Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 1 of 10

Hear, react, respond, discuss, discover, debate, explore, experience. Are You Ready? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Winnipeg New Music Festival 2015 opens January 31 with Gwen Hoebig playing the music of Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld and the Winnipeg debut of the world-renowned Arditti String Quartet Winnipeg, MB – January 23, 2015 – The 2015 Winnipeg New Music Festival (WNMF) opens in just 8 days with an eclectic program of virtuosic performances including the WSO’s Gwen Hoebig tackling indie-rocker/composer Sarah Neufeld’s take on modern melody, the Arditti Quartet known as the most precise string quartet in the world, and the dream worlds of Georg Friedrich Haas - a man who grew up never seeing the sun. Arditti Meets the WSO opens the festival on January 31st with Breathing Black Ground by Sarah Neufeld, of Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre fame. The semi-concerto for violin and orchestra features WSO concertmaster Gwen Hoebig as soloist. The Arditti Quartet, who have built an international reputation for flawlessly playing the hardest music in the world, tackle Wolfgang Rihm’s intensely wrought Dythrambe for string quartet and orchestra. Georg Friedrich Haas, featured composer in the opening half to the festival, will be in attendance for the Canadian premiere of Traum in des Sommers Nacht (Dream on a Summer’s Night). More than just a celebration of music, the festival includes art installations by Plug-In ICA (a poster set by Rodney Graham), Paul Butler and Neil Farber, food by Jon Hochman of the new Sherbrooke Delicatessen, and the WNMF Lounge furnished by Art Upholstery. The WNMF Lounge in the Centennial Concert Hall’s Piano Nobile is the locus for pre-concert panels and performances as well as post concert Q&A’s with the bar open every evening, except February 2nd when the festival jumps to Westminster United Church for Luminous Cry. Alex Ross, culture writer for the New Yorker and author of The Rest is Noise, attends the latter half of the festival and will host pre-concert panels on the Piano Nobile, February 4th at 6:15 PM and February 6th at 6:45 PM. Ross is one of North America's preeminent writers exploring what is music in the 21st century. The festival takes place January 31 to February 6 and includes seven nights of WNMF concerts plus special Pop Nuit collaborations with the West End Cultural Centre. Full festival details are available at wnmf.ca and festival passes are available now.

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 2 of 10

WNMF 2015 Festival Schedule Jan 31: ARDITTI MEETS THE WSO

Rihm, Haas, Neufeld & Norman Centennial Concert Hall | 8:00 PM “Not everything can be put into words. That is why it has been made into music.”

– Wolfgang Rihm WNMF 2015 opens with a bang, oscillating between stasis and ecstasy. The Arditti Quartet, leaders of the musical avant-garde for the last 40 years, amaze in Wolfgang Rihm’s hedonistic Dithyrambe for string quartet and orchestra. Andrew Norman’s cathartic Unstuck will bring the stage alive with symphonic fireworks. George Friedrich Haas’s Traum in des Sommers Nacht will warp and stretch time as it breaks down sonic space, while Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire grounds it all with Breathing Black Ground (arr. Owen Pallet). Program: Andrew Norman (US) - Unstuck (Canadian Premiere) Wolfgang Rihm (DE) - Dithyrambe for string quartet and orchestra (Canadian Premiere) Intermission Sarah Neufeld (CA) (arr. Owen Pallett (CA)) - Breathing Black Ground Georg Friedrich Haas (AT) - Traum in des Sommers Nacht (Canadian Premiere) Artists: Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor Arditti Quartet (Irvine Arditti, violin, Ashot Sarkissjan, violin, Ralf Ehlers, viola, Lucas Fels, cello) Gwen Hoebig, solo violin Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:45 PM How do you judge a piece of new music in the 21st Century? Andrew Norman, Georg Friedrich Haas, Yuri Hooker, Meredith Johnson, Moderator: Alexander Mickelthwate Performance 7:15 pm Brandon University New Music Ensemble, Megumi Masaki, director Post-Concert Q&A Andrew Norman, Georg Friedrich Haas, Matthew Patton Concert Sponsor: Alpha Masonry

Feb 01: DISSONANT FICTIONS

Arditti performs Zorn, Haas, Schnittke and Tenney Centennial Concert Hall | 7:30 PM “a prophet among musicians”

– Harrison Birtwistle on Irvine Arditti The string quartet is often the crucible in which composers define their voices. Join the Arditti Quartet as they explore modern masterworks of four unique voices. Composer and MacArthur Fellow John Zorn is a true American iconoclast and a music scene unto himself.

