Now Hear This 2026
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2026 7:30 PM
Venue: Holy Trinity Anglican Church (10037 84 Ave, Edmonton)
Program
Nakalele (2024) for woodwind quartet and Wrinkle (2026) for woodwind quartet – composed by Makenna Graham (18′)
Performed by: Makenna Graham, Ava Gustafson, Faith Whitehouse, and Ailene McMahon
single Red flower – Bekah Simms (12’30”)
Night and Day – Linda Catlin Smith (8′)
Of All Things Elusive – Dorothy Chang (12′)
Intermission
Turntaazm – Nicole Lizée (12′)
Metamold – Bekah Simms (14′)
Performed by Standing Wave: Christie Reside, AK Coope, Rebecca Whitling, Cristian Markos, Allen Stiles, and Vern Griffiths
Thank you to our festival media sponsors Taproot Edmonton and Exclaim!, equipment sponsor Long and McQuade, and refreshment sponsor Sea Change Brewing Co!
Program Notes
Nakalele Blow Hole is a natural phenomenon on Maui, Hawaii. Nakalele, meaning “leaning,” was formed from eruptions of ancient volcanoes that laid large lava fields, the Acid War Zone. The lava cooled and solidified, forming underwater tunnels and caves. As the ocean waves crashed against this coastline for centuries, the waves slowly carved out hollow spaces beneath the surface. At some point, seawater was forced into that cavity; pressure built up until it blew its top, creating Nakalele. To reflect the heart of this space, I treat the ensemble as an installation with which the audience is permitted and encouraged to interact. This allows the audience to experience a small portion of everything I received that day: moving within a soundscape that is unfolding before your ears. The dichotomy between the looming dark, bubbly murmurs of the pressure underground, and erratic eruptions themselves is what drew me to this place.
Wrinkle is a reflection of the ways in which our bodies change over time.
“single Red flower” was written shortly before, during, and after the death of my two rats Parsley and Sage. They were my pandemic companions, providing much love and friendship during two awful years of lockdown in a small Toronto basement apartment. The two movements are threaded with residual emotion from their passing. Having never dealt with losing a pet before – let alone two in quick succession – I was mystified, touched, and overwhelmed with the rituals of their little deaths: laying them in the cage for their cagemates to process their death; picking out a flower pot, soil, and seeds in which to bury them; and laying them to rest in a backyard rental in which we would soon be leaving. Only one plant bloomed from the planter, a beautiful red flower of a species I have never seen before. While I often try to keep my emotions out of my music, this piece inadvertently became strange, small, and ritualistic, reflecting these experiences. Little, quiet sounds are brought to the forefront and amplified to fill the space in the same way that little things can fill our hearts beyond bearing.
Night and Day is written for Standing Wave. The title reflects the two halves of the piece, the first darker and more muted in tone, the second part brighter and more colourful. These atmospheres give rise to different shades of feeling in our world – nocturnal introspection, and the outward gaze at the surrounding world. I am so grateful to Standing Wave for their creativity and support.
Of All Things Elusive (2023) was written as a reflection on the continuing aftereffects of a head injury from a few years ago. Written in two movements, the piece is a musical exploration of the elusiveness of memory, language and knowledge. The first movement “sea of haze” centers on the concept of a search for clarity, slowly sifting through various textures of entangled lines. The second movement “(mis)fire” is meant to capture the energy of repeated efforts to jumpstart the mind into action, with an overall frenzied and at times chaotic quality.
Turntaazm: Two turntables/one mixer: one of the most distinctive instrument combinations. Whit the crossfader always at the heart of the setup. Even without sound produced, the physicality, motion, and coordination involved in turntablism techniques – particularly, recording juggling – are an idiosyncratic thing of beauty. It is this perspective of turntablism that forms the core fot the piece. I find myself increasingly drawn to its evocative and intrinsic elements: the turntable ‘glyphs’. the work divides into seven scenes or episodes, each centred around a different interpretation of this art form.
