Aventa Ensemble – Appearances

Thorvaldsdottir, Simms, Magnanensi, and Wallin

TRACKS
1. Aequilibria – Anna Thorvaldsdottir (11:25)
2. “Everything is… distorted” – Bekah Simms (10:23)
3. Ethuiá V for solo horn and electronics – Giorgio Magnanensi (11:32) (Darnell Linwood, horn)
4. Appearances – Rolf Wallin (23:01)

Total duration: 56:23

PERFORMERS
Aventa Ensemble
Bill Linwood, conductor; Mark Takeshi McGregor, flute; Russell Bajer, oboe; AK Coope, clarinet; Jenny Gunter, bassoon; Darnell Linwood, horn; Lou Ranger, trumpet; François Levesque, trombone; Corey Rae, percussion; Roger Admiral/Miranda Wong, piano; Muge Buyukcelen/Sharon Stanis, violin; Mieka Michaux, viola; Alasdair Money, cello; Darren Buhr, doublebass

CREDITS
Produced by Aventa Ensemble
Live in concert:
Aequilibria: Mar. 4, 2018, Victoria, BC
“Everything is… distorted”: Oct. 27, 2019, Victoria, BC
Ethuiá V: Mar. 6, 2015, University of Auckland, NZ
Appearances: June 16, 2008, PLEX Copenhagen, Denmark

Digital Editing and Mastering: Bill Linwood
CD design: Denise Burt, Elevator Graphics
Cover Artwork: Denise Burt using original image by Dean Morley, Late afternoon cloud formation; (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Commissions: Aventa gratefully acknowledges the support of the British Columbia Arts Council in the commissioning of Ethuiá V
Special Thanks: Kirk McNally, Assistant Professor of Music Technology, University of Victoria; Wise Music Classical; Edition Wilhelm Hansen; Canadian Music Centre; Canada Council for the Arts; British Columbia Arts Council

Appearances is available from:

Albums by Aventa Ensemble

Anna Thorvaldsdottir frequently works with large sonic structures that tend to reveal the presence of a vast variety of sustained sound materials, reflecting her sense of imaginative listening to landscapes and nature. Her music tends to portray a flowing world of sounds with an enigmatic lyrical atmosphere. Anna’s music is frequently performed internationally, and has been featured at several major venues and music festivals. “Aequilibria (2014), is inspired by various states of balancing forces – by looking at the sky – the natural breath between expansion and contraction, and the perspectives of translucence and opacity”. – Anna Thorvaldsdottir annathorvalds.com

Hailing from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Bekah Simms has been heralded as “cacophonous, jarring, oppressive — and totally engrossing!” (CBC Music). Propelled equally by fascination and terror toward the universe, her work is often filtered through the personal lens of her anxiety, resulting in nervous, messy, and frequently heavy musical landscapes. “In the 2016 work, Everything is…distorted, the immediate experience of the world, its perceptible pleasure has been totally exhausted to the extent that by now everything is filtered, mediated, distorted by technology … Romitelli insisted that art could not resist technological violence other than through a response that was even more violent and artificial.” – Bekah Simms bekahsimms.com

Born and raised in Italy, Giorgio Magnanensi currently lives in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. His diverse artistic practice includes composition, conducting, improvisation, sound art, circuit–bending and video art. “Ethuiá V (2006) has been written thinking to what Luciano Berio once described as a ‘virtuosism of collaboration‘. Here, in this kind of virtuosism, writing is fulfilled in the possibility of existing in the pure hands of (…those yes) really eloquent artists. Ethuiá V is articulated in a few flowing sections with defined sound and colour qualities. The live electronics component is performed live and freely interacting with the performance of the written materials. Ethuiá V is dedicated to Darnell Linwood” – Giorgio Magnanensi giorgiomagnanensi.com

Composer and avant-garde performance artist Rolf Wallin has established a reputation as one of the leading Scandinavian composers of his generation. Much of his music combines an intuitive freedom with a rigorous mathematical approach, such as use of fractal algorithms to construct melody and harmony. But far from being abstract, Wallin’s music often connects directly with the world around him. Of Appearances (2006) Walllin writes: “This planet has seen many lifeforms emerge and vanish on its surface. Each of them has had a lifespan, long or short. A species can be marginal or totally dominant, and its extinction can be almost imperceptibly gradual or dramatically abrupt. Similarly, in human history, great and not so great ideas, good and evil, have appeared, disappeared, and reappeared in a bewildering, fascinating stream. The Earth is full of these patterns, like a midsummer’s sky: the clouds emerge literally from thin air, grow, reshape and vanish, the fate of each of them impossible to predict for the spectator.” rolfwallin.org

Originally from Saskatoon, Darnell Linwood was Principal Horn with the Regina Symphony Orchestra and since moving to Victoria in 2003, she has been active as both a chamber and orchestral musician playing with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Calgary Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony. A strong advocate for new music, Darnell is a co-founder of Aventa Ensemble, where she has been featured on local concerts, tours and recordings. Performance highlights include the world premiere of Giorgio Magnanensi’s Ethuiá V for horn and electronics, as well as recordings of Gilles Tremblay’s Le signe du lion (Centredisc) and Pierre Boulez’ Dérive II (CBC). Darnell has also been featured in such repertoire as György Ligeti’s Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, Poul Ruders’ Horn Trio, Hans Abrahamsen’s Six Pieces and Simon Steen-Andersen’s In Spite of, and maybe even therefore. She works closely with composers in developing the horn repertoire and presented the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ horn trio, Stormwatch, Stormfall of which the composer wrote: “the new piece was wonderfully performed, to the extent that I can’t remember a better premiere.”

With a reputation for superb performance and ambitious programming, Aventa has established itself as one of Canada’s leading contemporary music ensembles. Comprised of musicians who are passionate about new music and its place in our culture, Aventa pushes musical boundaries through diverse projects, collaboration, and cultural exchange. https://aventa.ca/