Presented by

LAND’S END CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

Friday, October 21, 2011 8:00 pm

ROZSA CENTRE University of Calgary

[ L A N D ’ S E N D C H A M B E R E N S E M B L E ]

Land’s End in Cornwall, England, reaches out to the Atlantic Ocean into what were uncharted waters before the time of Columbus. The chamber

ensemble of the same name was created twelve years ago to explore the boundaries of contemporary music. The ensemble hosts a concert series in

Calgary as well as an extremely popular annual cabaret at the Beat Niq Jazz and Social Club downtown. Land’s End is becoming increasingly known for its musical excellence and relaxed presentation, and has performed in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. The two Land’s End CDs, Four Degrees of Freedom and Rollin’ down #1, were both winners of the Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Recording.

The musicians of Land’s End are John Lowry, violin, and Beth Root Sandvoss, cello; joined this evening by Ilana Dahl,

Kyle Eustace, Lana Henchell, Susanne Ruberg-Gordon and Mary Sullivan.

www.landsendensemble.ca

[ L A N D ’ S E N D S E A S O N 2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2 ]

TRUE NORTH

The David Braid Project February 10 & 11Auburn Saloon 7:30 PM

Guest Artist David Braid, composer and pianist

Land's End Composers Competition and Workshop April, 2012 Date TBA

Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary

My Life in Widening Circles R. Murray Schafer CD Release Saturday, April 28 8:00 PM

Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary Guest Artists R. Murray Schafer • Stacie Dunlop, soprano

Gianetta Baril, harp • Davida Monk, choreographerSchafer Duo for Violin and Piano

Schafer Kinderlieder Schafer Theseus

Patrick Carrabré Dance for Mask and CelloWinner of the Land's End Composers Competition TBA

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[ P R O G R A M M E ]

Scenes for Trio ................................................ Quenten Doolittle (b. 1925)Cassandra

Prelude to "and the end is the beginning" ........................ Hope Lee (b. )

Fantasy ............................................................ Heather Schmidt (b. 1975)

That Line of Winged Dots ......................................... David Eagle (b. 1955)

[ I N T E R M I S S I O N ]

Two Postcards: Prelude and Groove .......................... Vincent Ho (b. 1975)

Sweetgrass ...................................................... Allan Gordon Bell (b. 1953)Fields ISmoke IThe World is a Box of SoulsSmoke IIFields II

[ L A N D ’ S E N D C H A M B E R E N S E M B L E ]

John Lowry, violinBeth Root Sandvoss cello

Ilana Dahl clarinet/bass clarinetKyle Eustace percussion

Lana Henchell pianoSusanne Ruberg-Gordon piano

Mary Sullivan flute

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[ P R O G R A M M E N O T E S ]

Scenes for Trio – Cassandra Quenten Doolittle

Music and sound created for a production of Euripides’ The Trojan Women at the University of Calgary in 1985 inspired this work for piano trio. Music for the first of the three scenes, Cassandra, is built around two highly charged themes which describe the emotional state of this mythological Trojan woman. She was cursed with the burden of deep understanding and knowledge of the future but her predictions were mocked with disbelief. Her inevitable murder occurs with her full knowledge.

Quenten Doolittle is Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary, where he taught theory and composition. Performances of his music include the premiere of Vivaldiana by the CPO, productions of his operas: Charlie the Chicken (Calgary, Toronto and Montreal), and Boiler Room Suite (Banff, Toronto, Wales, and London, England). Recent works include The Queens of Alice for orchestra and Elegy, for chamber orchestra, choir and soprano commissioned by the Canada Council for the 25th Anniversary of New Works Calgary, which he co-founded with visual artist, John Snow.

Prelude to "and the end is the beginning" (2006) Hope Lee

Prelude serves as an introduction to and the end is the beginning, the last piece of the eleven-piece Voices in Time cycle (1988 - 2011). The past is gone, but the essence of the past is captured and transformed into the future. Musical material was extracted from the completed works in the cycle, including a four-note motive, a harmonic language constructed on an ancient guqin melody, rhythmic motives and musical gestures, with a new direction projected.

