Mark Haney wants to strip new Canadian music of its pretension, so he鈥檚 re-launching the Little Chamber Music Series That Could on Oct. 26 with a Halloween dance party.
The double-bassist, composer and artist in residence at the field house in Renfrew鈥檚 Falaise Park is re-launching the beloved chamber music series after nearly a decade to commission and produce new works by Canadian composers and introduce new audiences to 鈥渘ew classical鈥� music.
鈥淲hen I went on a tour last fall across Western Canada, I talked to the audience every night about how I felt the classical performing arts, of which I am a practitioner, owed the general audience an apology for three or four decades of sort of thrusting them away, pretensions and snobbery and elitism,鈥� Haney said. 鈥淎nd it really, really struck a chord, far more than I thought it would.鈥�
The event at the Roundhouse, called Back on Track, features Montreal composer Nicole Liz茅e, who first gained attention more than a decade ago when she developed techniques to include a turntable in orchestra pieces.
鈥淪he was a heavy metal drummer as a teenager and she does a lot of stuff with electronics now,鈥� Haney said.
As Montreal鈥檚 SaskPower, Liz茅e controls the electronics and video alongside guitarist Steve Raegele and percussionist Ben Reimer, who will be joined by Little Chamber Strings, which is Haney on double bass, Cam Wilson on violin and Marcus Takizawa on viola.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a performance meant to emulate a rave,鈥� Haney said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 constant pulsing rhythms that shift and morph with a visual display and it鹿s meant to take the audience on a journey.鈥�
Admission will be $10 for adults in costume, students, artists and seniors. It鈥檚 $20 for 鈥渁dults dressed like adults.鈥�
鈥淲e want to produce work at the highest level,鈥� Haney said. 鈥淲e want to work with people at the highest level and we want everyone to love it and have a good time. It鈥檚 not just for a small group.鈥�
The series is also presenting the world premiere of Liz茅e鈥檚 piece Ouijist at a free, community event on Halloween, at All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery.聽聽
This summer on Friday evenings at Falaise Park near Grandview Highway and Boundary Road, Haney performed what he called 鈥淪unset Sounds,鈥� 90 minutes of mellow, improvised bass looping on the front porch of the field house just before the sun lowered in the sky.
鈥淎nd the last one, there were about a hundred people there,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 simply the reality that there are tons of people and tons of families living in these areas not near Commercial [Drive] or Main [Street] or downtown, or whatever. Maybe it鈥檚 time to start finding ways to bring artists to these other areas.鈥�
Haney has been composing new music with elementary school children for the East Side Animals Project that will culminate with a community performance in February. The name of the work is inspired by a stone mosaic in Falaise Park that includes animals.
鈥淲e have Sir Chubby the Bear, Cranium the Crane,鈥� Haney said. 鈥淭hese are names by democracy, which is how we ended up with Justin Beaver.鈥�
Government grants Haney applied for didn鈥檛 come through so he鈥檚 been fundraising for the series online.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to know I can actually put on East Side Animals,鈥� he said.
Haney wrote in an August blog post there are two Vancouvers.
鈥淭here鈥檚 the 麻豆传媒映画for the people with money (bonus points if you鈥檙e a property developer),鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then there鈥檚 the 麻豆传媒映画for the rest of us.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 time for those of us who create and live on the 鈥渉ave-not鈥� side of the fence to start creating for and with the audience on the same side of that line,鈥� he suggested.
Haney, who last year premiered a piece called 鈥�3339鈥� that celebrates his hero Terry Fox, hopes to premiere the piece he鈥檚 been working on for more than a year based on the graphic novel George Sprott by Seth in June, 鈥渇unding dependent.鈥�
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