On March 1, music students and faculty at Western will turn the power of tornadoes into a musical masterpiece.
Among the highlights of the “Musical Gallery” are world premieres of works by graduate student composers in the Don Wright Faculty of Music inspired by Western’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), a partnership initiated in 2017 with social impact fund ImpactWX to enhance tornado detection across Canada, understand extreme weather conditions better, and assess climate change implications.
Part of Western’s sustainable development goals (SDG) week, the musical gallery will explore how storms can inspire us and how music can tell their stories.
“The goal is to ensure people leave with a sense of hope. If you know what is coming in the next 20 years, it can be very easy to retreat into ignoring it, but when we can come at it with feelings of hope, our goal is that the audience will feel there is something they can do and that they learned something,” said Sharon Wei, music professor and curator of the evening’s events.
Emily Hiemstra
This collaborative endeavour will feature performances and works from music students and faculty, alongside contributions from director, graduate environment and sustainability programs, Paul Mensink, world-renowned seismologist Lucy Jones from California and students from Western’s School of Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH). Guest musicians include Grammy-winning violinist Yvonne Lam and Juno winner Scott St. John; and cellists Mischa Meyer and Zachary Mowitz.
The event will unfold in various locations throughout both Talbot College and the Music Building, transforming these spaces into a gallery showcasing music inspired by the data collected by NTP, and other weather and nature-inspired pieces.
Emily Hiemstra, one of the student composers, expressed excitement about the opportunity to blend scientific data with musical composition. “This kind of cross pollination is always so exciting and stimulating. My piece is influenced by a video of a tornado chaser. As I watched the video, I was immediately inspired,” she said.
Ryan Duffy, another contributing composer, was inspired by the cycle of day. “Music has the power to make the invisible visible,” he said. “The morning starts with a soft sunrise and then when the storm sets in the music is violent and fully agitated. I can visualize it all and I hope the audience does too.”
The student composers have been working on their pieces since May and are looking forward to seeing them come to life at the event.
Inspiring Action
Ryan Duffy
Organizers say the gallery is not just a showcase of musical talent but a bold statement about the role of universities and their communities in addressing global challenges and exemplifies how creativity and innovation can emerge from the intersection of diverse disciplines, leading to new insights and inspiring action.
In addition to the compositions, the event will feature interactive elements such as a virtual reality experience curated by Mensink, designed to envelop attendees in the beauty and fragility of marine ecosystems.
“Through a fusion of live music and immersive mixed reality, we are aiming to create a novel concert experience that blends the real world with the virtual ocean,” said Mensink. This innovative approach to combining art, music and science underscores the event’s goal: to foster a deeper understanding of our planet’s changing climate and the role each individual can play in addressing it.
A pivotal moment of the evening will be a panel discussion featuring NTP ImpactWX chair in severe storms engineering Greg Kopp, seismologist Jones of the Tempo Project, cellist Mowitz and moderated by Kevin Mooney, associate dean of graduate studies in the Faculty of Music. This conversation aims to bridge the gap between knowledge and action, exploring how art and science can unite to inspire change.
“We have been working to identify all the tornadoes in Canada for a number of years now and trying to increase awareness of tornadoes. Artists view the world in different ways, often with emotion, and so, we have been trying to partner with artists to help increase awareness of storms and how we think about them,” said Kopp, whose work with the NTP has significantly advanced our understanding of tornado dynamics.
For everyone involved, this event represents a culmination of months of creative exploration and hard work.
“I’m excited that many people will come to the music buildings that have never come before, and I am so grateful to everyone who helped make this happen,” said Wei. The event was made possible by NTP, Western Academy for Advanced Research, the Don Wright Faculty of Music, SASAH, the Faculty of Science and the Ivey Business School.
For more information https://music.uwo.ca/events/musical-gallery.html
