Gabrielle Martin 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,660
Hello and welcome to Push Play,
2
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,580
a Push Festival podcast featuring conversations with
3
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:06,580 --> 00:00:09,080
artists who are pushing boundaries and playing with form.
4
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:11,820
I'm Gabrielle Martin, Push's Director of Programming,
5
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:13,900
and in this special series of Push Play,
6
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,200
we're revisiting the legacy of Push and talking to creators
7
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,880
who have helped shape 20 years of innovative, dynamic,
8
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:20,980 --> 00:00:22,500
and audacious festival programming.
9
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:26,240
Today's episode features Owen Underhill of Turning Point
10
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:29,640
Ensemble and is anchored around the 2017 Push Festival.
11
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:30,260 --> 00:00:32,400
Owen Underhill is a composer, conductor,
12
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:32,619 --> 00:00:35,360
and programmer who has been active in new music in
13
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,400
Vancouver for several decades as the Artistic Director of
14
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,760
Vancouver New Music, 1987 to 2000,
15
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,780
and in his current role as Artistic Director and Conductor
16
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:43,780 --> 00:00:45,460
of the Turning Point Ensemble.
17
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,100
From 1981 until his recent retirement,
18
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:48,300 --> 00:00:50,600
he was a faculty member in the School for the Contemporary
19
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,580
Arts at Simon Fraser University.
20
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:53,740 --> 00:00:54,580
Turning Point Ensemble,
21
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:54,740 --> 00:00:57,380
founded by its musician members in 2002,
22
Gabrielle Martin 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:00,920
is a collaborative large chamber ensemble committed to the
23
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,379
performance and production of music of the 20th and 21st
24
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:04,379 --> 00:01:07,360
centuries in flexible and innovative contexts.
25
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,700
Intersecting with multiple art forms, crossing genres,
26
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:11,060 --> 00:01:12,960
working with diverse communities and partners,
27
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:15,700
engaging with ideas of contemporary relevance,
28
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,060
and inspiring and enlivening local, national,
29
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:20,580
and international audiences.
30
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:21,420 --> 00:01:24,700
Recent tours have included Montreal, Zagreb, Belgrade,
31
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:24,700 --> 00:01:27,920
Santander, Taipei, Beijing, and Singapore.
32
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:29,940
Here's my conversation with Owen.
33
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,440
We are here on Victoria Drive, just off Commercial Drive,
34
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:40,280
in so -called Vancouver,
35
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,240
which is on the stolen ancestral and traditional
36
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,680
territories of Coast Salish peoples, the Musqueam,
37
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:48,380
Squamish, and Tsleil -Waututh.
38
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:52,340
It's a place that both of us call home.
39
Gabrielle Martin 00:01:52,940 --> 00:01:53,720
You're just up the street.
40
Owen Underhill 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:55,420
Yes,
41
Owen Underhill 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,660
I've been in the commercial drive area for quite a few years.
42
Owen Underhill 00:01:58,860 --> 00:01:59,220
Love it here.
43
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,240
and I grew up here as well.
44
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:02,420 --> 00:02:04,100
This, we're just across from Victoria Park,
45
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:05,940
where I spent a lot of time as a kid.
46
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:06,140 --> 00:02:10,320
So in a feeling very comfortable in the neighborhood and
47
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,380
happy to be having this conversation here and grateful to
48
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:13,380 --> 00:02:14,640
be on these indigenous lands.
49
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:19,160
Turning Point Ensemble has a wonderful, long,
50
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:20,760
rich history with the Push Festival.
51
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:22,300 --> 00:02:26,120
We're gonna definitely be talking about the 2017 production
52
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:27,440
that Push presented.
53
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:29,760
Zappa meets Verez and Oswald,
54
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:30,140 --> 00:02:32,600
the present day composer refuses to die.
55
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,060
But there are also so many other projects that Push
56
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:36,060 --> 00:02:36,460
presented,
57
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,260
so we're gonna get a chance to talk about some of those.
58
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:41,260 --> 00:02:46,080
Yeah, let's actually go right back to the beginning.
