Contemporary International Musical Exchange

In 2012, we introduced the CIME (Contemporary International Musical Exchange) event, which gives students the chance to explore new musical horizons in the context of its historical background. In addition to innovative programs, discussion forums about the future of classical music, and world premieres of newly commissioned Canadian and European works, audiences hear new sights and sounds never heard before. The CIME program began with the vision of encouraging young musicians to return to the old tradition of performer/composer, foliowing in the footsteps of Kreisler, Ysaye, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin, etc. The event seeks to challenge the relationships which modern composers have with their roots and traditions through the masterpieces of their predecessors and to look for roads which lead to an innovative creation of future masterpieces that stand out in musical history.

Farshid Samandari composition workshop (masterclass)  

Composers of all ages invited to attend intensive string quartet composition workshop/masterclass. Composers will be guided composing a short composition for string quartet which will be workshopped and performed by resident quartet. The main goals of the masterclass is to help the composers improve their compositional techniques regardless of their style. Composers will have ample time to refine their understanding of and their writing skills for the string quartet. Moreover, composers will have an opportunity to exercise both writing and collaborating with a professional ensemble. (Private session)

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Several premieres have taken place at this event, including a work for quartet and strings by Canadian composer Brent Lee, a String Quintet by British composer Peter Seabourne, a Piano Quintet by British Columbian composer Jocelyn Morlock, a quartet by Michael Conway Baker; works by Hans Kunstovny, Georg Friedrich Haas, David Braid, Imant Raminsh, John Stetch, Nicole Lizee, Simos Papanas. We are delighted to be premiering a new piano quintet by David Braid this summer with the young prize winning Milton Quartet.

Canadians David Braid, John Oliver, Brent Lee, Farshid Samandari, John Stetch, Jin Jack Zhang and Nicole Lizee, British composer Peter Seabourne, Simos Papanas from Greece, Chinese rising composer Xiao Ou Hu, Hans Kunstovny from Austria  and Lutz Dreyer from Germany,  have been our Composers in Residence. 

We also welcomed Canadian Visual Artist in Residence Sigi Torinus.

Intermedia works are explored, led by Prof. Megumi Masaki, Artistic Director of the E. Gre Competition for New Music in Canada. British violist Roger Chase and Italian oboist and composer Arnaldo de Felice have devoted their new music experiences through performances, coachings and lectures.

Canadian quartet the Borealis perform a number of exciting compositions written for them, and our top international students, including the Mainzer Virtuosi, join in to give a dynamic multi-cultural twist to this eye-opening, or ear-opening event.

CIME for KIDS

Composers – in – Residence hosted workshops and educational concerts for local families and children during the CIME weekend led by Prof. Megumi Masaki, Artistic Director of the E. Gre Competition for New Music in Canada. This weekend offers hands-on musical experience through improvisational exercises, creative exchange with each other under the guidance of our composers-in-residence, and participation in special children’s programs (e.g. Peter and the Wolf and Babar the Elephant) with student mentors. This program reaches out to local communities, exposing unique creative musical ideas to young children. Children were also given the opportunity to work with the next generation of budding young composers as well as renowned international composers. Due to the success of this program, we are proud to announce that these educational outreach activities will be offered annually as part of our CIME project.

Our 2012 featured composers

Michael Conway Baker (b.1937) Jan Bislin William Bolcom (b.1938) Konstantin Boyarsky (b.1976) John Burge (b. 1961) T. Patrick Carrabré (b.1958) Victor Davies (b.1939) Lutz Dreyer – Composer in Residence Arnaldo de Felice (b.1965) Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) Srul Irving Glick (1934-2002) Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931) Vincent Ho (b.1975) Simon Holt (b.1958) Otto Joachim (1910-2010) Jerome Kitzke (b.1955) Brent Lee (b.1964) – Composer in Residence Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006) Alexina Louie (b.1949) Jocelyn Morlock (b.1969) Kelly – Marie Murphy (b.1964) Arvo Pärt (b.1935) Tomi Raisanen (b.1976) Imant Raminsh (b.1943) Elisabeth Raum (b.1945) Rodion Schedrin (b.1932) Peter Seabourne (b.1960) – Composer in Residence Valentin Silvestrov (b.1937) Sigi Torinus – Visual Artist in Residence Guido Turchi (1916-2010) Peteris Vasks (b.1946).

Violist Anne Lanzilotti gave a special lecture recital on the use of extended techniques for strings in Andrew Norman’s The Companion Guide to Rome (2010). In Norman’s own words, “Like many of the buildings in Rome, this piece is the product of a long gestation marked by numerous renovations, accretions, and ground-up reconstructions… The music is, at different times and in different ways, informed by the proportions of the churches, the qualities of their surfaces, the patterns in their floors, the artwork on their walls, and the lives and legends of the saints whose names they bear.” The work was named a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in music. The presentation also included short videos from Lanzilotti’s online project http://www.shakennotstuttered.com, a free online resource demonstrating extended techniques for strings in Norman’s orchestral and chamber works.

Our 2013 featured composers Nimrod Borenstein (b.1969) Lutz Dreyer Moritz Eggert (b.1965) Douglas Finch (b.1957) Vivian Fung (b.1975) Nicolai Kapustin (b.1937) Stale Kleiburg (b.1958) Hans Kunstovny – Composer in Residence Nicole Lizee (b.1973) – Composer in Residence Simos Papanas (b.1979) – Composer in Residence Krzysztof Penderecki (b.1933) Randolph Peters (b.1959) Andre Previn (b.1929) Rodion Schtschedrin (b.1932) Robert Stern John Stetch (b.1966) – Composer in Residence Kotoka Suzuki (b.1972)

Our 2014 featured composers Matthew Ricketts Libby Larsen Andrew Staniland Richard Danielpour Somei Satoh Ken Hesketh Wolfgang Rihm John Adams Drew Hemenger Horacio Uribe Peter Seabourne – Composer in Residence Xiao Ou Hu Luis Ramirez – Composer in Residence Sandeep Bhagwati Xiao Ou Hu Karlheinz Stockhausen Marcos Balter Frederic Rzewski George Rochberg Henryk Gorecki György Ligeti Ronald Stevenson Claude Vivier George Sharman Our 2015 featured composers Farshid Samandari – Composer in Residence Mieczyslaw (Moisey) Weinberg Michael Conway Baker John Estacio Bramwell Tovey Giuseppe Chiari Mieko Shiomi Terry Jennings George Brecht Ben Vautier Frederic Rzewski Ben Vautier Alison Knowles Alvin Lucier Alison Knowles Yasunao Tone Alison Knowles George Brecht Ay-O Jin Jack Zhang – Composer in Residence Our 2017 featured composers Farshid Samandari – Composer in Residence Emanuel Reichert-Luebbert – Composer in Residence Michelle Pegus Myrem Phillips Pouya Hamidi Qinglin Bruce Bai – Composer in Residence Vivian Fung Hossein Alizadeh Vivian Fung Steve Reich David Braid – Composer in Residence John Oliver – Composer in Residence Callum Stephens