The three commissioning ensembles of “metamold” are embedded within the work; the electronic element is sourced almost exclusively from provided recordings of their musical performances. Both their sound and interpretive inclinations are inherent within these recordings, and this carries forward into the processed audio that make up the fixed media portion of the electronics. This audio also influences the acoustic component, reflecting three very different groups of performers.
The transmission and processing of audio – as it becomes further and further away from its intended purpose as a recorded performance – becomes diluted, accruing artefacts both sonic and contextual. The disembodied version of the players is further abstracted, granulated, separated from the whole. It was impossible to ignore the connections between this concept and the experience of global-pandemic-induced isolation; for now, the only way I’ve experienced my family and friends is abstracted, granulated, separated from the whole, disembodied and transmitted through speakers and screens.
As a result, “metamold” is at times fragmented and sectional while simultaneously being repetitive and insistent: an electronic echo that shifts quickly but maintains core elements of itself (the commissioners themselves) always.
The Artists
Western Canada’s foremost contemporary chamber ensemble, Standing Wave is a sextet of intrepid new music interpreters dedicated to commissioning and performing cutting-edge music from today’s most forward-thinking composers. Their repertoire features modern classics by composers such as Xenakis, Murail, Glass, Vivier, and Mazolli, along with over 100 commissioned works. Their two most recent albums, in an archipelago (2025), and 20C Remix (2021), received Juno nominations for Classical Album of the Year (small ensemble). Recognized as Artist/Ensemble of the Year at the Western Canada Music Awards in 2017 and 2022, Standing Wave has graced prominent stages throughout Canada, including the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Ottawa’s Chamberfest, the Montreal New Music Festival, Winnipeg’s Groundswell Concert Series, and Toronto’s New Music Concerts. Acclaimed internationally for their virtuosity, vision, and artistry, Standing Wave has cultivated a reputation for electrifying live performance that pushes the boundaries of what chamber music is and can be. Standing Wave is: Christie Reside (flute), AK Coope (clarinet), Rebecca Whitling (violin), Cristian Markos (cello), Allen Stiles (piano), and Vern Griffiths (percussion).
Makenna Graham is an emerging composer and experimental flutist working in Edmonton, Alberta. She is in her final year of a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Alberta. Having studied with Heather Hindman and Mark Hannesson, she has composed for the Experimental Improvisation Ensemble (XiME) and the UofA Concert Band Flute Choir. She has performed and premiered works at the Winspear Centre, the New Music Edmonton Now Hear This Festival, and across Canada. Her newest work for solo flute was premiered by Eric Lamb in Vienna, Austria, at the Sounds of Now Festival in 2025. Makenna has presented at and been awarded for her research at the Festival of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities and UofA Interdisciplinary Students’ Conference. Among her accomplishments are the 2020 Edmonton’s Young Composer Gold Award, 2023 CANERES competition quarter-finalist, and 2025 and 2026 Johann Strauss Foundation Music Award.
Ava Gustafson is an emerging oboist working in the Edmonton area. She is in her second year of a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Alberta, studying under the renowned Matt Jaffrey. She is currently performing as the principal oboist in the University of Alberta Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Loyal Edmonton Regiment Band. Furthermore, she performs with the University Symphony Orchestra and the DREAM wind quintet. She has performed as a guest soloist in the Rocky Jazz String Orchestra. Outside of music, Ava is an accomplished dancer, earning herself an invitation to compete with Team Canada at the Dance World Cup, as well as a spot on the University of Alberta Game Day Cheer Team.
Faith Whitehouse is a clarinetist from Red Deer, Alberta. She grew up as a member of the Red Deer Community Bands Society, competing internationally and receiving awards for leadership. Recently, they have played with the University of Alberta Concert Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and University Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. Currently, she is completing a Bachelor’s of Music degree at the University of Alberta.