59
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,040
Would you just talk to us about how your relationship with
60
Gabrielle Martin 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:49,660
Push began?
61
Owen Underhill 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:50,400
Well,
62
Owen Underhill 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:56,360
I've known Norman for many years and so witnessed the start
63
Owen Underhill 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:01,740
of the push and from the beginning with Turning Point
64
Owen Underhill 00:03:01,740 --> 00:03:07,320
Ensemble we really wanted to be more than just a chamber
65
Owen Underhill 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:13,040
ensemble and to also explore interdisciplinary work with
66
Owen Underhill 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:19,420
theater and dance and with film and so we started looking
67
Owen Underhill 00:03:19,420 --> 00:03:25,080
at the work that Push was doing and thinking that it would
68
Owen Underhill 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:30,760
be fit in very well some of the projects we had in mind to
69
Owen Underhill 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,820
propose them through Norman.
70
Gabrielle Martin 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:39,000
And you knew Norman very well from the 80s.
71
Owen Underhill 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,380
Yeah, from the 80s.
72
Owen Underhill 00:03:41,020 --> 00:03:41,200
Yeah,
73
Owen Underhill 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,800
Norman came to the School for the Contemporary Arts at
74
Owen Underhill 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:46,780
Simon Fraser University,
75
Owen Underhill 00:03:47,020 --> 00:03:50,920
and I just come there also as a faculty member,
76
Owen Underhill 00:03:51,020 --> 00:03:52,320
as a composer,
77
Owen Underhill 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,320
and we were starting a composition -based music program
78
Owen Underhill 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:57,720
there.
79
Owen Underhill 00:03:58,720 --> 00:03:59,240
And...
80
Gabrielle Martin 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:00,820
my dad went to.
81
Owen Underhill 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,940
which your dad went to, yes.
82
Owen Underhill 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,200
And my colleagues,
83
Owen Underhill 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:12,860
Mark Diamond and Penelope Stella were great in theater.
84
Owen Underhill 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:19,540
They were great colleagues to also collaborate with.
85
Owen Underhill 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,120
So from when I first started going to,
86
Owen Underhill 00:04:24,940 --> 00:04:27,340
or being part of faculty there,
87
Owen Underhill 00:04:27,340 --> 00:04:30,280
I started working on projects,
88
Owen Underhill 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:35,580
including plays like Sam Shepard's Suicide and B -flat,
89
Owen Underhill 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:37,460
which I wrote music for.
90
Owen Underhill 00:04:37,700 --> 00:04:40,220
And Norman was lead actor in that.
91
Owen Underhill 00:04:40,660 --> 00:04:47,020
And so, and he was already doing fantastic work there.
92
Owen Underhill 00:04:47,140 --> 00:04:53,160
So I got to know him as kind of a partner in productions
93
Owen Underhill 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:54,720
rather than as a teacher,
94
Owen Underhill 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,060
because I was teaching primarily in music.
95
Gabrielle Martin 00:04:58,540 --> 00:05:03,380
And so the first well actually when was when did you co
96
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:03,380 --> 00:05:04,920
-found turning point ensemble at your site?
97
Owen Underhill 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,980
We co -founded in 2002 and our first concert was in 2003.
98
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:11,280
OK.
99
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:12,780
And then in 2008,
100
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,220
Push presented Dual Eclipse Orchestra of Two Worlds.
101
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:20,340
And then, you know, in 2012,
102
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,160
presented Trené Point Ensemble's Colorful World.
103
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:23,740 --> 00:05:26,020
In 2013, Cinema Musica.
104
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,780
The Zappa meets Verraz and Oswald in 2017.
105
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,060
Radio Rewrite in 2018 and Flying White,
106
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,700
which was also a project with One Way Dance in 2020.
107
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:39,080
But how did the conversation,
108
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,840
how did Dual Eclipse end up being part of Push 2008?
109
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:44,660 --> 00:05:46,240
Why was it such a great fit?
110
Gabrielle Martin 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:47,820
How did that come about?
111
Owen Underhill 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:55,720
Well, the Dual Eclipse project was with Balinese Ensemble,
112
Owen Underhill 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:57,940
which they had at UBC.
