“Migration versus Multiculturalism” – Vancouver Michaelmas Conference

Cambridge Music Conference website

Program

The upcoming 2018 Michaelmas Conference in Vancouver is a collaboration between Elizabeth Carmack’s Cambridge Music Conference and Professors Henry Daniel (choreography/dance) and Owen Underhill (composer/musician) at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. The major feature of the conference is an evening performance of new music commissions presented in eurythmy and contemporary dance. The theme of the conference is “Migration versus Multiculturalism” with the idea that the performing arts can inspire and create new social architecture to develop and affirm greater sense of cultural identity redressing the healing of unacknowledged suffering of immigrants and migrants who come to Canada from war torn countries and cultures that face potential extinction. Henry Daniel’s inspirational idea and work dedicated to the idea of “Contemporary Nomads” is in good part responsible for this up-coming event: http://www.henrydaniel.ca/contemporary-nomads.

Commissioned for the Ottawa event in 2016 on “Rebuilding Our Humanity”, Squamish Elder Wendy Charbonneau’s “Women Are Gone” (2016) was inspired by and dedicated to the rape and murder victims of indigenous women and girls in Canada whose lives remain unaccounted for. “Women Are Gone” (2016) gives voice to the need for healing of the victims of the missing women’s inquiry, as well as affirms support for those suffering in the aftermath of loss and injustice. Endorsed and acknowledged by Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould writes: “I admire the work of Squamish Elder Wendy Charbonneau in recognizing this important issue.” A new commission for 2018 to be premiered at the upcoming Michaelmas Conference by Squamish Elder Wendy Charbonneau not only takes up the theme of migration, referencing the Squamish Nation as the Salmon people, but also speaks of the atrocity of cultural genocide. “Where the Salmon Tumble” (2018) refers not only to the mouth of the Capilano River where the salmon tumble on their annual migration to spawn at the source of the river, but literally captures the idea of genocide of the salmon people, the Squamish Nation dying/tumbling faced with their potential extinction. Both works by Squamish Elder Wendy Charbonneau will be performed as a tribute to the First Nations community on 28 & 29 September.

Click to play a radio interview with Elizabeth Carmack talking about Squamish Elder Wendy Charbonneau.

The first half of the program features new music commissions inspired out of European cultural consciousness. Exploring the idea of “Contemporary Nomads” through the art of eurythmy, Maren Stott will perform three new commissions. A new work inspired out of and dedicated to the life of Mary Carmack Whybray (1923-2017), “Air and Dance” (2018) composed by Jinny Shaw for oboe d’amore explores the unknown rites of passage of the soul into the spiritual world at time of death. “Eagle Flight” (2018) by Janet Danielson composed especially for Jinny Shaw on oboe d’amore captures the theme of migration and quest in the First Nations peoples. Commissioned especially for the 2018 event, Evgeny Shcherbakov’s new work for solo piano “In Solitude: Midnight Moon” (2018) gives voice to the inner isolation many face in their struggle against the social chaos that impacts their lives when immigrating to Canada. Capturing a need for healing, “In Solitude: Midnight Moon” (2018) presents a yearning for definition of self at the darkest hour. Nigel Osborne’s “Unfinished Memoirs” (2012) commissioned for the event on “Reclaiming Life after Genocide” are six miniatures performed in eurythmy that portray how music can help heal the lives of individuals in the aftermath of trauma.

The second half of the program is a large eclectic tableau of the major migrations in the world, but especially people to Canada. The major feature on the program is a new commission by composers Nigel Osborne, Peter Nelson and Owen Underhill for Fringe Percussion exploring the sounds of world music in contemporary dance choreographed by Henry Daniel. The new music will create one large composition for dance: STONE, METAL, SKIN (2018) by Nigel Osborne; Limology: Swell – Flight – Limbo (2018) by Peter Nelson; and Place – Displacement (2018) by Owen Underhill.

Nigel Osborne describes the unique collaborative feature exploring migration:

This project is intended to generate both a music and a dance piece reflecting the movement of    populations, transhumance and lives of people who are forced to move or choose to move    because of conflict – including ethnic cleansing – economic circumstances or environmental change.

The idea of the work is to reflect the global situation of human migration, but with a focus on      Canada, both its First Nation and the waves of incomers who have arrived since. The piece is       conceived as a joint composition between three composers with three different degrees of         connection to Canada and the wider world. Owen is a “thoroughbred” Canadian composer active in Canada and internationally, Peter was born in Canada, but is active in the world beyond, and I am not Canadian, but have always had close contacts with Canada – both Canadian English speaking and Francophone.

I suspect I was approached because I am both a musician and an aid worker. I work closely with refugees around the world (currently in Syria/Lebanon and Myanmar/Bangladesh) and I am in daily contact with refugee populations. Among other activities, I use music to help support children who are victims of conflict. So I am also close to the music of refugees and to    the sounds that accompany human migration.

My role in the joint composition is to initiate a journey in time and space. In fact I trace two         pathways of migration – northwards from Africa and westwards from Asia – following both     ancient routes (including the dissemination of palaeolithic and neolithic rock gong cultures) and      contemporary migration routes (westwards from SE Asia to the Indian subcontinent, westward     from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria to Turkey and Europe, and northwards from Central Africa to the Mediterranean). So far it falls into three sections, though this may change – STONE, METAL, SKIN. (Nigel Osborne, 2018)

The Vancouver Michaelmas Conference will start with the the evening performance at SFU’s Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre downtown on the evening of Friday 28 September. On the morning of Saturday 29 September, the SFU conference on “Migration and Multiculturalism” begins with lectures in the morning, followed by workshops in the afternoon. Workshops presented by Nigel Osborne, Joan Sleigh, as well as, Maren and Alan Stott will further our understanding of the ideas at the heart of the conference. Also voices of immigrants will be heard: Jean Pierre Rukundo, Rose Maghsoudi and others. On the evening of 29 September this special event culminates for the local anthroposphical community in a lecture on “Michaelmas – A Festival of Hope and Transformation” by Joan Sleigh at Rudolf Steiner Centre in North Vancouver. The Cambridge Music Conference has invited Joan Sleigh to the West Coast of Canada to help celebrate the spirit of Michaelmas. Please see closer the time Joan Sleigh’s presentations:

27 September 2018

Camphill: Duncan, BC

Michael – Cosmopolitan Being orMichael’s Working as a Cosmopolitan Spirit

29 September 2018

Rudolf Steiner Centre: North Vancouver, BC

Michaelmas – A Festival of Hope and Transformation

As part of the “Migration versus Multiculturalism” event presented by the Cambridge Music Conference’s collaboration with SFU School for Contemporary Arts.

30 September 2018

Christian Community: Burnaby, BC

Michaelmas – A New Festival for the Future

For further details please contact Elizabeth Carmack ecarmack@sfu.ca  for for further information and how to purchase tickets for the Michaelmas Conference on “Migration versus Multiculturalism” please look on the Cambridge Music Conference website: www.cambridgemusicconference.org/migration