Articles tagged with: music

  • Brock events to explore science behind what draws people to music

    Caption: Susan Rogers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience in the Music Production and Engineering Department at Berklee College of Music, will be presenting The Music of Listening at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday, Oct. 24. (Photo credit: Sharona Jacobs)

    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 06, 2023 | by

    Whether its rhythm causes an unconscious sway or its lyrics evoke a swell of emotion, a song can strike a different chord from one set of ears to another.

    A series of upcoming Brock University academic and general interest talks aim to unpack the science behind what drives people to love and connect with the music that they do.

    Susan Rogers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience in the Music Production and Engineering Department at Berklee College of Music, will discuss music cognition and perception, and why individuals are attracted to the types of music they listen to.

    In addition to sharing her academic knowledge of neuroscience and how it relates to listening to music, Rogers will share her experiences as an accomplished sound engineer and record producer for musicians such as Prince, David Byrne and Barenaked Ladies.

    Three events are set to take place next month, presented by Brock’s Faculty of Mathematics and Science and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in collaboration with the FirstOntario Performing Art Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

    The largest event, The Music of Listening, will take place Tuesday, Oct. 24 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Open to the Brock and wider community, it will include a book signing for Rogers’ latest book, This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, co-authored with Ogi Ogas. Tickets for the event are available through the art centre’s website and are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $20.

    In her talk, Rogers will discuss the seven dimensions of musical listening, and how people’s brains develop over a lifetime of listening to music.

    “Your listening brain is different from everyone else’s, which gives you a unique response to any given record,” she says.

    Rogers explains that a person might like a certain song because they love dancing to its rhythm or they get emotional listening to the lyrics. Another song might resonate with someone because they find the sound design exciting or it ignites their imagination.

    The event will also feature a live music ‘record pull’ with local recording artist Mark Lalama. Rogers and Lalama will take turns playing snippets of music and explaining the features of each song that excite them.

    “I’m hoping listeners will come away with a sense of their own listener profile and a better vocabulary for describing their musical taste,” she says.

    The event will conclude with live music by Grammy nominee, producer, composer and pianist Larry Edoff, who will perform a Prince medley.

    Complementing The Music of Listening event will be a film screening of Purple Rain on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are $9.50 for the general public or $7.50 for Film House members.

    Rogers will also be presenting free lectures for the Brock community.

    A Neuroaesthetics of Music Perception lecture will take place Monday, Oct. 23 from 10 to 11 a.m. in Plaza 600F. All Brock University students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend and are encouraged to RSVP via ExperienceBU.

    Rogers will discuss how neural processes contribute to music preference and how the brain is involved with hypercreativity.

    “Neuroaesthetics is a hot topic right now in neuroscience,” she says. “How do we get a reaction of art appreciation from works of art?”

    A Music and Neuroscience lecture will take place Monday, Oct. 23 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Recital Hall, as part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Walker Cultural Leader Series. Students and faculty from Brock’s downtown arts school are welcome to attend.

    The lecture will focus on how students can apply neuroscience-related findings about music listeners to their own writing, recording and producing of music.

     

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  • Brock artists to draw inspiration from new bursary

    Through a gift to Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Paul Green and Ginny Medland-Green are supporting students who’ve chosen to pursue a career in the arts.


    Originally published in The Brock News | FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023 | by 

    When Ginny Medland-Green and Paul Green toured Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) early last year, they left impressed by the community that exists for young artists at the downtown school.

    The couple, who have a deep love and appreciation for the arts, moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake seven years ago and have been pleasantly surprised by the cultural richness of the region. Through a recent gift in support of the MIWSFPA, they hope to support the study of the arts for students and showcase the impact their work can and will have on communities such as Niagara.

    “It’s courageous to study fine and performing arts at university and set a goal to be a working artist,” Medland-Green said. “We hope our bursary will inspire students to set both imaginative and practical goals for their capstone project and assist financially in a way that energizes them as they work creatively and tirelessly in what is a very competitive environment.”