113
Owen Underhill 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,360
And we were doing works with dance.
114
Owen Underhill 00:06:01,860 --> 00:06:05,580
Jennifer Mascow was choreographing some works for that
115
Owen Underhill 00:06:05,580 --> 00:06:06,660
production.
116
Owen Underhill 00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:12,700
So it was, first of all, a cross -cultural project.
117
Owen Underhill 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:18,000
And secondly, it involved dance.
118
Owen Underhill 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,680
So those were the kind of productions we worked with,
119
Owen Underhill 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:24,540
with Norman,
120
Owen Underhill 00:06:25,220 --> 00:06:29,840
tended to be the ones that were more interdisciplinary and
121
Owen Underhill 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:31,600
also included original work.
122
Gabrielle Martin 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,960
than Colorful World, how did that, you know,
123
Gabrielle Martin 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,760
did Norman just kind of invite the next project that was
124
Gabrielle Martin 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:41,400
interdisciplinary,
125
Gabrielle Martin 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:43,560
or did you end up kind of pitching that work?
126
Gabrielle Martin 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,540
How did Colorful World end up being part of?
127
Owen Underhill 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:53,880
The Colorful World project was more of a concert that
128
Owen Underhill 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:55,720
included some new commissions.
129
Owen Underhill 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,160
I know we did a piece of Rodney Sharmn there.
130
Owen Underhill 00:06:58,580 --> 00:06:59,680
So we tended to,
131
Owen Underhill 00:06:59,980 --> 00:07:04,980
I tended to pitch projects to Norman every couple of years
132
Owen Underhill 00:07:04,980 --> 00:07:10,680
that I thought would be of interest to them and also,
133
Owen Underhill 00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:13,780
you know, we're a large chamber ensemble, I should say.
134
Owen Underhill 00:07:14,060 --> 00:07:18,140
So we're in between a small chamber ensemble and an
135
Owen Underhill 00:07:18,140 --> 00:07:18,620
orchestra.
136
Owen Underhill 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,140
We usually have at least 15 players.
137
Owen Underhill 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:29,020
So they were, you know, we tend to do quite major works,
138
Owen Underhill 00:07:29,260 --> 00:07:30,080
major scale.
139
Owen Underhill 00:07:30,620 --> 00:07:40,440
And so those that were a good fit for push were a lot of
140
Owen Underhill 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,600
those projects that involved other disciplines.
141
Gabrielle Martin 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,460
Talk to us about what was Zappa, Mitzvahrez, and Oswald,
142
Gabrielle Martin 00:07:50,940 --> 00:07:52,960
the present -day composer refuses to die.
143
Gabrielle Martin 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:54,500
I mean, first of all, it has an incredible title.
144
Gabrielle Martin 00:07:55,380 --> 00:07:57,900
Can you just explain this project a bit?
145
Owen Underhill 00:07:59,000 --> 00:07:59,700
Yeah, sure.
146
Owen Underhill 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,260
Well, the present -day composer refuses to die, I remember,
147
Owen Underhill 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,800
as being written on a Frank Zappa Mothers of Invention
148
Owen Underhill 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:11,700
album.
149
Owen Underhill 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:13,520
It's written there.
150
Owen Underhill 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,800
And then I found out that that was a quote from the avant
151
Owen Underhill 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:24,340
-garde composer, Edgard Varese, who was active in,
152
Owen Underhill 00:08:25,300 --> 00:08:26,720
originally from France,
153
Owen Underhill 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:32,020
but active from the 1920s in New York and in the US.
154
Owen Underhill 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:35,880
And Frank Zappa, even as a teenager,
155
Owen Underhill 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:42,320
was really interested in contemporary music and he really
156
Owen Underhill 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,460
appreciated Edgard Varese,
157
Owen Underhill 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,980
who was really an adventurer in sound.
