Directed by Paolo Bortolussi, the UBC Contemporary Players ensemble includes graduate and undergraduate students from the School of Music focusing on music and performance of our time. Programs blend masterworks by internationally acclaimed composers with world premieres of works written expressly for the ensemble by UBC composition majors.
Flutist Paolo Bortolussi is a soloist, chamber artist and new music pioneer. Raised in Halifax, NS, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across Canada, the US and abroad. A specialist in contemporary music, Bortolussi is the flutist and co-director of the Nu:BC Collective, a new music and multimedia arts ensemble in residence at UBC. To date he has premiered over one hundred and fifty solo and chamber works. In 2016, Bortolussi released his first solo album, Israfel – music for flute and electronics, on the Redshift label, which includes works by Keith Hamel, Larry Lake, John Oliver and Kaija Saariaho. Currently principal flutist with the Vancouver Island Symphony, Bortolussi has appeared as soloist with the VIS as well as the Albany (NY) Symphony and the Turning Point Ensemble, and has performed with the Aventa Ensemble, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, as well as the Vancouver and Victoria Symphony Orchestras. Bortolussi is on the music faculty of the University of British Columbia, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Trinity Western University. He holds a BMus in performance from the University of Ottawa as well as Masters and Doctoral degrees from Indiana University. He is currently director of the UBC Contemporary Players.
UBC Contemporary Players conducted by Paolo Bortolussi. Photo: Michael R. Barrick.
Once again, we are pleased to welcome the UBC Contemporary Players to the Belkin Art Gallery for a concert inspired by the exhibition Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity. Led by Directors Corey Hamm and Paolo Bortolussi with support from Aaron Graham, this graduate and undergraduate student ensemble from the UBC School of Music will animate the Gallery for an afternoon program celebrating themes from the exhibition. And on TUESDAY, APRIL 12 at 2:30 pm, please join us for a once-in-a-lifetime performance of Alexander Scriabin’s Complete Piano Sonatas, Nos. 1-10 performed by piano students of Corey Hamm. All welcome. Admission is free.
APRIL 8 PROGRAM
Terry Riley, Cantos Desiertos (1993)
i. Francesco en Paraiso
ii. Canción Desierto
iii. Quijote
Tom Gamble (guitar), Van Le (violin)
Jaelem Bhate, Dial (2015)
Sarah Ellis (bassoon), Simeon Weststeijn (marimba)
Aram Bajakian, 5 Martyrs (2015)
1. Introduction
2. Ashkhen
3. Khosrovidukht
4. Hripsime
5. Tamar
6. Gaiane
Satoko Nagashima (flute), Joel Thomson (guitar)
Nikolai Kapustin, Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 54, Mvmts. 1 and 2 (1989)
Andrea Tremblay-Legendre (piano)
Tōru Takemitsu, Toward the Sea (1981)
Satoko Nagashima (alto flute), Joel Thomson (guitar)
Steve Reich, Double Sextet (2007)
Kyran Assing (cello 2), Paolo Bortolussi (flute 1), Melody Chen (violin 2), Julia Chien (vibraphone 2), Ryan Esau (flute 2), Ellie Froese (clarinet 2), Aaron Graham (vibraphone 1), Corey Hamm (piano 2), Sarah Ho (violin 1), Laine Longton (cello 1), Andrea Tremblay-Legendre (piano 1), Sydney Titarenko (clarinet 1)
Directed by Paolo Bortolussi, the UBC Contemporary Players ensemble includes graduate and undergraduate students from the School of Music focusing on music and performance of our time. Programs blend masterworks by internationally acclaimed composers with world premieres of works written expressly for the ensemble by UBC composition majors.
Flutist Paolo Bortolussi is a soloist, chamber artist and new music pioneer. Raised in Halifax, NS, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across Canada, the US and abroad. A specialist in contemporary music, Bortolussi is the flutist and co-director of the Nu:BC Collective, a new music and multimedia arts ensemble in residence at UBC. To date he has premiered over one hundred and fifty solo and chamber works. In 2016, Bortolussi released his first solo album, Israfel – music for flute and electronics, on the Redshift label, which includes works by Keith Hamel, Larry Lake, John Oliver and Kaija Saariaho. Currently principal flutist with the Vancouver Island Symphony, Bortolussi has appeared as soloist with the VIS as well as the Albany (NY) Symphony and the Turning Point Ensemble, and has performed with the Aventa Ensemble, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, as well as the Vancouver and Victoria Symphony Orchestras. Bortolussi is on the music faculty of the University of British Columbia, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Trinity Western University. He holds a BMus in performance from the University of Ottawa as well as Masters and Doctoral degrees from Indiana University. He is currently director of the UBC Contemporary Players.