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 3 of 10

Alfred Schnittke leapt onto the international stage in the 80’s as a leading voice of the new Russian school. Haas is a crafter of microtonal jewels. And James Tenney, who subsumed all manners of style into his own musical language, left his final work in the form of a string quartet. Program: John Zorn (US) - Necronomicon Alfred Schnittke (RU) - String Quartet No. 3 Intermission James Tenney (US) - Arbor Vitae Georg Friedrich Haas (AT) - String Quartet No. 6 Artists: Arditti Quartet (Irvine Arditti, violin, Ashot Sarkissjan, violin, Ralf Ehlers, viola, Lucas Fels, cello) Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:15 PM Art, Architecture, Systems and Their Breakdown Georg Friedrich Haas, Örjan Sandred, Frank Albo, Serena Keshavjee, Moderator: Simone Mahrenholz Performance 6:45 PM Greg Hanec and field/ / / / Post-Concert Q+A Arditti Quartet, Georg Friedrich Haas Concert Sponsor: Daniel Friedman & Rob Dalgliesh

Feb 02: LUMINOUS CRY

Camerata Nova & Prairie Voices Westminster United Church | 7:30 PM “a lode of the rarest commodity in contemporary music: joy”

– New York Magazine on Caroline Shaw An evening of virtuosic new choral music at times distinguished as much for what is not heard as what is. Grammy and Pulitzer prizewinners Caroline Shaw and John Luther Adams are featured alongside Winnipeg mavericks Lubomyr Melnyk and Andrew Balfour in a program whose beauty obscures a powerful dialectic between the natural world, the physical body and the human mind. Program: The Gritty (CA) - Norman Delicacy I Andrew Balfour (CA) - Take The Indian John Luther Adams (US) - Night Peace Intermission The Gritty (CA) - Norman Delicacy II Lubomyr Melnyk (CA) - Dreams of You Caroline Shaw (US) - Partita for 8 Voices

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 4 of 10

Artists: Prairie Voices, Vic Pankratz, director Camerata Nova, Andrew Balfour, director Richard Turner, harp Yuri Hooker, cello Victoria Sparks, percussion The Gritty (Sarah Jo Kirsch & jaymez), electronics Lubomyr Melnyk, piano Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:15 PM Music and the Visual Arts Caroline Shaw, Jenifer Papararo, Andrew Kear, Moderator: Robert Enright Performance 6:45 PM NATS Contemporary Vocal Music Competition Winners

Christina Thanisch-Smith, soprano - Gaiete and Orior (M. Head) Hannah Wigglesworth, soprano - Who is Sylvia (G. Finzi) Elliot Lazar, baritone - I Carry your Heart (J. Duke) Randall Buhler, tenor - Just Another Hour (R.P. Thomas) Julie Lumsden, soprano - Steal me, sweet thief (G. Menotti) Greg Myra, piano Rosemarie van der Hooft, coordinator

Feb 03: CROSSING GROUND

Canadian Symphonic Samplings Centennial Concert Hall | 7:30 PM “A profound experience that transcends any and all musical genres."

– The Toronto Star on Ann Southam The Canadian symphonic landscape continues to evolve rapidly. This evening takes the temperature of this landscape with works by two of Canada’s most influential women composers – Ann Southam and Violet Archer – and two modern voices of growing importance – Larysa Kuzmenko and Kati Agocs. Matthew Patton’s rendition of ambient music/ multimedia pioneer Brian Eno’s Music from Apollo and Winnipegger Örjan Sandred delivers a new commission from the WSO to complete the program. Program: Örjan Sandred (SE) - Lament for Humanity (World Premiere) Nova Pon (CA) - Awakening (World Premiere) Winner of the Canadian Music Centre composition competition Brian Eno (UK) (arr. Matthew Patton (CA)) - Music for Apollo: An Ending (Ascent) Intermission Ann Southam (CA) - Webster’s Spin Larysa Kuzmenko (CA) - Voice of Hope Violet Archer (CA) - Prelude-Incantation Kati Agócs (CA) - Requiem Fragments Artists: Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor Julian Pellicano, conductor Sarah Jo Kirsch, soprano Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 5 of 10

Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:15 PM Architecture as Energy Oliver Botar, Brent Bellamy, Patrick Harrop, Jayanne English, Moderator: Sotirios Kotoulas Performance 6:45 PM University of Manitoba Opera Theatre, Mel Braun and Katherine Twaddle, directors Post-Concert Q+A Larysa Kuzmenko, Kati Agócs

Feb 04: TUNING THE VOID The Most Famous Unknown Composer in the World Centennial Concert Hall | 7:30 PM “No other composer is so revered by fellow composers, and so unknown to the public at large."

