Performance of Tilt! at the University of Guelph, 2008
Photos by Julian Katz
Photos by Julian Katz
Tilt!
Text by Lawrie Crawford and music by Owen Bloomfield
Yukon writer Lawrie Crawford explores the angst and craziness of living in the extremes. The perpetual darkness or light of the arctic and living at the top of a spinning object play an important part in the poetic and musical language as well as movement of Tilt! Central to the piece is a character who on the surface is dealing with the extremes of daylight and darkness North of 60. Circling the character are the other performers representing his thoughts, perceptions and/or decisions. The piece is scored for actor, soprano, wind instrument and piano.
From the Bow
Poem by Rae Crossman and music by R. Murray Schafer
From the Bow is an interdisciplinary work that incorporates a poem by Rae Crossman and clarinet music written for Tilly Kooyman by renowned Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. Presented dramatically, the poet/actor (Rae) illustrates the story of a father and son's canoe journey using stylized paddling movements. Sometimes the paddle is a paddle, sometimes it's a fishing rod, a log tumbling in rapids, or the thwart of a canoe. Integral to the performance is Schafer's clarinet music that suggests a swirling whirlpool, rapids, or calm water. Masked and costumed, the clarinetist (Tilly) incorporates choreography that simulates the changing flow of the river as expressed in the music. The performance also includes a display of the score that Schafer has strikingly rendered based on Rae's poem.
Commissioned with the assistance of a Waterloo Region Arts Fund grant, From the Bow was premiered at the International Narrative Matters conference in Nova Scotia in 2006 with support from the Canada Council. Other performances include: International ClarinetFest in Vancouver, Peterborough's Bright Light series, Forest Festival in Haliburton Forest, Soundstreams Canada, Open Ears Festival and numerous other events. Both poem and score have been published in the nationally acclaimed literary magazine The New Quarterly, as a confluence of word, music, and image.
From the Bow is an interdisciplinary work that incorporates a poem by Rae Crossman and clarinet music written for Tilly Kooyman by renowned Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. Presented dramatically, the poet/actor (Rae) illustrates the story of a father and son's canoe journey using stylized paddling movements. Sometimes the paddle is a paddle, sometimes it's a fishing rod, a log tumbling in rapids, or the thwart of a canoe. Integral to the performance is Schafer's clarinet music that suggests a swirling whirlpool, rapids, or calm water. Masked and costumed, the clarinetist (Tilly) incorporates choreography that simulates the changing flow of the river as expressed in the music. The performance also includes a display of the score that Schafer has strikingly rendered based on Rae's poem.
Commissioned with the assistance of a Waterloo Region Arts Fund grant, From the Bow was premiered at the International Narrative Matters conference in Nova Scotia in 2006 with support from the Canada Council. Other performances include: International ClarinetFest in Vancouver, Peterborough's Bright Light series, Forest Festival in Haliburton Forest, Soundstreams Canada, Open Ears Festival and numerous other events. Both poem and score have been published in the nationally acclaimed literary magazine The New Quarterly, as a confluence of word, music, and image.
Rhyming Scheme
By Owen Bloomfield
For soprano and clarinet
Rhyming Scheme is a playful piece with a slightly dark edge. It revels at the play of words in traditional nursery rhymes with a hint at lost innocence. The singer and the clarinetist interact theatrically in a direct conversation and game play throughout the piece.
For soprano and clarinet
Rhyming Scheme is a playful piece with a slightly dark edge. It revels at the play of words in traditional nursery rhymes with a hint at lost innocence. The singer and the clarinetist interact theatrically in a direct conversation and game play throughout the piece.
Autumn
By Patrick Cardy
For soprano and piano, commissioned by the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition with the assistance of the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation, the song cycle Autumn (1993) consists of three short songs to texts by the composer. The first song, Alba, is an impression of the mystery and the grandeur of an autumn dawn. The second, Aspects of Rain, is a playful patter song with a tongue-twisting text that is a catalogue of onomatopoeic words suggesting rain. The third song, Twilight, is a nostalgic evocation of the power and the sorrow of memory.
