Composed in 2014. 

Performed by Emilie Gélinas-Noble.

Monologue No. 2 for solo viola (2014)

As a piece that went through myriad false starts, re-conceptualizations, and significant revisions, putting a finger on the precise inspiration for Flowers at Midnight is somewhat challenging. What started as a piece meant to be inspired by “The Ward” - a poor slum in downtown Toronto that existed from roughly the 1830s until the mid-20th century - morphed into a piece that, in some ways, more generally reflects on ideas of community, collective action, and social interaction. It is a work with very little established hierarchy - there are almost no melodies or ‘hooks’ throughout the work -  where every part is equally important. Taken separately, the individual parts played by the musicians make little sense - but combined within the ensemble, they fit together as a coherent whole. The sense of ‘coming together’ further unfolds as the work progresses - large formal divisions are delineated by segmenting the full ensemble into smaller groups. Aside from a few brief moments within a short introduction, only in the final section of the work does the entire ensemble come together and play with another for a sustained period of time.

Flowers at Midnight

The Winter Lake - Opening (excerpt)

The Winter Lake - What's In The Bag? (excerpt)

The Winter Lake - Whose Baby Is It? (excerpt)

The Winter Lake - Did You Ever Cut One In Two?

The Winter Lake - Bike Ride

The Winter Lake - Triptych (excerpt)

The Winter Lake - Running And Despair

The Winter Lake - Bedrooms

The Winter Lake - Everything Will Be Alright

Bonding - In The Basement

Bonding - Something Is Amiss

Described as ‘sublimely articulate,’ the music of award-winning Toronto-based composer August Murphy-King blends the expressive energy of popular music with the technical and structural complexities of more traditional concert music. He placed second in the 2016 Land’s End Composer’s Competition and was also a 2017 winner of the SOCAN Foundation’s Godfrey Ridout Award. In 2017, his work Simul won the Ann H. Atkinson Prize in Electroacoustic Composition at the University of Toronto. His current focus is scoring for picture, with several projects currently underway. His recent credits include the Canadian short film "Bonding,” and the Irish-Canadian feature film “The Winter Lake.” He completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto in 2020.

August Murphy-King

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