Continuum Contemporary Music will present Pine Trees and Blue Sky on December 6. The concert features a range of works, including the world premiere of Ritual IIIb by Canadian composer Haotian Yu, a piece created via Continuum’s HATCH 2019 mentorship program, and the world premiere of Jessica Ackerley’s A World In Us for violin and harp (a Continuum commission).
The concert was curated by Artistic Producer (and violinist) Roan Ma, who performs as a guest artist, along with Belgian harpist Stef Van Vynckt.
The complete program includes:
- Marcos Balter (BR) Violin Concerto
- Toshio Hosokawa (JP) Landscape II
- Haotian Yu (CA) Ritual IIIb
- Anna Höstman (CA) Pine Trees and Blue Sky
- Jessica Ackerley (CA) A World In Us
LV spoke to Roan Ma, selected as Artistic Production for 2024/25 and 2025/26 through Continuum’s Mentorship in Artistic Production (MAP), about the concert.
Roan Ma: The Interview
Roan earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Manhattan School of Music along with a Master’s in Music Education from Columbia University. She is currently a DMA candidate in violin performance at the University of Toronto. Her background at MSM provided a solid background for curation and artistic production.
“I worked as the manager of Manhattan School of Music’s recording department,” Ma explains. “That’s my old school.”
She spent about a decade at MSM, including a period of work-study. Roan worked as a recording engineer and video producer, as well as managing the school’s recording program.
“We recorded hundreds of student concerts every year,” she says. She oversaw many commercial recordings as well.
“That’s one of the reasons I like Continuum’s focus on educational programming,” she adds.
In her role with Continuum, she’s guided by Artistic Director Ryan Scott and Operations Manager Christina Volpini, and has come to learn how small ensembles work within Canada and Toronto.
Curation
What does Roan consider when curating a concert?
“It depends on the program,” she says. “For this one in particular, I started out by listing pieces that I was interested in,” she continues. “There’s a lot of practical considerations.”
The latter include things like the budget, available instrumentation, and time considerations.
“How much rehearsal time are we going to have? What kind of program is doable within the time frame that we have?”
One work is central to the program. “For this program, I programmed the concert around the Balter concerto.”
Brazilian contemporary classical music composer Marcos Balter is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University. His works have been widely performed throughout the United States, including by prominent ensembles and organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra MusicNOW Series, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and the Fromm Music Series at Harvard University, among others.
His Violin Concerto is a piece Ma wanted to play. “I’m really excited about this program. I think it’s a really strong program.” She points out the diversity of composers, each with their own style.
Balter’s piece is new to Toronto audiences. “It’s going to be the Canadian premiere.” It was written for David Bowlin of New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble.
During her time in NYC, Ma attended a master class with Balter. “It’s funny now to be learning from him. It’s a really dynamic concerto that’s full of colour and virtuosic violin playing,” she adds. “It’s very difficult to play. I feel like it’s elevated my own playing.”
Roan worked with Balter during her time at the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt this past summer.
“He told me that in this concerto, he was very interested in studying transparent forms, almost like Mozart.” He was also researching the Stravinsky violin concerto. “It’s a very contemporary concerto, but he’s referencing [other works].”
Friendship & More
Jessica Ackerley’s A World In Us is scored for harp and violin. “Her idea of this piece is that it explores the theme of friendship,” Ma says — its connections and joys. Canadian sound and visual artist Jessica Ackerley is also an experimental jazz guitarist, improvisor and painter alongside her work as a composer.
“It’s going to be featuring the harpist Stef Van Vynckt. He’s based in Europe,” Roan explains. “The theme of friendship makes a lot of sense for this piece.”
Ma, Ackerley and Van Vynck first met at the Bang On A Can Festival in New York three years ago, and have kept in touch ever since.
Landscape II by Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa is scored for string quartet and harp.
“It’s a very evocative piece,” Ma says.
Ritual Ritual IIIb is a work by Canadian composer Haotian Yu. Born in Shanghai, Yu grew up in Canada, and is now based in Berlin. His music draws from speculative analyses of Chinese musical traditions and social practices. Yu studied at the Eastman School and the HfMDK Frankfurt, along with additional study with artists in Toronto and beyond.
“It’s also very special,” Ma says. “It was originally written for Continuum’s HATCH program.” Ma is also an alumnus of HATCH a few years ago. “He revised it. We’ll be playing the revised version.”
Blue Sky
Canadian composer Anna Höstman’s Pine Trees and Blue Sky provides the title for the concert. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Höstman studied at the University of Victoria, and with Gary Kulesha at the University of Toronto. Her works often use language and text in experimental ways, and are the product of research. Her music has been performed in North America, China, England, Italy, Russia, and Mexico.
“I was really drawn to Anna’s work, after hearing her piece After the Rain,” Roan says. “It’s a very minimalist but deeply felt piece. Höstman is a very thoughtful writer.”
Continuum Contemporary Music
Roan connected with Continuum shortly after arriving in Toronto.
“I was very new to Toronto at that time. I had only been here for a couple of months.”
She began her association with the organization with her participation in the HATCH program, where she met many musicians as well as working on her own music.
“It was a very intense two weeks.” One week consisted of rehearsals, while the second was given over to performances. “It was a great opportunity to study with these really experienced musicians,” she adds.
“All the musicians that form Continuum’s core ensemble are incredible. They can play anything you put in front of them.”
The program is really about connections.
“Jessica’s idea of friendship is kind of thematic glue to the program,” she says, “even though the other pieces aren’t explicitly about friendship. I think that we need that more than ever,” she adds.
“I think that the concert for me is a celebration of […] the connections I’ve formed internationally.”
- Find performance details and tickets for Pine Trees and Blue Sky on December 6 [HERE].
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