Hard Rubber Orchestra

Last updated

The Hard Rubber Orchestra is a jazz band led by composer and trumpeter John Korsrud in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1990, it has a shifting membership of 15-30 musicians. It is known for spotlighting work by contemporary composers and won the Alcan Performing Arts Award in 2004.

Contents

History

The Hard Rubber Orchestra was founded in 1990 by John Korsrud. It had instrumentation similar to a big band, but the music was "an unholy mashup of minimalism, free jazz, noise, and funk". [1]

In 1992, a non-profit "Hard Rubber Music Society" was created as a vehicle for funding the orchestra. It operates with a mix of private donations, city funding, and Canada Council grants. [2] [3]

Notable commissions

The Hard Rubber Orchestra is characteristically open to new music. It has commissioned over 40 works from 30 contemporary jazz and classical composers. [4] Here are some highlights.

Awards

In 2004, the Hard Rubber Orchestra won the C$60,000 Alcan Performing Arts Award. This funded their February 2005 work, Enter/Exit, a multidisciplinary theatre piece featuring compositions by John Korsrud, Giorgio Magnanensi, and Brad Turner. Videographers HoneyBee Visuals, set designer Andreas Kahre, and director Kim Collier also contributed. [5]

Their album Iguana was a Juno Award nominee for Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2023. [9]

Related Research Articles

The CBC Radio Orchestra was a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that was operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Until the early 1980s CBC had a number of orchestras located in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax but due to federal government budget cuts they were eliminated and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra was promoted to national status. It changed names in 2000 to reflect its status as the CBC's only broadcast orchestra; the last radio orchestra in North America.

Alexina Diane Louie, is a Canadian composer of contemporary art music. She has composed for various instrumental and vocal combinations in a variety of genres. She has fulfilled a number of commissions, and her works, which have been performed internationally, have earned her a number of awards, including the Order of Canada and two Juno Awards.

Rui Shi Zhuo is a Chinese-born Canadian composer, based in British Columbia. He has been commissioned by the Canada Council, and has written music for an animated film. He has been composer-in-residence for the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble.

The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble is an ensemble of traditional Chinese musical instruments based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The ensemble performs both at concerts and at community events. Their music encompasses both traditional Chinese pieces and modern music by composers from around the world.

Michael Vincent is a music journalist, publisher, and composer, situated in Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Dwyer (musician)</span> Musical artist

Phil Dwyer is a Canadian jazz saxophonist, pianist, composer, producer and educator. In 2017 he graduated from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Faculty of Law in Fredericton, New Brunswick and was called to the bar of British Columbia in 2018. Dwyer is Member of the Order of Canada, having been invested in 2013 "For his contributions to jazz as a performer, composer and producer, and for increasing access to music education in his community." Dwyer has been nominated for Juno Awards six times and won Best Mainstream Jazz Album in 1994 with Dave Young for Fables and Dreams and Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year in 2012 for the recording Changing Seasons. Dwyer has also appeared on Juno Award winning recordings with Hugh Fraser (1988), Joe Sealy (1997), Natalie MacMaster (2000), Guido Basso (2004), Don Thompson (2006), Molly Johnson (2009), Terry Clarke (2010), and Diana Panton (2015). He is an alumnus and Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Hugh Alexander Fraser was a Canadian jazz musician known for his work as a pianist, trombonist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darcy James Argue</span> Canadian jazz composer and bandleader

Darcy James Argue is a jazz composer and bandleader known for his work with his 18-piece ensemble, Secret Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocelyn Morlock</span> Musical artist

Jocelyn Morlock is a Canadian composer and music educator based in Vancouver. Her piece My Name is Amanda Todd won the 2018 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Zubot</span> Canadian musician

Jesse Zubot is a Canadian musician primarily known for his unique violin playing. Zubot also works as a composer, producer and recording engineer.

