New Music at the Gallery | The New Coast Quartet

Presented in partnership with the Canadian Music Centre BC, New Music at the Gallery is a live concert series hosted by the Vancouver Art Gallery that features an array of musicians and composers who draw on contemporary art themes.

Highlighting a selection of twentieth- and twenty-first-century music compositions, this second concert, inspired by the exhibition The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, will spotlight The Iliac Suite (1957), the first piece ever written using only a computer, and Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria (2006), which is in a large part dependent on a computer-generated musical process.

The compositions will be performed by the New Coast String Quartet, featuring Jack Campbell, Joseph Eggleston, Lucy Strauss and Conor Stuart.

New Music at the Gallery will be presented in Room 4East and on the Pavilion at the Gallery.

CONCERT PROGRAM

• Lejaren Hiller, The Illiac Suite (1957)
• Kaija Saariaho, Terra Memoria (2006)

The Illiac Suite is a composition known as the first score composed by an electronic computer. Lejahren Hiller, in collaboration with Leonard Issacson, programmed the Illiac I computer at the University of Illinois to generate compositional material for his String Quartet.

Terra Memoria is a composition by one of the most important Finnish contemporary composers of the last decade, Kaija Saariaho. The piece explores new musical expressions including minimalist-like repetition, electronic music and vocal operatic writing, challenging traditional notions of form and music vocabulary.

TICKETING PROCESS

Concert tickets are available for purchase in advance online at a cost of $10 for Gallery Members and $15 for the general public. Tickets include Gallery Admission. Concert attendees may enter the Gallery 30 minutes before the concert begins. Limited tickets are available. Seating in the concert space is first come, first served.

BOOK TICKETS

FOOD AND DRINKS

A selection of food and drink items provided by 1931 Gallery Bistro are available to order online in advance. Upon arrival, your order will be available for pick up in the 4th Floor Pavilion 30 minutes before the concert begins, as well as afterwards.

Food Menu:

• Individual Charcuterie
• Tuna Poke Cup
• Ruby Hummus and Flatbread Chips

Drinks Menu:

• Wine
• Beer
• Signature Cocktail
• Bottled Sparking Water
• Bottled Water

BOOK TICKETS AND ORDER NOW

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Jack Campbell is a composer, violinist and guitarist based in Vancouver, BC. Campbell’s musical process is inspired by an interdisciplinary approach to creativity. He has worked with a wide array of arts organizations, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Chali-Rosso Gallery, CMCBC, CMC Ontario (Activate Composers Program), Vancouver Pro Musica, Redshift Music, 100.5FM Radio, Vancouver Women’s Musical Society, Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Day of Music and Jean Coulthard Readings) and UBC String Orchestra. Campbell has commissioned and debuted fifteen pieces for solo violin by Canadian composers, and, in 2021, he released an album of his own solo guitar music. He was the Composer-in-Residence at the CMCBC in the summer of 2020. Campbell is an award recipient at the UBC School of Music, where he is pursuing a degree in Advanced Violin Performance. Instagram: @jack.m.campbell

Lucy Strauss is a South African musician, now gratefully practicing on the unceded ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Her practice draws together viola performance, composition, improvisation and embodied design research in Music Technology. Lucy writes and plays music ranging from Western classical to free jazz and electroacoustic genres. She has performed improvised and experimental music at the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Mixtophonics Festival, 8EAST Cultural Center and NOW Society (Vancouver), De Tanker (Amsterdam) and the Theatre Arts Admin Collective (Cape Town).

Joseph Eggleston is a currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in cello performance at the University of British Columbia, under the tutelage of Professor Eric Wilson. Previously, Eggleston was the principal cellist of the University of Oregon Symphony Orchestra. He performed regularly with the Eugene Symphony as a University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellow and has performed with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, BC Philharmonic and the Rogue Valley Symphony. Before attending U of O, Eggleston graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah with a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance. While at the University of Utah, Eggleston performed in both the O.C. Tanners and Mount Olympus Honors Quartets, as well as leading the cello section in the Utah Philharmonia.

Conor Stuart is a Vancouver-based professional violinist who is active as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician. In 2021-22, Stuart was the 1st violin with UBC’s Graduate Quartet in Residence. He has previously been the 2nd violin with the Regina Symphony Quartet and Regina Symphony Chamber Players, and the 2nd violin with the University of Calgary Quartet. Stuart also has extensive orchestral experience in ensembles across Canada. He has previously been the Acting Principal 2nd Violin of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Assistant Concertmaster of the Saskatoon Symphony, and a member of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada. He also works as a freelance and guest musician with a variety of ensembles.