{"id":114783,"date":"2025-06-02T14:22:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T18:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=114783"},"modified":"2025-06-02T14:22:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T18:22:30","slug":"interview-composer-thierry-tidrow-new-music-concerts-glimmer-personal-shared-exploration-queerness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/06\/02\/interview-composer-thierry-tidrow-new-music-concerts-glimmer-personal-shared-exploration-queerness\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Composer Thierry Tidrow: New Music Concerts Glimmer: A personal and shared exploration of queerness"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_114784\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114784\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-114784\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-11.jpg\" alt=\"Composer Thierry Tidrow (Photo: Sonja Palade)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-11.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-11-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-11-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-11-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-114784\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composer Thierry Tidrow (Photo: Sonja Palade)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Glimmer: A personal and shared exploration of queerness is the title for the June 11 concert presented by Toronto\u2019s New Music Concerts, spotlighting the work of composer Thierry Tidrow.<\/p>\n<p>The concert event, presented in partnership with OperaQ and the Canadian Music Centre, and developed as part of the Canadian Music Centre, Ontario Region&#8217;s Chalmers Performance Space Artist in Residence Program, features the world premiere of Tidrow\u2019s Glimmer for 3 high voices, flute(s), clarinet(s) and viola.<\/p>\n<p>The concert-length work was commissioned by NMC. It brings text and music together in an organic mix, as created by an all-queer collaboration of performers and musicians, and developed through a series of workshops.<\/p>\n<p>Nils Karlsson D\u00e4umling, a children\u2019s opera by Thierry Tidrow, performed by Deutsche Oper am Rhein (2019):<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kvWjBFjRW2E?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>Canadian Composer Thierry Tidrow<\/h2>\n<p>Award-winning Canadian composer Thierry Tidrow produces both instrumental and vocal music, with a leaning towards opera. His works often combine elements of lyricism and parody in a playful mode.<\/p>\n<p>Thierry is a native of Ottawa, where he began studying music by singing in choirs, followed by studies in composition, music theory and early music performance at McGill University, where he earned a Bachelor\u2019s degree. He continued his studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he received his Master\u2019s degree in composition, and then at the Hochschule f\u00fcr Musik Freiburg, earning an Advanced Studies diploma.<\/p>\n<p>He has collaborated with many performers and ensembles in both Europe and North America, including the Asko-Sch\u00f6nberg Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, the Bozzini String Quartet, Continuum, hand werk, Ensemble Proton, Sarah Maria Sun, Johannes Fischer, Brian Archinal, and Heather Roche among others. He has been featured at several music festivals, including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Heidelberger Fr\u00fchling, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival, the Festival Radio-France de Montpellier, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, and the Zagreb Music Biennale.<\/p>\n<h3>Thierry Tidrow: The Interview<\/h3>\n<p>How did he come to gravitate towards composition?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI studied at McGill, and I was studying Early Music,\u201d Tidrow recalls. Growing up in Ottawa, he sang in St. Matthew\u2019s boys\u2019 choir.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kind of toyed around with composition as a teenager,\u201d he say, \u201cbut I thought I was going to become a countertenor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Singing per se is one thing; singing on stage in front of an audience is another. The realities of performing, where you\u2019re practising and interpreting other people\u2019s music, made him realize where his real interest lay. He wanted to create new music, and write new pieces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust knowing that each project was going to be a completely new thing,\u201d he says of the appeal. He took up several different instruments at the time. \u201cI realized I was more toying with the instruments,\u201d he adds. Seriously studying instrumental music means having a laser-like focus on just that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s also why I like doing opera. Every piece can be so different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He likens it to the role of a film director in a way, someone who can tackle a horror movie, then science fiction, then another genre at will. As a composer, he wasn\u2019t forced to choose any single aesthetic or goal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me being a composer, it\u2019s like trying a different recipe each day.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Glimmer<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve known Brian Current for a while.\u201d Composer and conductor Brian Current is the Artistic Director of New Music Concerts. Back in 2014, Continuum Contemporary Music commissioned a piece from Tidrow titled Au fond du Clo\u00eetre humide. Current conducted the piece, which went on to win the Jules L\u00e9ger Prize for New Chamber Music that year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe stayed in contact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Current contacted Tidrow to write a new short piece around the theme of queerness as part of a larger program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said sure&#8230; but if I explore this topic, I need to do something bigger than that,\u201d Tidrow replied. The theme was multifaceted and dense. \u201cI feel like I just wouldn\u2019t do it justice,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt became a concert length piece.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he points out, it will be performed by an ensemble of queer performers. \u201cIt has to be the perspective of various people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The instrumentation includes flutes, clarinets, and viola. \u201cI wanted to have three instrumentalists and three singers. I like this idea of having a nice balance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The three instruments each have two different identities in the piece, as he describes it: flute, alto flute and piccolo; clarinet and bass clarinet; the viola remains the same, but \u201cit undergoes a kind of transition,\u201d he describes. \u201cThat was something that was kind of interesting to me conceptually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The three singers each have one monologue, and one song of their own. \u201cOne autobiographical, and one moment of focus on them as a soloists,\u201d he says. \u201cBut for most of the piece they sing as a kind of three-headed chorus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A process of workshopping, including a week spent with the performers in January, added elements to the piece. \u201cThere\u2019s these little elements that are autobiographical. The stories come out,\u201d he says. \u201cThe texts are written by me, but workshopped with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_114786\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114786\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-114786\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Kailan_Headshot_04-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Clarinetist Kailan Fournier (Photo courtesy of the artist)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Kailan_Headshot_04-scaled-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Kailan_Headshot_04-scaled-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Kailan_Headshot_04-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Kailan_Headshot_04-scaled-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-114786\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clarinetist Kailan Fournier (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cI would like to say that the piece, in a way, is quite influenced by the times that we\u2019re in,\u201d Thierry says.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s impossible to escape the headlines, the uncertainty, and the rising wave of intolerance in the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s kind of at the core of the piece,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of asking \u2014 what will we do with these things that will paralyze us?\u201d he adds. \u201cIt tries in the end to be life affirming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Taking stock, it\u2019s clear that there are still things to be grateful for, and still progress that has been made.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the same time, we feel like the futures that we imagined for ourselves feel more and more limited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s that duality of hope and gratitude and celebration vs. bereavement and mourning that plays throughout the work. \u201cI feel like we live in a world where we have a coexistence of these two feelings.\u201d The darker emotions have to be acknowledged without giving in to despair. \u201cAlso to find the light and lightness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is humour built into the piece as well. \u201cParody is very important to me.\u201d He cites the late filmmaker David Lynch as a philosophical inspiration, someone who\u2019s work was both silly and serious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s finding that sweet spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Concert<\/p>\n<p>The performers include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anika Venkatesh: Voice<\/li>\n<li>Brad Cherwin: Clarinets<\/li>\n<li>Danika Lor\u00e8n: Voice<\/li>\n<li>Hee-Soo Yoon: Viola<\/li>\n<li>Ryan McDonald: Voice<\/li>\n<li>Terry Lim: Flutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The concert begins at 8 p.m., but the doors open an hour before.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pre-concert talk with composer Thierry Tidrow at 7:15 p.m.<\/li>\n<li>Young Artist Overture: Kaija Saariaho (FIN) Duft for solo clarinet, performed by Kailan Fournier at 7:45 p.m.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Find more details about the concert at Buddies in Bad Times theatre on June 11 [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmusicconcerts.com\/concert\/glimmer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a;\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? 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