2017 Vancouver

Nov 2, 2017 – Nov 8, 2017
Vancouver, Canada

Festival info

Start: Nov 2, 2017

End: Nov 8, 2017

Locations: Vancouver, Canada

Hosting member(s)

WNMD Report

Description
Description

From contemporaneous reports

“With up to five official concerts a day, plus secret showcases not entered in the program, there was precious little time for sit-down dining; even grabbing a coffee occasionally required split-second timing. Beyond that, a musician or two had to be replaced on short notice, due to illness, and one piece was removed without explanation from a concert.

“Otherwise, the festival ran with exemplary precision. Every event afforded at least a few minutes of inspired music, and the performances were mostly focused and crisp—whether they were held in the cushiest of sit-down venues or in unconventional spaces such as the Vancouver Public Library’s downtown atrium.

“While no trends emerged from the thirty-plus concerts presented during World New Music Days, one point came across loud and clear: through-composed music is in no danger of dying.”

— Alexander Varty, “ISCM World Music New Days 2017,” Music Works, December 2017.

“All too often, the only sights seen during business trips like this are the interior of the airport, the hotel, and the concert hall. Not so this time! Since the festival was spread out over downtown Vancouver and (almost) all venues were walking distance from the hotel, the festival program automatically included an impression of the city and the majestic landscape that surrounds it. Crisscrossed throughout the city, and particularly in the old warehouse district of Yaletown, we discovered a wide variety of venues, each revealing another facet of the city’s cultural texture. For me, most remarkable was The Roundhouse, a community center in the widest sense of the word: home to activities ranging from baby yoga to, well, contemporary music concerts. If you take the wrong entrance (which the group of ISCM Delegates collectively did on the first day of the festival), a one-item-museum reveals the building’s history as a railway terminus and station house to service steam locomotives. On display is a beautifully restored CPR Engine 374, the iconic locomotive that pulled the first transcontinental passenger train into the city in 1887. 

…

“It was clear already at the opening concert that diversity was a key issue for the festival organizers. The National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Shelley, presented 3 pieces by women composers: Zosha Di Castri, Jocelyn Morlock, and Nicole Lizée. It was an active choice and a prefiguration of the whole festival program. No less than 46% of the programmed compositions, artistic director David Pay could proudly state, were written by women.”

–Rebecca Diependaele, “A Long Way from Home — World New Music Days 2017 in Vancouver,”
ISCM’s World New Music Magazine, Volume 27, 2017, pp. 40, 41.

“While new music can sometimes feel bleak and dystopian, after a week of deep listening I feel the opposite is true. It’s an exciting way of expressing the reality of our time. … But had I become a true believer? Had my mental headline shifted from new music saves world to direct correlation between new music and narcissism? Is new music really about the zeitgeist? Or about clubby schools of coolness run by vengeful ex-nerds? Is it about uniting mankind or preserving precious Eurocentrism? Is new music some secret society that allows access to a special portal of existence via some Chaldean magic? Or can it help you access that in the midst of your everyday life? Is it in fact about everyday life—or as the evangelicals say—life itself?”

–Hadani Ditmars, “A World of New Music Encourages the International Art of Deep Listening
— the 2017 ISCM World New Music Days in Vancouver,”
ISCM’s World New Music Magazine, Volume 27, 2017, pp. 53, 59.

Programme information
Locations