VCMI Faculty 2009
Artistic Director
François Houle
"a spectacularly versatile clarinetist who appears to have no limitations stylistically or sonically"
-Mark Swed, LA Times
Clarinetist François Houle has established himself as one of today’s most inventive musicians, in all of the diverse musical spheres he embraces: classical, jazz, new music, improvised music, and world music. Whether he’s performing works by Mozart or Messiaen, appearing as a featured soloist with orchestra, or improvising and embracing live, interactive electronics, François demystifies music for audiences everywhere.
His extensive touring has led to solo appearances at major festivals across Canada, the United States and Europe, and he has released more than a dozen recordings, earning multiple Juno Award and West Coast Music Award nominations. In 2006, François was the featured soloist in Lutos?awski’s Dance Preludes with the CBC Radio Orchestra, a performance hailed by the Los Angeles Times. In 2007, he composed and premiered a concerto for clarinet which he went on to record with the Turning Point Ensemble for a 2009 world wide release on the ATMA Classique label.
Inspired by collaborations with the world’s top musical innovators, François has developed a unique improvisational language, virtuosic and rich with sonic embellishment and technical extensions. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has actively expanded the clarinet’s repertoire by commissioning some of today’s leading Canadian and international composers and premiering over one hundred new works. He has twice been listed by Downbeat magazine as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” and was hailed as a “Rising Star” in Downbeat’s 2008 Critics’ Poll.
François studied at McGill University, went on to win the National Debut competition, and completed his studies at Yale University. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, and was a featured soloist in the International Clarinet Association’s 2007 and 2008 ClarinetFests. He is a faculty member at the Vancouver Community College School of Music, and in 2006 he became Artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute. In 2008 he was appointed as “Associate Composer” of the Canadian Music Centre.
Artist in Residence
Joëlle Léandre
French double bass player, improviser and composer, Joëlle Léandre is one of the dominant figures of the new European music. Trained in orchestral as well as contemporary music, she has played with l'Itinéraire, 2e2m and Pierre Boulez's Ensemble Intercontemporain. Joëlle Léandre has also worked with Merce Cunningham and with John Cage, who has composed especially for her - as have Scelsi, Fénelon, Hersant, Lacy, Campana, Jolas, Clementi and about 40 composers. As well as working in contemporary music, Léandre has played with some of the great names in jazz and improvisation, such as Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Irene Schweizer, William Parker, Barre Phillips, Steve Lacy, Lauren Newton, Peter Kowald, Urs Leimgruber, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Mark Naussef, Marilyn Crispell, India Cooke and so many else... She has written extensively for dance and theater, and has staged a number of multidisciplinary performances. She got the DAAD at Berlin, is welcomed as artist resident at Villa Kujiyama (Kyoto). In 2002, 2004 and 2006, she is Visiting Professor at Mills college, Oakland, CA, Chaire Darius Milhaud, for improvisation and composition. Her work as a composer and a performer, both in solo recitals and a part of ensembles, has put her under the lights of the most prestigious stages of Europe, the Americas and Asia. From 1981 to 2007, Joëlle Léandre has 130 recordings to her credit.
Faculty
Nicole Mitchell
"A compelling improviser of wit, determination, positivity, and tremendous talent..." (Chicago Reader), Nicole Mitchell is one of few African American women to take the path as a creative flutist, composer and bandleader. Mitchell is the founder of critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings, and her work has been a highlight at art venues and festivals throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada. Nicole Mitchell continues the exciting directions in music that the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) has charted for decades. Mitchell was awarded "Jazz Flutist of the Year" (2008) by the Jazz Journalists Association and Downbeat magazine's #1 Rising Star Flutist from 2005-2008. Her compositions reach across sound worlds, integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, African percussion and classical contemporary music. Mitchell's artistic intent is to provoke audiences with visionary work that forms a synthesis between the real and the imagined, the familiar and the unknown. She has performed with George Lewis, Bill Dixon, Roscoe Mitchell and Muhal Richard Abrams, and works in ongoing projects with Anthony Braxton, Rob Mazurek, David Boykin and Hamid Drake. Nicole Mitchell was named Chicago Tribune's "Chicagoan of the Year 2006" and has been the recipient of Chamber Music America's New Works Creation and Presentation grant and Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Music Composition. With Black Earth Ensemble, Mitchell has five recordings as leader and several recordings as co-leader.
