Concerts highlight 40 years of boundary-pushing music
Acclaimed electroacoustic composer Barry Truax will showcase 40 years of boundary-stretching music at two Vancouver concerts: Nov. 14 at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, and Nov. 19 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.
A professor in Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, Truax’s award-winning “immersive soundscapes” build on the artistic legacy of his celebrated mentor R. Murray Schafer.
Truax electronically manipulates sounds from the natural environment, rearranging “tiny grains of sound, like water droplets or computer pixels” to create “sonically spectacular events.”
His piece Riverrun conjures the mighty Fraser, for example, and Steam pays homage to Canadian soundmarks such as train and boat whistles and Vancouver’s noon-time O Canada horn.
“SFU has led the way in this genre,” says Truax, whose eight-channel surround-sound works are best known in Europe where he frequently tours.
Both programs will feature premieres of newly commissioned works, one of which includes singing and dancing and is based on the life and death of British mathematician Alan Turing.
Says Truax: “These concerts offer a unique musical experience. I think anyone with the least curiosity about where classical music is going would find this very appealing. This is not hard-edged; it’s not noisy; it’s not even all that loud.
“There is respect for traditional musical values—sensuality, lyricism, compositional structure—combined with new technology. And—sadly—there are just not that many opportunities to hear this kind of work in North America.”
Ticket info:
Sunday, Nov. 14 at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, 149 W. Hastings:
- Regular: $15
- Students and seniors: $10
- Reservations: 778.782.3514
- Regular: $30
- Students and seniors: $20
- Tickets available at Sikora’s Records, ticketstonight.ca and at the door