The first lecturer of the 2011 matralab lectures series is Christopher Butterfield, who will talk about his recent work, including Bosquet, for 22 flutes and one cello, Stall, for two improvising sopranos, and Trip, for string quartet. This lecture will take place in MB 8.255, located in 1450 Guy on February 1st, 2011 at 2:30 pm (14h30).

Composer Christopher Butterfield lives in Victoria, British Columbia. His most recent works include Bosquet, a spatial work for 22 flutes and cello commissioned by Montreal’s Ensemble Alizé; Stall, a site-specific work for public washrooms commissioned by vocal artists DB Boyko and Christine Duncan; Trip, a string quartet written for the Quatuor Bozzini; settings of Jacques Prévert’s 1947 childrens’ stories Contes pour enfants pas sages, Toronto’s Continuum Ensemble; Madame Wu said, a projected three-day piece for piano trio; Triple Expansion for spatial orchestra, commissioned by the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra; and Les Paradis Perdus, music for voice and tape to accompany a choreography by Laurence Lemieux.

He has written an opera, Zurich 1916, for the Banff Festival in 1998; Convoy PQ17, a ballet score for chorus and orchestra (St. Petersburg, Russia in 2001), and many chamber works. In 1996/97 he performed Kurt Schwitters’ sound poem Ursonata many times, on tour with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in Europe and the U.S.

In 2007 Christopher Butterfield was a fellow at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. His music has been played across Canada, as well as in Finland, Slovakia, and France, and is recorded on the Artifact and CBC labels. He studied composition in the 70’s with Rudolf Komorous and Bülent Arel.  He has taught composition at the University of Victoria since 1992.