ACWC 40th Anniversary - September

October 2025

Jamilyn Manning White, soprano; Julia Klang, cello; Safron Chung, piano

Fiona Evison, music; Henry Rasof, text, adapted

December 2019, Mendelssohn Glee Club Winter Concert, New York City, New York

Here I Seek You - Fiona Evison

Title: “It was not all a dream”
Performers: Mark Calvert, tenor; Sally Schlichting, flute; Meghan Johnson, cello.
October 1, 2016, Juneau, Alaska

Program note: These words by Lord Byron, from his much longer poem “Darkness,” seemed to me eerily predictive of the environmental catastrophe that awaits us – possibly even in this century – if we humans don’t stop producing and using fossil fuels.

It was not all a dream - Leila Lustig

White Cat Blues - three songs for soprano and piano; poetry by Lorna Crozier.

1. The White Cat
2. The Colour Blue
3. Shadow

The three poems are about the colour blue - sometimes beautiful, sometimes cool or sad, sometimes just itself.

Premiered by soprano Robyn Driedger-Klassen and pianist Terence Dawson in 2010 at the Vancouver International Song Institute at UBC.

http://www.leslieuyeda.com

White Cat Blues - Leslie Uyeda

Kontraband Kollektif - Oizys
Voice, Tenor Saxophone, Double Bass, Drum kit
Lieke van der Voort, Emily Steinwall, Hayden Farrar, Alfie Vienneau 
Humber College Studio, 2016-2017

First song of the EP Atropos, this song is part of an aural account of illness, suicide, loss and and my personal conflicting feelings surrounding these events. For more in depth information, please refer to an interview done in 2018: https://acourseindying.com/interview-when-your-father-commits-suicide/

Kontraband Kollektif was created in 2016 by Lieke van der Voort. Refusing to tie herself down to a single musical project and longing for extended collaborations, Lieke decided that an open concept collective would be the ideal situation. Kontraband Kollektif is an always shifting, moving and inclusive collaborative: anybody can be a part of it.

http://www.kontrabandkollektif.com/index.html

Oizys - Lieke van der Voort

Hard Shell Baptists - single movement work, on Songs for My Mother CD, 2018, for soprano and piano, time: 7:25. 
Mary-Catherine Pazzano, soprano, Carol Ann Weaver, piano.  Recorded Grebel Chapel, University of Waterloo, 2018.  The song is a setting of text by Miriam L. Weaver (mother of Carol Ann) about the vivid rituals and customs of Hard Shell Baptists, as practiced in rural Appalachian Kentucky, USA, in mid 20th C.

https://carolannweaver.com/

Hard Shell Baptists - Carol Ann Weaver

Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra by 
Sarah Bassingthwaighte 

London Symphony Orchestra 
Jonathan Pasternack, conductor 
Steve Schermer, double bass soloist

Bassingthwaighte London Symphony Orchestra  Concerto For Double Bass And Orchestra II. Scherzo

Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra III. Pesante feroce

London Symphony Orchestra 
Jonathan Pasternack, conductor
Steve Schermer, double bass soloist 

