Conductor Alex Pauk remembers his good friend, composer R. Murray Schafer
Alex Pauk is music director and conductor with Esprit Orchestra.
In 1973, I approached Murray Schafer to see if he’d hire me for his World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University. His advice: “Alex, don’t get involved in academia – just go on being a conductor and composer – a much better thing for you to do!” We became good friends and I followed his advice from that time to the present, a period during which, in Toronto, I founded Esprit Orchestra, now entering its 39th season.
. The outdoors, not the concert hall, provided his ideal performing space. I’ll never forget performances ofdeep in the wilderness around Wildcat Lake in Northern Ontario. The audience had to make a pilgrimage for the experience – showing up before sunrise at the edge of the lake.
Murray was Canada’s most imaginative, compelling composer with a sure, clear message in every work. That he achieved this while staying on top of sonic environmental issues, pioneering educational methods of “ear cleaning,” creating graphically exciting scores and producing a significant body of books and essays, is a testament to his brilliance, integrity and stamina as a force in bringing new music to the fore.
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