A few weeks ago QSCM Artstic Director and Madoc Quartet Violinist Sebastian Sallans programmed Patricia Morehead's "Night Sky" for string quartet into the All Terrain Tour Program. He then had to call the composer for performance permssion. By the way, he added, would you like come and introduce the piece yourself?
Yes and YES! This Labour Day Weekend QSCM All Terrain Tour 2024 introduces Celebrated Canadian Composer Patricia Morehead to the Madoc, Centre Hastings and Stirling Rawdon community! Patricia will be attending the Friday performance of her work at Fina Vista Farm 4 pm as well as the Sunday afternoon program at Arts Centre Hastings in the Madoc Skate Park. (Details of the ATT Tour in its entirety can be found here: https://www.qscmusic.com/whats-on
ATT 2024 is focussing on a question asked by a long time friend of QSCM at an ATT event last time out. "How does a composer write music?" She asked.
It's a huge question and launched an amazing and intriguing conversation that is still ongoing. And now, we get to hear what a real composer has to say to it.
Of the piece to be perfomed, "Night Sky" Patricia Morehead has this to say:
My inspiration for NIght Sky is my love of astronomy and the paintings of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. “Cassiopeia” is shaped like a big W in the sky, and I used this shape visually on the music staff to create the five pitches that start the string quartet and portray this very beautiful, but also very haughty and selfish lady that rules the night sky. A nine-note set of pitches is used for the “Milky Way” interludes. “Phases of the Moon” uses a slowly developing mood from the first crescent, which becomes the sublime light of the full moon. “The Big Dipper” portrays Ursa Major (mother bear) and Ursa Minor (little bear), who are dancing around Polaris (the North Star), which is represented by a recurring note A. The piece ends with the ever-changing colours of the “Aurora Borealis.” The piece was commissioned by the North Bay Symphony for its 2017-18 inaugural professional chamber music series.
So now we know why she wrote it: commissions are an essential part of how a professional composer keeps body and soul together while going about the business of creating the music of our own times. We also know the extra musical source of her inspiration - artwork by the Group of Seven, the work of Tom Thomson, and the night sky itself.
But what happens next? What actually goes on in the composer's mind as she sets pen to paper, or these days, starts entering pitch symbols on the computer keyboard?
That's the question I am going to ask Patricia, Friday afternoon at The All Terrain Tour FINA VISTA "Happy Hour" event, 4 p.m. Friday August 30. Just thinking about what she might say excites a whole raft of other related questions. You may have your own too, and you are invited to ask them!
Patricia Morehead is an established, highly respected musician and composer. Her professional bio reads as a Who's Who and What's What of Contemporary Music practice:
and includes serving as "professor of composition, theory, oboe, and music history at Dominican University, Chicago Music College, Roosevelt University, St. Xavier University, and music history and composition at Columbia College. She created the Composers Forum at the Merit School of Music, Chicago and is the founder of CUBE Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. Her music is published by Jeanné and recorded by PARMA Recordings."
All of that comes from her record label, here https://www.navonarecords.com/artists/patricia-morehead/ and much more is available on-line including recordings of her works.
But best of all she is coming to Fina Vista on Friday, Madoc on Sunday! I invite you to join us for all the All Terrain Tour events. Discover music like you've never heard it before, and if you are already a fan of classical chamber music you already know that every live performance is new, different, and deeply moving. Get ready, MQ, and Patricia Morehead are coming to town! Join us.
Friday at Fina Vista, 4 pm. Program : Montgomery and Morehead, and Mocktails!
Please bring a chair!
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