CONCERT
Vocalist and ethnomusicologist Julia Ulehla performs a new work for solo voice and soundscapes generated by guitarist Aram Bajakian. Sonic Ecosystems conjures ancestors and miscellanea, fusing together elements of traditional and ritual song with story to uncover fragments of ritual action. Electro-folk composer Bill Young commandeers the VOICE OVER mind choir to voice the sounds of the Gulf Islands coasts merged with electric guitar, pump organ and electronics in Archipelago.
If you are interested in singing with the VOICE OVER mind choir for this performance, contact newmusic@front.bc.ca
POST-CONCERT TALK BACK SESSION
Audiences are invited to ask questions and discuss the work.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Vocalist, actress and ethnomusicology PhD student, Julia Ulehla finds new ways yo integrate academic and performance research. An opera singer, actress and vocalist in Avant-garde and new music contexts in New York City, Julia now researches traditional song from Slovacko – a region in southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic at the base of the Carpathian Mountains – through a combination of ethnography, archival research, structural analysis, and the physical embodiment of song.
Bill Young received his BFA in electro acoustics in 2014 from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver BC, where he studied with Barry Truax, Arne Eigenfeldt, Janet Danielson, Sutrisno Hartana and Stefan Smulovitz. Bill’s electro acoustic compositions are informed by soundscape studies, as well as his background in and continuing engagement with song-writing and experimental rock. Bill won the 2014 Marcia Award for electro acoustics, as well as the 2014 R. Murray Schafer Award for his research into the soundscapes of protest and resistance movements. He is currently living in Vancouver, where he composes, and performs both solo and with the experimental rock band Nothingness.
The VOICE OVER mind Choir, a.k.a. VOM, came together for the first VOICE OVER mind Festival in May 2010 and is dedicated to the practice of improvisation and spontaneous choral composition. In 2011 the group has performed for the video production of “Songs for a Better Future” by Romanian visual artist Matei Bejenaru. As well, the choir participated in Western Front’s collaboration with lower mainland schools, Vancouver Public Library and the Vancouver Symphony, performing in “Dzunukwa Beneath the Canopy and Through the Underworld: Stories, Songs and Celebrations”. VOM’s recent performances include “The Coincidence Problem” by Stephen Osborne and Cassia Streb for the Roundhouse Community Centre and GEIST’s Memory Festival and and an homage to Kimsooja’s exhibit “Unfolding” for Vancouver Art Gallery’s FUSE in fall 2013. DB Boyko, Western Front New Music Director/Curator leads this choir, that brings together community and artists in the creation of new music works.
