Sound Symposium

Sound Symposium is pleased to announce some of the many artists who will be participating in Sound Symposium XV; the biennial celebration of sound, new music and the performance arts will be held in St. John's, Newfoundland from July 2 - 10, 2010.

Stay tuned for updates, artists' profiles and the full schedule of events.

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The Black Auks (Newfoundland)

Annie Dunning (Ontario)

Air Time — a musical collaboration with pigeons (to be installed throughout the Sound Symposium at the Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s)

Dunning has built instruments based on the historic model of Chinese pigeon flutes. The flutes are lightweight, usually made of bamboo or gourds at attached to the tail feathers of pigeons. As the pigeons fly, the air passes over the flutes’ apertures creating sound. The musical flights yielded extensive video, sound and still photo documentation. Air Time is an installation with a video projection and the soundtrack of the pigeons playing the flutes. ...on the web

Moritz Eggert (Germany)

Courtesy of the Goethe Institut Montreal, composer/musician Moritz Eggert will create a new work to be performed during Sound Symposium XV.  ...on the web

Diane Landry (Quebec) 

Installation of Le chevalier de la résignation infinie / The Knight of Infinite Resignation. In addition Diane will offer a performance TBA

...on the web

Eve Egoyan and David Rokeby (Ontario)

Surface Tension is a 35 minute long collaborative interdisciplinary work for disklavier piano and interactive video created by pianist Eve Egoyan and artist David Rokeby. It was commissioned by the Open Ears Festival with a grant from the Canada Council. It was premiered at Open Ears in Kitchener in May of 2009. 

In Surface Tension, Eve’s performance at the keyboard of a disklavier (an acoustic piano with a computer interface) is transformed and interpreted by a computer into live visual images projected onto a screen rising from the body of the piano. The visuals respond to a variety of performance parameters including dynamics, pitch, the harmonic relation between pitches, the use of the sustain pedal, and the duration of individual notes. This extends the piano into a visual instrument as well as a musical one. Presented with the generous support of Yamaha Music Canada, Ltd. ...on the web

Spanner (Newfoundland)

Paul Bendzsa and percussionist Rob Power join in this duo.

Louise Moyes (Newfoundland)

Patrick Boyle (Newfoundland)

Tran Quang Hai (Viet Nam/France)
Workshop demonstrating  throat-singing and overtone-singing

McKudo is an "anything goes" new music trio, playing largely improvised music with a sense of adventure, experimentation, and humor. McKudo is an opportunity to stretch the limits of what we think we can achieve and play not just outside the box, but off the whole freakin' planet. Past performances included a ten minute sine wave jam, washing machine karaoke, and the world's first all-paintball symphony.

Ed Squires and Dan Morphy, (Newfoundland/Ontario)
River Connected — Percussion Duo. Concert of contemporary classical works

Ye Yeti (Newfoundland)
Christopher Howse: Vocals, Synthesizer Daniel Howse: Bass, Vocals Kaitlyn Brace: Drums, Vocals

Daniel Payne  (Newfoundland)
Traditional Newfoundland music fiddle, whistle, accordion and unaccompanied singing

Join Sound Symposium artists for a special evening performance at Cape Spear, the eastern-most point of North America. A remarkable experience, set in World War II coastal bunkers facing the ocean with the backing soundscape of crashing waves, whales and seabirds..

THE HARBOUR SYMPHONY

Sound Symposisum's signature piece, the Harbour Symphony features original music composed for ships' horns. The symphonies are written by Sound Symposium artists and performed daily at noon in the natural amphitheatre that is St. John's harbour and historic downtown.. ...more

NIGHT MUSIC

When the day of workshops and sound art is over and the applause of the evening concerts fades there is still NIGHT MUSIC, the late night improv sessions at The Ship Pub. Drop by, join in!

*Artists are subject to change without notice.

Sound Symposium's Night Music Series at The Ship Pub has been voted the "Best Jam Night" for 2009 by The Scope newspaper's annual Best of St. John's readers survey. So, thank you jammers, listeners and Scope readers ...and a big congratulations to Craig Squires, Ring Leader of Night Music.

Night Music is a monthly series of improv events, where a local band does a set of their own music, and then serves as a basis for improvisations into the night. The band invites special guests, if they wish, and is responsible for at least some of the organization of further activities. This is not an "open mic", but all players are invited to come down and join us in the fun. Our aim is to stretch our ears, take some risks and push some boundaries. Any bands interested in 'anchoring' are most welcome to contact me, especially those who have 'outside' or improv inclinations. Interested? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it