Women Composers

Noon Hour Concert: Hidden Gems by Women Composers

Savreen Babra — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 19:31:02 +0000

Noon Hour Concert: Hidden Gems by Women Composers Savreen Babra Tue, 08/09/2022 - 15:31

The Mathieu-Chua Duo comprises Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu and pianist Stephanie Chua.

They are dynamic and compelling artists who champion the contemporary music of emerging composers alongside those that are internationally established, as well as relish in re-introducing the works of forgotten composers of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods to a new audience. It is important to Mathieu-Chua Duo that their collaborations and performances spark new artistic and social developments. They hope to contribute to the evolution of classical music as well as forge new connections between composers and audiences – two parties that might otherwise remain isolated without committed performers and committed performances. Our aim is to inspire emerging Canadian composers to the artistic and technical possibilities of instrumental chamber writing and to inspire the next generation of performers to the potential of contemporary repertoire.

Meeting in 2012, Mathieu-Chua Duo has quickly established themselves in Canada. They have presented recitals at Music Toronto’s Discovery Series, 21C Festival at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), Sound Symposium XVII (St. John’s, NF), New Works Calgary, Ottawa New Music Creators, 5-Penny New Music Concerts (Sudbury, ON), Palais Montcalm (Quebec City), and COC’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre (Toronto); as well as at Universities of Ottawa, Western Ontario, Guelph, and ��ݮ��Ƶ. In their short history together, Véronique and Stephanie have commissioned and premiered a number of works by emerging Canadian composers including Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière, Brian Harman, Emilie Lebel, Adam Scime, and Caitlin Smith, and established composers Alice Ho (Canada) and David Vayo (USA). They have collaborated with the composers of Spectrum Music (Toronto, ON) and Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist Karen Ostrom to present 'Patent Pending', an installation, animated film accompanied by live music at CONTACT Photography Festival 2014 (Toronto). The duo released their debut recording 'True North' on the Centrediscs label in 2017. Gapplegate Classical-Modern Review notes that the duo “trip the light fantastic with a dramatic sense of expression and a remarkable sense of balance and poise”. Mathieu-Chua Duo will also be releasing a 2nd recording together featuring all female composers on PARMA Recordings.

Programme

Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) - From Sonata no. 6 for violin and piano

Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)- Sonatine for violin and piano

Alice Ping Yee Ho (1960-) - Four Seasons for violin and piano

Amy Beach (1867-1944) - Romance for violin and piano

Florence Price (1887-1953) -Two pieces for violin and piano

Biographies

Véronique Mathieu

Described as a violinist with 'chops to burn, and rock solid musicianship' (The Whole Note), Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu enjoys an exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and music educator. An avid contemporary music performer, she has commissioned and premiered numerous works by American, Brazilian, and Canadian composers, and has worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Heinz Holliger, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Current projects include the commission of a large-scale solo violin work by Odawa First Nations composer Barbara Croall and a set of 12 pedagogical pieces written in collaboration with 12 internationally renowned composers with the support of the SSHRC and the Canada Council for the Arts. Dr. Mathieu has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, Shenyang Symphony Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Montreal Contemporary Ensemble, and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Indaiatuba (Brazil). She recorded for the labels of Radio-Canada, Parma, Centrediscs, Naxos, Pheromone, and the CD series New Music at Indiana University. Her recordings are frequently heard on the radio, and she was recently featured on a BBC series dedicated to the composer Witold Lutoslawski. Following the release of her 3rd solo CD (Cortège), Dr. Mathieu was a finalist in the Classical Artist/Ensemble of the Year category at the 2021 Western Canadian Music Awards.

Véronique Mathieu holds the David L. Kaplan Chair in Music at the University of Saskatchewan where she serves as an Associate Professor of Violin. She previously served on the faculty at State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo, and the University of Kansas. In addition, she is the co-founder and artistic director of NAVO Inc., a non-for-profit arts organization based in Kansas City. Dr. Mathieu has served on the jury of several national and international violin and strings competitions, and is a member of the jury for the 2022 Chicago International Music Competition and Festival. Dr. Mathieu is a graduate of the Québec Conservatory, McGill University, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.

Website: www.veroniquemathieu.net

Stephanie Chua

Stephanie Chua is an expressive and versatile Canadian pianist devoted to presenting and performing contemporary works through musical insight and innovative programming. She has been broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio 2 and in Europe on Rondo Classic FM and has performed in solo and chamber recitals across Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Recent highlights include being a featured performer in Soundstreams’ sold-out 2018 season opener ‘Six Pianos’ at Koerner Hall (Toronto), solo recitals at SOUL Live Music Project in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in partnership with Saigon Classical, New Music Edmonton, and Music Toronto’s Discovery Series; along with performances at Shanghai New Music Festival, Impuls Contemporary Music Festival (Graz, Austria), and Sound Symposium (St.John’s, NFLD). As a much sought-after collaborative pianist, Stephanie has performed in some of Canada's most important contemporary ensembles including Continuum Contemporary Music, Esprit Orchestra, Trio Fibonacci, and Toca Loca. In 2009, Stephanie co-founded junctQín keyboard collective with Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti. junctQín is a trio of pianists committed to performances of contemporary music and commissioning new works for their unique instrumentation. Since its inception, the group has commissioned and premiered over 40 new works from emerging to internationally established living composers. junctQín released their debut recording ‘reTHiNK’ on Redshift Records in 2020. Musicworks Magazine noted that their “. . . unfaltering, polished performance is a testament to years of work as a unit”.

