Coilege concert
features the
work of modern
composers

odern music composers are

starving because of the public’s

obsession with such icons as
Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach. The
oldies get all the air play, says Douglas
College Music Instructor Michael Strutt,
and music lovers tend to ignore the newer
compositions.

“People don’t seem to believe that
there is great music being written right
now, today,” says Strutt. ““There’s nothing
wrong with enjoying the music of the
past, but we shouldn’t let it overshadow
the music of modern, talented
composers.”

Getting a few modern composers out
where people can enjoy them is the reason
for the free New West New Music concert
being held at the College on November
22. Strutt will be joining flautist Kathryn
Cernauskas, percussionist Robert
Caldwell, and baritone Owen Duggan to
perform the music of five modern
composers.

“The music we’re performing is both
tonal and melodic, but pushes beyond the
normal boundaries,” says Strutt. ‘““We’re
aware that many people dislike modern
music just on principle, so we’ ve been
careful to choose composers who can
change their minds.”

The concert’s centrepiece, El
Cimarron by Hans Werner Henze, is a
dramatic story about a runaway slave in
Cuba. Despite being acknowledged as one
of the most significant pieces of the
modern music scene, El Cimarron is
rarely performed due to an extremely
complex score: among other challenges,
the piece requires 33 percussion
instruments ranging from thunder sheets
to bamboo drums.

“We hope that this concert will be the
first of a series,” says Strutt. “Tt all
depends of the turnout we receive.”

New West New Music takes place at
8pm on Wednesday, November 22, at the
Performing Arts Theatre. A pre-concert
talk begins at 7pm. Admission is free. For
information, call 527-5242. I

Top Girls charts price of
one woman’s success

What happens to a woman who
sacrifices her emotions in order to compete
in the corporate world? Playwright Caryl
Churchill asks the question in Top Girls,
but she stops short of pronouncing a
verdict. *

A dark, complex story built on
character and dialogue, Top Girls caught
the eye of Douglas College theatre
instructor Allan Lysell when he first read
the script five years ago. The play’s need
for a large all-woman cast, however,
forced him to wait for the right time to
direct it.

“We have seven good, strong, women
in our senior class this year,” says Lysell.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to
stage the play.”

Set in the cutthroat business
environment of Margaret Thatcher’s
England in the 1980’s, Top Girls examines
the choices made by Marlene, the newly
promoted manager of the Top Girls
Employment Agency. Marlene sees herself
as a success because she has overcome
steep odds to carve herself a place in the

 

 

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the campus will open in September, 1996. 1

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corporate world.

She has paid for her fortune, however,
with an empty life in which she avoids
emotional involvements, gives away her
only child, and gives up any sense of
compassion. Churchill’s play questions
whether or not this has always been the
only way for women to get ahead, and if
the sacrifice is worth it.

To give the audience a wider
perspective for answering such questions,
the script tinkers with time. The play
opens with Marlene sitting down to a
celebratory dinner with a collection of
female characters drawn from historical
and fictional sources. The final scene
takes the audience backwards a year in
Marlene’s life, showing the audience
some of her earlier choices and the
resulting fallout.

“Dialogue and character are definitely
Churchill’s strengths,” says Lysell. “The
play is very dialogue-driven, with most of
the action taking place off the stage.” I