"Prelude is dedicated to my grandmother. It can be listened to as an elegy. I wrote this piece shortly after her funeral. She passed away at the age of ninety-four while chanting Buddhist's Sanskrit. Her peaceful death confirms my belief that the end is the beginning."

Hope Lee exploits instruments imaginatively, creating colourful and evocative sonorities. Aptly described by Michael Schulman as a "cross-cultural explorer," she is always exploring new sounds and structures, and striving for constant growth within individual works and in her output as a whole. Furore-Verlag, Germany, publishes all her works.

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Fantasy for cello and piano (2006) Heather Schmidt  

Fantasy for Cello and Piano was commissioned by the Harvard Musical Association, and premiered by Shauna Rolston and Heather Schmidt in Boston in 2006. Fantasy represents a departure from the composer's previous compositional style in a number of ways, including the widely-spaced 10ths in the cello, which open and close the work.  Other elements are consistent with the composer's usual style, including the emotional intensity, and use of extreme range of registers in the piano.

Heather Schmidt’s unique dual talents as a pianist and composer have garnered praise from the press, describing her as "a brilliant virtuoso pianist”, “poised and utterly musical”, and “a great  artist." Her career spans performances, broadcasts, commissions and awards in Canada, the United States, Russia, France, Germany and elsewhere. Originally from Calgary, Heather currently divides her time between Los Angeles and Toronto. She studied at Juilliard and at Indiana University, where at age 21, she became the youngest student to receive a doctorate.  As an acclaimed composer, she has received commissions and composer residencies worldwide. 

That Line of Winged Dots (2007) David Eagle

The title of the work That Line of Winged Dots comes from a poem by Daniel David Moss that on the surface is an observation of geese flying south through turbulent weather.  These few words evoke both the character of the piece and the nature of the material and compositional process. The work has 14 sections that flow/fly from one to the next: some smooth and reflective, some with clear gestures and formations, and others unpredictable and volatile.

David Eagle composes chamber, orchestral and electroacoustic music, and explores interactive computer applications in composition, improvisation, multimedia and sound spatialization. Performances in Canada and abroad include Sound Travels and New Music Concerts in Toronto, New Works Calgary and Lands End, Winnipeg New Music Festival, Musicacoustic Beijing and the 2007 ISCM World Music Days in Hong Kong. At the University of Calgary he teaches composition and electroacoustic music, directs the new Sonic Arts Lab and coordinates the Happening New Music Festival. His latest CD is Passages on lightblue records. 

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Two Postcards: Prelude and Groove (2009)

Vincent Ho is a Canadian who is widely recognized as one of the most exciting composers of his generation, and is a graduate of U of C. He has made waves in the music world of North America despite his relative youth, receiving numerous prizes, and prominent commissions. Ho is currently Composer-in-Residence of the Winnipeg Symphony.

"For the celebration the Rozsa Centre’s 10th Anniversary, I was given a unique challenge: out of a list of words that embodied special meaning to the Rozsa family, I was to compose a work using any one of them for solfege compositional procedures. Two words in particular stimulated my creative imagination: Lola and doodlebug. 

Prélude – the name Lola brought up memories of a woman I once knew. As well, the phonetic quality of the name hearkened the poetries of Arthur Rimbaud (where his choice of words were based on their phonetic sounds to intensify the reader’s experience).  Groove - I initially found the word doodlebug rather humorous as I had never heard it before. My immediate associations were “doodle” (or “doodling”) and the “jitterbug” (a swing dance popular during the big band era of the 1930’s and ‘40s). When I discovered it meant a “self-propelled personal railcar,” I could not help but imagine a cartoon railcar bopping and singing along as it carried its passengers to their destinations."

