May 2022 Update

As we navigate the fallout of the pandemic setbacks and closures of early 2022, I have continued with my research and other activities in the virtual space. Last summer I was a recipient of a research grant from the Helen Carswell Chair in Community-Engaged Research in the Arts, in support of a workshop on improvisation and creative music making. Although the workshop itself has been postponed several times and will now take place in the fall, in February I hosted a virtual panel discussion on representation, creativity, and other relevant issues, as part of the Community Music Symposium hosted by the Carswell Chair.

Host Amy Hillis, moderator Pratik Gandhi, guests Colin Clarke and Cait Nishimura, and co-investigator Bill Thomas participate in a virtual roundtable on representation, role modelling, and creative music making as part of the Community Music Symposium, February 17, 2022.

More recently, I adjudicated bands at MusicFest Canada’s 2022 virtual festival, and gave a presentation for the Canadian Band Association’s virtual A Time to Share series, called “Diversifying the Syllabus: How to Be More Intentional with Repertoire Selection”.

Pratik rehearses the Rouge River Winds in a cafeteria, with safety mitigations in place.

In-person musical activities are slowly starting to resume. I will be conducting a casual cafeteria concert with the Rouge River Winds next month, with a program of music that reflects on ten years of making music together. And then, a few weeks after that, I am so excited to get to perform one of my all-time favourite works, Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, in a pair of concerts with the Oakville Symphony. The program also features the fabulous Kendra Grittani performing the Haydn D major cello concerto, and a lovely and whimsical work by Canadian composer Leslie Opatril, called Whisky Jack.