Rose Bolton   Rose Bolton speaks clearly about what she wants. “I think clever would be the word that I would not want to hear people use when speaking about my music—regardless of whether it actually is or not. Ultimately, it’s not music about music; there has to be a bigger[...] Read more

Profile Nick Storring Issue 113

What's Inside Musicworks 130 - Spring 2018 Musicworks turns 40 this year. It’s been quite a journey from the DIY newsprint tabloid published in 1978 to Musicworks 130—our first-ever full-colour issue! Buy the print issue (or print+CD combo) from our shop, or start your subscription today. On the Cover[...] Read more

Featured Article Issue 130

Rachael Wadham: Installing A Quiet Sound-World FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   The work of Vancouver-based sound artist, improviser, and composer Rachael Wadham often hinges upon a certain pack-rat sensibility, with sounds scavenged from mundane, remote, or even derelict sources, squirrelled away with humble[...] Read more

In the Works Nick Storring Issue 110

The Mystical Instruments of Walter Smetak In March 2014, I found myself facing the late Walter Smetak’s Pindorama, a seven-foot-two-inch-tall instrument installation comprising seven calabash gourds arranged in a diamond-like formation and resting on a bamboo pedestal. Dozens of clear plastic tubes with flute mouthpieces fixed[...] Read more

Featured Article Neil Leonard Issue 121

Philip Glass Most people get presents or have parties thrown for them on special occasions. Philip Glass, however, was in more of a giving mood as he celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday at the end of January. The candles on his cake marked the start of a remarkable year that has the American composer[...] Read more

Featured Article John Terauds Issue 112

Eve Egoyan and David Rokeby's Surface Tension Surface Tension is a thirty-five-minute collaborative interarts work that the two of us (pianist Eve Egoyan and installation artist David Rokeby) created for Disklavier piano and interactive video. The piece explores the relationship between what we do separately in our respective[...] Read more

Visions of sound Eve Egoyan and David Rokeby Issue 105

The Evolution of The Muted Note The Muted Note is a marriage of music, dance, and poetry—specifically, the poetry of the late Canadian writer P. K. Page. Her work was the unexpected catalyst for the first creative collaboration between Scott Thomson and Susanna Hood, both of whom were long-time linchpins of Toronto[...] Read more

Featured Article Jonathan Bunce Issue 120

The Friendly Exchanges of Germaine Liu When percussionist Germaine Liu performs, there’s more to her approach than simply striking a snare drum with a wooden stick.   Liu seeks a deeper intimacy with her instruments, exploring all the sounds they might produce by closely examining each part. This is the key[...] Read more

Sound Bite Mary Dickie Issue 123

Sarah Davachi flies into psychoacoustic space One could say that Sarah Davachi’s drone-based music is all about meditative states, or texture, or duration. But more than anything else, it’s about balance—between the theoretical and the practical, the material and the cerebral, the antique and the avant-garde, the[...] Read more

Sound Bite Alexander Varty Issue 122

First-place winner, Musicworks’ 2017 Electronic Music Composition contest The glitchy, vaguely dystopian composition constructed from manipulated vocals is almost widespread enough now to warrant its own genre tag. Laurie Anderson is, of course, its foremother. Recent interesting entries include Holly Herndon’s Platform, Katie Gately’s Pipes, and Giant[...] Read more

Sound Bite Daniel Glassman Issue 130