158
Owen Underhill 00:08:50,060 --> 00:08:56,940
And so that quote always stuck in my head and so because
159
Owen Underhill 00:08:56,940 --> 00:09:01,920
Turning Point Ensemble works towards making connections
160
Owen Underhill 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:03,940
with the past to the present day,
161
Owen Underhill 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,800
we often would like to pair maybe a composer or some
162
Owen Underhill 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:13,380
innovative music of the first half of the 20th century with
163
Owen Underhill 00:09:13,380 --> 00:09:15,920
something much more recent.
164
Owen Underhill 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:21,320
So that was an idea we had and actually started talking
165
Owen Underhill 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,760
with Norman about that in 2014.
166
Owen Underhill 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,340
So we worked on that one for a while together.
167
Owen Underhill 00:09:29,220 --> 00:09:29,700
And is that...
168
Gabrielle Martin 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,760
because Push was involved as a co -producer or because you
169
Gabrielle Martin 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,820
were just like developing the concept and keeping Norman in
170
Gabrielle Martin 00:09:34,820 --> 00:09:35,120
the loop.
171
Owen Underhill 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:38,260
Push was,
172
Owen Underhill 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:42,740
well Norman really liked the idea of Res from the start,
173
Owen Underhill 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:50,160
but he was very interested in getting a new work written
174
Owen Underhill 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,120
for that show by a Canadian composer,
175
Owen Underhill 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:59,420
and so we developed that one actually as a co -commission
176
Owen Underhill 00:09:59,420 --> 00:10:00,280
project.
177
Owen Underhill 00:10:01,180 --> 00:10:06,140
So we discussed who to include in that,
178
Owen Underhill 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:15,320
and eventually proposed John Oswald to him from Toronto,
179
Owen Underhill 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:23,320
who worked a lot on his plunder phonics,
180
Owen Underhill 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:28,920
where he sort of plundered the work of Michael Jackson
181
Owen Underhill 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:29,560
even,
182
Owen Underhill 00:10:29,820 --> 00:10:33,560
he had to withdraw that because Michael Jackson thought
183
Owen Underhill 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:36,700
about him, and he did Grateful Dead,
184
Owen Underhill 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,280
so he was very involved in pop music as well as
185
Owen Underhill 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:48,080
contemporary music, and when I threw that out to Norman,
186
Owen Underhill 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:49,060
he said,
187
Owen Underhill 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:56,300
ah, killer suggestion, and John Oswald, so it was a go,
188
Owen Underhill 00:10:56,460 --> 00:11:05,940
so that became a really exciting program for us and for
189
Owen Underhill 00:11:05,940 --> 00:11:06,460
Push,
190
Owen Underhill 00:11:06,740 --> 00:11:11,980
and we also commissioned some dance for a couple of those
191
Owen Underhill 00:11:11,980 --> 00:11:17,140
pieces because we did the sort of large arrangements of
192
Owen Underhill 00:11:17,140 --> 00:11:24,020
Zappa that were done by Ensemble Muldern in Munich while
193
Owen Underhill 00:11:24,020 --> 00:11:25,580
Zappa was still alive,
194
Owen Underhill 00:11:25,580 --> 00:11:28,740
like in the last years before he passed away,
195
Owen Underhill 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:34,520
and Edward Locke, the dancer, had actually done some dance,
196
Owen Underhill 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:37,880
which they did on those productions,
197
Owen Underhill 00:11:38,340 --> 00:11:43,420
so we decided that we would also bring some dance element
198
Owen Underhill 00:11:43,420 --> 00:11:50,160
to it, and so that's what we did also.
199
Gabrielle Martin 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,600
Do you remember who were the dancers or who supported
200
Gabrielle Martin 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:54,260
choreography?
201
Owen Underhill 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,760
Yeah, it was Rob at my colleague at SFU.
202
Owen Underhill 00:11:59,900 --> 00:12:02,380
Oh yeah, okay, Rob Kitsos?
203
Owen Underhill 00:12:02,540 --> 00:12:03,660
Rob Kitsos, yes.