On July 2, 2014, renowned Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw artist Chief Beau Dick along with 21 companions set out from the University of British Columbia on a journey to Ottawa which they called Awalaskenis II: Journey of Truth and Unity. Intending to raise awareness about the plight of the environment and to challenge elected officials to attend to the relationship between the federal government and First Nations people, the group brought with them many objects including a copper shield known as Taaw made by Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw, the Haida carver and former president of the Haida Nation. Guujaaw had encouraged Dick to make this journey, having been inspired by the 2013 Awalaskenis I journey from Quatsino on the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Victoria.
[more]Join us at Macaulay & Co. Fine Art to celebrate the publication of Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity. Edited by Scott Watson and Lorna Brown, this richly illustrated hardcover book includes essays by Beau Dick, Chief Robert Joseph, Guujaaw, Gyauustees, Linnea Dick, Wanda Nanibush, Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Tarah Hogue and Shelly Rosenblum. The catalogue offers visual documentation of the belongings that were gathered together and displayed in the Gallery during the Lalakenis exhibition, along with images from the two journeys that culminated in copper-breaking ceremonies: Awalaskenis I (February 2013) beginning in Quatsino and ending in Victoria, BC and Awalaskenis II (July 2014) which saw Beau Dick and 21 companions setting out from UBC for Ottawa. The copper-breaking ceremonies marked ruptured relationships in need of repair, and passed the burden of wrongs done to First Nations people from them to the Governments of BC and Canada, reviving a shaming rite that once was central to a complex economic system and symbol of justice, a traditional practice that had all but disappeared. This publication reprints content from the exhibition guide in which Beau comments on the significance and role of coppers and the motivating factors for the journeys; Guujaaw speaks of the Taaw copper he made to be broken in Ottawa; Linnea Dick reflects on instigating, along with her sister Geraldine, the earlier journey from Quatsino to Victoria; and Gyauustees speaks about the ceremonies he conducts as a pipe carrier. Added to these texts are new essays by Wanda Nanibush, Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Tarah Hogue and Shelly Rosenblum. Beau Dick and exhibition co-curators and editors Scott Watson and Lorna Brown will be in attendance. Special launch pricing will be in effect.
[more]Once again, we are pleased to welcome the UBC Contemporary Players to the Belkin Art Gallery for a concert inspired by the exhibition Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity. Led by Directors Corey Hamm and Paolo Bortolussi with support from Aaron Graham, this graduate and undergraduate student ensemble from the UBC School of Music will animate the Gallery for an afternoon program celebrating themes from the exhibition. And on TUESDAY, APRIL 12 at 2:30 pm, please join us for a once-in-a-lifetime performance of Alexander Scriabin’s Complete Piano Sonatas, Nos. 1-10 performed by piano students of Corey Hamm.
[more]Join leading UBC scholars, artists, curators and critics in a series of midday conversations. We invite two prominent, disciplinarily distinct voices into the Gallery to discuss productive intersections of their own work and the current exhibition, followed by a discussion that includes the audience. In this series, guests will address Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity, an exhibition that remembers Kwakwaka’wakw carver Beau Dick’s 2014 journey from UBC to Ottawa, which culminated in a ceremonial copper-breaking on the steps of Parliament Hill.
[more]Join UBC Artist in Residence and Kwakwaka'wakw Hereditary Chief Beau Dick, community members, elders and activists on select Thursday afternoons at the Gallery, where they will share their knowledge, experiences and discuss the themes of the exhibition Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity.
[more]Please join us at a Celebration of Life for Beau Dick on Sunday, April 30, 2017. This public event will take place from 2 to 4 pm at the Museum of Anthropology, with words and actions from Larry Grant, Chief Robert Joseph, Linnea Dick, Anthony Shelton, Scott Watson, Dana Claxton and others.
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