Pour Takako Minekawa / Tensho
June 30th, 2011
This co-production between Redshift and the Powell Street Festival Society explores how Japanese culture has defined the sound art of two radically different Canadian composers. André Cormier’s recent work, Pour Takako Minekawa, is a tribute to the legendary Japanese shibuyake pop icon — though Cormier’s music, with its profound handling of silence and minimal material, perhaps shares more common ground with Japanese Noh Theatre than with any of Minekawa’s upbeat utterances. This dark, hour-long piece will be premiered by Cormier’s own Ensemble Sisyphe.
The evening’s second event is dedicated exclusively to the music of the Japanese-Canadian composer Yota Kobayashi. This Vancouver-based sound artist has received international acclaim for his haunting electroacoustic scores: listeners are immersed in a psychedelic soundworld of birdsong, temple gongs, heartbeats… even the Skytrain has been effortlessly interwoven into Kobayashi’s rich and nuanced music. Two of his award-wining works, Tensho and Kakusei, will be heard, along with the premiere of Kobayashi’s newest piece for flute, cello, piano and electronics: Shiki.
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