Despite the numerous political, socio-economical and technological changes that have taken place since the 19th century, classical liberal ideology still provides a foundation for our conception of modern life and our place within it.

I wanted to interrogate and complicate three interrelated aspects of this ideology — the relationship between the individual and the collective, the relation of work to monetary gain, and the search for individual self-fulfillment — through both a sonic and metaphoric lens. Each of the three aforementioned topics is explored sequentially throughout three intertwined movements.

While interrogating liberal ideology, the piece does not propose a simple diametrically opposite philosophy; rather, it aims to reveal the complex ambiguities of modern life and the inadequacies of singular ideological dogmas. In this sense, the piece suggests a multiplicity of interweaving narratives, which are revealed and re-structured through the listener’s imaginative engagement.

Création

• 5 avril 2012, Les messagers, Usine C, Montréal (Québec)

Distinctions

• 1^er prix, Prix Hugh-Le Caine, Concours des jeunes compositeurs de la Fondation SOCAN 2012, Canada
• 2^e prix, Jeu de temps / Times Play (JTTP) 2012, Canada
• 2^e prix, 3rd Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest 2013-14, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

“What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value” — Yi-Fu Tuan, Space and Place, 6.

The Broughton Archipelago is located between northern Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. Extensively logged and developed for fish aquaculture, only a handful of full-time residents remain. But what makes the Broughton a distinct place? And how is it possible to communicate this sense of place to others?

In May 2013, acoustic ecologist Jennifer Schine brought me to the region for a short visit to meet life-long resident, pioneer, and community elder, Billy Proctor. As the three of us talked, recorded, and experienced the rhythms of the area, I became convinced that place only exists as a relationship between individuals and their surroundings.

In this sense, this composition explores sense-of-place from three perspectives; a first-time visitor, a returning resident alternating between locations, and a life-long local. Rather than portray the Broughton objectively, the work explicitly adopts parallel subjective perspectives, musically refracting the relationship between person and place, recording and memory.

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when you’re looking for something, all you can find is yourself was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Soundscapes category of the Sonic Arts Award (Rome, Italy, 2014).

Création

• 11 février 2014, Music from the New Wilderness, The Cultch — Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Vancouver (Colombie-Britannique, Canada)

Distinctions

• Mention d’honneur, Soundscapes, Sonic Arts Award 2014, Rome (Italie)

“a glass is a glass is a glass” — adapted from Gertrude Stein

“Ceci n’est pas un verre” — adapted from René Magritte

The sound of a common wine glass encapsulates both its banal everyday use as well as the inherent musicality of everyday objects. This ordinary sound, excited by various means, is treated with a metaphoric sonic magnifying lens, highlighting its various characteristics: attack and resonance, harmonicity and inharmonicity, rhythm and texture.

The untreated sound functions as both departure and arrival points, allowing elastic musical elaborations between each concréte bookend. This interplay, between the recognizable qoutidian sound and its more abstract modulations, acts as the main developmental motif in the piece, and is explored throughout eleven intertwined movements.

A glass is not a glass a reçu le troisième prix au concours Sound in Space (Boston, MA, ÉU, 2011).

Distinctions

• Prix, Étudiant, 6^e Concours biennal de composition acousmatique Métamorphoses 2010, Ohain (Belgique)
• 2^e prix, CÉC, Jeu de temps / Times Play (JTTP) 2010, Canada
• Mention, Concurso Internacional de Composição Electroacústica Música Viva 2010, Parede (Portugal)
• 3^e prix, Sound and Space 2011, Boston (Massachusetts, ÉU)