— Kyle Gann, American Music in the 20th Century, on James Tenney James Tenney – a composer’s composer – has had enormous influence in the 20th century yet is little known outside his own circle. This evening explores the music of Tenney through his acolytes – his student Matthew Patton, Georg Friedrich Haas on whom he had a major influence, and John Luther Adams who also studied with Tenney. Lineage by rising young Canadian Zosha Di Castri and Pulitzer Prize winner Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 3 complete the evening with video art by Viewing Method Group. Program: Zosha Di Castri (CA) - Lineage Matthew Patton (CA) - 470 Million Years of Quiet (for James Tenney) Georg Friedrich Haas (AT) - Open Spaces II in memory of James Tenney (Canadian Premiere) Intermission Christopher Rouse (US) - Symphony No. 3 (Canadian Premiere) Artists: Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor Viewing Method Group, video artists Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:15 PM The Rest is Noise Georg Friedrich Haas, John Luther Adams, Alex Ross, Matthew Patton, Moderator: Alexander Mickelthwate Performance 6:45 PM University of Manitoba and Brandon University Percussion Ensembles, Victoria Sparks, director Post-Concert Q+A Georg Friedrich Haas, John Luther Adams, Matthew Patton

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 6 of 10

Feb 05: A FRENZY OF SOUND Ursula Oppens, Rzewski & The Quay Brothers Centennial Concert Hall | 7:30 PM "It seemed to me there was no reason why the most difficult and complex formal structures could not be expressed in a form which could not be understood by a wide variety of listeners"

– Frederic Rzewski Light and sound come together in an eclectic program featuring the Quay Brother’s original film collaboration with Karlheinz Stockhausen, In Absentia, and grand-dame of modern piano Ursula Oppens’ heroic performance of Rzewski’s monumental tribute to the Chilean struggle against Salvador Allende. Canada’s own “brilliant musical scientist” Nicole Lizée contributes a multimedia work that entwines electronic and acoustic sound with live video performance. Program: Nicole Lizée (CA) - Hitchcock Études Quay Brothers (US) / Karlheinz Stockhausen (DE) - In Absentia Intermission Frederic Rzewski (US) - The People United Will Never be Defeated Artists: Ursula Oppens, piano Megumi Masaki, piano Quay Brothers, film Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:15 PM The Political Force of Musical Beauty Ursula Oppens, David Churchill, Noam Gonick, Moderator: Bartley Kives Performance 6:45 PM Julia Ryckman, composer/musician Post-Concert Q+A Ursula Oppens, Matthew Patton, Alexander Mickelthwate

Feb 5: POP NUIT - Rob Menard's 20 Guitar Circular Wall Of Angelic Sound

West End Cultural Centre Doors 7:15 PM | 8:00 PM This unique surround sound experience was curated by Winnipeg musician Robert G. Menard (Absent Sound, SoHoly HeadCase, Room 237) back in 2005. The Graffiti Gallery hosted the wall 3 years in a row as part of the ArtifactSERIES and would then even utilize the Oodena Circle at the Forks in 2008. All 20 players set up in an outer circle around the audience who are in the middle facing outwards. 360 degree surround sound! The players are split into 4 groups and each have key roles and designed parts to perform at specific times, orchestrated by the lighting and video cues from above. Sometimes just one group plays, other times two or all groups play at the same time, building a massive wall of sound like no other.

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 7 of 10

Feb 06: Back to the Beginning Giya Kancheli & John Luther Adams Centennial Concert Hall | 8:00 PM “The loveliest apocalypse in musical history”

– Alex Ross The final orchestra concert of the festival closes with John Luther Adams’s monumental Become Ocean, a work whose sheer scope cannot help but transform the listener. Partnered with Giya Kancheli’s massive Dixi for choir and orchestra and Mason Bates’s hypnotically upbeat The B-Sides, this evening will take the audience on a beautiful symphonic adventure. Program: John Luther Adams (US) - Become Ocean (Canadian Premiere) Intermission Mason Bates (US) - The B-Sides (Canadian Premiere) Giya Kancheli (GE) - Dixi (Canadian Premiere) Artists: Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor Canadian Mennonite University Chorus, Janet Brenneman and Rudy Schellenberg, co-directors Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Pre-Concert Events Panel 6:45 PM Art and the Environmental John Luther Adams, Mason Bates, Alex Ross, Moderator: Ismaila Alfa Performance 7:15 PM University of Manitoba eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE), Gordon Fitzell, director Post-Concert Q+A John Luther Adams, Mason Bates Presenting Sponsor:

Feb 07: POP NUIT - The Adventures of Prince Achmed

With live score by Julia Rychman & JP Perron with The Electric String Quartet West End Cultural Centre Doors 7:15 PM | 8:00 PM The Electric String Quartet performs interpretations of Bach and other composers but on electric guitars and keyboards. The Adventures of Prince Achmed Directed by Lotte Reiniger 1926 | Germany | 65 min. A German animated fairytale from 1926 and a “chamber punk” score with one foot in the world of Opera and the other in the dirty punk rock bars of Winnipeg. A wicked sorcerer

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 8 of 10

tricks Prince Achmed into mounting a magical flying horse on a flight to his death and soars headlong into a series of wondrous adventures. Composer/performer Julia Ryckman is a classically trained opera singer and piano player and presently front-woman of post-punk rockers This Hisses, solo project Slattern, and duo Triunfo Do Gato.