204
Owen Underhill 00:12:04,300 --> 00:12:06,640
And so he did, you know,
205
Owen Underhill 00:12:06,740 --> 00:12:08,460
it was sort of set up as a concert,
206
Owen Underhill 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,680
but he had the dancers in the front,
207
Owen Underhill 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:12,980
which is the way Edward Locke had done it,
208
Owen Underhill 00:12:12,980 --> 00:12:16,340
and they were actually right behind me and going very
209
Owen Underhill 00:12:16,340 --> 00:12:17,960
quickly, and right,
210
Owen Underhill 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:22,220
I could feel the wind of them when they were performing.
211
Owen Underhill 00:12:22,220 --> 00:12:26,840
So we did that as well, and that was a very popular show.
212
Owen Underhill 00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:32,280
It brought out all the Zappa fanatics,
213
Owen Underhill 00:12:32,700 --> 00:12:33,780
which there are many.
214
Owen Underhill 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:34,580
Okay.
215
Owen Underhill 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,380
So we did three shows, and I don't know what it was.
216
Owen Underhill 00:12:39,540 --> 00:12:40,400
What venue was this?
217
Owen Underhill 00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:40,640
You're right.
218
Owen Underhill 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,660
It was in the Wong Theatre at SFU Woodward,
219
Owen Underhill 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,100
so there were about 350 people at each of those shows,
220
Owen Underhill 00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:51,580
but it was a good show for Bush,
221
Owen Underhill 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:53,520
and it was certainly a good show for us.
222
Gabrielle Martin 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,980
Great, and did you, um, did Question, Turning Point,
223
Gabrielle Martin 00:12:57,100 --> 00:12:57,680
Ensemble, Commission,
224
Gabrielle Martin 00:12:57,940 --> 00:13:00,720
other projects of all the ones that were presented in the
225
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:01,220
push years?
226
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:02,580
No.
227
Owen Underhill 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,720
We talked about it, but that was, I think,
228
Owen Underhill 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:10,180
the one time that Norman really wanted to get involved with
229
Owen Underhill 00:13:10,180 --> 00:13:13,360
a sort of commission that we would jointly do.
230
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:16,320
Great.
231
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,980
And then, yeah, as mentioned there, after that project,
232
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:26,320
Radio Rewrite was presented Flying White with One Way
233
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:26,760
Dance.
234
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,400
How would you reflect on the evolution of the company,
235
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:36,760
like let's say from Dual Eclipse in 2008 right up to Flying
236
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:37,700
White in 2020?
237
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:38,060 --> 00:13:38,680
And then now,
238
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:44,560
has there been an evolution in terms of process, practice,
239
Gabrielle Martin 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:47,420
points of interest for projects?
240
Owen Underhill 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:50,260
Yes, I mean,
241
Owen Underhill 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:56,940
we got more and more adventurous over the years in doing
242
Owen Underhill 00:13:56,940 --> 00:14:02,740
ambitious interdisciplinary projects, for one thing,
243
Owen Underhill 00:14:03,020 --> 00:14:08,280
and so Push certainly helped us with that because we always
244
Owen Underhill 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:15,420
knew that if we were part of the Push Festival that it was
245
Owen Underhill 00:14:15,420 --> 00:14:21,800
a great way to bring in theater, dance, film, you know,
246
Owen Underhill 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,600
a much more diverse audience, I guess.
247
Owen Underhill 00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:29,900
And another thing we did,
248
Owen Underhill 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,660
which was in the Flying White Project,
249
Owen Underhill 00:14:32,660 --> 00:14:38,260
was we worked with Chinese traditional instruments,
250
Owen Underhill 00:14:38,540 --> 00:14:42,820
and so some of the performers that are here in Vancouver.
251
Owen Underhill 00:14:42,820 --> 00:14:49,140
So we also became a little more cross -cultural in the
252
Owen Underhill 00:14:49,140 --> 00:14:51,240
projects that we have done, you know,
253
Owen Underhill 00:14:51,260 --> 00:14:58,220
when we saw the opportunity and the partners approached us
254
Owen Underhill 00:14:58,220 --> 00:14:58,760
as well.
255
Owen Underhill 00:14:59,260 --> 00:15:03,160
So those were some of the things that we were able to
256
Owen Underhill 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:07,500
explore more fully with the support of Push.
