{"id":21568,"date":"2014-10-15T07:25:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T11:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=21568"},"modified":"2017-01-09T21:43:42","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T02:43:42","slug":"qa-a-20-questions-with-composer-aaron-gervais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2014\/10\/15\/qa-a-20-questions-with-composer-aaron-gervais\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A | 20 Questions for Aaron Gervais"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IMG_0584-2-e1410981757232\"
Aaron Gervias Photo: Stella Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every so often, MT poses 60 questions to a local or visiting artist in Toronto who has made our classical music community that much more interesting. They pick and choose. The minimum response is 20 answers. A kind of Rorschach personality test, if you will.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Announced last week, Soundstreams<\/a> has unleashed their second SoundMakers<\/strong>\u00a0Composer in Residence<\/strong>. This year Edmonton-born, Aaron Gervais<\/strong> will be joining the\u00a0Toronto-based contemporary music presenters and writing a new commission for four digitally prepared vocalists. No stranger to Toronto, Aaron has worked with Tapestry New Opera, G27 Orchestra and Toca Loca. He\u2019s also a great\u00a0blogger, and will be writing about his progress with Soundstreams here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Q&A:<\/h3>\n

Default drink\/cocktail of choice?<\/h4>\n

Homebrew<\/p>\n

The historical personalities, both good and bad, that fascinate you the most?<\/h4>\n

Machiavelli, Tesla, Ives, Mozart, the 19th<\/sup>-century robber barons, Sidney Farber<\/p>\n

The three books that you read that made an impact on you in your formative years?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 8th<\/sup> grade, on a dare, I actually wrote a 400-page fantasy novel. It was a piece of shit, but the process of writing it did more for my literary development than any of the books I read growing up.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s musical style do you covet?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

John Oswald, Andy Hamilton, Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu)<\/p>\n

Where did you go to school?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Grant MacEwan College, University of Alberta, University of Toronto, University of California San Diego, Koninklijk Conservatorium, and several summer programs (I know, seriously\u2026)<\/p>\n

The strangest talent that you possess?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Musical composition<\/p>\n

The different career path that you could have gone on?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I probably should have been a chef. Being a chef is a lot like being a composer, except that people actually like it when you bring your work to parties, and some chefs have their own TV shows.<\/p>\n

Under what circumstances would you join the army?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Midlife crisis.<\/p>\n

Your major character flaw?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Stubborn. And conflict avoidant. You\u2019d think those would be mutually exclusive\u2026<\/p>\n

How do you know when you can trust someone?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I usually trust everyone until they give me a reason not to.<\/p>\n

The biggest mistake you\u2019ve ever made?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Trusting everyone until they give me a reason not to\u2026<\/p>\n

The talent that you wish you possessed?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Small talk, especially re: sports and cars (two things I just don\u2019t get)<\/p>\n

What are you listening to as you answer these questions?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The pieces for the \u201con repeat for an hour\u201d question.<\/p>\n

What musical instrument do you secretly long to play?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I\u2019m so jealous of anyone who can play stringed instruments.<\/p>\n

What sport did you give up and why?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

All of them. I\u2019m no good at sports. I like cycling but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

Name three pieces or composers that you never want to hear again.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Boulez, Dowland, Liszt<\/p>\n

Three pieces, songs, or arias that you could listen to on repeat for an hour?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bartok \u2013\u00a0Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta<\/p>\n

David Bowie \u2013 Sound and Vision<\/p>\n

John Oswald \u2013 Kissing Jesus in the Dark<\/p>\n

The one place that you have the least interest in ever visiting?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Russia<\/p>\n

The first three things that you do every morning?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Put on my robe, make coffee, go to the bathroom.<\/p>\n

The best way to die?<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Drunk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Announced last week, Soundstreams has unleashed their second SoundMakers Composer in Residence. This year Edmonton-born, Aaron Gervais will be joining the Toronto-based contemporary music presenters and writing a new commission for four digitally prepared vocalists. No stranger to Toronto, Aaron has worked with Tapestry New Opera, G27 Orchestra and Toca Loca. He\u2019s also a great blogger, and will be writing about his progress with Soundstreams…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,4968,5009],"tags":[5029,3079],"yst_prominent_words":[7747,6973,7742,7740,7737,7744,6616,6735,7752,7501,7750,7745,7751,7738,7753,6741,7315,7503,7749,7754],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/10\/IMG_0584-2-e1410981757232.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-5BS","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21568"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41446,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21568\/revisions\/41446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21568"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}