Owen Underhill

Owen Underhill, 2009

Owen Underhill (born January 26, 1954 in Regina / Saskatchewan ) is a Canadian composer, conductor, flautist and music teacher.

Underhill studied composition with Rudolf Komorous at the University of Victoria from 1971 to 1975 , where he was a member of the Composer's Group , a group of seven young composers who gave concerts in Victoria and Vancouver between 1973 and 1975 and toured Europe in 1975. He continued his education from 1975 to 1978 at Stony Brook University with Bülent Arel and, after obtaining his master’s degree, studied music analysis at the Darmstadt Summer Courses in 1978 and computer music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979 .

From 1976 to 1981 Underhill worked at Wilfrid Laurier University . From 1981 he taught composition, music theory, conducting and performance practice at the Center for the Art at Simon Fraser University . From 1981 he was a member, from 1987 to 2000 artistic director of the Vancouver New Music Society , further he was a flautist and 1982-1983 artistic director of the Western Front New Music , 1998 musical director of the summer program of the Banff Center for the Arts , 1999 composer in residence of the Prairie Festival of New Music and President of the Canadian Music Center from 2010 to 2014 .

In 2002 he co-founded the Turning Poit Ensemble , which toured Canada in 2005 with Judith Frost and compositions by Barbara Pentland and in 2006 took part in a performance of Igor Stravinski's Tale of the Soldier . As a conductor, he has directed array music , the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra , the National Arts Center Orchestra , the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra .

Underhill is particularly interested in contemporary music. He directed the world premieres of more than 140 works by Canadian composers such as Glenn Buhr , Christopher Butterfield , Michael Bushnell , Dorothy Chang , Chan Ka-nin , José Evangelista , Anthony Genge , Melissa Hui , Rudolf Komorous , Michael Oesterle , John Oliver , Rodney Sharman , Ana Sokolovic and Linda Catlin Smith , he also worked with international composers such as Louis Andriessen , Gavin Bryars , Sofia Gubaidulina , Gija Kancheli , James MacMillan , Steve Reich , Toru Takemitsu and Judith Weir .

In addition to numerous chamber music works, Underhill composed an opera, several ballet music and orchestral works, songs and choral works. He received first prize in the Du Maurier Canadian Composers Competition in 1994 (for Lines of Memory ), was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Classical Composition in 2002 and received the Classical Composition Award of the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2007 . In 2013 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada .

Works

• D Moon 3 for clarinet, trombone, percussion, guitar and piano, 1975
• Arbre for choir, piano, percussion, accordion, guitar, mandolin and celesta, 1977
• Calico for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola and cello, 1978
• Darmstadt Triptych for piano, 1978
• Holy Spring (Text: Dylan Thomas ) for choir and eight pitch pipes, 1979
• They will sew the blue sail for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, violin, double bass and percussion, 1979
• The Imaginary Winter Kaleidoscope for two pianos, 1979
• Two Preludes for guitar, 1982
• Escalator for flute, oboe, violin, cello and piano four hands, 1982
• Partita for Marimba, 1983
• Gradation in Crystal for flute, oboe or horn and two keyboard instruments (piano or harpsichord and organ), 1983, 1986
• Gray Glove for soprano and orchestra, 1985
• Northern Line, Angel Station for string quartet, 1986
• Dedication, 6 pieces for piano, 1987
• Yeats Songs for Soprano, Cello and Piano, 1987
• Celestial Machine for brock flute, violin, viol and harpsichord. 1988
• Exit the King (Ionesco) for soprano and piano, 1989
• At the Window for bass clarinet, trumpet, violin, double bass and two percussionists, 1990
• Labyrinth of Ears for orchestra, 1990
• Tenebroso for accordion, 1991
• Bay of Dew for woodwind quintet and piano, 1991
• Swizzle Stick for clarinet, trumpet, two percussionists and piano, 1991
• From Angel Station: In Memoriam John Cage for orchestra, 1993
• Lines of Memory for orchestra, 1993
• The Star Catalogs , opera (libretto: Marc Diamond ), 1994
• A Song from Solomon for baritone and piano, 1994
• The Revealing for orchestra, 1995
• Hung. Version A for instrumental ensemble, 1995
• HB 25 for flute, horn, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello and double bass, 1996
• Psalm 8 for choir and organ, 1996
• Surge Illuminare for choir, organ and trumpets ad lib., 1997
• Boy Wonder , ballet, 1997
• String Quartet No. 3-The Alynne , 1998
• Songs of the Common Day (lyrics by Charles GD Roberts ) for children's choir and piano, 1998–2001
• Trombone Quintet for trombone and string quartet, 1999
• Two Songs without Words for vibraphone and piano, 1998–1999
• By Backward Steps for violin and harp, 2000
• The Gaze for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, 2000
• The Faerie Queen (with Michael Bushnell ), ballet based on Henry Purcell , 2000
• The Geometry of Harmony, in 10 parts for flute or piccolo, oboe or horn, clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, percussion and piano, 2001
• Magnificat for choir, 2001
• Cantilena for cello and piano, 2002
• The Widening Gyre for flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, harp, piano, percussion, violin, viola and cello, 2002
• The Faerie Queen Suite for chamber orchestra (with Michael Bushnell), 2002
• Prelude to Tristan and Iseult for orchestra, 2002
• Orpheus (with Michael Bushnell), ballet after Christoph Willibald Gluck , 2002
• Tristan and Isolde (with Michael Bushnell), ballet, 2003
• Laments and Dances for clarinet or baa clarinet, trumpet, two percussionists, piano, violin and double bass, 2003
• Prelude - Veni Emmanuel for trumpet and organ, 2003
• Five in Three for string quartet and piano, 2003
• Canzone di Petra for flute and harp, 2004
• One Page Sonata for piano, 2004
• The Pleasant Life in Newfoundland for male choir, 2004
• Psalm 23 (In Memoriam Barbara Burnham ) for choir and piano, 2004
• Veni Domine for choir and woodwind quintet, 2005
• Song of the Dodo (lyrics Meredith Quartermain ) for soprano and bass clarinet, 2005
• Sakalaka for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, cello and piano, 2007
• Still Image for clarinet quintet, 2007
• World of Light for tenor and orchestra, 2007
• World of Light for tenor and orchestra, 2007
• Remember (Text: Christina Rosetti ) for mezzo-soprano and alto flute, 2007
• A Middle English Songbook for Choir and Chamber Ensemble, 2007
• Aleutian Madrigals (text by Jerah Chadwick ) for alto, tenor, baritone, bass and chamber ensemble, 2008
• In Ecclesiis for choir and five trombones, 2009
• Cloud over Water for vibraphone solo, 2009
• Imprint I + II for instrumental ensemble, 2010
• String Quartet 4: The Night , 2011
• Three Reflections on Pride for piccolo or alto flute solo 2011
• Slender Gold for Dizi, Pipa, Zheng, Zhongruan, Sheng, two erhu, Chinese percussion, alto flute, bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello and bass, 2011
• The View from Above for four trumpets, three trombones, tuba and two percussionists, 2012
• Here be Dragons - Two Songs for soprano, speaker, lute, alto viol, oud and percussion, 2012
• Three Sitka Portraits based on poems by Robert David Hoffmann for choir, 2013
• Ten Miniatures for flute, cello and piano, 2013
• Three times four for four percussionists, 2014
• Duotone for clarinet and piano, 2014
• The Curio Box for instrumental ensemble, 2014

Web link

• Homepage of Owen Underhill

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• Owen Underhill ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Owen Underhill at Allmusic (English)
• Canadian Music Center - Owen Underhill