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©] UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO os ) 94 FACULTY or MUSIC ale

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 7:30 pm. Walter Hall

gamUT ENSEMBLE Norbert Palej, director

Emilie LeBel, assistant conductor Matthew Todd, composer-in-residence

PROGRAM

Mnamas Xapin Witoldowi Lutoslawskiemu (1994) Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) Emilie LeBel, conductor

Insomniac (2013 world premiere, gamUT commission) Jason Caron Alexandra Smither & Patricia Auchterlonie, soprano solo

Cog (2013 world premiere, gamUT commission) Matthew Todd INTERMISSION Trio (1945) Witold Lutoslawski

(1913-1994)

O King (1968) Luciano Berio (1925-2003)

Three Children’s Songs (1948, arr. 2013) : Witold Lutoslawski I. A Night in May (Lucyna Krzemieniecka) arr. Matthew Todd Il. Two Nightingales (Julian Tuwim) II. About Mr.Tralalinsky (Julian Tuwim)

There’s Also People Outside (2013 world premiere, gamUT commission) Sophie Dupuis

PROGRAM NOTES

Insomniac follows the state of mind of a chronic insomniac from dusk ‘til dawn. The distinction between the conscious world and the dream world will be clear at first, with each soprano being part of their own separate sub-ensemble. The insomniac drifts in and out of a harsh consciousness and a foreboding dream, neither awake nor asleep. Peace will not come easily to the insomniac, though. The sound worlds, and thus the insomniac’s perception of reality, will begin to clash and blur together as their inner turmoil takes over. Only the piercing sunrise restores clarity, hard won, and of a fleeting comfort. It won't be long until the insomniac must do it all over again, and again, and again... This piece is dedicated to those living with mental illness.

There’s Also People Outside is based on

the golden ratio and Fibonacci series. 1 wanted to experiment with the effect that the use of “perfect numbers and proportions” might have on the visual and structural aesthetic of music. For instance, the number of steps taken by the singers at the beginning of the piece increase in frequency according to the golden proportion, and the climax occurs around the golden section of the piece. The phonetics of the words rather than their meaning create continuity in the text so that the structure of a more coherent text would not conflict with the golden proportion.

TEXTS A Night in May (Lucyna Krzemieniecka)

Stars pierce the forest with their light Come share with us this silver night In the starlight birds are winging Swiftly soaring, softly singing

On a night in May,

On a night in May.

Stars pierce the forest with their light Come share with us this silver night In the highest treetops nesting Nightingales are singing, resting

On a night in May,

On a night in May.

In the nest a nightingale is softly, sweetly singing And his children sing with him, the lyric song repeating.

But they don’t remember quickly. Tirlitirlitirlitirl,

Tirlitizlitirlitirl,

lilililili.

“Children, you are not in tune! Try harder with your singing!

When I was a child like you and I was just beginning,

This is what my parents taught me.” Tirlitirlitirlitirli,

Tirlitizlitirlitirli,

“Children, you must listen to each single tone I’m singing.

Difficult it may be, but with practice and repeating,

You can learn to be an artsit.” Tirlitirlitirltirl,

Tirlitirlitirlitirli,

Two Nightingales (Julian Tuwim)

Nightingale, why weep so sadly? Do you look for your mate? Where is he? His supper’s waiting. How can he be so late?

Nightingale, why weep so sadly? Night has come; you should rest. Is he lost? And in such darkness, Will he find his home nest?

Supper’s ruined.

There is soup of flies in evening dewdrops,

Six mosquitoes in a dish of lily petal gravy, Butterfly prepared with shadow from the thickest forest,

Sweetest cream-cake made with beams of brightest moonlight.

Is he hurt? Has someone plucked him, stolen every feather? Can he sing? Has someone spoiled his lovely

voice of silver?

Never mind, for every bird can grow another feather.

Still, a bird may only have but one sweet voice of silver.

Suddenly her mate appears. He’s whistling and he’s prancing.

“Where on earth have you been flying, while I sit here crying?”

“Darling wife” he sweetly twitters “Why have you been fearful?

On this lovely moonlit evening I thought I would walk.

I’ve been walking home”.

About Mr. Tralalinsky (Julian Tuwim)

In the town of Singing-Town, On a street named Happy-Street, Lives a famous singer

Who is called Tralislav Tralalinsky.

With his dear wife, Tralalearwife, And his daughter, Tralalawther, And his fine son, Tralalinelon, And his big dog, Tralaligdog.

What about his little black cat? They have named it Tralalacklat. Isn’t there a laughing parrot? Yes, they call it Tralalarlot.

Every morning after breakfast, They all gather for the singing

Of the master’s favorite music; In his honor songs are ringing.

Tralalinsky lifts the baton,

Silence to the chorus bringing;

Now they stand and breathe together, Listen to the song they’re singing. “Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la-la”

How the music is resounding!

Oh, these singers are astounding!

Tralalinsky drops the baton, Turns around and joins the chorus, All together singing “Tra-la-la-la...”

In the kitchen, in the garden, Everybody’s also singing.

In the street the people passing Join the song tra-la-la-ling-ing.

The old chauffeur, Tralalofer, And the fat cook, Tralalatlook, And the butler, Tralalutler, And the shy maid, Tralalylaid,

And the gardner, Tralalardner, And the merchant, Tralalerchant, The policeman, Tralaliceman, And the doctor, Tralaloctor.

Even a small grey mouse,

Timid Tralalatlouse,

So afraid of the fierce cat, Tralalacklat,

Small mouse sitting in the corner, Tralalorner,

Singing softly tralaloftly.

SOPRANO Patricia Auchterlonie Clara Fraser Elisabeth Hetherington Sarah Moore Brittany Rae Caroline Reynolds Alexandra Smither Hannah Tarder-Stoll Jessica Wright

Shauna Yarnell

FLUTE Robin Meiksins Brian Jiang

OBOE Boris Chang

CLARINET Mike Dassios Robert Drisdelle

SAXOPHONE Jeff Leung

BASSOON Eric Mohr

HORN Jonathan Fisher Damir Pavelic

gamUT ENSEMBLE

TRUMPET Kate Clarke Matthew Ross

TUBA Avi Jacobus

PERCUSSION Nathan Petitpas

PIANO Tyler Versluis

ACCORDION Michael Bridge

GUITAR

Alexei Orechin James Lowrie Mike McCormick

VIOLIN Coco Chen

CELLO Dobrochna Zubek

DOUBLE BASS Adam Scime