The Walker Cultural Leader Series 2012- 13

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The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us in this inaugural year of the series.

This educational program is generously funded by Marilyn I. Walker.  

Daniel Levinson [2], movement and stage fighting expert, will be providing a Movement and Stage Combat Intensive program delivered Feb 20 - 23, 2013. 

Feb. 20, 21, 22 & 23

• Single Sword workshop:  9:30 am - 12:30 pm, Dance Studio, Walker Complex (closed session; registrants only)
• Unarmed Combat workshop: 1:30 - 4:30 pm, Rm. TH 141 (closed session; registrants only)

Past Presentations

Daniel Barrow [5], creator of graphic performance and manual animation, will offer studio visits with students, an artist talk open to the general public, a workshop with Foundation students, and a public performance at Robertson Hall.

Oct. 16

• Studio visits: 1:30 - 3 pm, 7 - 8 pm, Rm. GLN 162 and EA 115 (closed session)

Oct. 17

• Studio visits 9 - 10:30 am, Rm. GLN 162 and EAA 115 (closed session)
• Artist Talk: Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, 12 noon - 1:30 pm (free community event)

Oct. 18

• Workshop with foundation students: 10 am - 12 noon, Rm. GLN 162 (closed session)

Oct. 19

• Public performance: Robertson Hall, Folk Arts Centre: 7 - 8 pm (free community event)
• Wrap-up party with DJ Granny Ark: 8 - 10 pm (free community event)

Robertson Hall, Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre, 85 Church St., St. Catharines, Ontario
Contact: Prof. Duncan MacDonald [6], Visual Arts

Winnipeg-born, Montreal-based artist Daniel Barrow uses obsolete technologies to present written, pictorial and cinematic narratives centering on the practices of drawing and collecting. Since 1993, he has created and adapted comic book narratives to "manual" forms of animation by projecting, layering and manipulating drawings on overhead projectors.

Daniel has exhibited widely in Canada and abroad. He has performed at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), PS1 Contemporary Art Center (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s TBA festival, and the British Film Institute (London). Barrow is the winner of the 2010 Sobey Art Award. He is represented by Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto.

Joan Watson [7], principal horn of the Canadian Opera Company and member of True North Brass, will be providing workshops on setting career goals for musicians.

Nov. 2

• Workshop on setting career goals for musicians I: 3 - 5 pm, Concordia Seminary Chapel (free to MIWSFPA students, $5 admission for the public)
  

Nov. 3

• Workshop on setting career goals for musicians II: 10 am - 12 noon, Concordia Seminary Chapel (free to MIWSFPA students, $5 admission for the public)

Contact: Prof. Matthew Royal [8], Music

Joan Watson is Canada’s foremost horn soloist, principal horn, lecturer and educator. She is highly regarded as a consummate musician and skilled virtuoso. Her contributions across the country include presently serving as principal horn of the award-winning Canadian Opera Orchestra, founding member of the prestigious True North Brass quintet, associate principal horn of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 14 seasons (having won the job while 8 months pregnant), and principal horn of the Esprit Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and the Pacific Opera and Vancouver Opera Orchestras.

A member of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, Joan teaches horn and lectures on Performance Skills, audition preparation, practice tips, and creating a passionate and fulfilling life of music making. 

Stephen Nachmanovitch [9], performer, author and workshop leader who emphasizes improvisation and creativity in “life and the arts” will provide a presentation and workshops for students, workshop for fine arts teachers, and a public performance.

Nov. 15

• Presentation to DART 1F95 students: 9 - 10 am, Rm. AS 202 (closed session)
• Workshop for DART 1F95 labs 1 & 2: 11 am - 1 pm; labs 3 & 4: 2 - 4 pm, Pond Inlet (closed session)

• Public lecture/performance: 7:30 - 9 pm, Rm. TH 325 (free community event)

• Workshop, invited faculty and students, 9 - 12 noon, TH 103/105 (closed session)

Author of the book Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, improvisational violinist Nachmanovitch has dedicated his life to fostering the creative spirit within us all. Central to his beliefs is the importance of play. He has traveled world-wide lecturing on creativity and the spiritual underpinnings of art. He has presented master classes and workshops at many conservatories and universities, and has had numerous appearances on radio, television, and at music and theater festivals.

Collaborating with other artists in media including music, dance, theater, and film, Stephen has developed programs melding art, music, literature, and computer technology. He is a pioneer in free improvisation on the violin, viola and electric violin and has developed software including The World Music Menu and Visual Music Tone Painter. While music has been his major artistic form, his work inspires the artists of any genre. More information about Nachmanovitch and his work can be found at freeplay [11]

Robert Silverman [12], leading Canadian pianist and Professor Emeritus of the University of British Columbia will be providing a lecture-recital at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, and a public master class with piano students from the Department of Music. 

Jan. 11

• Hammering the Klavier: Beethoven’s Earthshaking and Bone-crushing Masterpiece, Lecture/Recital: 7:30 pm, Sean O'Sullivan theatre (free to MIWSFPA students, $15 admission for the public) 
  

Jan. 12

• Master class with Dept. of Music piano students: 10 am - 12 noon, Sean O'Sullivan Theatre (closed session)
  

Contact: Prof. Matthew Royal [13], Music

Recognized as one of Canada’s premiere pianists, Robert Silverman has reached a level of musical and technical authority that can only be accomplished after years of deep commitment to the instrument and its vast literature. Many aspects of Silverman’s playing are frequently noted: a polished technique, an extraordinary range of tonal palette, an uncanny ability to sing his way into the heart of a phrase, and probing interpretations of the most complex works in the repertoire.

The distinguished pianist has performed in concert halls throughout North America, Europe, the Far East and Australia. Under the batons of such renowned conductors as Seiji Ozawa, John Eliot Gardiner, Gerard Schwarz, Neeme Järvi, and the late Kiril Kondrashin and Sergiu Comissiona, he has appeared with orchestras on three continents, including the Chicago Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, the BBC (London) Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, and every major orchestra in Canada.