257
Gabrielle Martin 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,740
And your role in the projects, is it,
258
Gabrielle Martin 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,180
are you sometimes composer, sometimes more producer?
259
Gabrielle Martin 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:19,000
Does your role shift across these projects?
260
Owen Underhill 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,700
Well, I'm the conductor of the ensemble,
261
Owen Underhill 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:24,640
so I am a member of the ensemble,
262
Owen Underhill 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,300
but I did compose Flying White.
263
Speaker 3 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,780
project because I'm a personal and pristine body for
264
Speaker 3 00:15:32,780 --> 00:15:35,380
Chinese traditional instruments and
265
Owen Underhill 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:36,980
And so I was,
266
Owen Underhill 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,760
and also Dorothy Chang was involved with that as a
267
Owen Underhill 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:42,100
composer.
268
Owen Underhill 00:15:42,940 --> 00:15:46,600
So sometimes I'm involved as a creator as well,
269
Owen Underhill 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:54,080
but the projects that we've done like that are tend to be
270
Owen Underhill 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,180
so original that, you know,
271
Owen Underhill 00:15:57,260 --> 00:16:00,620
you feel a little bit like an artistic director of the
272
Owen Underhill 00:16:00,620 --> 00:16:01,660
project as a whole.
273
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:02,940
Yeah, yeah.
274
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:03,860 --> 00:16:09,060
And so you kind of mentioned that one of the benefits of
275
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:09,060 --> 00:16:11,760
partnering with Push was to bring in different audiences
276
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,880
and that it was kind of a good home for those more
277
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:17,840
interdisciplinary projects.
278
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,380
Yeah, how do you see, I'm curious, you know,
279
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,020
having had a relationship with the festival since the early
280
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:26,020 --> 00:16:26,240
days,
281
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:26,340 --> 00:16:29,100
how you see the cultural context of the festival and its
282
Gabrielle Martin 00:16:29,100 --> 00:16:30,100
significance in Vancouver.
283
Owen Underhill 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:31,280
Yeah,
284
Owen Underhill 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:37,460
well I mean push brought in from around the world like
285
Owen Underhill 00:16:37,460 --> 00:16:43,220
leading innovative cutting -edge projects that otherwise
286
Owen Underhill 00:16:43,220 --> 00:16:45,800
would never have come to Vancouver.
287
Owen Underhill 00:16:46,580 --> 00:16:52,060
But they also had a role with local artists and helped,
288
Owen Underhill 00:16:52,060 --> 00:16:52,640
you know,
289
Owen Underhill 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:58,340
integrate them with other artists from around the world.
290
Owen Underhill 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:00,440
So it was,
291
Owen Underhill 00:17:01,100 --> 00:17:07,900
push has definitely had a fantastic impact over the
292
Speaker 3 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:09,859
you know, past 20 years or so.
293
Gabrielle Martin 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,760
What are you what are you excited about now with a turning
294
Gabrielle Martin 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:15,319
point ensemble?
295
Owen Underhill 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,119
Working next year,
296
Owen Underhill 00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:21,660
we're doing a production of Kaya Sarajajo's music.
297
Owen Underhill 00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:27,760
She just passed away of a Finnish composer and her music is
298
Owen Underhill 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,960
so colorful and beautiful and hardly ever done in Vancouver
299
Owen Underhill 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:40,200
because it's for very large ensembles and so that's the
300
Owen Underhill 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:46,340
kind of thing we'd like to present up close to Vancouver
301
Owen Underhill 00:17:46,340 --> 00:17:51,920
audiences and we're always working on recording projects so
302
Owen Underhill 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:56,160
we just did a recording project of Nova Han who's a local
303
Owen Underhill 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:00,580
composer of some large work she wrote for us and so that's
304
Owen Underhill 00:18:00,580 --> 00:18:06,440
just been released and we're trying to dream up some more
305
Owen Underhill 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:11,160
dance projects but usually those take two or three years to
306
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:13,440
Okay.
307
Owen Underhill 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:14,920
put in the hopper.