Sweetgrass (1997) Allan Gordon Bell Allan Gordon Bell is a composer who has created works for soloists, chamber ensembles, orchestra, opera, and electroacoustic media. He is Professor of Music at the University of Calgary, an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Sweetgrass is a work with three parts woven together into five movements.  The first and the second movement each end in the middle of their trajectories; the fourth movement completes the second and the fifth completes the first.  Combined with the third movement, the complete work has the form of a braid.  Indigenous North Americans gather sweetgrass, weave it into braids, and then use it for smudging in their ceremonies, the smoke carrying prayers to the Creator in acknowledgement that all things, even the supposedly humblest, are sacred.

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[ G U E S T A R T I S T S ]

Ilana Dahl clarinet Ilana Dahl is a graduate of the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia, and has studied with artists such as Steve Amsel, Stan Climie, and Wes Foster. She has been the Principal Clarinettist with the Red Deer Symphony for ten years, and has played with the CPO, Calgary Opera, Alberta Ballet, and Land's End.

Kyle Eustace percussion Kyle Eustace began his professional studies in music with Andrei Malashenko at McGill University. After completing his studies, he returned to his hometown of Calgary and has been playing with the CPO for the last six years. He has also performed with Land's End, the Banff Centre Orchestra, the Red Deer Symphony, and the Calgary Civic Symphony.

Dr. Lana Henchell piano Calgary native Lana Henchell graduated with her Doctoral degree in piano performance from McGill University in 2010.  She received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano performance at the UofC under the tutelage of Marilyn Engle.  Lana has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and has won top prizes, including the International Stepping Stone of the CMC and Eckhardt-Gramatté National Piano Competition.  In addition to performing solo and collaborative concerts in and around the Calgary area, Lana teaches privately and sessionally at the University of Calgary, adjudicates music festivals and gives masterclasses. 

Susanne Ruberg-Gordon piano Quoted by the Chronicle Herald as “A superb musician”, Swedish-born pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon’s passion for chamber music is evident. She has collaborated with artists such as Andres Cardenes, Ron Leonard, Andras Diaz, Desmond Hoebig, Ian Swensen, Alain Trudel, Jens Lindemann and Ning Feng. Susanne has been on faculty at the Mount Royal Conservatory since 1991, where she is the coordinator of Collaborative Pianists and teaches chamber music.

Mary Sullivan flute Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Mary Sullivan is a flutist devoted to the freelance scene based in Calgary, Alberta. She has performed with the CPO, the Red Deer Symphony, Land's End, Rubbing Stone, and Rosa Selvatica. Mary maintains an active teaching schedule at Mount Royal Conservatory.

Mary received her Bachelor of Music in flute performance from Indiana University where she studied with Jacques Zoon, Peter Lloyd, and Kate Lukas. She completed a Master of Music in flute performance at Louisiana State University.

[ S P E C I A L T H A N K S ]

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Liza Scriggins • Carolyn Smith • Peta Stuart • Mike Schuett • Canadian Music Centre • Hexagon Studio • Mount Royal Conservatory •

University of Calgary Dept. of Music • Posters by Scott Mushens

If you have 2 to 4 hours free per month and would be interested in volunteering for Land’s End, please call Christopher Sandvoss at

403 949 4194.

Land’s End is extremely grateful to the following donors:James Campbell, George Fenwick, Vernon and Donna Lowry, Ron McCullough,

Suzette Mayr, Richard Mercer, Richard A. Schultz, Ian Thom and Christine Halasa

Land’s End needs your support. Please consider becoming a member and/or making a donation. All donations are tax deductible.

Call 403 949 4194 or see a Land’s End representative after the show.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada council for the Arts, which last year invested $27.4 million in music throughout Canada.

Nous remercions de son soutien le Conseil des Arts du Canada, qui a investi 27,4 millions de dollars l’an dernier dans la musique à travers le Canada.

[ L A N D ’ S E N D B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S ]

Richard Sutherland President Meghan Topjian Vice President/Director Marketing

Nicholas Baingo Secretary/TreasurerJohn Lowry Director – Musician RepresentativeMiranda Anderson Director Membership & Volunteer

Christopher Sandvoss DirectorCurtis Anderson Director

Lori Farley Administrative ConsultantKyle Lamont Founder

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