VSONMF: (re)-creations
Vancouver – Prepare yourselves. The 2020 VSO New Music Festival starts January 11. This year’s theme: (re)creation.
Masterpieces from Kaija Saariaho and Unsuk Chin, recreated by their original artists, open the festival. Nicole Lizée curates an evening of her kaleidoscopic remixes. Max Richter’s mesmerizing mix of trancey post-minimalism is featured both in the closing night and in a screening of the film Waltzes with Bashir. Thomas Ades’ flamboyant Powder Her Face closes the festival led by Music Director Emeritus Bramwell Tovey. Plus our good friends Standing Wave share an eclectic night of music making with the talented Vancouver Children’s Choir. VSO School of Music’s Sinfonietta collaborate with the inventive clarinetist Kari Kriikku. Dive deep into the music and ideas with pre-concert panels and discussions plus post-concert Q&A’s.
Hear. Discuss. Debate. Discover.
I can’t wait. See you there!
Otto Tausk
Music Director
BUY FESTIVAL PASS NOW
Early Bird festival passes only $68 reg/$40 student. Early Bird price ends Dec 7. Single tickets on sale Nov 13.
JAN 11
VSONMF01 (Re)-Creations
Masterpieces by a trio of outstanding composers. Canadian star, Nicole Lizée, re-imagines scenes from The Sound of Music; celebrated Korean Unsuk Chin’s rhapsodic Violin Concerto brought her international acclaim; Kaija Saariaho magnificently evokes the colours and atmospheres of Finland.
JAN 12
VSONMF02 Carte Blanche: Nicole Lizée
Nicole Lizée curates a concert featuring a kaleidoscopic selection from her inventive catalogue, including a (re-)arranged Perxploitation, whose sensational premiere by VSO Principal Percusionist Vern Griffiths with Maestro Tausk at VSONMF 2019 brought the crowd to the their feet. NOTE: Not included in NMF Pass. Add-on to Pass for $12/$25.
JAN 13
VSONMF03 Bizarre Bazaar
Viviane Hagner finds poetry in the new and freshness in the old in a solo violin program weaving together works from five centuries. Kari Kriikku leads the talented members of the VSO School of Music’s Sinfonietta on a bravura global journey blending folk melodies with new sounds and voices.
JAN 14
VSONMF04 (Re)Flection
Standing Wave presents eclectic reflections on old themes: featuring Nicole Lizee, Missy Mazzoli, and Jennifer Butler’s (re-)imagining of Messiaen’s seminal “The Blackbird”. The remarkable Vancouver Youth Choir juxtapose Palestrina’s Renaissance masterpiece Sicut Cervus with a setting of the same text by contemporary Estonian composer Part Uusberg. Plus -Katherina Gimon’s vibrant integration of voice and movement.
JAN 15
VSONMF05: Waltz with Bashir
With his entrancing fusion of contemporary classical, post-minimal and alternative popular musical styles, Max Richter is one of today’s most successful composers for stage and screen. His innovative soundtrack to Israeli director Ari Folman’s 2008 film, Waltz with Bashir, won Richter the prestigious European Film Award for best composer and vaulted the composer into the international spotlight. Waltz with Bashir also went on to win a Golden Globe in 2009 and became the first animated film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. A thought-provoking evening at the cutting edge of music and cinema.
JAN 16
VSONMF06: (Re)Composed
With virtuoso orchestration, fanciful melodies and ambitious topics, Thomas Ades’ 1995 hit opera, Powder Her Face, took the world by storm. Max Richter (re-)casts The Four Seasons for solo violin, strings and electronics. Music Director Emeritus Maestro Tovey and VSO Concertmaster Nicholas Wright invite you to chill out to this bold and beautiful re-creation.