SOUND ATLAS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
The inaugural Sound Atlas Festival (SAF) is a unique contemporary music festival making its debut in Calgary, Alberta on June 23-25, 2023 celebrating the creation and performance of new music by living composers. Hosted by the powerhouse mixed chamber ensemble Latitude 49, SAF is an experimental adventure in sound, living always in the new and the now. Set in our partner-venues of the University of Calgary and Contemporary Calgary, SAF will take listeners on a journey that includes sonic deep dives with Latitude 49 and expert-new-music folks from across North America, world premieres, sound installations, interdisciplinary art, genre-bending curiosities, community outreach and engagement, youth education and more. Avant-folk vocalist and composer Annika Socolofsky serves as featured festival composer in the Canadian debut of her breathtaking song-cycle and debut album, Don’t say a word.
SOUND ATLAS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL FULL ACCESS PASS AVAILABLE
Friday June 23 - Sunday June 25, 2023
BEGINNINGS
Friday June 23, 2023 7PM
University of Calgary Rozsa Centre
Latitude 49 presents “Beginnings”
Land’s End Ensemble presents “World Premieres”
Henchell/Tominaga Duo presents “Villainy”
DAY 1: BEGINNINGS marks the launch of the inaugural Sound Atlas New Music Festival, featuring three distinct and remarkable acts. New music powerhouse band Latitude 49 kicks it off with a vibrant set of fresh pieces by composers Viet Cuong, Shulamit Ran, and Gabriella Smith. Calgary’s own Juno-nominated Land’s End Ensemble presents three world premieres composed by Colleen Athparia, Denis Nassar, and Babur Tongur. Day 1 of the festival concludes with the dynamic two-piano and film extravaganza that is VILLAINY, featuring the Henchell/Tominaga Duo performing Supervillain Études by Vincent Ho set to film by Emil Agopian. Prepare to be astonished, and we are just getting started!
EVOLUTIONS
Saturday June 24, 2023 7PM
Contemporary Calgary
Latitude 49 presents “NewNow”
Liam Elliot presents “Oceans and Winter Music”
Ginger Beef in concert
DAY 2: EVOLUTIONS traverses the ever-changing horizon of contemporary music where genres blur and mingle in electro-acoustic bliss, featuring three distinct and adventurous acts that move through Contemporary Calgary’s spaces. Latitude 49 presents a daring set where sounds intersect with science mapping and social fascinations, presenting new works by Pascal le Boeuf, Andrew McManus, and Calgary’s own Chris Sies. Composer/performer Liam Elliot crafts sound sculptures that directly transform natural processes into music, as explored through an intimate rendering of his own works, Oceans and Winter Music. Day 2 concludes with a retro-pop dance party mixing influences of jazz, funk, and traditional Chinese folk music with the ever-audacious band, Ginger Beef.
REVOLUTION SONGS
Sunday June 25, 2023 3PM
Contemporary Calgary
Land’s End Ensemble and Guests present “Mr. Tambourine Man”
Latitude 49 and Annika Socolofsky present “Don’t say a word”
DAY 3: REVOLUTION SONGS is a duality of song-cycles, each that alters old forms to a progressive present. Juno-nominated Land’s End Ensemble joins forces with conductor Karl Hirzer and megastar soprano Laura Hynes to present John Corigliano’s metamorphic Mr. Tambourine Man on seven poems by Bob Dylan. The Sound Atlas Festival’s inaugural journey concludes with the Canadian premiere of Don’t say a word, a set of feminist rager-lullabies for a new era, composed and performed by Avant-folk vocalist and featured composer Annika Socolofsky and featured ensemble, Latitude 49. An album release party and end-of-festival celebration will immediately follow in the Atrium.
To BUY TICKETS and SEE ARTISTS visit www.soundatlastfest.com
About the featured ensemble Latitude 49:
Blending the finesse of a classical ensemble with the drive and precision of a finely tuned rock band, Latitude 49 has been energizing audiences with the most exciting music of our time since 2012. With members coming together from across the United States and Canada, Latitude 49 epitomizes a diverse, unconventional family of sounds, instruments, and human experiences. The group has held Ensemble-In-Residence positions at the University of Michigan, the Kenosha Creative Space, and the University of Illinois Chicago, and presents numerous concerts each season in major venues including the Ravinia Festival (Chicago), (le) Poisson Rouge (NYC), the Princeton Sound Kitchen, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Music Box. Dozens of works have been written for the ensemble by a multitude of composers ranging from aspiring students to Pulitzer prize-winning masters. With commissioning and supporting living composers at the heart of its mission, L49 strives to engage diverse audiences with new sounds and specially curated programs that reflect the world in which we find ourselves, with all its beauty and curiosities. With its name taken from the parallel that serves as the Canadian/United States border, Latitude 49 serves as a bridge between the artists, composers, and listeners of today.
About the featured composer:
Annika Socolofsky is a composer and avant-folk vocalist who explores corners and colours of the voice frequently deemed to be "untrained" and not "classical." Described as “unbearably moving” (Gramophone) and “just the right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance” (The Guardian), her music erupts from the embodied power of the human voice and is communicated through mediums ranging from orchestral to unapologetically joyous Dolly Parton covers. Annika writes extensively for her own voice, including composing a growing repertoire of “feminist rager-lullabies” for a new, queer era titled Don’t say a word. Annika has collaborated with artists such as the Rochester Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Latitude 49, Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, So Percussion, Asko|Schönberg, and sean-nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird, among others. She is Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Colorado Boulder, and is the recipient of the 2021 Gaudeamus Award. She holds her PhD in Composition from Princeton University.
