Hearing-Visions-Sonores (Guelph Extension), a multimedia exhibit featuring the graphic scores of four Guelph-area composers and nine Quebec-based composers, runs August 15-September 25, 2009 at the University of Guelph Library’s Academic Town Square.

The exhibit will officially launch on September 9, in conjunction with the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium, with the performance of a jointly composed graphic score by Germaine Liu, Joe Sorbara, and Jesse Stewart that was commissioned for the occasion. They will also participate in a roundtable discussion on Graphic Scores/Structured Improvisations at the Colloquium. A reception will follow.

The Hearing-Visions-Sonores (Guelph Extension) exhibit is a joint effort of the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP) research project and the University of Guelph Library. It is a companion exhibit to Hearing-Visions-Sonores already on display at McGill University. Both Guelph and McGill are partners in ICASP.

Graphic scores use non-traditional symbols and text to convey information about the performance of a piece of music. Featured in the exhibit are scores from Guelph-area composers Germaine Liu, in collaboration with visual artist Nick Loess, Joe Sorbara, Jesse Stewart, and Scott Thomson, and Quebec composers, Sandeep Bhagwati, Brian Cherney, Andrew Culver, Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Malcolm Goldstein, Joane Hétu, Robert M. Lepage, and Danielle Palardy Roger.

The exhibit is comprised of over-sized display panels of each score, with explanatory text and biographical information. Attendees will be able to watch a video-interview with each composer, complete with musical clips, at audiovisual display stations throughout the space. A website featuring an audio, visual, and text-based experience of the scores will also be available both during and after the exhibit: www.improvcommunity.ca/hvs/

The exhibit marks the progress of one research component of ICASP, namely to collect, catalogue, archive, and make publicly available, the “graphic scores” of composers who foreground improvisation in their musical works.

ICASP also focuses on student-led research and Hearing-Visions-Sonores (Guelph Extension) augments the work done by a group of students at McGill University. The Guelph Extension incorporates the work of the following, under the leadership of Professor Ajay Heble, ICASP project director.

Ashlee Cunsolo Willox (Guelph)
Project Director and Biographical and Explanatory Essay Text Writer (with assistance from the composers and Ajay Heble)

Brandon Carroll, with assistance from François Mouillot and Frédérique Arroyas (Guelph)
French Translations & Proofing

Kenny Doren (Guelph)
Videographer & Media Editor

Elizabeth Groeneveld (Guelph)
Proofreading

Andrew Hankinson (McGill)
Website Coordinator

Jerrard Smith (Guelph) with assistance from Kenny Doren
Exhibit Design & Layout

Yvan Tétreault (McGill)
Layout & Graphic Arts Assistant

University of Guelph Library assistance was provided by:

Michael Ridley, CIO

Cort Egan, Senior Communications Officer

Kirk Sprague, Manager, Facilities Services

Jeff Walker, IT Manager