Events

• Final Music-at-Noon concert for 2017

  Monday, December 04, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Guitar majors, Gavino Oresta (left) and Eric Godfree (right), as they performed for a Music@Noon recital in the 2016-17 season.

  Tuesday Dec. 5 will be the last RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital for 2017.

  This concert will feature Brock’s piano and guitar students as they wrap up 2017 with the first half of the RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series.

  But don’t worry, this series of performances isn’t going away for good! There will be many more performances to come in the new year, taking place at noon in the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

  Stay informed with the Department of Music events throughout the new year through at ExperienceBU.

  Tags: Department of Music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, music@noon, student recitals
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series

• Music presents the University Wind Ensemble: A MUSICAL MONTAGE

  Monday, November 20, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  The University Wind Ensemble enjoys a rich heritage of musical excellence, bringing together both university and high school students as well as members of the Niagara musical community to explore and perform major symphonic wind band works, both original and arranged.

  The University Wind Ensemble Series conducted by Zoltan Kalman

  featuring a Canada 150 Performance of Suite Canadienne composed by Michael Kositsky

  Led by conductor Zoltan Kalman, the ensemble explores major symphonic wind band works, both original and arranged. Includes a Canada 150 performance of “Suite Canadienne”: A Medley of Canadian Folksongs, composed by Michael Kositsky.

  Folksongs to be included: I’s the B’y / Un Canadien errant / Black Fly / Four Strong Winds / North West Passage / J’entends le moulin / Springhill Mine Disaster / Something to Sing About.

  Tuesday, December 5, 2017
  Time: 7:30 p.m.

  Location: Partridge Hall, First Ontario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, ON

  Tickets: $12*; $5* child (14 and under); $5* eyeGo program. Free admission to current Brock students with valid student ID card. *No CCIF applied; other applicable fees and taxes are extra. † Applicable fees and taxes are extra.

  Available from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

  This is a special Canada 150 event.

  Tags: A Musical Montage, university wind ensemble, wind ensemble, Zoltan Kalman
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Future Students, News, The University Wind Ensemble

• Music presents the Brock University Choirs: WINTERSONG

  Monday, November 20, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  The Viva Voce Choral Series features Brock’s student choral ensembles (men’s, women’s and mixed choruses).

  Under the direction of newly-appointed conductor Rachel Rensink-Hoff, these excellent choirs perform multiple concerts throughout the academic year. They have also engaged in community outreach, collaborated with choirs in Canada and the U.S., and produced CD recordings of works by Niagara composers.

  Viva Voce! Choral Series: Brock University Choirs

  conducted by Rachel Rensink-Hoff, featuring a Canada 150 Performance composed by Stephanie Martin

  Saturday, December 2, 2017
  Time: 7:30 p.m.

  Location: Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre

  Tickets: $15* adults; $10* seniors & students; $5* eyeGo program. *No CCIF applied; other applicable fees and taxes are extra.

  Available from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

  This is a special Canada 150 event.

   

  Tags: Choir, Department of Music, Viva Voce Choral Series, Viva Voce!
  Categories: Announcements, Events, News, Viva Voce Choral Series

• Music presents the Brock University String Orchestra: OPENINGS

  Monday, November 20, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  For the first time in the Department of Music’s history, we are proud to present our newest ensemble. Under the direction of George Cleland, the String Orchestra combines university students and community members in the performance of standard masterworks and lesser-known gems of the string repertoire.

  Brock University String Orchestra

  George Cleland – Conductor

  Wednesday November 29, 2017
  Time: 7:30 p.m.

  The Brock String Orchestra’s first concert of its inaugural season will feature repertoire from English Masters and other seasonal favourites:

  St Paul’s Suite by Gustav Holst
  Chaconne in G Minor by Henry Purcell
  An English Suite by C. Hubert H. Parry
  Concerto Opus 6 number 8, Fatto per la Notte di Natale, (the Christmas Concerto)by Arcangelo Corelli
  Theme Song for String Orchestra by Mark Zuckerman

  Location: Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines

  Tickets: $12*; $5* child (14 and under); $5* eyeGo program. Free admission to current Brock students with valid student ID card. *No CCIF applied; other applicable fees and taxes are extra. † Applicable fees and taxes are extra.

  Available from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

  Tags: cairns recital hall, George Cleland, Openings, String Orchestra
  Categories: Announcements, Events, News, The University String Orchestra

• Viva Voce! First concert of the 2017-18 season

  Friday, November 10, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Pictured above: Rachel Rensink-Hoff, newly appointed Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers.

  On Saturday Nov. 18 at 7:30 pm at the St. Thomas Anglican Church (103 Ontario St, St. Catharines), the Avanti Chamber Singers present their first concert of the 2017-18 season as part of our Viva Voce! Choral Series: Semper Avanti | Ever Forward. This will be the first performance by the Avanti Chamber Singers with Rachel Rensink-Hoff as the Artistic Director.

