Westben Centre for Connection & Creativity Through Music is bringing new music to audiences in a new way this season through its online International Performer-Composer Residency Program. The program has been reimagined for COVID times and will now feature workshops and performances involving over 60 participants from around the world in a virtual collaborative environment.
Since its inception in 2018, the Performer-Composer Residency has enjoyed outstanding popularity and success. This year as a direct response to COVID-19, the program’s Creative Director Ben Finley, with co-facilitators Davy Sumner and Sarah Belle Reid, have decided to offer a novel way to share the residency experience through a new digital venue. For the first time, residency performers and composers will be collaborating remotely in small ensembles with original pieces and workshops. Over ten countries are involved, including participants from Tunisia, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Iran, Panama, China, Netherlands and all across the United States and Canada. They hail from over seven time zones and are have been divided into thirteen multi-geographical ensembles. Each ensemble has four to six participants with intersecting interests.
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