Vancouver Pro Musica Presents
Sonic Boom 2022 Reading Session
Sunday, February 13, 10 – 1pm
Virtual Session via Zoom
Composer-in-Residence: Edward Top
Program Order
Kehao Cai – Marching in the City Center at Night
Réjean Marois – Prelude & Dances
Henry From – Improvisation
Judah Williams – Fragments for solo horn in F
Craig Day – Eagle
Contact [email protected]a for zoom link by Saturday, February 12.
Sonic Boom Festival: Featured Artist Concert #3
Sunday, March 13 2pm / Annex Theatre / Tickets available via Brown Paper Tickets
About Composer-in-Residence:
Edward Top
“Horror composer Edward Top acted as a kind of snake, hypnotizing listeners as frightened little bunnies” is what Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant wrote 25 years ago. As part of Vancouver’s kaleidoscopic music scene since 2010, Top’s music has been identified by The Vancouver Sun as “earthy neo-primitivism” and “a dreamlike expression of (…) the collective unconscious” by the Georgia Straight.
Edward served as Composer-in-Residence with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra from 2011-2014, working with conductors Bramwell Tovey and Otto Tausk. Holland Symfonia, Schoenberg Ensemble, Tokyo Sinfonietta, among others, performed his pieces, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra premiered the commissioned work Eruption on tour in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto in 2017. Edward spent five years in Bangkok, where he composed Symphony Golden Dragon and Silk Execution, with influences of Chinese opera. Asian culture remains a large influence in his life.
About the Artist:
Dr. Valerie Whitney was appointed to the faculty at the UBC School of Music in 2018, where she is now Assistant Professor, Horn and Brass Area Coordinator. Dr. Whitney has been performing in and around the Chicagoland area for over a decade. She regularly appears with some of the nation’s most esteemed performing organizations, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Lyric Opera, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, she was invited to serve as guest principal horn with the Florida Orchestra for two weeks. From 2013–2016, she served as hornist of Fifth House Ensemble, during which time she performed and led masterclasses at nationwide universities as well as educational programs in various Chicago public schools and community centers. In 2017, Dr. Whitney was the first candidate to earn a DMA in Horn Performance from Northwestern University. She is a graduate of Wheaton College and Northwestern University.