    Currently taking applications, the Medland and Green Inspiring Artists Bursary is open to all third-year Honours students enrolled in Dramatic Arts, Music and Visual Arts at the MIWSFPA. The bursary has been established to assist students pursuing a unique opportunity such as travel, an internship or training that will benefit their upcoming capstone project or production, taking place in the 2023-24 academic year.

    “The Greens’ gift is a true investment in the future of our students, our downtown campus and the arts in our community,” said Sonia Dupte, Executive Director, Development and Campaigns. “Through its endowment, it will impact generations of inspiring artists at Brock.”

    From the onset of conversations with Brock and the MIWSFPA about the gift, Medland-Green and Green emphasized the importance of the bursary supporting a learning activity that not only excites the student recipient, but also professionalizes and shapes their career path in the arts.

    Linda Carreiro, Associate Dean of Fine and Performing Arts, commended the uniqueness of the bursary and the opportunities it will support for students at the downtown arts school.

    “Students at the Marilyn School are lucky to have a variety of awards established to support them throughout their studies,” she said. “The Medland and Green Inspiring Artists Bursary is unique in the way that it really hones in on the learning and professional development that often happens outside of a classroom.

    “Financially supporting students to pursue an opportunity they’ve identified to advance their own learning will not only inspire them towards a career path, but will also instil confidence that their skills are important and they can in fact make a living by pursuing a career in the arts,” Carreiro said.

    Interested applicants are invited to submit a short proposal (up to 500 words) and budget for the event, project or opportunity for which they are requesting funding. The submission should also include how the funding will assist in the application of their final-year project or production.

    Comprehensive applications, which include the proposal and budget, can be submitted to Brock’s Awards and Bursaries web page and will be reviewed by an advisory committee. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.

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  • Brock faculty honoured for local arts impact

    St. Catharines Arts Award winners (clockwise from front left) Emily Oriold, Monica Dufault, Kathyrn Sinopoli, Rachel Rensink-Hoff, Amy Friend and Frank Goldspink were recently honoured by the City of St. Catharines. (Photo courtesy of the City of St. Catharines)


    Originally published in The Brock News | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2022 | by Charles Kim

    The impact of faculty from Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is being felt in the local community.

    Amy Friend, Associate Professor and Department of Visual Arts Chair, and Rachel Rensink-Hoff, Associate Professor in the Department of Music, were each recently honoured during the St. Catharines Arts Awards and recognized for their respective contributions to helping the arts thrive locally.

    Friend received the Established Artist Award during the awards celebration held Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Her work, which has been exhibited nationally and internationally, explores various methodologies through photography, installation and community-based collaborations. The focus of her work fluctuates with investigations relative to history, time, land memory, dust, oceans and connections to the universe.

    “The award is a wonderful nod to the work artists accomplish in this community and there are many of us,” Friend said. “I have grown as an artist in this region and have had opportunities to collaborate with many people. I would like to see even greater and consistent support for the arts in our community and schools. There is an abundance of amazing work happening here, but much more is possible.”

    Rensink-Hoff — Conductor of the Brock University Choir and Sora Singers, and Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers — was presented with the Arts in Education Award.

    Her contributions to the local arts community have resulted in many performances and partnerships, including the co-ordination of a performance by the Brock University Choir, Avanti Chamber Singers and Sora Singers under the leadership of guest conductor, Kanaka Maoli artist, activist and cultural bearer Jace Kaholokula Sapan.

    “It is a joy to be a part of a thriving arts community here in St. Catharines and I am humbled by this recognition, particularly on the heels of a challenging two and a half years,” Rensink-Hoff said. “I have seen in my students and singers just how life-giving their participation in the arts can be. Their passion and dedication to making music throughout the pandemic has been such a tremendous source of inspiration.”