<i>The Sea Cabinet</i>

The Sea Cabinet is a song cycle and musical theatre piece by British singer-songwriter Gwyneth Herbert about "memory, obsession, love, and the sea". It is also the title of her sixth album, featuring a studio performance of the song cycle, which was released on 20 May 2013 and was critically acclaimed, receiving four-starred reviews in The Financial Times and The Independent and a 4.5-starred review in All About Jazz. The music's sound has been described as a blend of "Weimar cabaret and English music-hall stylings, with disquieting touches of avant-garde jazz".

John Korsrud is a Canadian composer and jazz trumpeter.

Brad Turner is a Canadian jazz trumpeter and pianist. He has won three Juno Awards and six Canadian National Jazz Awards for categories including Jazz Trumpeter of the Year, Jazz Composer of the Year, and Musician of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eli Bennett</span> Canadian saxophonist and composer

Eli Bennett is a Canadian Juno Award-nominated jazz saxophonist and Leo Award-winning film composer. He has composed more than twenty film scores and in 2018 received his first Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Documentary for the film Believe: The True Story of Real Bearded Santas. He was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Premier of BC for his contribution to the arts in Canada. He is married to violinist and vocalist Rosemary Siemens with whom he records and performs with their instrumental duo SaxAndViolin and in 2019 they performed together at The Vatican.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taylor Ho Bynum</span> American musician

Taylor Ho Bynum is a musician, composer, educator and writer. His main instrument is the cornet, but he also plays numerous similar instruments, including flugelhorn and trumpet.

Dorothy Chang is an American-born composer and a professor of music at the University of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Assani</span> Musical artist

Mohamed Assani is a Vancouver based sitar player and composer. He has composed for orchestra alongside John Oliver and performed for heads of state and royalty including the Al Maktoum, His Highness Aga Khan IV the Governor General of Canada and Amyn Aga Khan. The Georgia Straight wrote, "Assani is both a musician who’s deeply rooted in the artistic traditions of South Asia and a one-of-a-kind innovator."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Blake (musician)</span> Canadian musician (born 1964)

Michael Blake is a Canadian-born American saxophonist, composer and arranger. Blake is based in New York City where he has led a robust career leading his own bands. As a sideman Michael has performed with Charlie Hunter, The Lounge Lizards, Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Ben Allison, Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake Big Band, Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Ricki Lee Jones and Ray LaMontagne. The New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote,"Mr. Blake, on tenor especially, is an endlessly engaging improviser, and an inquisitive one".

Bill Coon is a Canadian jazz and composer. He is a Juno nominated artist and the winner of the 2009 National Jazz Awards, ‘Guitarist of the Year’. He is known for performing artists such as Miles Black and Jodi Proznick, Lonnie Smith, Brad Turner, Peter Bernstein, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ian McDougall, P. J. Perry, Sheila Jordan, Phil Dwyer, Peter Washington, and Oliver Gannon. His compositions and arrangements have been commissioned by large ensembles such as the CBC Radio Orchestra, John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra, and the Dal Richards Orchestra. He graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies in 1988, and a Masters of Education from Simon Fraser University in 2012.

Christine Jensen is a composer, conductor, and saxophonist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was awarded the Juno Award for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year for her albums Habitat (2014) and Treelines (2011). She is the sister of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.

References

  1. 1 2 Varty, Alexander (8 November 2010). "Hard Rubber Orchestra celebrates 20 years with its greatest hits". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  2. "Hard Rubber New Music Society". Hard Rubber Orchestra. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  3. Andrews, Marke (27 June 2013). "Vancouver-based Hard Rubber Orchestra embraces tough challenges". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  4. "Hard Rubber Orchestra". Hard Rubber Orchestra. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  5. 1 2 Smith, Janet (4 March 2004). "Prize Lets Rubber Stretch Out". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  6. Varty, Alexander (24 February 2005). "Hard Rubber Enters a Rave New World". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  7. Varty, Alexander (17 March 2010). "The Hard Rubber Orchestra's Ice Age 2010 hits the rink with athletes". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  8. Varty, Alexander (30 October 2013). "Hard Rubber Orchestra fetes composer Kenny Wheeler". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  9. "Here are all the 2023 Juno nominees". CBC Music, January 31, 2023.