308
Owen Underhill 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:15,320
Yeah.
309
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,720
It sounds like you're very busy, which is exciting,
310
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,380
working on all sorts of collaborations and new projects.
311
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:28,020
Of all the projects that were train point ensemble projects
312
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:28,020 --> 00:18:28,860
that were presented at Push,
313
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,440
what would you say is like your most dear project,
314
Gabrielle Martin 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:35,540
the one that you have the fondest memories of?
315
Owen Underhill 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,520
Well, I have fond memories of several of them.
316
Owen Underhill 00:18:41,100 --> 00:18:48,060
Definitely the Zappa, Varese, and John Oswald projects,
317
Owen Underhill 00:18:48,260 --> 00:18:48,720
one of them.
318
Owen Underhill 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:52,660
The Radio Rewrite was some ways a similar project because
319
Owen Underhill 00:18:52,660 --> 00:18:56,960
it involved the music of Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead,
320
Owen Underhill 00:18:56,980 --> 00:19:03,460
who most people know that he's written for film and so on.
321
Owen Underhill 00:19:03,460 --> 00:19:09,120
But he also is interested in unusual instruments like the
322
Owen Underhill 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:10,420
And Martineau.
323
Owen Underhill 00:19:10,580 --> 00:19:16,320
It's a bit like the Theremin and the music of Olivier
324
Owen Underhill 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:17,540
Messiaen.
325
Owen Underhill 00:19:18,180 --> 00:19:21,020
The similar way that Zappa was interested in Varese,
326
Owen Underhill 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,900
so that Radio Rewrite project included Johnny Greenwood's
327
Owen Underhill 00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:30,780
music and so we were able to have a bit of a connection
328
Owen Underhill 00:19:31,170 --> 00:19:37,900
with him through his publisher and also we had on that
329
Owen Underhill 00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:46,200
program a couple of newer works involving And Martineau and
330
Owen Underhill 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,020
a big piece by Steve Reich.
331
Owen Underhill 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,400
Which is called Radio Rewrite,
332
Owen Underhill 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:56,300
which is actually based on a couple of Radio Ants songs.
333
Owen Underhill 00:19:57,500 --> 00:20:04,180
And I guess the sort of genre busting, if you could say,
334
Owen Underhill 00:20:04,820 --> 00:20:06,620
projects like that,
335
Owen Underhill 00:20:06,820 --> 00:20:14,020
where it seemed a really natural ones to do with Push.
336
Owen Underhill 00:20:14,020 --> 00:20:22,320
And those generally did very well also with audience and
337
Owen Underhill 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:23,840
interest, local interest.
338
Gabrielle Martin 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,260
Thanks so much, Ellen.
339
Gabrielle Martin 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:25,940
Oh, you're welcome.
340
Ben Charland 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,100
That was a special episode of Push Play in honor of our
341
Ben Charland 00:20:33,100 --> 00:20:35,860
20th Push International Performing Arts Festival,
342
Ben Charland 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,080
which will run January 23rd to February 9th,
343
Ben Charland 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,540
2025 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
344
Ben Charland 00:20:42,420 --> 00:20:45,840
To stay up to date on Push 20 and the 2025 Festival,
345
Ben Charland 00:20:46,420 --> 00:20:50,340
visit pushfestival .ca and follow us on social media at
346
Ben Charland 00:20:50,340 --> 00:20:50,960
Push Festival.
347
Ben Charland 00:20:51,740 --> 00:20:53,200
And if you've enjoyed this episode,
348
Ben Charland 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:55,820
please spread the word and take a moment to leave a review.
349
Ben Charland 00:20:57,020 --> 00:20:59,380
Push Play is produced by myself, Trisha Knowles,
350
Ben Charland 00:20:59,380 --> 00:21:00,340
and Ben Charlin.
351
Ben Charland 00:21:00,900 --> 00:21:03,660
A new episode of our 20th Festival series with Gabriel
352
Ben Charland 00:21:03,660 --> 00:21:05,640
Martin will be released every Tuesday,
353
Ben Charland 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:07,340
wherever you get your podcasts.