Stephanie also performs regularly as a duo with violinist, Véronique Mathieu. The duo released their debut recording 'True North' on the Centrediscs label in 2017. Stephanie completed her Master of Music from the University of Toronto and her Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. She was also Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria. Her main teachers were Robin Wood and Marietta Orlov. Stephanie has also pursued private studies with pianist/musicologist Ian Pace in London, England.
Upcoming projects include a recording with cello duo VC2, a second recording with violinist Véronique Mathieu (to be released on Navona Records), and a large-scale creation and recording collaboration with the Bozzini String Quartet and Canadian composers Rebecca Bruton and Jason Doell.

Website: https://www.stephaniechua.com/

Noon Hour Concert: Phenomenal Women!

Angelica Allen — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 16:52:49 +0000

Noon Hour Concert: Phenomenal Women! Angelica Allen Mon, 12/14/2020 - 11:52

Accompanied by renowned pianist Stephanie Mara, flautist Laurel Swinden will perform works to help celebrate International Women's Day which falls on Monday, March 8th. The composers include:

Florence Price
Valerie Coleman
Amanda Harberg
Cecile Chaminade

The premiere will be released on March 3rd, 2021 and will continue to be available on the Grebel Youtube Channel.

View "Concert 5: Phenomenal Women!" on YouTube

Programme

The Deserted Garden (1933) Florence B. Price (1887-1953)

Court Dances: Suite for Flute and Piano (2017) Amanda Harberg (b.1973)

Courante

Air de Cour

Tambourin

Sérénade Aux Etoiles, Op. 142 (1911) Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)

Fanmi Imèn (Human Family) (2018) Valerie Coleman b. 1970)

Thank-you to special guest, Kimberly Barber

for her reading of Maya Angelou’s poem, Human Family.

Biographies

Self-confessed “flute nerd” Canadian flutist Laurel Swinden has been praised for her sweet and distinct tone…breathtaking in colour (Whole Note). Dr. Swinden embraces a multi-faceted career as a recitalist, orchestral musician, pedagogue, clinician and music scholar.
Not daunted by any musical challenge, Laurel is equally at home with 18th century through 21^st century repertoire, whether it be a premiere of a contemporary electroacoustic work, new arrangements for flute with brass, standard of the flute repertoire, works for piccolo, alto and bass flute, eighteenth-century Scottish works on traverso and keyed flutes, or Irish and Scottish flute tunes. “If its great music, its worthy of playing!”
Recent performances as an invited guest artist include recitals at the Festivales Internacionales des Flautistas in Lima, Peru, National Flute Association Conventions (USA), the Sichuan Conservatory, Canadian Flute Conventions, and the Perimeter Institute. In addition to her positions as Principal Flute of the Stratford Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Principal Flute/Piccolo of the Scarborough Philharmonic, Dr. Swinden has performed with the Musicians of Orchestra London, Windsor Symphony, Toronto Sinfonietta, Memphis Symphony, Mississippi Symphony and Tupelo Symphonies.
Lauded as “beautifully played…” with “…her very musical phrasing is matched in every turn by longtime collaborator, Stephanie Mara…” (Audiophilia), Laurel’s CD Celebrating Women: Music for Flute and Piano by Women Composers was the first of a multi-CD project with a mission to bring wider attention to works for flute written by women composers. Her successive CD Celebrating Canadian Women! received generous support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
A passionate and dedicated teacher, Dr. Swinden teaches Flute at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph and the Laurier Conservatory of Music.
Dr. Swinden earned a DMA in Flute Performance as a Fellowship recipient at the University of Toronto, where she studied with Toronto Symphony Principal Flute Nora Schulman and traverso with Alison Melville. Her training includes residencies at the Banff Centre and the Harid Conservatory (now Lynn University.) Laurel sought additional training in masterclasses and lessons with Jim Walker, Jeffrey Zook, Jan Gippo, Leone Buyse, Kathleen Rudolph, Bernard Goldberg, Keith Underwood, Philippe-Alain Dupré, Lisa Besnoziuk and Carol Wincenc. webpage

Stephanie Mara, received an Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, where she studied with Garth Beckett. She is a collaborative pianist and coach for Wilfrid Laurier University, where she works with students majoring in brass, bassoon, clarinet and cello. Stephanie has assisted in master classes with Alain Trudel, Dennis Najoom, James Campbell and Norman Engel and has performed in recital and gala events with Canadian soloists James Campbell, Alistair Kay, Mark Fewer and Jasper Wood. She performs on a regular basis with Guy Few in Canada and the United States. Recording projects include collaborations with flutist Laurel Swinden (Celebrating Women!), a CD of music for flute and piano by women composers and with Guy Few (Vocalise), exploring the instrumental “voice’ of ecstasy through songs without words. Festival and series appearances include the Elora Festival, Festival of the Sound, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Barrie Colours of Music, Quad City Arts and Sun River Festival. Stephanie’s broadcast credits encompass Bravo, CBC radio and NPR.
“dazzling technique” (Huntsville Forester)
“artistry, grace and bravado” (Barrie Examiner)
“Tremendous energy, totally engaging…” (The Audience as Critic – Virtuosi Concerts,
Winnipeg)