Banff Centre's 2020 Music Programming Announced

Coinciding with autumn's first snowfall in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's full line-up of 2020 residency programs in music has been released. Under the artistic leadership of an esteemed cohort of program directors, Banff music programs will cover a range of forms and themes, with fine-tuning to a number of major programs, including Classical Music Summer Programs, the Banff International Songwriter Residency, Choral Art, and Opera in the 21st Century. The announcement was made amid a busy time on the Banff Centre campus, with the Wîchoîe Ahiya Indigenous Singer-Songwriter Intensive and the Banff Musicians in Residence program taking place this month.

"In 2020 we will welcome an outstanding array of faculty artists who have earned accolades from audiences and peers, including many recipients of major industry awards," said Howard Jang, Banff Centre Vice President for Arts and Leadership. "Their creativity, and yours, will help Banff Centre to become a nexus between tradition and innovation in music. We invite ambitious artists from around the world to consider Banff Centre as a home in which to create and reflect upon your work."

Highlights for the 2020-21 programming year include:

Choral Art: Conductors and Composers (February 10 - March 1, 2020)

Participants in this program will become immersed in the world of choral art and have the opportunity to collaborate with internationally acclaimed faculty and the ensemble-in-residence Pro Coro Canada.

Faculty mentors include:
Pro Coro Conductor, Michael Zaugg
Vokal Nord Artistic Director, Lone Larsen
Industry leader, Sven Helbig

Concert in the 21st Century (February 10-21, 2020)

This program is designed for classical musicians and ensembles to work with concert professionals, including workshops on and marketing concert programs and pitching projects to presenters and funders. Building on previous innovative residencies with Pedja Muzijevic, Concert in the 21st Century offers an intensive, informal and nurturing learning environment for participants to gain skills in concert curation and making key performance decisions.

Banff International Songwriter Residency (March 2-21, 2020)

The evolution of Banff Centre's previous Singer-Songwriter Residency, this 20-day program, led by Kevin Welch, provides songwriters with an opportunity to explore their artistic practice alongside an eclectic mix of award-winning faculty, including Shad, Kim Richey, Howard Bilerman, Cadence Weapon, and more. This program is open to applicants worldwide regardless of genre, and is a call for songwriters who have an established professional practice, be it in pop, folk, country, soul, or hip-hop.

Faculty mentors include:
Grammy-nominated, Howard Bilerman
Polaris Music Prize shortlisted and former Edmonton poet-laureate (2009-2011), Cadence Weapon
Industry-leading multi-instrumentalist, Fats Kaplin
Two-time Grammy-nominated, Kim Richey
Juno Award winner, Shad

Classical Music Summer Programs

Through two programs, Evolution: Classical (May 18-June 6, 2020) and Evolution: Quartet (July 6-25, 2020), Banff Centre's cornerstone summer residencies will provide exceptional career development opportunities for classically-trained musicians, under the leadership of Banff Centre alumni, the Juno award-winning Gryphon Trio.

Faculty mentors include:
Violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, Cellist Roman Borys and Pianist James Parker of the Gryphon Trio
Academy Award-nominated director/screenwriter, Atom Egoyan
Violinist and violist, Matt Albert
Juno, Socan, ECMA and Masterworks award-winning composer, conductor and pianist, Dinuk Wijeratne
Soloist, chamber musician, researcher, teacher and producer, Aiyun Huang
Clarinetists and wind soloist, James Campbell

Opera in the 21st Century: Singers and Répétiteurs (June 8-July 11, 2020)

Devoted to practical skill extension and development, Opera in the 21st Century is a performance-based, collaborative training experience for emerging professionals led by Joel Ivany director of the innovative Toronto-based opera company, Against the Grain.

Opera in the 21st Century: Creators Lab (June 29-July 11, 2020)

The Creators Lab residency will provide teams of up to five members the exciting opportunity to work together on a new concept for the opera Proving Up (written by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek). Participants will have access to talented mentors, singers, and production support to test proof of concept for their creations. Concepts will be adjudicated by a panel of senior opera practitioners, and awards will follow.

Opera performances at Banff Centre are generously supported by the David Spencer endowment encouragement fund.

Collective Composition (July 26 - August 8, 2020)

A crossover with Banff Centre's Creative Gesture dance program, Collective Composition brings together composers, choreographers and dancers to explore creativity through practices of collaboration, composition, and improvisation. Five choreographers and nine composer/performer/improviser/sound artists will have two weeks of studio time to deepen their experience of the relationship between music and dance, with facilitation to explore place as compositional sources for sound and gesture. Moderated by internationally acclaimed faculty Michael Schumacher, Anne Bourne, and Carla Kihlstedt.

Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music (August 3-22, 2020)

This program provides emerging artists with an extraordinary opportunity to collaborate and perform with renowned composers and musicians under the co-direction of jazz luminaries, Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey.

TD Bank Group is the generous lead supporter of the Banff International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music.

Banff Musicians in Residence

(Winter: January 6-February 7, 2020; Early Fall: September 21-October 23 2020; Late Fall: November 30-December 18, 2020): This program provides space and focused time for musicians of all genres to concentrate on artistic development while working on projects that can be either individually or group/ensemble-based, working in the artist's established genre(s), or exploring a new one. Visiting mentor artists are brought in each week to engage with program participants, with weekly concerts taking place in Banff Centre's cabaret room, The Club, and the Rolston Recital Hall.

Faculty mentors include:
Polaris Prize recipient, Lido Pimienta
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, Gretchen Peters
Co-artistic director of four-time Grammy-winning contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird, Nathalie Joachim
The Lafayette String Quartet
Juno award-winning banjoist and producer, Jayme Stone

Additional music programming from Banff Centre's Indigenous Arts (Director Reneltta Arluk), will be announced soon.

Programs at Banff Centre are made possible in part by the Government of Alberta through Alberta Advanced Education and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and Canada Council for the Arts.

Les programmes du Centre des arts de Banff sont rendus possibles en partie grâce au Gouvernement de l'Alberta par le support du ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur de l'Alberta et de la Fondation pour les arts de l'Alberta, et au gouvernement du Canada, par le support de Patrimoine canadien et du Conseil des arts du Canada.

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