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SAVE THE DATE ! We are SO proud to announce this free concert on THURSDAY JUNE 6th, starting at 6pm, co-presented by National Gallery of Canada with Ottawa Chamberfest and Qu'ART . Pianist RACHEL KIYO IWAASA performs a set of works by Canadian Queer and Trans Composers, from 6pm until 7pm, including Rodney Sharman , Leslie Uyeda and others.
A first of its kind in Ottawa, this musical event to kick off 2024 Pride Month across Canada is not to be missed !
https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/calendar/pianography-music-by-queer-and-trans-composers
FREE EVENT !
Drop-in activity.
No registration needed.
Bilingual
Book your tickets to visit the other National Gallery exhibitions for free on Thursday nights from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
https://tickets.gallery.ca/webstore/shop/viewItems.aspx?cg=1&c=53&language=1&_gl=1*qkrjcl*_ga*MTk1NDEyMDYwMi4xNzAyNjY3OTc3*_ga_83BW334MD2*MTcxNTE5NDgwOC4xMi4wLjE3MTUxOTQ4MjMuMC4wLjA.
(Social mixer for local folks follows the performance-location TBA)
ARTIST BIO:
RACHEL KIYO IWAASA is among Canada’s foremost contemporary music pianists, hailed as a "keyboard virtuoso and avant-garde muse" (Georgia Straight) whose “emotional intensity” transforms music “from notes on a page to a stunning work of art” (Victoria Times Colonist), Rachel’s reputation for fearless interdisciplinary performative risk has drawn many of Canada’s most notable composers to write for her, including Hildegard Westerkamp, Rodney Sharman, Jocelyn Morlock, Nicole Lizée, Farshid Samandari, Emily Doolittle, Jeffrey Ryan, Leslie Uyeda and Jordan Nobles. The Canadian League of Composers recently commissioned Cris Derksen to compose a piece for her, selected as the Official Canadian Selection for ISCM World New Music Days 2023 in Johannesburg.
Rachel has performed with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mark Takeshi McGregor, Judith Forst, the Bozzini Quartet, Heather Pawsey, Gabriel Kahane, Caroline Shaw, and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire. Her interdisciplinary adventures include work with visual artists SD Holman, Nettie Wild, Tania Willard, and Camille Georgeson Usher; playwright/director David Bloom; choreographers Idan Cohen, Jennifer Mascall and Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg; and multi-media provocateur Paul Wong.
Rachel’s debut CD, Cosmophony, has been praised as “brilliant” and “unforgettable” (Vancouver Sun) and for “the passion, intensity and the nuanced playing she's acclaimed for... she manages to instill a sense of dynamic tension and pull to every note" (The Province). Rachel has three albums to be released in 2023-24 on earsay music and redshift records, monograph recordings of Rodney Sharman, Hildegard Westerkamp and Leslie Uyeda.
Rachel has performed in the Netherlands, Germany, US and across Canada, with engagements including ISCM World New Music Days, Muziekweek Gaudeamus, Music TORONTO, Music on Main, Vancouver New Music, Redshift, Western Front, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, the Aventa Ensemble (Victoria), CONTACT contemporary music (Toronto), New Works Calgary, Groundswell New Music (Winnipeg), and Vancouver Pro Musica.
Rachel’s musical pedigree traces back to Beethoven via three separate lineages, through Jane Coop, Menahem Pressler, and Robin Wood. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Music from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria, where she earned the Victoria Medal as the top graduating student in Fine Arts. She was also a two-time recipient of the prestigious Annual Grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for graduate studies at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin. Rachel is a co-founder of the Queer Arts Festival in Vancouver, recognized among the top 3 festivals of its kind worldwide. Photo credit: SD Holman
"Canada is blessed with a remarkable roster of talented pianists who are dedicated to championing work by our country’s composers. We can add Vancouver’s Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa to that roster." — WholeNote Magazine
"The outrageously talented Vancouver pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa … deftly spans an array of atmospheres with impressive mastery and stylistic clarity." — Musicworks Magazine
"Pianist Iwaasa quite simply pulls no punches, attacking each composer's work with passion, intensity and the nuanced playing she's acclaimed for... she manages to instill a sense of dynamic tension and pull to every note." — The Province
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
National Gallery of Canada, 1262 Alexandra Brg, Ottawa, ON K1N, Canada,Ottawa, Ontario
