May 13, 2003 -

Ottawa, Canada -- Four Canadian composers have been selected to participate in the inaugural session of the National Arts Centre's Young Composers Programme from Wednesday, June 25 to Tuesday, July 8. An integral part of the NAC New Music Plan, the Young Composers Programme aims to nurture new Canadian composers and, ultimately, to drive the creation of new Canadian musical works. The four participants for 2003 are Scott Wilson (34, Vancouver, BC), Éric de Villers (25, Quebec, QC), Jackie Shin (32, Toronto, ON) and Bill Rowson (26, Saskatoon, SK).

Composer Gary Kulesha, one of the three NAC Award Composers named under the NAC New Music Plan, will lead the Young Composers Programme for the first summer. Over the course of the programme, each participant will compose a work for a nine-member ensemble which will be premiered by members of l'Orchestre de la Francophonie canadienne in two workshops open to the public on Sunday, June 29 at 19:00 and Saturday, July 5 at 14:00, both in Freiman Hall at the University of Ottawa. Other events open to the public are lectures on new music by NAC Award Composer Alexina Louie (June 27 at 19:00 in Rehearsal Hall B at the NAC), Gary Kulesha (June 30 at 19:00 in Freiman Hall, U of O) and American composer John Harbison (July 6 at 18:15 at Tabaret Hall, U of O prior to that evening's "Celebration of Future Classics" concert).

The full Young Composers Programme may be audited for a fee of $350. For more information, contact Christy Harris at (613) 947-7000, ext. 568, or charris@nac-cna.ca.

Lead Composer Gary Kulesha - pianist, organist, conductor, choir director, teacher, CBC producer, broadcaster, musical journalist and composer - undertook most of his musical training in Canada, with additional study of composition in England with John McCabe and in New York with John Corigliano. His works have been performed across North America as well as in Europe and Australia.

Kulesha served as Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra from 1988-91, as Composer-in-Residence with the Canadian Opera Company from 1993-1995. He is currently Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the University of Toronto. In March 2002, Mr. Kulesha was named one of three recipients of the National Arts Centre Composers Awards ($75,000 each). He joined the NAC Orchestra on its Atlantic Tour in November 2002 during which his piece Syllables of Unknown Meaning was performed at every concert. Violin Concerto, his first commission under the NAC New Music Programme, will have its world premiere at the "Celebration of Future Classics" concert on Sunday, July 6 at Tabaret Hall. Over the next four years, he will write two more works for the NACO and work closely with the Orchestra on additional educational and outreach programs.

Scott Wilson, a 33 year-old from Vancouver, is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Toronto with Christos Hatzis and Gary Kulesha. His work Come to me from Krete... won first prize in the Godfrey Ridout Category of the 1999 SOCAN Competition. In 2000/2001 he was a guest artist at the Institute for Music and Acoustics at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and toured several countries in Europe giving performances of his electroacoustic work Müllmusik.

Éric de Villers, a 25-year-old from Quebec, is currently pursuing graduate work in composition with José Evangelista at the University of Montreal. His work The Sarantine Mosaic was staged in Milan in June 2000 during the festival Musica nei Cortili di Milano. In July 2001, the work later toured Europe with the chamber ensemble Les Quatre Tempéraments. In March 2003, he was invited to participate in the 9th International Young Composers Meeting where his work Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing will be performed. Eric is currently composer-in-residence with le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne.

Jackie Shin, a 31-year-old from Korea, graduated from Han-Yang University in 1995 and moved to Canada the next year to pursue graduate studies in composition with Gary Kulesha and Ka Nin Chan at the University of Toronto. Jackie Shin's Struggling Summer - for chamber ensemble won the First Prize in the young composers' competition and was premiered in Chun-ju, Korea, in September 1994. As a winner of the competition, she was given the opportunity to go to Vienna in Austria to study with composer and theorist Michalsky. Her Orchestral Piece While walking on the cloud won the first Prize at the Chung-Ang Competition in Jun-ju, Korea, and the piece will be premiered in 2004. She is currently in her first year of the doctoral program at the University of Toronto.

Bill Rowson, a 26-year-old, from Saskatoon, received a bachelors degree in music from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where his principal teachers were Ned Rorem and Richard Danielpour. Bill's music has been performed in both Canada and the USA, as well as Europe where his String Sextet was premiered at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

In March of 2002, Earl Stafford and The Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra gave the Canadian premiere of Mr. Rowson's Music for Violin and Orchestra, with NAC Orchestra principal second violinist Donnie Deacon as soloist. Mr. Rowson has spent two residencies at The Banff Centre and recently received a Canada Council Grant to write a one-act opera.

The NAC Young Composers Programme is supported by the National Youth and Education Trust with special thanks to TELUS, Founding Partner of the Trust, Corus Entertainment, J. Armand Bombardier Foundation and Universal Music. The SOCAN Foundation is also a supporter of the Young Composers Programme

For more information:
Jane Morris, Marketing Officer,
National Arts Centre Orchestra
(613) 947-7000, 335
jmorris@nac-cna.ca