Featured Articles

The Creative Constructions of George Lewis “THIS PIECE HAS A NEW NAME,” ANNOUNCED GEORGE LEWIS, composer, trombonist, writer, and professor, speaking from the stage of the Community Church of New York. “I realized as I got into it that the old name—the name you have in your programs—doesn’t[...] Read more

Featured Article Kurt Gottschalk Issue 124

Stéphane Roy's Avec le temps | Bekah Simms' subsume This is final post in a series about the prize and honourable mention winners of the 2022 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest.   HONOURABLE MENTION:  Stéphane Roy's Avec le temps…   Time passing like a quiet caravan, this[...] Read more

Sound Notes

Sam Shalabi and the Evolution of a Global Aesthetic Sam Shalabi’s insightful musical take on the world can provoke both discomfort and laughter. On his numerous solo albums, he meshes guitar, oud, and field recordings into an electroacoustic collage. He leads a wide variety of small and midsize groups that encompass a who’s who of[...] Read more

Featured Article Lawrence Joseph Issue 130

John Preus' Slow Sound On a brisk fall afternoon in October, about two dozen people hunkered down in the intimate main room of Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio. They watched some of the city’s more open-minded musicians—including guitarist Leroy Bach and drummer Mikel Avery—improvise on[...] Read more

Sound Notes Peter Margasak Issue 118

2023 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest   For immediate release: Toronto, Canada, August 1, 2023 — The thirteenth annual Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest opens August 1, 2023. We invite you to share the news with your readers, audiences, and communities. [...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

Jean-Philippe Jullin's Nadir and Diana Lawryshyn's Streams of Consciousness The 2021 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest awarded two artists with honourable mentions: Jean-Philippe Jullin for Nadir and Diana Nadia Lawryshyn for Streams of Consciousness.   JEAN-PHILIPPE JULLIN Born in 1995 in Marseille, France, Jean-Philippe[...] Read more

Featured Article

What's Inside Musicworks 137? The Fall 2020 issue comes preloaded with guitars. Hollow, heavy, bowed, cracked, pedalled, flung. Trusty companions. Feedback demons. Easy to pick up, hard to put down . . . just like every issue of Musicworks! BUY THE FALL 2020 ISSUE FROM OUR SHOP OR SAVE 50% OFF THE COVER PRICE WITH A[...] Read more

Featured Article Issue 137

Dálava explores the landscape of song On a summer evening, outside this art gallery-cum-coffeehouse somewhere on the Gulf Islands, silver-green alders, not yet dry and summer-drab, sway, as deer graze in a meadow beyond, and small birds sing. Inside, a young couple performs. Julia Ulehla has spurned the venue’s microphone[...] Read more

Featured Article Alexander Varty Issue 128

Tim Hecker It’s a sensation particular to staying up all night—that in-between place on the cusp of complete exhaustion and utter lucidity, where fatigue and receptivity somehow reach a simultaneous peak. No longer fighting to stay awake, you’re charged with a directionless urgency,[...] Read more

Featured Article Nick Storring Issue 114

June Young (Will) Kim's "Black, Emerald" June Young (Will) Kim won second place in Musicworks’ 2020 Electronic Music Composition Contest for Black, Emerald, the third piece in his series of works for amplified canvas. A commission by München Landeshauptstadt Musikstipendium, Kim completed the piece in September 2020 and[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

Bus Ride Home—October Slow, manic whine of police sirens, urgent goose-call of fire engines, anxious “wait for me” of trailing first responders. All muffled under soft falling snow and crystallizing puddles and the breathing of almost three dozen passengers pressed close[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Susan Burchill

Juan Camilo Vásquez’ Calíope (canto de las abejas) YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MATHEMATICAL HYPERSURFACES or guitar architecture to enjoy the dense sparkle, relentless energy, and intelligent swarm behaviour of Juan Camilo Vásquez’ Calíope (canto de las abejas) for guitar and electronics—but it[...] Read more

Sound Bite Jennie Punter Issue 124