    A full list of recipients of the St. Catharines Arts Awards is available on the City of St. Catharines website.

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  • Local arts awards give nods to Brock faculty

    Established Artist Nominee and Department of Visual Arts Associate Professor Donna Szoke engages with a class in her Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games exhibition space.


    Originally published in The Brock News | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2022 | by Charles Kim

    The nominees for this year’s St. Catharines Arts Awards include some familiar faces from the Brock community.

    Associate Professors Rachel Rensink-Hoff, from Brock’s Department of Music, and Amy Friend and Donna Szoke, from the Department of Visual Arts, have each been recognized for their contributions to the arts.

    Rensink-Hoff, who conducts the Brock University Choir and Sora Singers, and is the Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers, was nominated for the Art in Education Award. The past Vice-President of Programming for Choral Canada and past President of Choirs Ontario, she maintains an active career as an adjudicator, workshop clinician and juror both locally and across Canada.

    A woman wearing all black leans against a wall covered in vines.

    Art in Education Award Nominee and Associate Professor Rachel Rensink-Hoff.

    Friend and Szoke were each nominated in the Established Artist Award category.

    Friend, Chair of Brock’s Department of Visual Arts, has exhibited in a generous roster of national and international exhibitions, including the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize Exhibition (U.K.), Gexto Photofestival (Spain), DongGang Photography Museum (Korea) and many more. Her work has also been featured in numerous publications such as California Sunday Magazine (U.S.), Archeology of Photography – Lux (Poland), Musée Magazine (U.S.) and Wired (U.S.).

    Szoke is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been shown in public art, interactive video installation, outdoor site-specific installation, publications, film festivals and galleries in Canada, the U.S., France, Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Croatia, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea. She has received numerous research awards and grants for her work, including from the Canada Council for the Arts, B.C. Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. In 2017, she was awarded the Brock Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity.

    A female holds flowers under a tropical shelter with glass and film on a table.

    Established Artist Nominee and Department of Visual Arts

    Chair Amy Friend works on cameraless images in the field.

    Friend and Szoke recently collaborated for a shared exhibition this past summer in conjunction with the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. Small Movements showcased their two projects, both funded by Brock’s VPR Canada Games Grants.

    City of St. Catharines Cultural Co-ordinator Ashley Judd-Rifkin says the awards celebrate the best of the local artistic community. “The outstanding individuals and organizations that have been nominated for the arts awards are all very deserving. Their commitment, creativity and contributions have made St. Catharines a more beautiful, vibrant and exciting place to live.”

    The St. Catharines Arts Awards will be livestreamed from Partridge Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday, Nov. 29 starting at 6:30 p.m. Details for the livestream will be shared through the City’s social media channels closer to the event.

    A full list of nominees is available on the City of St. Catharines website.

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  • FACULTY FOCUS: Nina Penner working to create change in Canadian opera

    Image caption: Nina Penner, Brock University Assistant Professor of Music, enjoys sharing her love of opera with her students.

    Originally published in The Brock News | TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 09, 2021 | by 

    Note: Faculty Focus is a monthly series that highlights faculty whose compelling passions, innovative ideas and various areas of expertise help weave together the fabric of Brock University’s vibrant community. For more from the series, click here.

    Nina Penner’s students are always surprised to learn she’s not a singer.

    Although the opera expert has been a part of many productions throughout her career, her home has always been in the orchestral pit.

    The classical clarinetist, and now Brock University Assistant Professor of Music, has always found herself fascinated with the art form and rejoices in her ability to share it with others.

    Penner’s love for music began with the piano at age eight, but it wasn’t until a few years later when she picked up a clarinet that she truly found her fit.

    Nina Penner, now an Assistant Professor of Music at Brock University,
    spent countless hours during her childhood honing her skills on the clarinet.

    For weeks, she played as much as her lips would allow, stopping only when her muscles weakened from exhaustion.

