canada and Jens Lindemann have all been nominated. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on May 16.
2021 Juno nominations include familiar names Read More »
Kelly-Marie Murphy, pictured here with Artistic Director Simon Fryer, has been awarded this year’s Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music. Her winning composition titled Coffee Will be Served in the Living Room, for 8 cellos, was commissioned by the WMCT, and premiered on May 3, 2018 at CelloDrama!, in Music in the Afternoon‘s 120th season.
The prize, administered by the Canada Council, was established in 1978 by the Right Honourable Jules Léger, then Governor General of Canada.
Other WMCT-commissioned composers who have won this prize are Christos Hatzis, Chris Paul Harman, and Zosha di Castri.
Congratulations to Kelly-Marie Murphy Read More »
Vivian sends her January 2019 Newsletter:
Happy New Year! 2018 was a busy year, with the premiere of my Earworms for orchestra, Shifting Landscapes for piano quartet for Ensemble Made in Canada’s Mosaique Project, and The Ice Is Talking for ice blocks and electronics commissioned by the Banff Centre. I’m also proud to have written on Motherhood and the Creative Process (According to Five Canadian Composers) which appeared in the blog Music on Main. This coming year will be as busy as the last, with a few important premieres this winter and spring, and also a trip to Cambodia this coming February to research music for a potential opera. Read More
News from Vivian Fung, WMCT 2017 commissioned composer Read More »
Rachel Mercer, cellist, winner of the first WMCT Centennial Scholarship in 1997, and of many other prizes since then, performs an all-Canadian programme for cello with electronics, including a new work by Vivian Fung, WMCT’s 2017 commissioned composer.
Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph (Wellesley Subway)
Thursday, March 29, 2018, 5:30pm
General Admission, $15 Advance / $20 at the door
Another new work by Vivian, “Earworms”, will be given its Toronto premiere by the National Arts Centre Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall on March 24.
WMCT “Alumnae” in concert: Rachel Mercer plays Vivian Fung Read More »
Two works by Vivian Fung, WMCT’s commissioned composer in 2016, will be performed at Roy Thomson Hall. Dust Devils on March 3, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian, and Earworms, a newly commissioned work with the National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley, on March 24.
Vivian Fung at Roy Thomson Hall Read More »
Vivian Fung, who was WMCT’s commissioned Canadian composer for 2016, has written a new Clarinet Quintet, “Frenetic Memories,” for the Daedalus Quartet with Romie de Guise-Langlois, who performed for us in March 2016. This work featuring WMCT “Alumni” will be live-streamed from Lincoln Center, Thursday November 9, at 9 pm.
Premiere of Vivian Fung’s new work for the Daedalus Quartet live streaming Read More »
Vivian Fung, whose horn trio “Bounce”, was commissioned for Jamie Sommerville’s concert last November, sends news of more premieres across North America this fall.
Vivian Fung, WMCT’s 2016 Composer Read More »
Kelly-Marie Murphy, this season’s WMCT commissioned composer, is the winner of the 2018 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, a $50,000 prize to a Canadian composer based on a proposal for a new work which expresses an aspect of the Jewish experience.
Kelly-Marie Murphy has won another major prize Read More »
Vivian Fung was this season’s Commissioned Canadian Composer. Listen to and read more about her Horn Trio Bounce, which was performed by James Sommerville, Scott St. John, and Peter Longworth on Nov. 24. Previous WMCT commissions are listed here.
Enjoy Vivian Fung’s Horn Trio Bounce Read More »
Bounce world première – “full of suspense and mystery”.
Penelope Cookson, WMCT Artist Selection Committee member shares her views of Sommerville concert.
James Sommerville presented an outstanding concert in Walter Hall for Music in the Afternoon Nov. 24. The French horn is not often featured in recital, and this was a marvellous opportunity to hear the instrument masterfully played in an intimate setting. Sommerville was accompanied by Peter Longworth, piano, and violinist Scott St. John joined them for two of the works.
From the moment Somerville played his first notes, we knew we were in for a wonderful afternoon.
The concert opened with Villanelle by Paul Dukas, which was designed as an examination piece for the Paris Conservatory. The horn is often considered one of the hardest instruments to play, but in this first piece we were introduced to what the instrument sounds like in the hands of a master. The Villanelle was followed by three of Charles Gounod’s Six Mélodies: Larghetto, Andantino, and Andante sostenuto. Longworth and Sommerville collaborated magnificently in both these opening works.
The French horn evolved over time from the hunting horn, and has a haunting quality, often used in repertoire to suggest the hunt or to call attention in melancholic way. The third work, commissioned by the WMCT was the World Première of Bounce created by Canadian composer Vivian Fung.
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“Outstanding concert”… James Sommerville Read More »
