Volume 25 Issue 6 - March 2020

NICK MERZETTI
TIM BLONK
BO HUANG
L to R: Adam Scime, Bekah Simms, Roydon Tse
Planets. Kuzmenko told me, “I am honoured that maestro Gimeno
chose to feature my music in his first season. It is clear from the
season that he has a strong commitment to new Canadian music.
I believe he will be a great advocate for Canadian composers.”
Montreal-based Nicole Lizée’s Zeiss After Dark is a TSO co-commission
with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) and will be
presented when the NACO visits in the spring of 2021. Commenting
on the program, which includes the Shostakovitch Ninth Symphony
and a new work by Philip Glass, Lizée told me, “I’m excited to be
included as part of NACO’s program as the invited orchestra as well
as being a part of Gustavo Gimeno’s inaugural season with the TSO.
I appreciate that my work is being performed alongside that of two
important composers by an orchestra that has also made Canadian
music a large part of their initiatives.”
Emilie LeBel has been the TSO affiliate composer since
September 2018. “During the first week of my new position, I met
Gustavo as he was announced as the incoming music director,” she
says. “I am thrilled that my contract as affiliate composer has been
extended to a third year. As Gustavo steps into his new role, I have the
opportunity to see all the excitement and hard work that has gone on
behind the scenes take fruition! My role as affiliate composer encompasses
a new orchestral commission each year, plus I have an active
role in the artistic administration team, and as a mentor in specific
education and outreach projects.
“I am currently working on a new 15-minute work, which is my
third TSO commission. It will be conducted on the Masterworks Series
by John Storgårds in January 2021. I am blessed to have benefited
from learning under Sir Andrew Davis, and several guest conductors
these past two years. It has been a time of immense learning and
artistic growth. I am excited to broaden my horizons under Gustavo
this year, as I observe rehearsals and study scores. I look forward
to learning from a new perspective, and to exploring how this will
support me while immersed in the creation of this new piece.”
It is important that the affiliate composer position play an active
role in nurturing and supporting new Canadian work, Lebel says. “I
am looking forward to our third year of ‘Explore the Score’, offering
the opportunity for composers to hear their orchestral works be read
by a professional orchestra, and also receive mentorship on the many
facets of a career in composition. Expanding on this opportunity, we
have created a new program this year, NextGen, to support emerging
talent, bridging the gap between attending a score-reading session and
a professional commission.”
SCIME, SIMMS, AND TSE
The NextGen program invites three composers each year to
receive mentorship from the affiliate composer, and write a fiveminute
work for the orchestra that will be premiered on the TSO’s
Masterworks Series. “After two years of planning, I am thrilled to
see this program come together” LeBel says, “and to be supporting
the work of three Canadian composers selected by Gustavo: Adam
Scime, Bekah Simms and Roydon Tse. These two annual programs will
offer support to promising composers, and ensure a strong future for
Canadian music.”
The commissions for Scime, Simms and Tse are included in three
Remembrance Day concerts, early in November. “It is definitely a
huge honour to be named one of the first composers for Gustavo to
commission for the TSO,” Tse told me. “Not only is it a tremendous
privilege to write for the players, I am pretty excited for the opportunity
to get to know Gustavo more through this opportunity. I know
that Gustavo is very serious about the next generation of Canadian
composers, and I feel honoured that he has taken the time to listen to
my music and chosen me for this commission. Artistically speaking,
there is a lot that I want to do and try for the TSO. This being Gustavo’s
first season at the TSO, there is a certain weight of responsibility that
is unlike other commissions. I have written quite a few works for
orchestra before but there’s always something else I would like to try
like new timbres, textures and harmonies. There is a new sound that
I want to achieve from the orchestra which I am still working on, so
I think this commission has been instrumental in helping me think
deeper about orchestration and sound. The piece will be rooted in
the theme of Remembrance which I am excited to be tackling in the
coming months.”
Tse’s sentiments were echoed by the other NextGen composers.
“Since a young age I have attended TSO concerts, Scime wrote, “and
remember wondering what it would be like to be a part of such
an incredible collection of musicians and artists who get to make
wonderful music of the highest quality for a living. I am very proud
and excited to now be a part of this music-making process with the
orchestra as a composer. It will be an honour to work with the new
director, Gustavo Gimeno, and the TSO musicians in a professional
artistic capacity and to hear these world-class musicians interpret my
music. Working with an orchestra of this calibre is a hallmark of any
composer’s career – and I am especially thrilled that this project also
happens to be with my hometown band.”
Simms enthusiastically agreed: “I’m excited by Maestro Gimeno’s
intensity and his excitement for new music; my music is often roiling
and full of details, so I think he can really bring out the important
features of my work. He has an edge and flair to his conducting that I’m
really looking forward to see. I’m extremely delighted and honoured
to work with my ‘home’ orchestra! My musical language is often most
effective with large, expansive instrumental forces, so I’m delighted to
be working with as fine an ensemble as the Toronto Symphony.”
David Jaeger is a composer, producer and broadcaster
based in Toronto.
18 | March 2020 thewholenote.com