    “I was obsessed with the clarinet,” she says lightheartedly, reminiscing about how her father went from renting her an instrument to quickly realizing a purchase was in their future.

    Penner, who grew up in Niagara, began teaching herself from books before moving on to private lessons in her adolescence.

    After high school graduation, she pursued her Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance at the University of Toronto.

    “I like performing a lot, especially ensemble music, orchestra and chamber music,” she says. “I’ve always liked playing new music, including music by student composers.”

    After time, however, Penner began to realize that the performer life — and the entrepreneurial aspects of promoting yourself and booking gigs — wasn’t for her.

    Her interest was instead starting to drift in a new direction.

    Penner’s history courses on music and music theory began to draw more of her attention and, after some discussions with her professors, she decided academia was the world she was best suited for.

    She went on to complete her master’s at the University of Toronto and her PhD at McGill University, both in musicology.

    But her love for opera never waned. She decided that as an academic, it would be her area of focus.

    During her performance days, Penner’s gaze between notes often fell to the talented singers, her mind trying to take in as much detail as possible.

    “I could see what was happening on stage and that was really fascinating,” she says. “I think that enhanced my desire to understand more about opera staging, which is what some of my early musicology work was about.”

    Since joining Brock in July 2020, Penner has expanded her work to look at opera — as well as musical theatre and film music — as it relates to various social movements.

    In high school, Nina Penner, now a Brock Assistant Professor of Music,

    performed a concerto with the Niagara Youth Orchestra.

    Her most recent project, funded by a Brock Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Institution Grant, explores the experiences of Indigenous, Black and People of Colour working in opera in Canada.

    The study, “Exploring New Collaborative Models in Indigenous-led Opera in Canada,” is a collaboration with Amplified Opera, a Toronto-based collective that seeks to amplify previously marginalized voices in the industry.

    They are about to launch a survey to learn more about the frequency and severity of racial discrimination and microaggressions in Canadian opera.

    “Because I’m not a singer and I’m a white settler, it was so important to get the voices of the people who this research is hopefully going to serve, to survey them about their experiences and about what can be done to rectify these situations,” she says. “This is not about getting people to relive these painful experiences, but to document them and start thinking about what we can do to move forward.”

    After the survey is completed, Penner plans to interview about 20 singers this winter to get more detailed narratives and recommendations for change.

    The intention is to ultimately improve equity and diversity in the opera industry.

    “It’s not just about hiring more people of colour,” Penner says. “We also have to rethink how we’re creating the works themselves, rethink the actual creative process. How we are we working together and at what point are people of colour involved in creating these pieces?”

    Companies led by People of Colour, such as Amplified Opera, are exploring new collaborative and leadership models, such as involving singers from the earliest stages of creating new works and productions. By documenting these new approaches, the study aims to encourage larger houses, such as the Canadian Opera Company, to consider replicating some of these collaborative models.

    “The hope is to see not only indie opera companies but also the big houses take a risk and do something a bit differently,” she says.

    For anyone new to the genre but interested in learning more about it, Penner says indie opera companies are the way to go.

    The performances are often more intimate and in smaller spaces that allow the audience to better see the facial expressions of singers, giving a better feel for what is happening, she says. Their shows are also more likely to be in English, breaking down language barriers for some first-time opera fans who may find a production in a different language intimidating.

    Tapestry Opera in Toronto specializes in producing new works that address contemporary concerns, Penner says, while Against the Grain Theatre in Toronto performs older repertoire predominantly, but does so in a way that brings out its relevance for audiences today.

    “You’re more likely to get an aesthetic that’s kind of like Rent, but they are singing Puccini’s music,” she says.

    “There’s a lot of different opera out there. I think it’s a matter of finding the kind of opera that is going to grab you — and it’s going to be different for everyone.”

    Although Penner has yet to formally introduce her two-year-old daughter to the genre, both she and her husband have ensured music has remained a part of their St. Catharines household.

