The Royal Conservatory presents

21C Music Festival

May 21-25, 2014

Telus Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West

Todays most innovative and fearless musicians and composers bring us fresh new sounds and ideas at the newly minted festival. 8 concerts. 5 nights. More than 20 premieres, including world premieres by Chilly Gonzales, Uri Caine, Javier Limn, and many others.

Festival passes, tickets, and information:

www.performance.rcmusic.ca/21c

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CONCERTS

Wednesday, May 21, 2014 8pm

21C: New Music Concerts Presents New Beijing

Pipa virtuoso Wei-wei Lan performs newly commissioned works by Jia Guoping, Shi Fuhong, and Chen Xiaoyoug in combination with the New Music Concerts ensemble. The concert will also include Chinese-Canadian composer Alexina Louies Imaginary Opera.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/1h2W06L

Thursday, May 22, 2014 8pm

21C: Faster Still Anas Nin

Hear a world premiere by Canadian composer Christos Hatzis written for and played by the Afiara String Quartet, The Conservatorys quartet-in-residence, alongside Faster Still, a new work commissioned by The Royal Conservatory from Canadian composer Brian Currant, and the Canadian premiere of Dutch composer Louis Andriessens Anas Nin, a semi-staged work for chamber ensemble, video, and soprano, based on the diary entries of Anas Nin; and R. Murray Schafers Quintet for Piano and Strings, performed by the ARC Ensemble.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/1h2Wppv

Friday, May 23, 2014 8pm

21C: Chilly Eve of Lemon Cane

This night features four world premieres by Canadian, Spanish, and American composers that stretch the boundaries of classical music. Jazz pianist Uri Caine will offer a piano quintet to be played by the Afiara String Quartet and himself. Pianist, producer, and provocateur Chilly Gonzales debuts a new work for chamber ensemble and piano. Flamenco guitarist and producer Javier Limn debuts his first String Quartet. Toronto-based pianist/composer Eve Egoyan teams up with visual artist David Rokeby for the world premiere of their piece, Surface Tension, for piano and live video.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/14nrzZh

Friday, May 23, 2014 10pm

21C: Festival After Hours #1

Artists from the 21C Festival Ensemble will play new works in the casual cabaret of our black box theatre. Featuring World Premieres by Trichy Sankaran and Gurpreet Chana.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/Qnuf3O

Saturday, May 24, 2014 8pm

21C: Night Blooms

Marc-Andr Hamelin, one of Canadas most prodigious piano talents, is featured in works that look back to 20th century stalwarts and forward with the world premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Jennifer Higdon. Hamelin plays The Perilous Night, a solo work for prepared piano by John Cage, and is joined by the Pacifica Quartet for Leo Orensteins Piano Quintet, a still thoroughly modern piece, written in 1927. The Pacifica Quartet forces are joined by Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins for Higdons Dooryard Bloom, based on Walt Whitmans poem When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom, which he wrote in response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/QnumfO

Saturday, May 24, 2014 10pm

21C: Festival After Hours #2

The Pacifica Quartet does double duty and performs the Canadian premiere of Shulamit Rans GLITTER, DOOM, SHARDS, MEMORY for string quartet, a work written in response to the life and works of Felix Nussbaum, a Jewish painter who perished in the Holocaust. Artists from the 21C Festival Ensemble will also play new works in the casual cabaret of our black box theatre. The bar will be open.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/QnuH1Z

Sunday, May 25, 2014 3pm

21C: Hush!

Marc-Andr Hamelin appears for the second time during the 21C Music Festival for a rare performance of For Bunita Marcus, a 70-minute work for solo piano marked entirely triple piano by the late American composer Morton Feldman.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/Qnv6kR

Sunday, May 25, 2014 8pm

21C: ESPRIT ORCHESTRA: MYSTERIES

Hear Esprit Orchestra perform music by important emerging Canadian composers living and working abroad including Zosha Di Castri, Christopher Mayo, and Samy Moussa.

Tickets: http://rc.mu/Qnvi3J

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The 21C Music Festival is made possible through the generous support of Michael and Sonja Koerner.