The Acadia New Music Society proudly presents the Seventh Annual Shattering the Silence (STS), a festival dedicated to the performance of new concert music, February 1–8, 2014, on the campus of Acadia University.

STS 2014 welcomes Allan Gordon Bell from the University of Calgary as Composer in Residence, sponsored by the SOCAN Foundation. During this residency Bell will lecture, lead workshops, and coach student and professional musicians as they prepare and perform his music. 

The idea of ensemble, of individual musicians collaborating as they perform, informs every concert in STS 2014. Performing Ensembles this year include the NBG Ensemble (comprised of top freelance musicians from the Maritimes); subText Ensemble (featuring Five of Atlantic Canada’s foremost improvising composer-performers); Fifth Wind Quintet; and eight other ensembles representing the Acadia University School of Music and the Annapolis Valley region.

The music will be extraordinary.  World-class regional composers like Anthony Genge, Jerome Blais, Derek Charke, and Peter Togni will have works presented alongside emerging younger composers.  There will 11 World Premieres of new works, performed by three professional ensembles and a host of student performers.  For a complete listing of every concert, lecture, and event, visit www.AcadiaNewMusic.org.

About the Festival

Under the guidance of co-directors Derek Charke and Mark Hopkins, Shattering the Silence is branding the Annapolis Valley as a hotbed of new music composition and performance in Eastern Canada. Through fifteen events over five days, Shattering the Silence celebrates the joy of creating and performing new music, presenting compelling performances for 21st Century ears.  Events take place on the campus of Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Derek Charke & Mark Hopkins,

Co-Directors, Shattering the Silence Festival

Press information for individual events will follow.  To contact an STS 2014 Festival representative for media purposes (interviews, etc.) contact information is provided below.  Complimentary concert passes to review concerts are available on request. 

Derek Charke                dcharke@gmail.com                              cell 902-698-1099

Mark Hopkins                markemersonhopkins@yahoo.ca             cell 902-300-8244

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