Recorded at St. Luke's London, September 2023

The Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra was the result of several sources of inspiration. Conductor Jonathan Pasternack dreamed up the idea of the creation of a new piece for the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra to celebrate their 90th Anniversary. The idea for the concerto for double bass and orchestra was a combination of the desire to add to the repertoire for the double bass and having an incredible double bass player, Stephen Schermer, to premiere it.
In deciding the general stylistic approach to the piece, I wanted to create something that would be virtuosic and fun for the bass soloist, engaging and interesting for the orchestra, and expressive and exciting for the audience. It was inspirational to be in contact with both the conductor and the bassist throughout the composing of this piece. Steve’s hope was for something lyrical, expressive, with a lot of tension and release, and that also used the full range of the double bass (a lot of bass concertos favor the highest range). This sounded perfect to me.
The Concerto is in three movements: Lachrymae, Scherzo, and Pesante feroce. The Lachrymae is the most serious and dramatic movement. (Many composers have written movements called lachrymae or lacrimosa, referring to tears.) This past year involved some very painful losses for both the bassist and for me, and this movement expresses some of that grief. The main motive that runs through the piece is 4 notes, with a major 2nd descending and a minor 3rd ascending, then a Major 3rd descending, with a dotted rhythm that reappears often. This is heard first in the double bass opening statement, low and solitary. It is then heard throughout the movement, including in a duet between piccolo and bass (playing flute-like harmonic effects), and then is extended to form the melody for the climax. At the loudest point, the bass blends into the fabric of the orchestra, with everyone at a fortissimo – the woodwinds and upper strings in a flurry of runs, the brass doing glissandi slides, and the low strings and low winds pounding out the 4- notemotive. Afterthis,theendingisquietandlonely.
The Scherzo lightens the mood, with bouncy, syncopated rhythms. The winds get to take a break, leaving just strings and percussion. All of the strings play entirely pizzicato – they don’t use their bows at all. The percussion gets to pull out some of their fun auxiliary instruments – temple bells (or crotales), vibraslap, castanets, and bongos among them. In the middle of the movement, the bass plays a 7-note pattern over the percussion’s 3-beat pattern, intentionally feeling loose and ungrounded. In the bass part, you’ll hear glissandos and slapping the strings.
The Pesante feroce is the high-energy climax of the piece. Short, driving, accented motives are tossed between the bass and the orchestra. The music is often somewhat dissonant, but always directional. A challenge in composing for bass is balance between the bass and the orchestra. Rather than thinning the orchestra, in this movement, I chose to have them alternate quickly, so the orchestra could play with fullness and energy without covering the bass. The middle of this movement slows to a dark, mysterious scene, with a persistent 4-note ostinato that is traded through the winds, brass, percussion, strings, and harp. Fairly quickly, the music returns to the virtuosic, driving bass themes, pushing toward the dramatic final repetition of the opening statement.

Bassingthwaighte London Symphony Orchestra Concerto For Double Bass III. Pesante feroce

Four contemporary piano pieces evoking the four elements
Performance by Joseph Ferretti [from live concert April 2008]

Water, Fire, Air and Earth (piano) by Jana Skarecky

Live at Recital Hour, The Rosza Centre, University of Calgary

Feb 8th

Flute: Jessica McMann
Piano: Julie Jacques
Composer:  Michael Daugherty

Trail Of Tears Concerto for Flute  1. where the wind blew free

Text: Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (1773)
Music: Anna Pidgorna

Soprano: Anna Devin
Piano: John Hess

This work was commissioned by the Irish Art Song Project. Scores, recordings and Irish language resources are available free of charge at: www.cmc.ie/AmhrainEalaineGhaeilge

This song is a setting of excerpts from the most famous of Irish laments, composed by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill’s (Eileen the Dark O’Connell) upon the death of her young husband Art Ó Laoghaire (Art O’Leary) in 1773. Eileen was honest in her assessment of their marital life. She thought him very handsome and a good lover, and found him generous and loving towards her and their children. He had a temper, however, which she had to navigate and deflect as women have generally been expected to do in patriarchal societies.

The text comes from:

Tórramh-Chaoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire / Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (Sliocht) The Funeral Lament for Art Ó Laoghaire / Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (Excerpt)
As/From: Ferriter ms No. 1, University College Dublin, The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, vol. IV (2002)

Tionscadal na nAmhrán Ealaíne Gaeilge 2019 / Irish Art Song Project 2019

Free

Amhráin Chaointe / Keening Songs: I. Caoineadh Eibhlín / Eileen's Lament

Title: “Letter from Pasadena”
Performers: Paul Nash, baritone; Mark McGregor and Samantha Fu, flutes; Jennifer Butler, alto flute; Sammy Pseng, piccolo.
March 14,  2004, Vancouver, BC

Program note: In late 1999, the world watched and listened as the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California struggled in vain to communicate with its Mars Polar Lander, sent off to search for water on the "Red Planet". I wrote the words to this elegy for the machine which, by the time it was finally given up for lost, had engaged our concern as if it were a missing child.

https://collections.cmccanada.org/final/Portal/Composer-Showcase.aspx?lang=en-CA

Leila Lustig - Letter from Pasadena

Association of Canadian Women Composers

The ACWC is a professional organization for Canadian women composers, their supporters, and the performers of their music.

Here I Seek You - Fiona Evison

ACWC / ACC