Pivot was the concept of  new composers showcasing their blood, sweat, and tears. The Music Gallery was at capacity with a roomful of very quiet and excited souls ready to witness a musical time warp. Showcased was a group of six very young and talented shape shifters.

First up was Joro Kim Feliz. I did not know this yet, but his piece, “Pankur”, was the most musically challenging sound of the evening. It was quite an opening piece that forced you to be still and absorb his notes of perpetual motion. The piece slid in and out of special convergence and musical modulation. Just when you believe you were riding the wave of multiple sounds, you ended up tripping on the space between the notes. Juro has received the deserved award called the Goethe South East Asian Young Composer in 2009. His music has been commissioned for festivals and workshops in The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Israel, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, USA, and Canada.

Next up was Rebecca Bruton, with her strange and intense piece, “Whast/Warb”. This challenging piece was a combination of various forms of sounds. She played with a variation of pitch while using forms of tape loops and added speaker feedback. There were moments where the Lo-Fi vocals sounded grainy then flipped into high prismic tones. Rebecca’s work is an experiment of intricate avant-pop and unique chamber music. Her work has been a part of the BBC’s, “Hear and Now” series.

Bakah Simms seemed super happy to be part of this event. You could feel her happiness radiate throughout the room as her piece was about to be unveiled. The only thing I can remember is that her president was very heartfelt and colourful. It felt like perpetual pleasure that smiled deep into  a part of you’re a part of your guilty pleasure. It was innocent and pure intellect. How that happens, I could not tell you, but it comes from a place that very few of us hold in this universe. Beautifully this  prototype is called, “Everything is distorted”.

One of the funniest moments was trying to be shut down as a photographer and journalist by an elderly lady in the audience. Apparently my camera was too loud for her and interrupted her experience.  I made amends during the intermission and soon became friendly with this dedicated listener.

I came back into the room for the second half of the show, only to be handed 3D glasses- Old school green and red glasses. Maxime Corbiel-Perron was about to give us a visual and sound showcase. That doesn’t happen often enough in a live performance. The combination of a 3D visual, backed by sounds that explore low frequencies with both  minimalistic sounds and constructive movements carried you into an expansive mind set that let you feel the energy of surrender. Maxime Corbiel-Perron will be a driving force for musicians wanting to blend the different media of sight and sound.

Beavan Flanagun was the one composer that really woke me up as a listener. His music sheet was something I have never seen before. It was based on a line on a page that had a pattern and never crossed over each other. Somehow the players made it through, but had enough room to creativity  interpret the meaning of the notes, which did not exist for this piece. Oddly enough, the piece was called.”Sometimes Patterns”. Beavan Flanagun  is a composer from Montreal, now residing in Manchester, UK. His style of composing can be considered random and indifferent. Technically, his brilliance can be seen through his text scores, his spacitial ambiguity and his compositional negotiations.

We have reached the end of the evening with Evelin Ramon. Her piece, “ Au Sommet des ses convulisions, l’homme  est prêt a partir”, had a heavy view of her perceptions of ritualistic death. Her work with the use of voice challenged the performers to exercise the essence of talent. It has a strong spiritual strength that reformed the quiet attributes that wondered why it was lost in the first place. Evelin wad born in Cuba and studying her doctoral in Montreal.   Her music has been heard in Canada, Spain, Germany, Venezuela,  France, Denmark, Mexico, USA, and Cuba, She is one of the hosts of a radio program called Pulsar, on CISM 89.3FM in Montreal.

The evening ended up with a wonderful reception of wine and cheese. If there was a chance to communicate with one or more of these accomplished composers, this was the moment. The reception was a success and there were fulfilled souls that reveled in this special evening.

Here are some pics from L’autre Dame’s performance: