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After
the first exciting year of the Debut Atlantic residency, during
which I wrote works for Lucille Chung, Denise Djokic with Jeffrey
Neufeld, and Measha Brueggergosman with Robert Kortgaard, another
season has hurtled by with audiences throughout the Atlantic region
hearing new works premièred by Robert Pomakov with Brahm
Goldhamer, Daniel Bolshoy, and Kaori Yamagami and Ian Parker.
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2002-2003 season started with Insomnia
Songs for bass voice and piano, a set of
three songs about various states of unwanted wakefulness.
Robert Pomakov and Brahm Goldhamer performed the songs
as part of their full recital program in eight Debut
venues as well as for school presentations in Cornerbrook,
Newfoundland and Rothesay, New Brunswick. |
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Left
to right; Robert Pomakov, Brahm Goldhamer and Alasdair
MacLean after a visit to Yarmouth, N.S.'s best hat
shop.
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| Daniel
Bolshoy (left) and Alasdair give a school presentation
at Glace Bay High School |
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| Daniel
Bolshoy, guitarist, introduced One
Crow Sorrow, an elegiac work for solo classical
guitar, to the public in nine venues around the region,
and during visits to Glace Bay High School in Glace
Bay, N.S. and Rothesay Collegiate School in Rothesay,
N.B. |
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| For
ten days in January, I
was in St. John's, Nfld. as guest composer-in-residence
at the Music Department of Memorial University, an arrangement
sponsored by Debut Atlantic. I spent time working with
senior composition students there and visiting music
theory classes to lead discussions about new music and
creativity. |
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| Alasdair
(far right) and MUN composition professor Clark Ross
(center) with senior composition students |
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Alasdair
with St. Cecilia audience members |
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| In
early February, I was invited by the director of Halifax's
St. Cecilia Concert Series, Barbara Butler, to give
an evening presentation about my music. There was a
very healthy turnout, and we all enjoyed the great food,
including my own chocolate chiffon cake with coffee
buttercream, at the post-event reception. |
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| In
mid-February, I spent a week dividing my time between
Fredericton High School and Rothesay Collegiate School,
both in New Brunswick, under the auspices of the Debut
Atlantic residency, visiting senior music classes, and
discussing various aspects of musical composition with
students who were preparing their own pieces as part
of their school programs. |
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Alasdair
(far right, back row) and music teacher Don Bosse
(second from right, back row) with FHS music students |
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Jon Washburn leads the Vancouver Chamber Choir in a
read-through of 'We Move Homeward' while Alasdair listens. |
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| Later
in February, I
had the great experience of having my choral and orchestra
work We Move Homeward
, originally commissioned and premièred by Symphony
Nova Scotia, workshopped by the Vancouver Chamber Choir
during their East Coast tour. I travelled to Antigonish,
N.S. to hear the choir give a wonderful concert in St.
Ninian's Cathedral, and the next morning, Jon Ashburn
led the choir in a read-through of the five-movement
work. |
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| For
two weeks in March, I joined Debut artists Kaori Yamagami
and Ian Parker, winners of the 2001 CBC Young Performers
Competition, as they completed an extensive tour with
a program which included Chromaline
for cello and piano. School visits included Fortune
and Marystown, Nfld., as well as Rothesay Collegiate
School in Rothesay, N.B. |
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Ian
Parker and Kaori Yamagami in Marystown
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left
to right; Alasdair MacLean, Fortune music teacher Heidi
Price, pianist Ian Parker and cellist Kaori Yamagami
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left
to right: Ian Parker, Kaori Yamagami, and Alasdair
MacLean at the Music Room in Halifax, N.S.
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