Art Happenings and More The Collage Party Pavilion Paul Butler Centennial Concert Hall Lobby

The Collage Party Pavilion is an interactive, sculpture designed to accommodate The Collage Party - a nomadic, collective studio where Winnipeg artist Paul Butler invites the public to collage along side each other in a social setting. Since 1997, The Collage Party has travelled all over Canada, the United States and Europe and has been staged in a range of venues including museums, universities, elementary schools, galleries, department stores and centres for artists with mental and physical disabilities. Conceived by Butler and designed by Craig Alun Smith, the Collage Party Pavilion is equipped with everything required for the production and exhibition of collage. For the New Music Festival, Butler will provide vintage record sleeves along with a spectrum of magazines for participants to create fantasy album covers from. Considered multi-disciplinary, Paul Butler’s practice is focused around community, collaboration and artist-run activity. He has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; White Columns, New York City; Creative Growth Art Centre, Oakland; and La Maison Rouge, Paris. theotherpaulbutler.com

Little Girls With Globe Heads Neil Farber Centennial Concert Hall

Neil Farber shows 49 mannequin sculptures. They are child-sized mannequins with globes for heads. They are the representation of a little girl with a big round head presented with a variety of eyeball, dress, and globe variations. They are part of a larger sculptural and photographic project Farber is working on called “Little girls/ Globe heads” where the sculptures are photographed creating images that are similar to drawings he makes. royalartlodge.com

PLUG IN PIANO NOBILE WALL INSTALLATION Rodney Graham Send Your Child to Art School (2015) | Silk-screen posters, 18 x 24 in. ea. Centennial Concert Hall Piano Nobile

Plug In ICA, in sponsorship of the Winnipeg New Music Festival, is pleased to present “Send Your Child to Art School” (2015) by world renowned Canadian artist Rodney Graham. This new commission is first presented at the WSO on the Piano Nobile Wall as part of the WNMF and will be distributed through out Winnipeg over the coming months. Graham’s sentiment flips common criticism of artists and the arts as being non-productive contributors to society. His straightforward directive inversely draws attention to the importance of cultural production as part of building complex and reflective citizens. plugin.org

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 9 of 10

WNMF Lounge WNMF Lounge Furniture provided by Art Upholstery Centennial Concert Hall Piano Nobile

Art Upholstery’s tradition of quality workmanship began here in Winnipeg over 65 years ago. Our attention to detail and use of first class materials can be seen in many private residences and public places throughout the city. We bring this knowledge and experience to every piece we make today, be it a residential reupholstering project, custom built seating, or contract furniture for the hospitality sector. We also work with designers and architects to build contemporary furniture that is flexible enough to meet your needs at home or at work. Our modular Infinity Line does double duty as indoor/outdoor seating, can be mixed and matched and rearranged to fit your space, and even provides extra sleeping areas when needed. At Art Upholstery we work with you to find that perfect solution. Building on everything that made our business what it is, we strive to bring you modern furniture that works today. Let us update your home or workplace with a fresh look!

artupholstery.ca Pass & Ticket Information: Festival Pass* Adult: $128.00 Senior: $114.00 Student: $72.00 Individual Concert Ticket Prices* Sunday, January 26, Tuesday, January 28 – Thursday, January 30 
 Adult: $26.50 
 Student: $11.50

Saturday, January 31** and Friday, February 6** 
 Loge: $106.00 
 Section 1: $89.00 
 Section 2: $74.00 
 Section 3: $61.00 
 Section 4: $32.00 


*Plus applicable taxes and fees. **Student and Senior discounts on pricing available. Contact the WSO box office for more information.

Tickets available at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and all Ticketmaster outlets. WSO Box Office 204-949-3999 www.wso.ca | www.wnmf.ca Ticketmaster 1-855-985-ARTS Ticketmaster.ca

Winnipeg New Music Festival: Media Release January 23, 2015 10 of 10

Generously Sponsored by:

Daniel Friedman & Rob Dalgliesh

We Gratefully Acknowledge our Funders:

-30-