Music and Culture Speaker Series 2021

SPEAKER

Tue, Jan 27th, 2022

Ty Harper is a radio producer and documentarian who has been covering Toronto's hip-hop and R&B scenes for well over a decade: first as co-host/creator of 'O.T.A. Live!' on FLOW 93.5 FM, and later as co-founder of cityonmyback.com. He is currently a producer on 'Q with Tom Power' on CBC Radio One, and recently hosted and produced the CBC's 'This Is Not a Drake Podcast'.

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Wed, Feb 24th, 2022

Kotoka Suzuki / 鈴木琴香 is a composer focusing on both multimedia and instrumental practices. She has produced several large-scale multimedia works, including spatial interactive audio-visual work for both concert and installation settings, often in collaboration with artists and scholars from other disciplines.  Her work engages deeply in the visual, conceiving of sound as a physical form to be manipulated through the sculptural practice of composition.  Her work often reflects on life, breath and wind.

Suzuki’s work has been featured internationally by performers such as Arditti String Quartet, eighth blackbird, Pacifica String Quartet, Continuum, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Modelo 62, Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Germany), UMS'n JIP, and Earplay Ensemble, at numerous venues and festivals such as Deutschlandradio-Ultraschall Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Stanford Live, ISCM World Music Days (Tallinn, Vancouver & Hong Kong), ZKM Media Museum, Inventionen, The Stone (NY), Ars Musica (Belgium), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Spain), 21C Music Festival (Canada), San Francisco Tape Music Festival, ICMC (Shanghai, Utrecht, Ljubliana, New York, Montreal, Belfast, Barcelona & Havana), Seoul International Computer Music Festival (Korea), New Music Miami, The Renaissance Society, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, SinusTon Festival (Germany), sound:frame Festival (Austria), VideoEx (Switzerland), Klangwerktage (Germany), and Music at the Anthology MATA (NY).  Among the awards she has received include DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (Germany), Bourges First Prize in Multimedia (France), First Prize in Musica Nova International Electroacoustic Music Competition (Czech Republic), Russolo-Tratella Electroacoustic Music Competition (Finalist), Norton Stevens and North Shore fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Howard Foundation Fellowship, New Music USA, Gerald Oshita Fellowship from Djerassi, and Robert Fleming Prize from Canada Council for the Arts.  She has held residencies at MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Djerassi, Ucross and Center for Arts and Media (ZKM).

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Wed, Mar 10th, 2022

Heather Bambrick is a JUNO-nominated vocalist who has collaborated with Phil Nimmons, Fred Hirsch, Gene DiNovi, Guido Basso, Lea Delaria, Rob McConnell, Peter Appleyard, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and others. Heather has released three solo recordings, including You’ll Never Know, which was nominated for Vocal Jazz Recording of the Year at the 2017 JUNO Awards and Jazz Recording of the Year at the 2018 East Coast Music Awards. Her new recording is set for release in early 2019. Heather has been a featured guest on numerous projects, and has been awarded Canada’s National Jazz Award for Vocalist of the Year. Beyond singing, Heather is one of Canada’s top voice actors, voicing characters for commercial campaigns and several animated series including Emmy-nominated Wild Kratts, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and Justin Time. She is also an award-winning broadcaster on JAZZ.FM91 (Canada’s only all-Jazz radio station), and a highly regarded adjudicator and clinician, working at schools and festivals across Canada.

Link to recording