For soprano and piano, commissioned by the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition with the assistance of the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation, the song cycle Autumn (1993) consists of three short songs to texts by the composer. The first song, Alba, is an impression of the mystery and the grandeur of an autumn dawn. The second, Aspects of Rain, is a playful patter song with a tongue-twisting text that is a catalogue of onomatopoeic words suggesting rain. The third song, Twilight, is a nostalgic evocation of the power and the sorrow of memory.
By Owen Bloomfield
For actor, soprano, electronics
Trio challenges the conventions of what is solo, what is accompaniment, and the audience's expectations of a traditional performance.
"Music meets theatre with a vengeance." The Record
Wordshaker
Excerpt from a poem by Rae Crossman
rattle of seeds
and shards of bone
above the voices
above the flames
the wordshaker
speaks
in the feather quiet
Wordshaker introduces the story of.........
and shards of bone
above the voices
above the flames
the wordshaker
speaks
in the feather quiet
Wordshaker introduces the story of.........
Why the parrot repeats human words
By Emily Doolittle
A theatrical presentation based on a Thai folktale that involves
storytelling, voice, clarinet, piano and dance. Provides some
revealing insight about human nature and explains why parrot
has replaced crow as the preferred human companion.
Performance Collaborations
Wake Wonderful ~ Marvel Morning
Dawn once more again
comes as a birdsong psalm again
through leaves that green
with light's cascade again
wake wonderful
marvel morning.
Rae Crossman
comes as a birdsong psalm again
through leaves that green
with light's cascade again
wake wonderful
marvel morning.
Rae Crossman
Rae and Tilly performed music and poetry including From the Bow at a dawn concert on Lake Laurentian in Sudbury, Ontario in 2008. During the past twenty years, they have participated in many of R. Murray Schafer's multi-disciplinary works of the Patria Cycle.
For more information visit: http://www.patria.org/
For more information visit: http://www.patria.org/
Solar Collector Launch
Did You Chant the Sun
did you chant the sun
to its rising
did you take its spear
in your eye
did your blood flow quicker
when you danced in dawn
did you throw your arms
to the sky
oh, we've lost the sun
the old ones knew
our tongues forgotten
the fevered cry
our feet must find
the ancient dance
or the flames in our hearts
will die
Rae Crossman
did you chant the sun
to its rising
did you take its spear
in your eye
did your blood flow quicker
when you danced in dawn
did you throw your arms
to the sky
oh, we've lost the sun
the old ones knew
our tongues forgotten
the fevered cry
our feet must find
the ancient dance
or the flames in our hearts
will die
Rae Crossman
The solar collector is an architectural/engineering sculpture created by Gorbet Design and located in
Cambridge, Ontario. It consists of 12 shafts positioned at different angles according to the seasons that
collects solar rays during the day, and can be programmed by anyone via the website
(http://www.solarcollector.ca) to perform a light show at dusk.
Marion, Rae and Tilly performed for the launch of the Solar Collector in 2008.
http://www.solarcollector.ca/press.php
Cambridge, Ontario. It consists of 12 shafts positioned at different angles according to the seasons that
collects solar rays during the day, and can be programmed by anyone via the website
(http://www.solarcollector.ca) to perform a light show at dusk.
Marion, Rae and Tilly performed for the launch of the Solar Collector in 2008.
http://www.solarcollector.ca/press.php
tranSpectra
Owen, Marion, Rae and Tilly collaborated with other artists in the debut performance of tranSpectra at the Open Ears Festival in April, 2009. Based on an alternative musical scale, this performance featured the world premiere of new works as well as innovative new instruments. For photos and a concert review by Karen Ages that was published in The Music Times click on the following link below:
| transpectra-review.pdf |
