Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, The Turning Point Ensemble is a dynamic group of some of Canada’s most exceptional musicians. Turning Point is a large chamber ensemble dedicated to increasing the understanding and appreciation of music composed during the past hundred years, linking the music of earlier times to the music of today through innovative programming and outstanding musicianship. With a commitment to Canadian music, the Ensemble also has an impressive repertoire of new commissioned work.
Turning Point Ensemble Performs Contemporary Classical Music
Upcoming Turning Point Events
Exploring Thelonious Monk’s Influence
$10-$35 plus service charges
In Strange Sphere, the Turning Point Ensemble links two iconoclasts whose music has a unique signature and startling originality. Thelonious Sphere Monk, with his quirky genius and sharply chiseled music, is influential to jazz musicians and contemporary composers alike. Rudolf Komorous, recently turned 80, is one of Canada’s most inventive and influential composers. His music, with its melancholy and strange beauty, has a Monk-like purity and individuality. The concert includes Komorous’ Strange Sphere based on Blue Monk, and 23 Poems about Horses for narrator and ensemble based on the Tang dynasty poetry of Li Ho.
An assortment of the West Coast’s most distinctive musicians including Christopher Butterfield, John Korsrud, David MacIntyre, and Tony Wilson pay homage to the music of Monk and Komorous with new works. In addition, the TPE will premiere Fantasy on Themes of Thelonious Monk by Paris-based Monk scholar and jazz musician, Joe Makholm.
I say, play your own way. Don’t play what the public wants. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing? even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years. I don’t know what other people are doing – I just know about me.
Thelonious Monk