  The Avanti Chambers Singers are a Niagara community-based mixed chamber choir.  They perform mainstream choral literature, both accompanied and a cappella. For the November 18th concert the repertoire includes Kyrie-Gloria pairings by Palestrina, Mozart & Corlis,  Selections from Dove’s Passing of the Year,  and works by Mendelssohn, Esenvalds & Dolly Parton!

  Rensink-Hoff is the Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University, and the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers.

  Tickets may be purchased from Thorold Music (289 Glendale Ave.) and Booksmart (Scott/Vine Plaza, 350 Scott St.), or by members of the Avanti Chamber Singers. Additionally, tickets will be sold at the door the night of the concert.

  Visit our ExperienceBU page and avantichambersingers.com for further information.

  Tags: Avanti Chamber Singers, Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff
  Categories: Events, Viva Voce Choral Series

• The Department of Music on stage!

  Monday, November 06, 2017 | By dtemprile

  

  Pictured above is a previous season performance of the Guitar Extravaganza (top), The Walker Quartet (left to right: Anna Hughes (2^nd violin), Faith Lau (viola), Gordon Cleland (cello) and Vera Alexeeva (1^st violin)), and pianist Dr. Karin Di Bella (bottom right).

  This weekend the Department of Music is presenting two spectacular concerts that will surely be among the highlights of the fall season.

  On Friday Nov. 10, as part of the Walker Cultural Leader Series, Encore! Professional Concert Series presents: The Walker Quartet with faculty pianist Karin Di Bella. The Walker Cultural Leader Series was generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker.

  Now in its second season, the Department of Music’s resident Walker String Quartet and Karin Di Bella present a program of two of the most iconic works in the string quintet repertoire, the Piano Quintets by Schumann in E-flat Major and Shostakovich in G Minor.

  This concert takes place on Friday Nov. 10, 2017 in the Partridge Concert Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, starting at 7:30 pm. For more information, please visit the Department concert events webpage and the ExperienceBU page.

  Then on Saturday Nov. 11 as part of our continuing celebration of Canada’s 150 year of Confederation, the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre is once again the venue for the ever-popular Guitar Extravangaza III including a special Canada 150 performance of Carpe Noctem.

  Brock University’s annual celebration of the guitar commences at 7:30 pm on Saturday Nov. 11 in the Cairns Recital Hall.  An orchestra of 60 guitars comprised of Brock students, local amateurs and professionals will be directed by Brock University Guitar Instructor, Timothy Phelan. Special guest soloists include Matthew McAllister (Scotland) and Emma Rush (Canada).  The concert features a tribute to the late Warren Stirtzinger with George Kane (USA) and James Bryan McCollum (Canada), music composed by Timothy Phelan and the World Premiere of Carpe Noctem – a six-movement work written especially for this occasion by Niagara composer Floyd Turner.  For more information, please visit the Department concert events webpage and the ExperienceBU page.

  Tickets for both events can be ordered from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office (905.688.0722) or from their website.

  Tags: Brock University, cairns recital hall, Canada 150, Encore! Professional Concert Series, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, FOPAC, Guitar Extravaganza, Karin Di Bella, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, MIWSFPA, Piano, Walker Cultural Leader Series, Walker String Quartet
  Categories: Encore! Professional Concert Series, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Special Events

• Music Archive in the Library

  Wednesday, November 01, 2017 | By dtemprile

  

  Pictured is an example of a “Writing for Music” poster displayed in the Learning Commons of the James A. Gibson Library.
  Photo by Evelyn Smith. 

  Each year the fourth-year Music students perform a series of recitals as they proceed to successfully complete their studies in the Department of Music. In order to announce the performance each student must produce a poster.

  Students in the Studies in Arts and Culture program have selected a few posters from previous concert seasons and responded in creative and critical ways to create a music performance poster archive. This playful archive is now on display in the Learning Commons of the James A. Gibson library.

  The fourth-year Music Student Solo Recitals return for the 2017-18 season beginning March 2 through April 2, 2018. For more information on the Student Solo Recitals, please visit the music website. For information on past Student Solo Recitals, please visit the 2016-17 season concert details.

  This mini showcase will be on display in the Learning Commons of the James A. Gibson Library until 8 pm on Saturday Nov. 4, 2017 and is available to view during Library hours.

  For further information, please visit our ExperienceBU page.

  Tags: Brock University, display, james a. gibson library, learning commons, library, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, MIWSFPA, music, recital, stac, studies in arts and culture, writing for music
  Categories: Current Students, Events, News

• Percussion Improv at the MIWSFPA

  Friday, September 22, 2017 | By dtemprile

  

  Join us for an outdoor improv performance!

  Percussionist Devon Fornelli will converse in real time with the city soundscape using traditional instruments and found materials.

  Mr. Fornelli has extensive experience as a soloist, an orchestral percussionist, and as a chamber instrumentalist. His range of talent covers all the diverse areas of percussion and drums from the orchestral percussion section to contemporary art music, and most traditions in-between. This is his third improv performance in the Raceway that runs adjacent to the MIWSFPA.