    “I pick at the piano sometimes and she’ll climb up on the stool and play some things,” she says. “I’ll be playing a Handel piece, but all she really wants to hear is Three Blind Mice.”

    For more information on Penner’s upcoming survey or to participate, email npenner@brocku.ca

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  • Upcoming: The Department of Music virtually attends Royal Conservatory of Music College & University Music Fair 2020

    The Department of Music at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University is excited to virtually host future musicians at their online booth! The Royal Conservatory College & University Fair is going virtual this year. Set for October 3, 2020, registration is FREE. It has never been easier for future students to learn about the programs offered, admission requirements and much, much more. See you there!

    Register for free: https://bit.ly/2ZS1cLR

    To learn more about the programs offered through the Department of Music at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, drop by our degree programs page.  

     

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  • Welcome to Music: Orientation for 2020!

    (a screen shot from the welcome by Dr. Karin di Bella. Watch the video below.)


    Brock University is launching the first-ever Virtual Welcome Week.
    During this year of the pandemic the Orientation activities are all online.
    Watch the welcome below and visit the official Orientation page for all the details!


    THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC (MUSI)

    Dr. Karin Di Bella, an accomplished pianist and educator, is the Chair of the Department:

    Dr. Di Bella will be holding office hours on September 8th from 2-3 pm on Teams.
    Drop-in and say hi! (click here)

    Reminders from your Music professors:

    • Check Sakai and your Brock email for info about your first class
    • Choir: if you still need to do your choir audition, please look here for more information:
      Sing at Brock!
    • Lessons: if you still need to set up your lesson, contact Dr. Di Bella kdibella@brocku.ca
    • For all other inquiries please contact the Music Office and we’ll be happy to direct you to the right place. nfedj@brocku.ca

    Classes start Wednesday, September 9th! Have fun! We are happy you’re here.

    PS. Our MUSI student yearly welcome/orientation for all new and returning MUSI students will take place on the first Tuesday@Noon.  Ask Professor Di Bella for details.


    The Department of Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts, and the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture are all part of the Faculty of Humanities.

    The Associate Dean, Dr. Neta Gordon, Professor of English, welcomes you to Brock University! She’s prepared an 11 minute video to introduce to you to the Faculty of Humanities:


    Michael Gicante is your Academic Advisor for studies at the MIWSFPA.
    He prepared this video for the April open House:


    Koreen McCullough is the Experiential Education Coordinator for the Faculty of Humanities.
    Watch her 3 minute presentation about Experiential Education opportunities at Brock University:


    The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

    Located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines, the MIWSFPA is home to four academic programs. We are right next door to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on the main street of St. Catharines, St. Paul.

    Each program at the MIWSFPA is offering a special welcome to their students.  For example, if you are a beginning your studies as a major in Dramatic Arts, check out what that Department has scheduled for you and plan to join in the fun.  You are also welcome to join the activities of each program at the School even if you are only taking one course or beginning a minor program.  The activities and welcome messages from each program are listed below.

    Professor David Vivian, of the Department of Dramatic Arts (he teaches design and production for theatre), is the Director of the School:

    David will be hosting office hours on September 8, 2020, from 12-3:00 pm,on Teams.
    Drop in and say hi! (click here)


    We all wish you a very successful year at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

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  • Brock Choir sings new tune for virtual 2020-21 season

    (including content published THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2020 | in The Brock News by )

    Choir at Brock University will look a little different this fall by moving to a virtual rehearsal format.

    “Given the known risks of singing together in groups, we will not attempt to do what we normally do until health guidelines permit us,” says Rachel Rensink-Hoff, Associate Professor of Music and Choir Director.

    While not being able to safely gather and practice in person together is a challenge for those in choir, Rensink-Hoff sees it as an opportunity.

    “We have a unique opportunity to get to know and learn from one another in new ways through online discussion and active engagement.”

