Esprit presents world premieres by Andrew Staniland and Bruce Mather March 26th

Brand New and Pre-Loved features world premieres by Andrew Staniland and Bruce Mather

On Thursday, March 26, 2009, Esprit Orchestra presents Brand New and Pre-Loved, a concert featuring the world premiere of Andrew Staniland’Äôs Big Bang! commissioned for Esprit by CBC Radio Music, the world premiere of Hommage ˆÝ John Hawkins by Bruce Mather, the Canadian premiere of La Belle Chocolatiˆ®re by Dutch composer Mayke Nas, and Omar Daniel’Äôs Trope, which was commissioned and premiered by Esprit in 2000.

Conducted by Alex Pauk, Esprit’Äôs founding music director, the concert features the extraordinary Taiwanese-Canadian percussionist Aiyun Huang in her debut with Esprit Orchestra. An artist who challenges the boundaries of percussion and theatre, Ms. Huang is a founding member of Toca Loca and has performed with distinguished artists including Nexus, Trio le Cercle, Steven Schick, Steve Drury, Rivka Golani, George Russell and others in Canada, the United States, Taiwan, France, The Netherlands and Mexico. Ms. Huang is devoted to the creation of new works for percussion and has commissioned works from numerous composers including Canadians Gary Kulesha, Linda Bouchard, David Jaeger, Inouk Demers, Heather Schmidt, Chris Paul Harman and Alice Ho. Ms. Huang is a graduate of the University of Toronto and currently serves as Chair of Percussion at McGill University’Äôs Schulich School of Music.

Big Bang!, Andrew Staniland’Äôs concerto for percussion and orchestra, celebrates the International Year of Astronomy 2009 and offers listeners the musical equivalent of the incredible density, heat, and exponential expansion of the first moments of the Universe. Staniland is a rapidly becoming one of Canada’Äôs most in demand composers with a host of awards to his credit including top prizes in the SOCAN young composers competition, and the 2004 Karen Keiser Prize in Canadian Music. He is currently Affiliate Composer with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. As finalist in the 2009 CBC Evolution Composers Competition, Staniland will be sequestered in Banff but he will participate in Esprit rehearsals and experience the premiere of Big Bang! via satellite.

Bruce Mather is one of Quebec’Äôs preeminent composers and a talented pianist and teacher. His Hommage ˆÝ John Hawkins is an elegant and refined tribute to an important figure in the history of classical music in Canada, the late composer, pianist and educator John Hawkins.

La Belle Chocolatiˆ®re is a jaunty work by Dutch composer Mayke Nas, named after the famous Droste cocoa tin with the image of a handsome nurse on it holding a tin of cacao powder featuring the same image of a nurse. The repetitive nature of this picture within a picture is referred to as the Droste effect and Mayke Nas applies this effect in her musical work.

With a flurry of awards and honours to his credit, Canadian composer Omar Daniel has created solo, chamber and orchestral works which have been performed extensively around the world. In Trope, Daniel borrows from a traditional medieval chant form, incorporates fragments from some of his earlier pieces, then interpolates, layers, magnifies and embellishes old and new material to create musical excitement.

Concert and Ticket Details

Brand New and Pre-Loved takes place on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 8 p.m. at the Jane Mallett Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front Street East). A pre-concert talk begins at 7:15 p.m. Tickets to Brand New and Pre-Loved are $15 for students, $24 for seniors and $32 for adults. Group rates (8+ people) are $25. For tickets contact the St. Lawrence Centre Box Office at 416-366-7723 or www.stlc.com .

About Esprit Orchestra

Esprit Orchestra is Canada’Äôs only orchestra devoted exclusively to performing new orchestral music and developing a legacy of Canadian orchestral music. Founded by composer/conductor Alex Pauk in 1983, Esprit Orchestra is comprised of a core of 45 dedicated musicians with the special skills required to perform contemporary orchestral music. Esprit commissions and premieres new works each season and ensures continued public access to these works through encore performances, radio broadcasts, compact disc and film recordings, and national and international tours. For more information visit www.espritorchestra.com.