  The performance will take place in the Lancaster, Brooks & Welch LLP Pathway, between the MIWSFPA and FOPAC.

  In case of rain, the performance will be relocated to the MIWSFPA lobby.

  Tags: concerts & shows, Devon Fornelli, Festivals, FOPAC, free, MIWSFPA, music, Niagara community events, Outdoors, Recreation, Social
  Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, Special Events

• Brock University welcomes Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff!

  Tuesday, July 04, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Brock University welcomes Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff to the Department of Music at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts.

  Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff is the newly appointed Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University. She has also been named Artistic Director of the Niagara-based Avanti Chamber Singers.

  Former conductor of the McMaster University Choir and founder of the McMaster Women’s Choir, Dr. Rensink-Hoff completed her Doctorate and Master of Music degree at Western University, pursuing additional studies at the Eastman School of Music Conducting Institute, the Voice Care Network of St. John’s University, Minnesota, and the University of Toronto. She has engaged in master-classes under conductors Helmuth Rilling, Joseph Flummerfelt, Anton Armstrong, Dale Warland and the late Sir David Willcocks.

  Vice-President of Programming for Choral Canada, Rachel Rensink-Hoff is the 2014 winner of the prestigious Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting awarded by the Ontario Arts Council. In 2015, her McMaster Women’s Choir was awarded first prize in the National Choral Competition for Amateur Choirs of the CBC and Choral Canada. That same year she was nominated for the Excellence in Teaching Award at McMaster University.

  She publishes regularly in the Choral Journal of the American Choral Directors’ Association as well as in Choral Canada’s Anacrusis and The Canadian Music Educator. Rachel works frequently as guest conductor, adjudicator, conference presenter and workshop clinician. Current engagements include a session on Canadian and American women choral composers at the 2017 national conference of the American Choral Directors’ Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota and a presentation on Canadian choral music at the 2017 World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain. She also looks forward to serving as guest conductor of this year’s 2017 Nova Scotia Provincial Youth Choir.

  Tags: Choir, choral, Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff
  Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, News, Viva Voce Choral Series

• Avanti Chamber Singers – Choral Flora

  Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | By Brock University

  

  Avanti Chamber Singers presents “Choral Flora: A Garland of Song” for spring.  Successor to conductor Harris Loewen to be named.

  On Saturday, April 29, Avanti Chamber Singers (ACS) will present their final concert of the season, and their very last with conductor Harris Loewen. In celebration of spring, the theme is “Choral Flora,” which will include colourful choral suites and part-songs on the topic of flowers and trees.

  Joining Loewen and Avanti Chamber Singers will be Zoltan Kalman, clarinetist extraordinaire, who will perform with the choir alongside soprano soloist Melissa-Marie Shriner, as well as playing several solo works. Kalman is Loewen’s colleague at Brock University, and conducts the University Wind Ensemble.

  Avanti Chamber Singers will also take this opportunity to announce Harris Loewen’s successor as Conductor and Artistic Director.  Loewen founded ACS in 2006, at the encouragement of his former students, and has had a very successful 11 years as their conductor, producing three CD recordings.  He will be retiring this spring from a long and active career as a choral conductor.

  The concert “bouquet” will feature lyrical works by both Canadian and international composers. The main items on the program will be three delightful short suites by acclaimed Vancouver composer Stephen Chatman (“How Sweet and Fair”), as well as prolific American composers James Mulholland (“Robert Burns Ballads”) and Gwyneth Walker (“The Great Trees”).

  The program will also include several premiere performances of new arrangements by Niagara composers.  The choir will perform John Butler’s take on the French-Canadian folksong “The Rosebud”, as well as Loewen’s own version of the famous “Heidenröslein” by Heinrich Werner.  Works by famous composers such as Dvořák, Mendelssohn and Vaughan Williams will round out the program.

  Loewen states, “A floral arrangement in choral music is not only a fitting seasonal program, but a beautiful way to wrap up my career. I have loved making great music with the dedicated singers of Avanti, as well as our guest artists, and promoting the music of Niagara composers along the way.
  It’s been just a fabulous community experience in all of its various aspects.”

  The Viva Voce Choral Series, presented by the Department of Music, is a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and Brock University.

  Come and enjoy this choral celebration on Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m., held at Covenant Christian Reformed Church, 278 Parnell Rd, St. Catharines. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors & students, $5 for the eyeGo high school ticket program, and are available to be purchased at the door. A $5 discount is available on advance tickets in St. Catharines from Thorold Music (289 Glendale Ave.) and Booksmart (Scott/Vine Plaza, 350 Scott St.), or from members of Avanti Chamber Singers. Discount is not applicable to eyeGo pricing.

  For an interview or more information contact:
  Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  T: 905-688-5550, x 4765 | E: miwsfpa@brocku.ca | W: brocku.ca/miwsfpa

  Tags: Choral Flora, concert, MIWSFPA, music, Spring, Viva Voce!
  Categories: Events, Media Releases, News, Viva Voce Choral Series