    Rensink-Hoff will focus the choir on pursuing some of the things they haven’t usually had time for, such as building individual skills in vocal technique and stage presence, analyzing music as a vehicle for storytelling, and reflecting on the historical and cultural contexts of songs. There will also be a “Shared Perspectives” series of guest interviews and workshops with conductors, composers and vocal-choral specialists from across Canada and the U.S.

    Choir members will need headphones, a video recording device such as a phone, computer or tablet, as well as internet connection.

    The Treble Choir (sopranos and altos) will rehearse together virtually on Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m., and the Mixed Voices choir (sopranos, altos, tenors and basses) will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

    “Our work will emphasize the process, rehearsing, over the product, performing,” says Rensink-Hoff. “This is a tough transition for those of us in the arts, but it is also a chance to for us to strengthen our performance skills and to reflect on the significance of live performance to individuals and communities.”

    Choir auditions are open to Brock students, faculty, staff as well as members of the wider Niagara community. Both new and returning choir members may book their auditions online before the deadline on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 11:59 p.m.

    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
    * Michelle Pressé, Brock University Communications, mpresse@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x4420 or 905-246-1963


    SING@BROCK ONLINE EDITION: audition for choir 2020-21

    Open by audition to all students, faculty, staff and members of the Niagara community!

    For the 2020-2021 academic year, choir will be fully online until guidelines allow for other forms of gathering. As such, the course will be less about performance outcomes and more about the process of learning, connecting, exploring and innovating as key elements of ensemble participation.

    Singers will engage with a diverse body of choral repertoire in sessions on vocal technique and choral skill development, explorations of movement and stage presence, analysis of music and text, workshops with guest artists, and collaborations through innovative singing projects. Rehearsal and performance skills will be developed in the context of a supportive community that promotes cross-cultural understanding and self-expression.

    Previous singing experience and ability to read music is required.
    For more information contact:
    Rachel Rensink-Hoff, rrensinkhoff@brocku.ca
    SEE >>> brocku.ca/sing

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  • The MOSAÏQUE PROJECT arrives in St. Catharines to launch the ENCORE! Professional Concert Series for 2020

    This Friday, January 24, at 7:30 pm the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts and the FirstOntario Performing Arts will be co-presenting the final performance of the massive musical initiative by Ensemble Made In Canada: The Mosaïque Project.

    The project is a suite of new compositions by 14 Canadian composers, inspired by each province, territory, and the Indigenous regions of Canada. The thrilling new works from composers including Ana Sokolović, Sarah Slean, Kevin Lau, Samy Moussa, Julie Doiron, Barbara Croall, David Braid, encompass a wide variety of musical genres – from classical, jazz, singer-songwriter, electronic, and First Nations traditions – making up a richly inspiring whole to represent the beauty and diversity of Canada.

    Travelling to almost every corner of the country – from Iqaluit, Nunavut to British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast to Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, and beyond, Ensemble Made In Canada has chosen St. Catharines as the final performance of the two-year long tour, featuring a live-streamed concert and album launch in Partridge Hall.

    The evening promises an extraordinary cinematic concert experience featuring multiple screens providing close-ups of the musicians and their instruments, footage from the tour across the country, as well as newly-created images inspired by the music.

    Friday’s performance will also be the first ENCORE! Professional Concert of the decade for the 250 students enrolled in MUSI 1F10 Introduction to Classical Music, a Humanities context elective course offered by the Department of Music.

    Many of the students attending Friday’s concert have traveled from international destinations to pursue their university studies in Canada. Ensemble Made in Canada’s performance will be an introduction to the piano quartet as a genre and an opportunity to discover a wide variety of musical styles from geographically and culturally diverse regions of the country.

    This course is offered as part of the Walker School’s commitment to exposing Brock students to a broad range of cultural experiences, and nurturing future audiences for the performing arts.