Mats Gustafsson
Swedish saxophone whiz Mats Gustafsson is a mainstay on the Scandinavian free jazz scene. Brandishing an intense, robust sound, he has worked with bands including Gush, The Thing, Barry Guy New Orchestra, Zu, The Ex, Sonic Youth, and improvising musicians such as Misha Mengelberg, Marilyn Crispell, Otomo Yoshihide, Peter Brötzmann, Magnus Broo, Evan Parker, and many others. Since the early 1990s, Mats Gustafsson has been a regular visitor to the U.S., forming a particular affinity with Chicago musicians such as Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang and Ken Vandermark and recording for the city's OkkaDisk label. In addition to projects with musicians, Mats Gustafsson has worked extensively with artists from the worlds of dance, theatre, poetry and painting.
Wayne Horvitz
Wayne Horvitz is a composer, pianist, and electronic musician. He has performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He has performed and collaborated with Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Robin Holcomb, Fred Frith, Julian Priester, Philip Wilson, Michael Shrieve, Bobby Previte, Marty Ehrlich, Skerik, William Parker, Ron Miles, Sara Schoenbeck, Peggy Lee, Steven Bernstein, Briggan Krauss, and Dylan van der Schyff among others. He has been commissioned by the NEA, Meet The Composer, Kronos String Quartet, Seattle Chamber Players, Mary Flagler, PGAFF, BAM and others. Collaborators include Paul Taylor, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Gus Van Sandts' and Gordon Edelstein. He has produced CDs for Eddie Palmieri, Fontella Bass, Robin Holcomb and Bill Frisell among others. He is the 2001 recipient of the Seattle Artist Trust Fellowship, 2003 and 2006 recipient of the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture fellowship, 2002 recipient of the Rockefeller Map Grant for “JOE HILL, 16 Actions for Chamber Orchestra, Voices and Improviser”, and the 2008 NEA American Masterpieces grant for “These Hills of Glory” for string quartet and improviser. Ensembles include The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, the HMP Trio, the NY Composers Orchestra, the 4 Plus 1 Ensemble, Sweeter Than the Day and the Gravitas Quartet.
Taylor Ho Bynum
Taylor Ho Bynum is a performer on cornet and various brass instruments, composer, bandleader, and interdisciplinary collaborator with artists in dance, film, and theater. Bynum is committed to the further exploration of the extensions of composition and improvisation pioneered by 20th century masters like Ellington, Ives, and the AACM, but with a third millennial flavor and a trickster sensibility. He presently leads his Trio, his Sextet, the chamber ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings, and the little big band Positive Catastrophe, and has developed a body of solo music for cornet and duo work with dancer/choreographer Rachel Bernsen. In addition to leading his own groups, Bynum regularly performs with some of the most innovative figures in creative music, such as Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Bill Dixon, and has ongoing collaborations with such artists as Bill Lowe, Jason Kao Hwang, and Joe Morris. His work with Anthony Braxton spans over ten years and ranges from duo to orchestra, with recent tours throughout Europe and North America and over a dozen recordings; their collaborative CD Duets (Wesleyan) 2002 received wide critical acclaim. Other recent recordings as a leader include Other Stories (Three Suites) with SpiderMonkey Strings, True Events with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and two albums with his Sextet and Trio: The Middle Picture and Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths.
Giorgio Magnanensi
Born and raised in Italy, Giorgio Magnanensi currently lives in Roberts Creek. His diverse artistic practice includes composition, conducting, improvisation, circuit bending and video art. From the early 80's to date he has been working as a composer, conductor, teacher, and performer in Europe, Japan and Canada. He is artistic director of Vancouver New Music and lecturer at the School of Music of The University of British Columbia and Vancouver Community College.
