Immerse yourself in four days of adventurous music. The Modulus Festival connects audiences with leading musicians and composers in intimate, fun settings filled with great music. Meet Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre), LA’s Calder Quartet, and many of Vancouver’s most exciting and engaging musicians. Discover Henryk Górecki’s Quasi una fantasia (String Quartet No.2), Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de L’Amen, and Richard Reed Parry’s Drones/Revelations alongside a string quartet by Felix Mendelssohn, world premieres from the UK’s Michael Finnissy and Vancouver’s Jocelyn Morlock, music by Kaija Saariaho, and lots more.
Modulus Opening Night, Thursday, September 27, 2012, 8pm, includes Richard Reed Parry’s music For Heart and Breath, which combines a mesmerizing, still beauty with the human pulse. Discover another side of this Arcade Fire member through performances of this Duet, Quartet and Sextet featuring Los Angeles’ boundary smashing Calder Quartet in its Vancouver debut. Opening Night also features two world premieres: British legend Michael Finnissy’s Mercy and Mankind and Sesto Libro di Gesualdo alongside Music on Main’s new Composer In Residence Jocelyn Morlock’s Tom Cone Songs. The concert closes with the majestic beauty of Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de L’Amen, a rarely heard masterpiece for two pianos.
Friday, September 28, 8pm’s concert showcases the Vancouver debut of the Calder Quartet from LA. Whether playing with bands like The National or performing a classical recital at Carnegie Hall, the Calder Quartet makes audiences feel every note, and hear every gorgeous sound. For their Modulus Festival concert, they play music they love passionately: a Canadian premiere from New York composer Andy Akiho, Henryk Górecki’s meditative Quasi una fantasia (String Quartet No.2) and Mendelssohn’s intense and lyrical String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor.
Later that evening (10:30pm, to be precise), Mei Han (zheng) and Souns, (DJ Michael Red’s ambient/etc. project), will play a 45-minute set that will transport you from Main Street to a new sound-world. Experience sound weaves, pre-programmed structures, live looping and processing of found sounds in a spontaneous musical tape0stry of our town. Ticketholder of the 8pm concert are welcome to stay for this performance; tickets for will also be available online at the door.
Spend a night getting to know the music of Kaija Saariaho on Saturday, September 29 at 8pm. Finnish-born, Paris-based Saariaho celebrates her 60th birthday in 2012, and Music on Main brings the celebrations to Vancouver with music that is both tantalizingly seductive and intellectually stimulating. Featuring members of the Music on Main All-Star Band, the concert give us insight into one of today’s great composers.
All concerts listed above take place at Heritage Hall. Tickets and passes at musiconmain.ca, or at the door, if available.
The Georgia Straight called the Modulus Festival’s annual Free Afternoon Concert “a fantastic gift to our city.” Sunday, September 30, at 3pm, at The Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, don’t miss Drones/Revelations from composer Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre), as the composer envisioned it. Fifteen cyclists with glowing tires circle a darkened room, each carrying their own boom box filled with Parry’s score. Inspired by the Book of Revelations and the approaching reality of the military using pilotless drone planes, Drones/Revelations promises an unforgettable experience in the Roundhouse’s historic Exhibition Hall. Audiences will also discover the amazing Express Your Voice Choir. Led by the inimitable DB Boyko, this choir of adventurous seniors tells stories through avant-garde singing, smashing through generational stereotypes, and exciting audiences of all ages.