    Ensemble Made In Canada (EMIC) is rapidly gaining recognition as Canada’s premier piano quartet. Awarded the 2006 CBC Galaxie Stars Award from the Banff Centre for the Arts, EMIC was featured in 2008 Chatelaine Magazine’s 80th anniversary issue as “Women to Watch” and called “an ensemble that is leading the next generation of classical musicians.” The members of the group: Angela Park (piano), Elissa Lee (violin), Sharon Wei (viola) and Rachel Mercer (cello) have been forging outstanding individual careers and bring together a wealth of experience having already appeared at prestigious festivals such as Marlboro, Ravinia, Orford, Verbier, Prussia Cove, Pablo Casals and Evian. EMIC has been Ensemble-in-Residence at Western University since 2014.

    The concert will be live-streamed on Ensemble Made In Canada’s website as well as via the streaming service Stingray, reaching millions across Canada and 156 countries around the globe. The same day features the release of the Mosaïque Project album, which will be available on CD, download and streaming channels.

    Maestro Johannes Debus will be hosting a pre-show chat with composers Kevin Lau, Sarah Slean, David Braid and Richard Mascall at 6:45pm

    To purchase tickets visit the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre website.

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  • Brock students embrace partnership with French music festival

    First-year Brock Music student Cassandra Sullivan, right, learns the mechanics of performing opera in French with the guidance of Suzanne Leclerc, an arts teacher at École élémentaire LaMarsh in Niagara Falls. Leclerc led one of the numerous workshops in the Monde le Son Festival that took place at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts May 13 to 15.


    (From The Brock News, May 16, 2019 | By: Sarah Ackles)

    Brock University students got to offer some musical insight and even take in a lesson or two during a recent French festival held at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    For the first time in its four-year history, the annual Monde le Son Festival, or World Sound Festival, was hosted at the MIWSFPA by French school board Conseil scolaire Viamonde.

    The event drew about 200 elementary and secondary school francophone students from across Ontario to participate in workshops from Monday, May 13 to Wednesday, May 15. Students learned how to play instruments, sing in different vocal styles, compose music and perform in front of live audiences in several performances held at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC).

    Brock Music students were invited to participate in the workshops and to observe the different strategies teachers had for leading the sessions.

    Brock Recruitment and Liaison Officer Madison Roca said she jumped on the opportunity to host the festival when the board initially suggested it last year.

    “It was a great chance to welcome new students to our campus and expose them to the possibility of pursuing the arts beyond high school, while also building a meaningful relationship with a new school board and supporting their initiative,” she said.

    Event organizers said the MIWSFPA seemed a fitting choice for the event after the decision was made to move the festival from its former home in the Greater Toronto Area. Students interested in music were attracted to the downtown arts school’s music facilities and close proximity to the PAC, and embraced the opportunity to enjoy a taste of the university experience while staying in Brock’s Earp Residence.

    “I liked the idea of joining a post-secondary institution to give the kids that experience and to also entice them to do further studies after they graduate from secondary school,” said Jeffrey Hughes, Viamonde’s Director of Educational Services. “It was a winning combination.”

    Mark Nouhra, the board’s Cultural Co-ordinator, said the opportunity to foster interaction between current Brock students and Viamonde’s younger learners was also a plus.

    “Knowing we could have some Brock students talk to and interact with our students, to see how things really happen here in a university music environment, was a priceless experience,” he said.

    First-year Brock Music student Cassandra Sullivan said participating in the festival’s workshops meant hands-on learning experience applicable to her future career path.

    With the goal of one day working as a vocal teacher and choir director, she said that “observing how teachers are teaching and what strategies they are using to engage with the young people was really useful for me.”

    Sullivan also felt the festival was an opportunity to embrace and celebrate her francophone roots.

    “I’ve had the opportunity to learn music and to learn French, but I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to learn music in French,” she said. “I really appreciated the opportunity to learn that new vocabulary and to combine my two favourite subjects.”

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    Categories: Events, Future Students, Special Events