Ailene McMahon has studied the bassoon since 2015 and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s of Music at the University of Alberta under Bianca Chambul. She was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, and has been living and studying in Edmonton since 2022. Ailene has played with the University of Lethbridge Wind Orchestra and the University of Alberta Symphony Orchestra. Ailene is a Royal Conservatory of Music gold medalist.
The Composers
The music of composer Bekah Simms possesses an enormous sonic palette: timbrally vibrant and ranging from superabundant electronic grotesquerie to lush microtonal waves of sound, their varied musical output has been heralded as “cacophonous, jarring, oppressive — and totally engrossing!” (CBC Music), “visceral contemporary music that enfolds external inspirations with dazzling rigor and logic” (Peter Margasak), and praised for its “sheer range of ingenious material, expressive range and sonic complexity” (The Journal of Music.) Propelled equally by wonderment and terror toward the universe, Bekah’s music creates instances of sonic fascination that focus on the raw compelling power of abstract sound, often interweaving the muscularity of metal; formal abandon of prog; tenderness of folk; and extracted fragments of other popular musics. Bekah is a Lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, following previous academic positions at the University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario. They hold a D.M.A. and M.Mus in music composition from the University of Toronto, and a B.Mus.Ed. and B.Mus in theory/composition from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Linda Catlin Smith grew up in New York and lives in Toronto. She studied music in NY, and at the University of Victoria. She taught composition for many years at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario (1999-2020) and continues to teach privately. Her music has been commissioned, performed and/or recorded by: Goeyvaerts Trio, Psallentes, Tafelmusik, Victoria, Kitchener-Waterloo and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Arraymusic, Standing Wave, Thin Edge Collective, Continuum, Tapestry New Opera, Via Salzburg, Evergreen Club Gamelan, Exaudi, and the Penderecki and Bozzini string quartets, as well as by soloists including Eve Egoyan, Philip Thomas and Elinor Frey. She has had performances at the Tectonics Festival in Glasgow (2017), Huddersfield Festival (2017), Principal Sound Festival (London, 2018) and Louth Contemporary Music Festival in Ireland (2019, 2023). The BBC Proms commissioned a new orchestral work (Nuages) premiered in 2019 by the BBC Scottish Orchestra. Several solo discs of her music have been released: Thought and Desire, with Eve Egoyan, Ballad(Eve Egoyan and Andrew Smith), Meadow with Louth Contemporary Music Society; and five recordings: Dirt Road, Drifter, Wanderer, Among the Tarnished Stars (with Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time) and Ballad, on the ‘another timbre’ label. Some of her works are now available through Composers Edition.
Described as “evocative and kaleidoscopic” and “beautiful and gripping”, the music of composer Dorothy Chang reflects an eclectic mix of musical influences ranging from popular and folk music to elements of traditional Chinese music. Many of her works are inspired by place, time, memory, and the question of cultural identity. Dorothy’s music has been featured in concerts and festivals across North America and abroad. She has received awards and grants from organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP, the Barlow Endowment, Canada Council for the Arts, Chamber Music America, the Fromm Music Foundation and a 2022 JUNO Award nomination,. She won the 2022 Western Canadian Music Awards “Classical Composer of the Year”, and was nominated again in the same category in 2024. Dorothy is a Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia, where she has served on faculty since 2003.
Nicole Lizée is a Montreal-based, award winning composer and video artist. Her music and video reflects influences from an eclectic mix of influences including the earliest MTV videos, turntablism, rave culture, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Cage, Alexander McQueen, and 1960s psychedelia and modernism. She is fascinated by the glitches made by outmoded and well-worn technology and captures, notates, and melds them into live performance.
Accessibility
Venue is wheelchair accessible with a lift at the rear entrance. Gendered, multi-stall washrooms. Transit stop ID 2890 or 2681, about 300 meters (2 1/2 blocks) from venue.
