The McGill Association of Student Composers (MASC) is pleased to present a talk by New York-based composer Sky Macklay, currently visiting Montreal as a participant of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne's 13th International Forum for Young Composers.
Room A-510, 5th floor, Marvin Duchow Music Library, 527 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3
Sky Macklay: The Drama Unfurling Process
"I will speak about several of my recent works though the lens of audible process and discuss how the predictable trajectory of a process in motion can both create and thwart dramatic apotheoses. My research concerns are shaped by my overarching musical values: clarity of idea and form, music as a catalyst for building community and interpersonal relationships, and what I call a 'modernist mindset,' which is the idea that art music should be constantly exploring new territory, striving for new sounds, and exploring new ways of relating to the past and present. In addition to these values, the sonic attributes and themes I explore in my music include audible processes, a foregrounding of the physical properties of sound as a compositional element, humor, and extreme contrasts of texture, register, volume, mood, and speed leading to extreme perceptual experiences."
Bio:
The music of composer, oboist, and installation artist Sky Macklay (b. 1988) explores bold contrasts, audible processes, humor, and the physicality of sound. Her works have been performed by ensembles such as ICE, Yarn/Wire, Wet Ink Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Dal Niente, and The Da Capo Chamber Players. Her piece for the Lexington Symphony was the winner of the 2013 Leo Kaplan award, the top prize in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. In 2015 her sonic and kinetic installation of inflatable harmonica-playing robots, Harmonibots, received the Ruth Anderson Prize from The International Alliance for Women in Music. She has been commissioned by The New York Virtuoso Singers, Chamber Music America, and the Jerome Fund for New Music. Her string quartet Many Many Cadences, recorded on Spektral Quartet’s newest album, also received an ASCAP award. Originally from Minnesota, Sky is currently pursuing her DMA in composition at Columbia University in NYC.
