The next generation of voices in Canadian classical music will have a new opportunity to learn musical and other skills over the next several weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shaping the Sound of the North is a collection of virtual seminar gatherings for emerging composers from across the country to network and learn from established voices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith everything that\u2019s going on right now, we need something that brings us all together and that\u2019s offered to Canadians,\u201d says organizer and composer Anika-France Forget. \u201cI realized there wasn\u2019t a lot of stuff going on where I can get this information, so I was like, \u2018Well, why not start something that\u2019s meant for all Canadians?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Passing on knowledge\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the course of six weeks, participants in Shaping the Sound of the North will be able to hear from established voices across the musical and geographic spectrum of Canada. Those voices include renowned Canadian composers Kelly-Marie Murphy (the incoming composer-in-residence with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra), Matthew Emery and Katherina Gimon. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Forget says that she structured the sessions based on what she wanted to hear as an emerging composer herself. \u201cWhen I was thinking of this series, I just jotted down a bunch of questions that I had and of topics that I don\u2019t even know where to start,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t really have a mentor to guide me or to give me all of these answers anymore. So, these are sessions where it\u2019s something I would like to know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of the topics that will be covered will include how to build a career in composing music, creating collaborative opportunities with musical institutions, overcoming writer\u2019s block when it comes to commissions, and utilizing engraving and musical software.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to the diversity in the instructor\u2019s knowledge base, Forget says that each of the instructors also brings a different perspective to share based on the communities that they create music in. \u201cHaving people from Canada, they\u2019re all going to ave different people that they know and maybe different resources that\u2019s based within their city or their province,\u201d Forget explains. \u201cThat\u2019s the awesome thing of having Canada-wide [instructors].\u201d<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s incoming composer-in-residence Kelly-Marie Murphy will be one of the instructors in ‘Shaping the Sound of the North’. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
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RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n
Unity in the face of uncertainty\u00a0<\/p>\n
The effort to support and unify emerging composers across the country comes in a moment when Canada\u2019s cultural industries are once again facing down added challenges related to the ongoing tariffs imposed by the U.S. government. Forget says this latest flare up in the Canada-U.S. trade war was a major motivator to putting these sessions together for her fellow Canadian composers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the years, I was part of a couple of series like this that were offered worldwide and then you would get a bunch of people from the States or from Europe,\u201d Forget explains, \u201cbut I was never a part of a just Canada-wide series. This is for Canadian composers, emerging composers and artists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n